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Rape and abduction charges baseless and malicious: Rahul Gandhi tells SC

July 7, 2012

Rahul_baselessNew Delhi, July 7: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday decided to meet head on the petition by an ex-MLA of Samajwadi Party seeking investigation into the alleged abduction and rape of an Amethi girl and told the Supreme Court that accusations against him were false, malicious and baseless.

Rahul's affidavit came in response to the Supreme Court's notice issued on April 6, 2011 on a petition filed by Kishore Samrite, who had appealed against the Allahabad high court order dismissing his petition, imposing a cost of Rs 50 lakh for making frivolous allegations and ordering CBI inquiry against him.

Rahul said, "I emphatically deny the allegation of rape and detention of the writ petitioners by me and say that both these allegations are false, malicious and baseless and no cognizance could be taken by any responsible person of such allegations made on websites."

In the affidavit placed before a bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad, Rahul requested the court to take action against Samrite for filing a vexatious petition to harm his public image and give a political twist to the malicious allegation that that he had kidnapped the girl and her family.

Rahul's strong response is significant in view of the speculation in ruling quarters about the role of a prominent insider who engineered the complaint to showcase his utility.

Many have also noted the CBI's unusual move in this case when it approached the Supreme Court on August 25 last year wanting to be a party in the appeal filed by Samrite. The Allahabad HC had asked for a CBI probe against Samrite on March 7. The CBI had lodged a case under Indian Penal Code Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 181 (false statement on oath), 211 (false charges to cause injury) and 499-500 (defamation).

On Samrite's appeal against the HC order, the SC had on April 6 last year stayed the HC order and issued notice to UP government and Rahul seeking response from them in eight weeks.

The HC in its March 7 order had said, "We also direct the CBI director to register a case against Kishore Samrite and all other persons who are found involved in the plot, if any, hatched in order to defame Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament from Amethi."


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Agencies
July 30,2020

Kochi, Jul 30: The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-judge bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Government of India (GoI) and that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the GoI to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited, the bench said.

"In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines and the discretion of the Government of India," the order said.

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The High Court, which was hearing a plea to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of six months, said that the petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, and it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The High Court also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of two weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines and policies.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

New Delhi, Jul 7: Diesel price in the national capital on Tuesday touched an all-time high following a rate hike after a week-long hiatus.

Diesel price on Tuesday was increased by 25 paise per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned oil marketing companies.

This took the retail selling price of diesel to Rs 80.78 per litre in the national capital - the highest ever.

There was no change in petrol price for the 8th straight day, and it continues to be priced at Rs 80.43 per litre.

Rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

Petrol and diesel price were last revised on June 29.

In the last one month, diesel price has been increased on 23 occasions while petrol rates have risen 21 times.

The cumulative increase since the oil companies started the cycle on June 7, totals to Rs 9.17 for petrol and Rs 11.39 in diesel.

In Mumbai, petrol is priced at Rs 87.19 - unchanged since June 29, while diesel was hiked to Rs 79.05 a litre from Rs 78.83.

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News Network
April 30,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 30: Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd rose almost 9% on Thursday after the Indian drugmaker got an approval to conduct clinical trials with antiviral drug favipiravir, seen as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Favipiravir, manufactured under the brand name Avigan by a unit of Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp and approved for use as an anti-flu drug in the Asian island country in 2014, has been effective, with no obvious side-effects, in helping coronavirus patients recover, a Chinese official told reporters at a news conference last month.

"After having successfully developed the API and the formulations ... Glenmark is all geared to immediately begin clinical trials on favipiravir on COVID-19 patients in India," Sushrut Kulkarni, executive vice-president for Global R&D, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, said in a statement. 

The Drug Controller General of India, the country's drug regulator, did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

On Wednesday, another Indian pharmaceutical company, Strides Pharma Science Ltd, said it had developed and commercialized favipiravir antiviral tablets, and had applied to Indian drug authorities to start trials.

Shares of Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, which rose as much as 8.9% to 359 rupees ($4.78), was trading up 5.9%, as of 0407 GMT.

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