Month: September 2020

Ahead of the release of her film ‘Khaali Peeli’, actor Ananya Panday on Wednesday shared glamorous pictures from her first look test for her character Pooja.

The ‘Student of The Year 2’ star posted the snaps over social media that featured her in Western and Desi avatar. Ananya also expressed her excitement over the release of the film in two days.

In the picture, Ananya looks breath-taking as she pulls off both looks with such ease- looking chic is her western outfit as well as when she slays in the Indian outfit, a bright pink attire with neon green bangles.

The actor posted on Instagram the captures of her first look test for the film and wrote, “POOJA (heart emojis) throwback to the first look test and now the film is releasing in two days #2DaysToGo #KhaaliPeeli releasing 2nd October on @zeeplexofficial & @zee5.”

Helmed by debutant director Maqbool Khan and backed by filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar, Himanshu Mehra, and Zee Studios, the film also stars ‘Paatal Lok’ actor Jaideep Ahlawat.

‘Khaali Peeli’ went on the floors in September last year and was scheduled for a June 12 release but was delayed due to the shuttering of film theatres. The movie will start streaming on OTT platform Zeeplex from October 2.(ANI)

“The acquittals amount to a travesty of justice. It took 28 long years for this verdict but not justice to be delivered. All the top leaders of the BJP-VHP-RSS who were present at the scene guiding the criminal act have been found to be innocent of the charge of conspiracy to demolish the mosque,” the CPI(M) politburo said in a statement.

“The Supreme Court in its Ayodhya judgment on November 8, last year had called the demolition an egregious violation of the law. Now, the Lucknow court has found the main perpetrators of this crime not guilty,” it said.

This verdict will “blemish” the image of India as a secular democratic country governed by the Constitution, it said.

“The CBI must immediately appeal against this judgment,” the Left Party added.

Earlier in the day, 26 of the 32 accused had arrived at the court, while six others, including senior BJP leader Advani, took part through videoconferencing.

There were 49 accused in the case, out of which 17 have passed away. The rest 32 had been asked to be physically present in the court. (ANI)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Hathras incident where a 19-year-old was gang-raped, Chief Minister’s Office said.

The SIT comprises Chairman Secretary Home Bhagwan Swaroop and Chandraprakash, Deputy Inspector General of Police and Poonam, Commander in chief, Provincial Armed Constabulary.

The CMO informed that SIT will present a report in seven days.

“A three-member SIT has been constituted by Chief Minister Shri Yogi Adityanath ji to investigate the incident of Hathras in which Chairman Secretary Home Shri Bhagwan Swaroop and Shri Chandraprakash, Deputy Inspector General of Police and Mrs Poonam, Commander in Chief, PAC, Agra will be the members. SIT will submit its report in 7 days,” the CMO tweeted.

He has given strict instructions to prosecute accused in fast track court.

“Chief Minister Shri Yogi Adityanath ji has given clear instructions to prosecute and effectively advocate in fast track court against accused person in incident of Hathras,” the CMO added.

The 19-year-old died in Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday, after she was gang-raped in Hathras a fortnight ago. The victim was brought to Safdarjung Hospital on Monday from Aligarh Muslim University Medical College.

Last rites of Hathras gang-rape victim was performed at her native place here in the wee hours of Wednesday. (ANI)

Over 2,300 Armenian servicemen were killed and wounded in the continuing clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani defence ministry claimed on Wednesday.

“From September 27 and up to this morning, around 2,300 enemy fighters were eliminated and wounded; around 130 tanks and other armoured vehicles, over 200 artillery, missile and mortar launchers, around 25 air defense weapons; six command and control and observation posts; five ammunition depots; around 50 armour-defeating weapons, and 55 automobiles were eliminated and brought out of action,” the Defence Ministry told Sputnik.

On Sunday morning, an escalation unfolded along the contact line of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-majority autonomy that proclaimed independence from what then was the Soviet Azerbaijan Republic in 1991.

Azerbaijan launched what it described as a “counteroffensive,” while the Artsakh authorities accused Azerbaijani forces of opening fire against civilians and civilian infrastructure in its capital of Stepanakert.

The armed hostilities continue at this point. (ANI)

Hours after Amnesty International claimed it halted India operations citing government ‘witch-hunt’, the central government on Tuesday said that the stand taken and statements made by the international NGO are unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth.

According to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), all the “glossy statements” about humanitarian work and “speaking truth to power” are “nothing but a ploy to divert attention from their activities which were in clear contravention of laid down Indian laws.”

“Such statements are also an attempt to extraneously influence the course of investigations by multiple agencies into the irregularities and illegalities carried out over the last few years,” MHA said in a release.

MHA said that Amnesty is free to continue humanitarian work in India, as is being done by many other organisations.

“However, India, by settled law, does not allow interference in domestic political debates by entities funded by foreign donations. This law applies equally to all and it shall apply to Amnesty International as well. Amnesty’s failure to comply with local regulations does not entitle them to make comments on the democratic and plural character of India,” it said.

“The stand taken and the statements made by Amnesty International are unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth. Amnesty International had received permission under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) only once and that too 20 years ago (December 19, 2000). Since then Amnesty International, despite its repeated applications, has been denied FCRA approval by successive governments since as per law it is not eligible to get such an approval,” it added.

However, in order to “circumvent the FCRA regulations,” MHA said “Amnesty UK remitted large amounts of money to four entities registered in India, by classifying it as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).”

“A significant amount of foreign money was also remitted to Amnesty (India) without MHA’s approval under FCRA. This mala fide rerouting of money was in contravention of extant legal provisions,” it added

Owing to these illegal practices of Amnesty, the previous government had also rejected the repeated applications of Amnesty to receive funds from overseas, MHA said.

“This had led Amnesty to suspend its India operations once during that period as well. This bipartisan and purely legal approach towards Amnesty, under different governments, makes it clear that the entire fault lies in the dubious processes adopted by Amnesty to secure funds for its operations,” it added.

Earlier in the day, Amnesty International India alleged Indian government completely froze its bank accounts in the “incessant witch-hunt” of human rights organisations by the government. (ANI)

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday assured farmers of all possible legal and other steps to fight the new farm laws including a special session of the Vidhan Sabha to discuss the way forward.

Chairing a meeting with representatives of 31 farmer unions to take their views on the matter, the Chief Minister said he would be discussing the issue with his legal team to finalise the next steps, including challenging the farm laws in the Supreme Court.

“We will take all possible steps to counter the Union Government’s assault on the state’s federal and constitutional rights, and fight for the interests of the farmers,” he said.

If the legal experts advise amendment to the state laws to fight the central laws, a special session of the assembly will be immediately called to do so, he said.

He made it clear that the government had no qualms about convening an Assembly session if that was the best course in the circumstances. However, he trashed SAD president Sukhbir Badal’s demand for a special assembly session “as cheap gimmickry after their active support to the central laws for months”.

“If they were so concerned about the farmers’ interests, why did Harsimrat Badal not resign from the Union Cabinet the moment the Farm Ordinances were brought in by the Centre?” he asked.

Declaring that his government and the Punjab Congress was with the farmers in this ‘aukhi ghari’ (difficult time), Captain Amarinder Singh said he would take the suggestions of the farmer organisations and legal experts to finalise the next course of action.

He said the new laws will entail the end of time-tested “farming procurement and marketing system as we know it”.

The mandis that have existed and worked well for more than 60 years will be wiped out and with MSP also end, he said. (ANI)

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday congratulated Abdul Samad, who made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

“Lt Governor @manojsinha_ congratulates Abdul Samad, young cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir, who is playing for @SunRisers Hyderabad on his IPL debut today. He wished him success in the tournament and his career ahead,” Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, tweeted.

SRH are playing against Delhi Capitals in the ongoing IPL at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. After being asked to bat first, SRH managed to set a target of 163 runs for Delhi Capitals.

Samad played an unbeaten knock of 12 runs off seven balls which included a six and a boundary. (ANI)

The Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) while opposing bail pleas filed by actor Rhea Chakraborty and five others in the Bollywood drug case on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that all persons arrested till now are connected to each other and it is a syndicate.

“All persons arrested till now, are connected with each other and it is a syndicate. There was a regular link and purchasing. Therefore, the court will have to consider the case as a whole, not one accused from another,” the NCB said in the court.

The NCB was represented before the High Court by ASG Anil Singh who argued in detail before the HC concluded the arguments of all lawyers of the accused and reserved the matter for orders.

Before the ASG pointed out the complicity of all the accused in this case and opposed the bail for each accused, all the five accused were represented by their lawyers before the Bombay High Court. Rhea and Showik Chakraborty were represented by Advocate Satish Maneshinde, Samuel Miranda was represented by Advocate Subodh Desai,

Advocate Tarak Sayyad appeared for Abdel Basit Parihar and for Dipesh Sawant Advocate Rajesh Rathod put his arguments.

All lawyers for the applicants began their arguments that this is a case where offence is bailable and it doesn’t attract stringent section 27 A of The NDPS act. However, this argument was not accepted by Bombay HC Justice Sarang V Kotwal and he asked all lawyers to argue on the merits of the case instead of applicability of nonbailable sections.

Satish Maneshinde argued that his clients Showik and Rhea were merely involved in this because they were doing this for Sushant Singh Rajput and if the late actor was alive, even he would have been charged only for the consumption of contraband. But Rhea and Showik are being wrongly projected as accused involved in Commercial activities prohibited by NDPS act like Financing, Harbouring and sheltering etc. which is not justifiable.

Satish Maneshinde also argued that according to Supreme Court order this case can’t be investigated by NCB as per the SC orders in Sushant Singh Rajput death case which had ordered that all cases related to the late actor’s death will be investigated by CBI only.

To this, NCB lawyer opposed these jurisdiction arguments and told the court that this case is not Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case but a separate case in its own in the NDPS act and NCB has complete jurisdiction in this case. Para 41 9f the said SC orders about jurisdiction also doesn’t affect NCB’s Jurisdiction in this case.

After over seven hours of arguments, Justice Kotwal’s single-judge bench reserved it’s orders and observed that he will try to pass orders as early as possible. But as the case is voluminous and many things have to be discussed, it may take time for orders. (ANI)

Terming the death of 19-year-old Dalit woman, who was gang-raped in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras as a sad incident, Uttar Pradesh Minister Siddharth Nath Singh on Tuesday said that strict action will be taken in the incident.

“The incident is very saddening. Our Chief Minister is also sad. FIR was filed as soon as his brother visited the police station. Our government stands with the victim’s family. The investigation started immediately and four accused have been arrested. Strict action will be taken,” Singh told ANI.

“Law will take its own course. The government has also given financial support of Rs 10 lakh to the victim’s family. We are there to help the family in everything,” he added.

Meanwhile, Prashant Kumar, ADG, Law and Order, Uttar Pradesh said, “We will file a charge sheet in the case at the earliest and we will try to fast track the case and ensure the maximum punishment for accused.”

The 19-year-old Dalit woman, who was gang-raped in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, died on Tuesday morning, at Safdarjung hospital in Delhi. The woman was gang-raped in Hathras on September 14, 2020, and was admitted to Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital for better healthcare facilities.

All the four accused involved in September 14 gang-rape have been arrested.(ANI)