Shoe thrown at Rahul Gandhi during 'Kisan Yatra' in UP

Thiruvananthapuram , May 10: Issuing latest order in view of coronavirus outbreak, the Kerala government has ordered complete shut down on all Sundays.

"With a view to prevent the spread of COVID-19, improve the quality of life, reduce the carbon emissions, protect the environment and greenery of the State, the following protocol would be observed on Sundays across the State. Sundays will be observed as total shut down days until further orders," the order read.

Following activities will be permissible on Sundays:

A) Shops selling essential items

B) Collection and distribution of milk

C) Supply of Newspaper, media, hospitals, medical stores, medical labs and related institutions

D) No social gathering is permitted except for marriages and funerals

E) Departments, agencies and activities connected with the containment of COVID-19

F) Movement of goods vehicles

G) Agencies in the field of waste disposal

H) All manufacturing and processing activities of continuous nature and ongoing construction activities will be permitted

I) Take away counters of the hotel from 8 a.m to 9 p.m, online delivery up to 10 pm

J) Walking and cycling will be permitted.

K) In addition, the following roads mentioned in Annexure will be closed for motorised traffic except for movement of essential goods and emergency vehicles from 5 am to 10 am. During this time, non-motorised traffic such as walking and cycling will be permitted.

L) Movement of persons on Sundays are allowed only for health emergencies, Government servants on emergency duties and persons engaged in activities connected with Covid-19 containment, persons involved in the activities from (a) to (k) above, priests and other religious persons responsible for conducting rituals in worship places.

M) Any other movement of persons, if any in exigencies, shall only be with the travel passes obtained from District Collector or Police authorities concerned.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 25: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday asked the state's MPs to take up the matter of deaths of eight Keralites at a resort in Nepal early this week, with the Centre to pursue the matter with the neighbouring country's government.

He was speaking to the MPs at the customary meeting that the Chief Minister has with all MPs ahead of every session of the parliament.

"The demand has come from the families of the victims for a fair probe on what happened and adequate compensation. For this, you (MPs) should take it up with the Centre. A probe has to be done by the Nepal authorities and the Centre should pursue this with them," Pinarayi reportedly stated. 

"We (the state government) have already taken the issue with the Centre and will now send a detailed letter on the need for a fair probe by the Nepal authorities," he added.

The eight dead include Praveen Krishnan Nair, who worked in the UAE and was on a short vacation here, when the tragedy struck the family. His wife Saranya, a second year M.Pharma student, and their three children, were also killed.

On Friday morning, it was a goodbye that Thiruvananthapuram has perhaps not seen before, as hundreds of people, many of them strangers, came to pay last respects to the five members of the Nair family.

The family of Praveen Nair decided to bury the bodies of the three children and cremate the bodies of Praveen and Saranya. It was also decided to bury the ashes of the couple alongside their three children in the compound of their house.

The second family hailed from Kozhikode and the bodies of Ranjith, an IT professional, his wife, who works in a cooperative bank and their younger child, who slept in the same room as that of Praveen, arrived at the Kozhikode airport on Friday morning.

State Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran and many others were there to receive the bodies, which were first taken to Ranjith's new home that is almost complete.

From there it was taken to a hall for all to pay their last respects and then to the family home of Ranjith where the cremation took place.

Watching everything happening was Ranjith's elder son, seven-year-old Madhav, who escaped that night in Nepal as he was sleeping in another room.

Madhav had arrived from Delhi on Thursday and was unaware of the tragedy as he was busy moving around in a new bicycle, which his relatives had bought to keep him busy.

New Delhi, Feb 3: The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted bail to former BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand in the alleged rape case of a law student. He was arrested in September last year after the 23-year-old woman accused him of sexual harassment and blackmail.

The woman was a student of the Chinmayanand-controlled SS Law College in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Chinmayanand is facing charges under Sections 376C (sexual intercourse by a person or persons taking advantage of their official position), 354 D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The case is being investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed on the directions of the Supreme Court.

The case came to light after the woman posted a video on August 23 last year on social media alleging that “a senior leader of the saint community” was harassing and threatening to kill her. The law student went missing a day later, after which her father lodged a complaint, accusing Chinmayanand of harassing his daughter.

Chinmayanand was expelled from the BJP after his arrest.

The SIT had, on November 6, submitted chargesheet in the case.

In a parallel case, the woman was charged with trying to extort money from Chinmayanad. The Allahabad High Court granted her bail in that case in December last year.