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Media houses apologise for revealing Kathua victim's identity

Agencies
April 18, 2018

New Delhi, Apr 18: Media houses, issued notices for revealing the identity of the eight-year-old Kathua rape victim, on Wednesday apologised before the Delhi High Court and were directed to pay Rs 10 lakh each to the Jammu and Kashmir Victim Compensation Fund.

Advocates representing media houses told the court that the mistake of revealing the identity of the victim was due to their ignorance of the law and a misconception that they could name her as she was dead.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar directed that the compensation amount be deposited with the registrar general of the high court within a week and the money be transferred to the Jammu and Kashmir legal service authority's account to be used for Jammu and Kashmir's victim compensation scheme.

The bench also directed that wide and continuous publicity be given to the statutory provisions of law regarding privacy of victims of sexual offences and punishment for revealing their identities.

Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) law lays down the procedure for the media to report cases of sexual offences against child victims and Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) deals with disclosure of identity of victims of such offences. The penal law provides for jail term of two years with a fine.

On April 13, the high court issued notices to 12 media houses for disclosing the identity of an eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and killed in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Of the 12, counsel for nine media houses were present in the court on Wednesday.

The court had earlier prohibited them "from effecting any publication, including the name, address, photograph, family details, school details, neighbourhood or any other particulars which may have an effect of leading to the disclosure of the identity of the child victim".

In its news reports in connection with the case, The Press Trust of India has not disclosed the name or put out a photograph of the victim.

The eight-year-old from a minority nomadic community had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in Jammu region on January 10.

Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The state police's Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed a main charge sheet against seven people and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district last week.

The charge sheet revealed chilling details about how the girl was kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a place of worship before being killed.

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News Network
July 4,2020

Pune, Jul 4: Now that wearing mask in public places has become the new normal, a resident of Pimpri-Chinchwad of Pune district, Shankar Kurade has got himself a mask made of gold worth Rs 2.89 lakhs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's a thin mask with minute holes so that there is no difficulty in breathing. I am not sure whether this mask will be effective," said Kurade.

Kurade loves wearing gold ornaments and his hands and neck are loaded with jewellery.

This unique idea struck him soon after he saw a man wearing a silver mask on social media.

"I saw a video on social media of a man in Kolhapur wearing a silver mask and then an idea struck me to have a mask of gold. I talked to a goldsmith and he gave me this five and a half pound gold mask in a week," said Kurade.

"All my family members love gold, if they too demand it, then I will get it designed for them too. I do not know if I will be infected with coronavirus wearing a gold mask or not, but following all the rules of the government can prevent the spread of virus," he added.

Since childhood, Shankar is very fond of gold ornaments, that is the reason he wears gold rings in all the fingers, gold bracelets on his wrist and huge gold chains around his neck.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Chennai, Jul 30: Tamil Nadu government on Thursday extended the Covid-19 lockdown till August 31, giving only a few relaxations like allowing delivery of non-essential goods by e-commerce sites. The ban on public transport has been extended till August 31, while availing of e-pass for inter-district and inter-state travel will continue to be in force.

In a detailed statement, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a “complete lockdown” during which only essential services would continue to be in force on all Sundays during the month of August across the state.  

In Chennai, restaurants will be allowed to open dine-in facilities at 50 percent of its total capacity from 6 am to 7 pm from August 1, while vegetable shops, grocery outlets and standalone commercial establishments will also be allowed to remain open from 6 am to 7 pm.

E-commerce sites have been allowed to begin delivery of non-essential goods from August 1, while the ban on public transport, temples in urban areas and towns, cinema halls, shopping malls, and gyms would continue till August 31.

It also said companies or factories in Chennai that have been allowed to function with 50 percent of staff can increase their strength to 75 percent from August 1.

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The government also asked companies to encourage its employees to work from home and advised commercial establishments to follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as advised by it. Inter-state or inter-district travel will be allowed only with e-pass, while ban on metro and suburban trains continues.

The decision to extend the lockdown till August 31 comes as Tamil Nadu continues to grapple with an increasing number of coronavirus cases. The prevalence of the virus is no more limited to one city or region of the state with almost all districts reporting fresh cases, some of them over 200 new patients, every day.

On Thursday morning, Tamil Nadu’s Covid-19 tally was 2,34,114 including 1,72,883 discharges and 3,741 deaths. The active cases stood at 57,490.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: United Forum of Bank Unions has decided to observe a two-day strike on January 31 and February 1, demanding early wage revision settlement which has been due since November 1, 2017, said the All India Bank Employees Association.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Union Budget on February 1.

Banks will also hold a strike on March 11, 12 and 13. Also, an indefinite strike will be held from April 1.

General Secretary, All India Bank Officers' Confederation West Bengal Sanjay Das has stated that the nationwide strike has been called over several demands.

"The demands include--wage revision settlement at 20 per cent hike on payslip components with adequate loading thereof and scrapping off New Pension Scheme (NPS)," said Das.

There are several demands to hold the strike including the merger of special allowance with basic pay, updation of pension, improvement in the family pension system, five-day banking, allocation of staff welfare fund based on operating profits and exemption from income tax on retiral benefits without a ceiling.

"Other demands include-- a uniform definition of business hours, lunch hour etc in the branches, introduction of leave bank, defined working hours for the officers and equal wage for equal work for the contract employee," said Das.

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