Kancheepuram, May 3: Former union minister Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss was arrested on Friday by Kancheepuram police in connection with an alleged hate speech case filed against him in 2012.
According to police, a case under Sections 143, 147 and 188 of IPC has been booked against the PMK leader.
Dr. Anbumani was picked up from his Chennai residence on Friday morning by a special team and was likely to be produced before the Judicial Magistrate court at Thirukazhukundram.
New Delhi, Mar 6: Justice S Muralidhar Thursday cleared the air over the controversy on his transfer from the Delhi High Court to Punjab and Haryana High Court, saying he had replied to Chief Justice of India S A Bobde's communication that he was fine with the proposal and had no objection to it.
The controversy erupted after the Centre issued Justice Muralidhar's transfer notification close to mid night of February 26 -- the day a bench headed by him had pulled up Delhi Police for failing to register FIRs against three BJP leaders for their alleged hate speeches which purportedly led to the recent violence in northeast Delhi.
Justice Muralidhar (58), who received a grand farewell on Thursday from a huge gathering including judges and lawyers amid big rounds of applause, said he wanted to clear the confusion on his transfer and narrated the sequence of events from the time he received CJI's communication till February 26.
The Supreme Court collegium, headed by the CJI, had in a meeting on February 12 recommended the transfer of Justice Muralidhar to Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Justice Muralidhar was number three in the Delhi High Court, his parent high court as a judge.
Explaining the transfer process, he said the 5-member collegium sends to the Centre a recommendation that a judge of a high court should be transferred to another high court. The judge concerned is not at this stage under orders of transfers. That happens only when the collegium's recommendation fructifies into a notification.
“In my case, the collegium's decision was communicated to me by the CJI on February 17 by a letter which sought my response. I acknowledged receipt of the letter, I was then asked to clarify what I meant. As I saw it, if I was to be transferred from the Delhi High Court any way, I was fine with moving to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
“I therefore clarified to the CJI that I did not object to the proposal. An explanation for my transfer reached the press...on February 20 quoting 'sources in the Supreme Court collegium', confirming what has been indicated to me a couple of days earlier,” he said.
The CJI's letter dated February 14 was delivered to Justice Muralidhar on February 17, the day when the family's pet labrador Sakhi breathed her last.
He said February 26 was perhaps the longest working day of his life as a judge of the Delhi High Court, where he has spent 14 years on the bench.
He said it began at 12:30 am with a sitting at his residence with Justice A J Bhambhani, under the orders of Justice G S Sistani, to deal with a PIL filed by Rahul Roy seeking safe passage of ambulances carrying the injured riot victims.
“When I received a call at my residence from the lawyer for the petitioner, I first called Justice Sistani to ask what should be done, knowing that the Chief Justice (CJ) was on leave. Justice Sistani explained that he too was officially on leave the whole of February 26 and that I should take up the matter.
“This fact is stated in the order passed by the bench after the hearing. Later that day, upon urgent mentioning, as the de facto CJ's bench, Justice Talwant Singh and I took up another fresh PIL on the CJ's board seeking registration of FIRs for hate speeches. After the orders passed on that day, the above two PILs remained on the CJ's Board,” he said.
Justice Muralidhar ended the speech saying the notification which was issued close to midnight of February 26 did two things.
“First, it transferred me to Punjab and Haryana High Court. Second, it appointed me to a position from where I can never be transferred, or removed and in which I shall always be proud to remain. A 'former judge' of arguably the best high court in the country. The High Court of Delhi,” he said, following a standing ovation by all the judges and the gathering, including his family members, former judges, lawyers, court staff and media persons.
Earlier in the day, a farewell programme was also organised by the Delhi High Court Bar Association.
While addressing the gathering at the bar's function, Justice Muralidhar concluded his address saying “When justice has to triumph, it will triumph ... Be with the truth - Justice will be done.”
Justice Muralidhar's mother, wife Usha Ramanathan, former Delhi High Court chief justice A P Shah, senior advocate Shanti Bhushan and former Delhi University VC Upendra Baxi were also present at the later function that was organised by the court.
Bidding adieu to Justice Muralidhar, Delhi HC CJ D N Patel said it was an occasion which has come with a saddening effect and his absence will be felt institutionally as well as personally.
Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra termed Justice Muralidhar as a “highly intellectual, courageous, upright and incorruptible judge” and sang bengali song 'ekla chalo re' to describe him.
Mehra said he joins Delhi High Court Bar Association in “strongly condemning” Justice Muralidhar's transfer.
Idukki, Aug 8: Nine more bodies have been recovered from the landslide ravaged Pettimudi near Munnar in Idukki on Saturday. With this the death toll in the tragedy reached 26. Around 40 are feared to be still trapped under the debris or washed away.
The rescue operation by NDRF and Fire and Rescue Services that was stopped by Friday evening due to poor light and bad weather resumed by Saturday morning.
Horrifying scene prevailed in the area as relatives of the missing people screamed around in search of their beloved ones. As it is nearly 48 hours since the incident happened, the chances of recovering missing persons alive from the debris is becoming bleak. Three of the bodies recovered on Saturday could not be identified till evening.
Kerala Revenue Minster E Chandrasekharan, who visited the area on Saturday, said that search operation would be carried out until all the missing are recovered.
It was by around 11.30 pm on Thursday that landslide had hit the Nayamakkad estate of Kannan Devan Hills and Plantations. Settlement clusters of plantation workers where 83 persons were staying were reduced to debris as the huge rocks came bulldozing. Five of the residents were reported to be not in the spot while the mishap occured.
Meanwhile, heavy rains led to floods at many parts of the state. Red alert has been issued at Idukki, Malappuram and Wayanad districts for Sunday also. A total of 11,446 persons of 3,530 families were shifted to relief camps across the state, of which major chunk is at Wayanad.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that water level at most dams is increasing swiftly.
New Delhi, Jul 14: India's COVID-19 tally has reached 9,36,181 as 29,429 new coronavirus cases were reported in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.
The death toll went up to 24,309, including 582 fatalities in the last 24 hours.
Out of the total cases, 3,19,840 are currently active and 5,92,032 are cured/discharged/migrated.
As per the Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst-affected state from the infection -- has a total of 2,67,665 COVID-19 cases and 10,695 fatalities. While Tamil Nadu has a tally of 1,47,324 cases and 2,099 deaths due to COVID-19.
Delhi has reported a total of 1,15,346 cases and 3,446 deaths due to COVID-19.
As per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) 3,20,161 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till July 14, of these 1,24,12,664 samples were tested on Tuesday.
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