‘Modi’s Kedarnath show after campaign is poll code violation’: TMC complains to EC

Lukung, Jul 17: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday assured that not an inch of our land can be taken by any power in the world while he interacted with the Indian Army and ITBP personnel at Lukung.

Referring to the India-China border standoff, he said, "Talks are underway to resolve the border dispute but to what extent it can be resolved I cannot guarantee. I can assure you, not one inch of our land can be taken by any power in the world."

Emphasising on finding a diplomatic solution to the standoff, he further said, "If a solution can be found by talks, there is nothing better."
"Recently what happened between troops of India and China at PP14, how some of our personnel sacrificed their lives protecting our border. I am happy to meet you all but also saddened because of their loss. I pay my tributes to them," he added.

Singh interacted with the Army and Paramilitary troops here along with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane.

Earlier today, the Defence Minister witnessed para dropping and scoping weapons here. He also inspected a Pika machine gun.

Indian Army T-90 tanks and BMP infantry combat vehicles carried out the exercise at Stakna, Leh in presence of Singh, Chief of Defence Staff and Army Chief.

Defence Minister is on a two-day visit to Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. He will take stock of the situation at both the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Line of Control (LOC).

While Pakistan constantly violates ceasefire from across the LoC, China has continued to intrude into Indian territory in Ladakh region in recent past, escalating tensions between India and its eastern neighbour.

On June 15, twenty Indian soldiers laid out their lives during combat with Chinese forces in Galwan valley, leading to tensions between both nations. Chinese soldiers subsequently started moving back following dialogues between two countries through the military level and diplomatic level.

Singh was accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane.

New Delhi, Jan 14: The curative petitions of Vinay Sharma and Mukesh, who were sentenced to death in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, was on Tuesday rejected by a five-judge Supreme Court Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana.

In a three-page order, the Bench concluded, after an in chamber consideration that began about 1.45 p.m., that there was no merit in their pleas to spare them from the gallows.

“We have gone through the curative petitions and relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra versus Ashok Hurra. Hence, the curative petitions are dismissed,” the court held.

Curative is a rare remedy devised by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in its judgment in the Rupa Ashok Hurra case in 2002. A party can take only two limited grounds in a curative petition - one, he was not heard by the court before the adverse judgment was passed, and two, the judge was biased. A curative plea, which follows the dismissal of review petition, is the last legal avenue open for convicts in the Supreme Court. Sharma was the first among the four convicts to file a curative.

The Bench also rejected their pleas to stay the execution of their death sentence and for oral hearing in open court.

Besides Justice Ramana, the Bench comprised Arun Mishra, Rohinton Nariman, R. Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.

Curative petitions were filed in the Supreme Court by both convicts on January 9. The petitions had come just days after a Delhi sessions court schedulled the execution of all the four convicts in Tihar jail on January 22.

Sharma and Mukesh, in separate curative petitions, argued that there was a “sea change” in the death penalty jurisprudence since their convictions. Carrying out the death sentence on such changed circumstances would be a “gross miscarriage of justice”.

In his plea, Sharma said the Court had commuted the death penalty in several rape and murder cases since 2017, when it first confirmed the death penalty to the Nirbhaya convicts.

“fter the pronouncement of judgment in 2017, there have been as many as 17 cases involving rape and murder in which various three-judge Benches of the Supreme Court have commuted the sentence of death,” the petition contended.

The Supreme Court recently dismissed a review petition filed by Akshay Singh, another of the four four condemned men, to review its May 5, 2017 judgment confirming the death penalty. It also refused his plea to grant him three weeks' time to file a mercy petition before the President of India.

A Bench led by Justice R. Banumathi had said it was open for the Nirbhaya case convicts to avail whatever time the law prescribes for the purpose of filing a mercy plea.

Akshay (33), Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Sharma (24) had brutally gang-raped a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012. She died of her injuries a few days later.

The case shocked the nation and led to the tightening of anti-rape laws. Rape, especially gang rape, is now a capital crime.

One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar jail. A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

New Delhi, Jun 20: Diesel price on Saturday hit a record high after rates were hiked by 61 paise per litre while petrol price was up 51 paise, taking the cumulative increase in rates in two weeks to Rs 8.28 and Rs 7.62 respectively.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 78.88 per litre from Rs 78.37, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 77.67 a litre from Rs 77.06, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

The 14th daily increase in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision, has taken diesel prices to new high. Petrol price too is at a two-year high.

Prior to the current rally, diesel rate had touched a peak of Rs 75.69 per litre in Delhi on October 16, 2018.

The highest-ever petrol price was on October 4, 2018, when rates soared to Rs 84 a litre in Delhi.

When rates had peaked in October 2018, the government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each. State-owned oil companies were asked to absorb another Re 1 a litre to help cut retail rates by Rs 2.50 a litre.

Oil companies had quickly recouped the Re 1 and the government in July 2019 raised excise duty by Rs 2 a litre.

The 82-day freeze in rates this year was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

The government on March 14 hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each and then again on May 5 by a record Rs 10 per litre in case of petrol and Rs 13 on diesel. The two hikes gave the government Rs 2 lakh crore in additional tax revenues.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices to two-decade lows.

International oil prices have since rebounded and oil firms are now adjusting retail rates in line with them.

In 14 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 7.62 per litre and diesel by Rs 8.28 a litre.