Rape and abduction charges baseless and malicious: Rahul Gandhi tells SC

July 7, 2012

Rahul_baselessNew Delhi, July 7: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday decided to meet head on the petition by an ex-MLA of Samajwadi Party seeking investigation into the alleged abduction and rape of an Amethi girl and told the Supreme Court that accusations against him were false, malicious and baseless.

Rahul's affidavit came in response to the Supreme Court's notice issued on April 6, 2011 on a petition filed by Kishore Samrite, who had appealed against the Allahabad high court order dismissing his petition, imposing a cost of Rs 50 lakh for making frivolous allegations and ordering CBI inquiry against him.

Rahul said, "I emphatically deny the allegation of rape and detention of the writ petitioners by me and say that both these allegations are false, malicious and baseless and no cognizance could be taken by any responsible person of such allegations made on websites."

In the affidavit placed before a bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad, Rahul requested the court to take action against Samrite for filing a vexatious petition to harm his public image and give a political twist to the malicious allegation that that he had kidnapped the girl and her family.

Rahul's strong response is significant in view of the speculation in ruling quarters about the role of a prominent insider who engineered the complaint to showcase his utility.

Many have also noted the CBI's unusual move in this case when it approached the Supreme Court on August 25 last year wanting to be a party in the appeal filed by Samrite. The Allahabad HC had asked for a CBI probe against Samrite on March 7. The CBI had lodged a case under Indian Penal Code Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 181 (false statement on oath), 211 (false charges to cause injury) and 499-500 (defamation).

On Samrite's appeal against the HC order, the SC had on April 6 last year stayed the HC order and issued notice to UP government and Rahul seeking response from them in eight weeks.

The HC in its March 7 order had said, "We also direct the CBI director to register a case against Kishore Samrite and all other persons who are found involved in the plot, if any, hatched in order to defame Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament from Amethi."


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News Network
February 3,2020

Mumbai, Feb 3: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose party severed ties with the BJP after the state elections, on Monday said that if somebody breaks a promise, "pain and anger is obvious".

"No, I did not get any shock," Thackeray said in an interview with Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana while talking about forming an alliance with NCP and Congress, and becoming the Maharashtra Chief Minister.

"I am a son of Shiv Sena Pramukh (Balasaheb Thackeray), several people tried to give a shock to me but they didn't succeed. This is a field where you have to accept in the beginning that there will be a bit pushing and pulling," Thackeray said.

He added that accepting the Chief Minister's post was not a shock for him and neither was it his "dream at any point of time".

"But I can say one thing for sure that I had decided to go to any level to fulfil the promise which I made to Balasaheb Thackeray. I want to further clear it that me becoming Chief Minister is not the fulfilling of the promise made to Shiv Sena Pramukh but it's just a step towards that. I will fulfil every promise which I made to my father," Uddhav Thackeray said.

"There are several types of shock. Did people like it or not, it is the important part. I have spoken on this issue (alliance with NCP and Congress) several times and even people have understood this. Making promises and keeping them are two different things. If someone breaks a promise, pain and anger is obvious," he added.

The Chief Minister said that he does not know if BJP "has come out their shock till now or not."

"But I have to say if they had kept their promise what would have happened, what a big deal had I asked for? Did I ask for stars and moon? I only asked for what was decided before Lok Sabha polls, when we decided seat distribution," he said.

He further said, "Maharashtra and the country are watching (who betrayed/shocked whom), I don't need to say much on this."

Soon after the Assembly election results, Shiv Sena demanded rotation of the chief minister's post and equal power-sharing in the state government, which was rejected by then ally BJP. The weeks of political stalemate led to the imposition of President's rule on November 13.

Firm on its demands, Sena, the second-largest party in the state, did not hesitate to cobble up with the ideological opponents -- NCP and Congress -- and was given the chief minister's post.

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Bloomberg
July 27,2020

New Delhi, Jul 27: India’s coronavirus epidemic is now growing at the fastest in the world, increasing 20% over the last week to more than 14 lakh confirmed cases, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker.

Infections in the South Asian nation of 130 crore people have reached 14.3 lakh, including 32,771 deaths, India’s health ministry said, with daily cases close to a record 50,000 on Monday. India is only trailing the US and Brazil now in the number of confirmed infections, but its growth in new cases is the fastest.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are among the states where the maximum number of daily cares are being reported. The world’s second-most populous country has been ramping up testing, with 515,472 samples taken on Sunday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Still, India and Brazil have some of the world’s lowest testing rates, with 11.8 tests and 11.93 tests per 1,000 people respectively, compared to the US with 152.98 tests per 1,000 and Russia with 184.34, according to Our World in Data, a project based at the University of Oxford in the UK.

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News Network
May 25,2020

New Delhi, May 25: Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra on Monday said lockdown extensions are not just economically disastrous but also create another medical crisis.

While acknowledging that choices are not easy for policymakers, he said a lockdown extension will not help.

"Lockdown extensions aren't just economically disastrous, as I had tweeted earlier, but also create another medical crisis," Mahindra said in a tweet.

He was referring to an article that highlighted "the dangerous psychological effects of lockdowns & the huge risk of neglecting non-COVID patients".

Mahindra, who had earlier proposed a comprehensive lifting after 49 days of lockdown, further said, "The choices aren't easy for policy makers but a lockdown extension won't help".

He said, "The numbers (coronavirus cases) will continue to rise & the focus must be on rapid expansion of field hospital beds with oxygen lines".

He further said, "The army has enormous expertise in this".

On March 22, before the government announced nationwide lockdown, Mahindra had proposed such a move expressing concerns over reports that India was likely to have already reached stage 3 of coronavirus transmission.

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