Kerala HC grants bail to BJP candidate from Kozhikode

Agencies
April 11, 2019

Kochi, Apr 11: The Kerala High Court Thursday granted conditional bail to the BJP's candidate for Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency, Prakash Babu, arrested in a case related to an alleged attack on a woman devotee in Sabarimala temple last November.

He was sent to jail on March 28 by a court in Ranni in Pathanamthitta district in connection with the case. Granting bail to Babu, Justice Alexander Thomas directed him to appear before the investigating officer on the second and fourth Saturdays every month after the Lok Sabha elections for four months. He has been granted bail subject to furnishing a bond of Rs 2 lakh and two solvent sureties.

The court also directed him to surrender his passport and not to enter Pathanamthitta district for three months except for reporting to the police. Babu had approached the high court after a local court refused to grant him bail in the case.

The BJP candidate is accused of attacking a woman who had come to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala in November last year. The alleged attack took place amid protests against the implementation of the Supreme Court's verdict permitting women of menstrual age to enter the shrine. Traditionally, women in the age group of 10 to 50 years were not allowed to enter the temple as the presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa, was a 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate).

Babu is pitted against M K Raghavan of the Congress and A Pradeep Kumar of the CPI-M in Kozhikode, which goes to polls in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 23. He was arrested soon after he launched his election campaign.

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News Network
February 28,2020

New Delhi, Feb 28: The months of March, April and May are "likely to be warmer than normal" over northwest, west, central and parts of south India, the India Meteorological Department said today in its summer forecast.

Above normal heat wave conditions are also likely in the core heat wave (HW) zone during the season (March-May), the weather department said.

The core heat wave zone covers the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana and parts of Maharashtra and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

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Agencies
July 15,2020

Mumbai, Jul 15: In a mega investment announcement, Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said that Google will invest ₹ 33,737 crore in Jio Platforms for an equity stake of 7.73%.

Google is investing at an equity valuation of ₹ 4.36 lakh crore, said an RIL regulatory filing.

"Jio Platforms Limited, a subsidiary of the Company, today signed binding agreements with Google International LLC pursuant to which Google would invest ₹ 33,737 crore for a 7.73 % equity stake in Jio Platforms Limited on a fully-diluted basis. Google is investing at an equity valuation of ₹ 4.36 lakh crore," it said.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of RIL, Ambani said that he looks forward to working with investors in Jio Platforms in a collaborative way.

Making another major announcement, the RIL Chairman said that Jio has designed a complete 5G solution and it will be available for trials as soon as spectrum is available.

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News Network
May 19,2020

New Delhi, May 19: In a fresh blow to saffronite journalist Arnab Goswami, the Supreme Court of India today rejected his plea seeking transfer of the investigation of a case, filed against him for defaming Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, to the CBI. The court also refused to quash the FIRs filed against him.

Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, has been booked in connection with a TV show on the gathering of migrants outside Bandra railway station on April 14. This apart, multiple FIRs have been filed against him for his show on Palghar lynching. In that show, he had posed certain questions on the incident to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, following which Congress workers lodged complaints against him in various states.

Extending Goswami’s interim protection from arrest by three weeks, the Supreme Court said, “Right of a journalist under 19 1 (a) higher…Free citizens can’t exist if news media can’t speak.”

During the earlier hearing, Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Goswami, had urged the court to transfer the probe to an agency like CBI. He said the “nature of the” second FIR against Goswami over a show on the migrant gathering outside Bandra station on April 14 “shows that it’s arm-twisting tactic”. 

“They are trying to stifle an unpleasant voice. This is a political party targeting a journalist. All complainants are members of one political party. They have a problem with the government. They want to teach this journalist a lesson,” he added.

Objecting to Salve’s plea to transfer the case to the CBI, Maharashtra government counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, had said, “CBI investigation will go into your hands”. 

Sibal denied that Goswami was being harassed and said he was only asked relevant questions. He said Goswami should “stop this communal violence and communal mongering”.

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