Bollywood filmmaker Farooqui gets 7 yrs jail for raping American woman

August 4, 2016

New Delhi, Aug 4: Bollywood film 'Peepli Live' co-director Mahmood Farooqui was today sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a Delhi court for raping a US researcher here last year.

filmAdditional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain awarded the minimum jail term prescribed for the offence to Farooqui, who was produced in the court in custody.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the 44-year-old filmmaker and said the amount be given to the victim, failing which he would have to undergo an additional imprisonment of three months.

It also tasked the Delhi Legal Service Authority to decide appropriate compensation for the woman.

The court had on July 30 held him guilty of raping the American woman last year at his house in a drunken state.

During the arguments on sentence earlier, Delhi Police had sought life imprisonment for the filmmaker, saying the crime perpetrated on the foreigner has brought "disrepute" to India.

Farooqui's counsel Nitya Ramakrishnan had said as the filmmaker suffered from bipolar disorder and has fully cooperated in the case he should be given a chance to reform.

Seeking stringent punishment for Farooqui, complainant's counsel Vrinda Grover had said, "The foreigner (victim) was here for research work but was raped by a person she knew, who was her friend and whom she had trusted".

Farooqui, who was out on bail, was taken into custody immediately after his conviction in the case.

Prosecutor Mohammed Ikrar had earlier said that the woman, in her complaint, had alleged that Farooqui was drunk when he raped her at his house where she had gone to seek his help for her research work in March last year.

The police had on June 19, 2015, lodged the FIR against Farooqui on the woman's complaint after which he was arrested.

The police had on July 29 last year filed a charge sheet against Farooqui, alleging he had raped the research scholar from Columbia University at his Sukhdev Vihar house in south Delhi on March 28 last year.

The court had on September 9, 2015, started the trial in the case after framing rape charge against Farooqui and the victim, based in the US, had appeared in the court on September 14, 2015 to record her statement.

The woman had, during the in-camera proceedings, alleged that Farooqui had raped her and later apologised to her in several e-mails exchanged between them.

Later, however, Farooqui had denied the allegations against him, saying he was falsely implicated by the woman.

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News Network
June 17,2020

New Delhi, Jun 17: Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan expressed sorrow over the 'unrest' the country is facing, following the news of the Indian Army personnel being killed in a face-off with the Chinese in Ladakh's Galwan Valley was confirmed.

The 'Super 30' actor said that the situation of 'unrest' people are facing now and to know about the loss of lives in Ladakh has left him with a "heavy heart."

"Our defence stands tall on the ground. My highest respect to the martyred in the line of duty. Condolences & prayers for their families. May the departed & living find peace," the 'War' actor tweeted.

Signalling to the strength and showing support to the Indian Army, veteran actor Anupam Kher wrote on Twitter: "Bharatiya Sena Ki Jai. Jai Hind"

While, 'Golmaal' actor, Tusshar Kapoor tweeted: "More power to our heroes, our brave soldiers in all frontiers! RIP our martyrs!"

The violent face-off happened on late evening and night of June 15 in Ladakh's Galwan Valley as a result of an attempt by the Chinese troops to "unilaterally change" the status quo during de-escalation in Eastern Ladakh and the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side, India said on Tuesday.

The Army confirmed that 20 soldiers were killed in the face-off including 17 who were critically injured at the stand-off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain.

Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged at the Galwan area in Ladakh where they had earlier clashed on the night of June 15 and 16, Indian Army said.

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News Network
April 8,2020

Los Angeles, Apr 8: American folk legend John Prine has passed away due to the coronavirus complications. He was 73.

Prine, whose coronavirus diagnosis was revealed on March 17, died on Tuesday, his publicist told Variety.

His wife and manager, Fiona, had on April 3 posted on Twitter that Prine was severely ill after being admitted into intensive care unit of a hospital.

In a career spanning over half a century, Prine churned out heartfelt and unforgettable songs like Angel From Montgomery, Sweet Revenge and In Spite of Ourselves .

He was regarded as one of the greatest by many of his peers including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler and many other music legends.

Born on October 10, 1946 in Maywood, Illinois, the singer-songwritter emerged on the Chicago folk scene in the late 1960s, when he was discovered by country star Kris Kristofferson.

He is still remembered for his 1971 anti-war track Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore , which came at the height of the Vietnam War and is still relevant to many till date.

In recent years, he had taken a step back from music but came back in 2018 with the album The Tree of Forgiveness . It was his first LP in 13 years.

Prine was a winner of two Grammy award for best contemporary folk albums -- The Missing Years (1991) and Fair & Square (2005). He was an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and also bestowed with Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The news of his demise sent shockwaves across the music industry, with stars like Bruce Springsteen, Kacey Musgraves, Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler and others paying their tributes to the legend.

Over here on E Street, we are crushed by the loss of John Prine. John and I were "New Dylans" together in the early 70s and he was never anything but the lovliest guy in the world. A true national treasure and a songwriter for the ages. We send our love and prayers to his family, Springsteen wrote in a post on Twitter.

While Musgraves posted, Heartbroken.

Raitt, who recorded Angel from Montgomery in the 1970s, said he is feeling crushed after learning about Prine's demise.

Words can't even come close. I'm crushed by the loss of my dear friend, John. My heart and love go out to Fiona and all the family. For all of us whose hearts are breaking, we will keep singing his songs and holding him near, he wrote.

Midler shared a news link about Prine, saying, He's gone.

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News Network
June 30,2020

California, Jun 30: Online video-sharing platform YouTube on Monday banned several prominent channels, including those belonging to Stefan Molyneux and Richard Spencer.

The company banned six channels for repeatedly violating YouTube's policies.

According to The Verge, other channels banned include American Renaissance (with its associated channel AmRen Podcasts) and the channel for Spencer's National Policy Institute.

YouTube began taking stern measures on supremacist channels in June 2019.

"We have strict policies prohibiting hate speech on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies," the Verge quoted a YouTube spokesperson as saying.

"After updating our guidelines to better address supremacist content, we saw a 5x spike in video removals and have terminated over 25,000 channels for violating our hate speech policies," the spokesperson added.

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