Saudi govt intervenes to help stranded Indian expats, vows necessary action

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 29: Twenty more people were

detected with coronavirus in Kerala on Saturday, taking the total number of those undergoing treatment for the deadly infection to 181, Health Minister K K Shailaja said.

While Kannur reported eight cases, Kasaragod 7, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernkulam, Thrissur, Palakad and Malappuram reported one case each, Shailaja said in a statement here.

Of the 20 people, 18 had come from abroad and two others had been infected through contact.

The man found positive here was in the isolation ICU of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital, while one positive case from Ernakulam was a health worker.

The samples of four persons who were under treatment at Pathnamthitta were found negative.

At least, 1,41,211 people are under observation across the state, the Minister addd.

New Delhi, Feb 21: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the sedition case registered against a Karnataka school management for allegedly allowing students to stage an anti-CAA, anti-NRC drama that 'portrayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in poor light'.

The petition seeks quashing of the FIR against the principal and other staff of the Shaheen School at Bidar who have been booked under sections 124-A (sedition) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code.

In the petition filed on Thursday, social activist Yogita Bhayana has also sought an apex court direction for a proper mechanism to deal with alleged government misuse of the sedition law.

Section 124A of the IPC says that "whoever brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards... the Government shall be punished with imprisonment for life...".

Bhayana, in the plea, has sought a direction to the Centre and the Karnataka government "to quash the FIR registered in connection of seditious charges against the school management, teacher and a widowed parent of a student for staging a play criticizing CAA, NRC, and NPR."

The petition claimed the police "also questioned students, and videos and screenshots of CCTV footage showing them speaking to the students were shared widely on social media, prompting criticism."

It further quoted the school principal, alleging that "on one occasion, police in uniform questioned students, with no child welfare officials present".

The plea said that the "proceedings were violative of Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution and abuse of process of law."

"Issue an order directing the Centre to constitute a committee to scrutinise complaints under 124-A IPC and adhere to judgments by the apex court before registering the FIR under the section 124-A IPC," the petition said.

The drama was staged on January 21 by students of fourth, fifth and sixth standard.

The sedition case was filed based on a complaint from social worker Neelesh Rakshyal on January 26.

The complainant has alleged that the school authorities "used" the students to perform a drama where they "abused" Modi in the context of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.

Mumbai, Jun 14: Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput committed suicide on Sunday, leaving all his fans and the industry in shock. While the reason behind him taking up the extreme step is still not clear, a look into Sushant’s social media feed suggests that things were not well for him for quite some time.

Sushant had been inactive on Twitter since months. His last tweet was on December 27, 2019. Since then, he did not even reply to any one on Twitter. Same is the case with his Facebook account as the last post on his timeline was on the same date. Interestingly, Sushant's Twitter cover picture is the popular painting - 'Starry Night', by Van Gogh, who had also reportedly committed suicide in 1890.

On Instagram, the young actor had last posted on June 3. It was a collage picture of him and his mother along with a cryptic caption that read, “Blurred past evaporating from teardrops Unending dreams carving an arc of smile And a fleeting life, negotiating between the two...#माँ”.

Was Sushant’s inactivity on Twitter, Facebook and his last cryptic post on Instagram a signal that the actor was having a tough time? Well, may be it will remain a mystery forever.