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FIR filed against Togadia for hate speech

[email protected] (DHNS)
February 8, 2013

FIR_Togadia

Mumbai/New Delhi, Feb 7: After the Union Home Ministry issued an advisory, the Maharashtra Police have finally registered an FIR against Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Praveen Togadia (in pic) on Thursday for allegedly delivering a hate speech in a rally in Bhokara town, Nanded district on January 22.

“The home ministry’s advise is clear. Once they have confirmed forensic evidence, appropriate action as per law must be taken against Togadia,” a senior official said.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Javed Ahmed told Deccan Herald that a case for creating communal disharmony has been registered against the VHP leader in Nanded.

Officials in the state police headquarters disclosed that the FIR will probe the VHP leader’s speech under Sections 153 and 505 of the IPC. Both the sections deal with divisive statements “made to create enmity, hatred on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language etc.”

The state government came under severe pressure from the Centre to register a case against the VHP leader known for using “inflammatory language and invectives against minorities”.

Togadia’s speech in the communally sensitive town had sparked off a furore and Maharashtra Minister for Minorities Naseem Khan on Thursday said that there was “enough evidence to book the VHP leader.”

He said: “Togadia was trying to polarise society with an eye on the elections. If Owaisi can be booked then Togadia should also be booked. We cannot have double standards.”

The state government, along with top police officers were in a quandary as the local police and the special branch present at the rally stated in their record that they did not find “the speech inflammatory.”

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, closeted with top bureaucrats and police officials till late evening, refused to confirm or deny registering a case. Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil, who is camping in Delhi, said that the home department and police officials were studying the speech before taking any action.

However, pressure was mounted on the state government when Congress leader Digvijay Singh stated that religious leaders cannot be allowed to play with communal harmony in the country.

“I assure you, if he (Togadia) has violated any law, law will take its course,” said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi, while Left leader Sitaram Yechury too felt that action should be initiated against Togadia.

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Agencies
July 23,2020

Ahmedabad, Jul 23: Private schools in Gujarat have suspended online classes for an indefinite period from Thursday, after a state government order said they should not collect fees from students until the schools reopen.

In a notification issued last week, the Gujarat government directed self-financed schools in the state not to collect tuition fees from students as long as they remain shut in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It also asked these schools not to hike fees for the academic year 2020-21.

Unhappy with the move, a union of representing nearly 15,000 self-financed schools in Gujarat decided to put on hold online classes, an alternative arrangement started earlier this month for students.

Majority of these schools informed the parents through SMS on Wednesday night that there will not be any online classes for their wards from Thursday.

Self-financed School Management Association's spokesperson Dipak Rajyaguru on Thursday said almost all the self-financed schools in the state refrained from imparting online education.

"If the government believes online education is not real education, then there is no meaning of imparting such unreal education to our students. Online education will remain suspended until the government withdraws that notification," Rajyaguru said in a statement.

He said the association will also approach the high court against state government's decision.

Jatin Bharad, a prominent educationist and member of the association, said there is no alternative to online education in the present scenario.

"Self-financed schools need to pay salaries to the teachers and other staff. No state in India has taken such decision that fees cannot be collected despite conducting online classes. If we adhere to the state notification, it will be impossible for us to pay salaries and run the school.

Thus, we have decided to suspend the online classes," said Bharad said.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Kochi, Jul 30: The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-judge bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Government of India (GoI) and that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the GoI to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited, the bench said.

"In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines and the discretion of the Government of India," the order said.

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The High Court, which was hearing a plea to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of six months, said that the petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, and it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The High Court also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of two weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines and policies.

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News Network
June 30,2020

New Delhi, Jun 30: Amid calls for boycotting Chinese products after India-China face-off in eastern Ladakh, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government claiming that imports from China have increased under the NDA regime.

"Facts don't lie. BJP says: Make in India. BJP does: Buy from China," Gandhi tweeted along with a graphic of the percentage of imports from China during the UPA rule and the NDA government.

The graphic claims that imports from China were at 12-13 per cent when the Congress-led UPA government vacated office in 2014 but now stood at 17-18 per cent in 2020.

The Congress leader has been vehemently targeting the Centre on the India-China border situation after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in violent face-off with Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan valley earlier this month.

Indian intercepts have revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties, including dead and seriously injured, in the face-off.

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