Month: July 2022

Counting of votes for the recently-held 15th Presidential election will begin at 11 am on Thursday with the results of the contest between BJP-led NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu and joint Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha to be declared today.

The results will declare on who will succeed incumbent Ram Nath Kovind to become the country’s 15th President.
The counting will take place in Room No 63 in Parliament House and the result will be declared immediately after the counting. The immediate precincts of Room Number 63 have been declared as sanitised and “silent zone”.

Only counting officers, officials deployed to assist the Rajya Sabha Secretary General, candidates and one authorised representative of each candidate, observers appointed by the Election Commission and media persons with valid passes will be allowed entry into the counting hall. Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody is the returning officer for the Presidential election.

Out of 736 electors comprising 727 MPs and nine MLAs permitted by the Election Commission to vote at the Parliament house, 728 (719 MPs and nine MLAs) cast their votes. The total turnout at Parliament House was 98.91 per cent.

The voting took place on July 18 and was completed in a peaceful manner.

Droupadi Murmu is seen to have a clear edge in the contest with several political parties extending support to the NDA candidate.

The voting ended at 5 pm at the Parliament House and at designated places in the capitals of all states besides the UTs of Puducherry and Delhi on Monday.

Arrangements were made to bring back the polled ballot boxes from states to Parliament House by July 19.

Meanwhile, people belonging to the native place of NDA candidate Murmu, Rairangpur in Odisha, have made sweets anticipating her victory in the contest against Yashwant Sinha, the Opposition candidate.

The people of her native place have also planned a victory procession and tribal dance on Thursday.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also planned to begin celebrating in more than one lakh tribal villages as soon as the results are announced, sources said on July 14.

The BJP workers have been instructed to begin the celebration after the announcement of the victory of Murmu all over the country, especially among the tribal community in more than one lakh villages across the country.

According to sources, the BJP high command has instructed the office bearers and workers that the BJP will celebrate the victory of Droupadi Murmu in every part of the country. BJP is preparing to celebrate in about 15,000 Mandals.

As soon as Murmu’s victory is announced, instructions have been given to put up hoardings and posters of Droupadi Murmu in these tribal villages.(ANI)

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair on Wednesday evening walked out of Tihar jail after Supreme Court granted him interim bail in all the FIRs registered against him in Uttar Pradesh.

Advocate Soutik Banerjee, his lawyer, said, “Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair is released from Tihar and is now out of jail.”
Mohammed Zubair was arrested on June 27 by Delhi Police.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna said there is no justification to keep Zubair in continued detention, especially since the allegations in the FIRs registered in Uttar Pradesh are similar to those in the Delhi Police FIR.

“Existence of powers of arrest must be distinguished from the exercise of powers of arrest which must be used sparingly,” Justice Chandrachud said.

It also clubbed all the six FIRs registered by the UP Police and transferred all the FIRs registered across the country as well as in UP to Delhi.

The apex court also disbanded the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the UP Police to probe the cases against Zubair.

The apex court ordered that the transfer of the FIRs shall apply to all existing FIRs and to all future FIRs that may be registered on the issue.

The top court, while granting interim bail to Zubair, noted that he had already been granted bail by the Patiala House Court in Delhi in a similar case registered by the Delhi Police.

The bench directed Zubair to furnish a bail bond of Rs 20,000 before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House Court.

It said that immediately after the submission of the bail bond, the Superintendent of Tihar Jail must ensure that Zubair is released before 6 pm today.

The bench in its order stated, “Essentially the gravamen of allegations are tweets by him. He has been subjected to fairly sustained probe by Delhi Police. We don’t find a reason for his deprivation of liberty to persist further. We direct Zubair be released on bail on each of the FIRs in UP. The existence of powers of arrest must be distinguished from the exercise of powers of arrest, which must be used sparingly.”

The apex court also said that Zubair can move Delhi High Court for quashing all or any of the FIRs.

Additional Advocate General of UP, Garima Prashad appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government urged the bench to impose a bail condition on Zubair that he should not tweet again.

The bench declined the request saying “We can’t say that he won’t tweet again. It is like telling a lawyer that you should not argue. How can we tell a journalist that he will not write? If there is any tweets against law, he will be answerable. How can we pass any anticipatory order that someone will not speak…”

During the hearing today, advocate Vrinda Grover appearing for Zubair, contended that “we are in the age of digital media and social media” and that is why the role of someone debunking propaganda can irk someone but the law cannot be weaponised against Zubair.

AAG Prashad said that the accused is not a journalist and he calls himself a fact-checker.

“Instead of fact-checking, he posts tweets which are getting viral and spreading venom,” Prashad said.

She added that Zubair “has been paid for these tweets and he gets paid more for the malicious tweets”.

“State is conscious that here is a person who instead of informing police, takes advantage of videos, speeches etc which can create communal divide. UP State is not here because of some tweets, but because of violence that has happened after such tweets,” she added.

Zubair had approached the top court seeking to either quash all the FIRs registered against him in Uttar Pradesh or in the alternative club them and also challenged the constitution of SIT.

Zubair challenged the FIRs registered at six places in Uttar Pradesh — Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Hathras (two FIRs).On Monday, the Supreme Court directed the Uttar Pradesh police to not take any precipitative action against Zubair in any of the FIRs filed in the state till July 20.

The top court had stayed precipitative action against Zubair in connection with five FIR saying it appears that he is being taken into custody in another FIR if he gets bail in one and that the content of the FIRs appeared similar.

In the plea, Zubair said his personal liberty has been completely jeopardized without following the due procedure established by law, and requested the court either to quash the six FIRs in UP or club all of them with the FIR at Delhi, where he was first arrested, to avoid multiplicity of proceedings and prolonged detention.

The plea also challenged the constitution of the two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Uttar Pradesh government had last week formed the SIT to investigate the six cases registered against Zubair in various districts of the State. The SIT comprised Inspector General Preetinder Singh, currently posted at the Department of Prisons Administration and Reform, and Deputy Inspector General of police Amit Verma.

Zubair also sought interim bail in all FIRs.

On July 12 the Supreme Court extended till September 7 the five days of interim bail granted to Zubair in the case registered against him by Uttar Pradesh Police in Sitapur. The apex court had clarified that its interim bail order is with respect to the FIR lodged in Sitapur only and has nothing to do with a separate case registered against him in Delhi.

Zubair had challenged the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash an FIR registered against him by Uttar Pradesh police in Sitapur for a tweet in which he allegedly called three Hindu seers “‘hate mongers”.

Sitapur court had sent him to judicial custody and declined his bail plea.

Hathras court had also sent Zubair to 14-day judicial custody after two cases were registered against him in the district on July 4. The case was registered by Deepak Sharma for Zubair’s remarks on Hindu Gods and Goddesses in a tweet in 2018.

Last week, the Lakhimpur court had sent Zubair to 14-day judicial custody.

Delhi court had also sent him to judicial custody in the case registered against him. The Delhi police arrested him on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets. (ANI)

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday in the National Herald case.

The Congress has decided to protest across the country against the BJP-led government Thursday in support of Sonia Gandhi.

Congress leader Manickam Tagore tweeted, “Congress office HQ in Akbar Road but now closed by shah police…. They know the strength of Congress workers and their commitment.”

The police have already made elaborate arrangements and have barricaded Akbar Road as the party headquarters is located at 24, Akbar Road.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, other senior party leaders and MPs are already present in Delhi. They had a meeting this evening at Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s house.

Congress leader and former MP PL Punia said that both the Houses of Parliament would be adjourned on Thursday and after that, all Congress MPs will gather at Pant Marg near Gurdwara Rakabganj and from there they will reach the Congress headquarters together.

Further, Punia said that the rest of the Congress leaders and AICC members will go to the ED office from the party headquarters in support of Sonia Gandhi.

Official sources said that Sonia Gandhi has been asked to depose before the investigators at the party headquarters here around 11 am on Thursday.

The fresh summon was issued as Sonia Gandhi could not join the ED investigation in the case due to COVID-19.

The agency had earlier issued similar summons to Sonia Gandhi as she did not appear before the investigators on June 8 and then on June 21 due to COVID-19.

The Congress leader had developed a mild fever on June 1 evening and was found COVID-19 positive upon testing the next morning.

The ED had on June 1 summoned Sonia Gandhi to appear before its investigators on June 8 in the case for the first time in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald.

The ED wants to record both Sonia Gandhi’s statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED last month questioned Rahul Gandhi on several occasions in the case.

The case to investigate alleged financial irregularities under the PMLA was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

Swamy had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 per cent shares each.

The YIL promoters include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Swamy had alleged that the Gandhis cheated and misappropriated funds, with YIL paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress.

Congress argued that YIL was a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 that can neither accumulate profits nor pay dividends to its shareholders.

Calling it a case of political vendetta, senior Supreme Court advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had said, “This is truly a very weird case — an alleged money laundering case on which summons are issued with no money involved.”

The federal agency’s move followed the questioning of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Treasurer Pawan Bansal in April this year in New Delhi in connection with its money laundering probe into the National Herald case.

The agency then recorded the statements of both the Congress leaders then under the PMLA. The National Herald is published by AJL and owned by YIL.

While Kharge is the CEO of YIL, Bansal is the Managing Director of AJL.

The ED is currently investigating the shareholding pattern and financial transactions as well as the role of party functionaries in the functioning of AJL and YIL. (ANI)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for hearing on August 1 the petitions filed by both factions of the Shiv Sena relating to the control of the Shiv Sena party and the recent political crisis in Maharashtra, which brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP) government in the state.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli granted time to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led camp to file an affidavit on the pleas filed by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray-led faction.

Senior advocate Harish Salve for the Shinde camp sought time to file a reply on pleas filed by the Thackeray camp and asked the court to post the hearing next week.

Hinting at the formation of a larger bench in the future, CJI Ramana said, “Some of the issues, I strongly feel, may require a larger bench. A larger bench can hear the case.”

Supreme Court said that the issues in petitions may require reference to a five-judge bench.

The bench further said that the Speaker will maintain the status quo and not decide on any disqualification applications.

The Apex Court also tells the Legislative Assembly secretary to keep all records in safe custody.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal representing Uddhav Thackeray’s camp told the apex court that every elected government in this country can be toppled if this case can be accepted. “Democracy is in danger if state governments can be toppled despite the bar under the 10th schedule,” Sibal said.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve for the Eknath Shinde camp said that inner party democracy has been throttled by disqualification proceedings. He has sought time to file a reply on the petitions filed by the Thackeray camp and asks to post the hearing next week.

In his arguments, Sibal said: “Forty members of Shiv Sena by their conduct are deemed to have incurred disqualification by giving up party membership. By voting for a candidate put up by the BJP as Speaker in violation of the official whip, they have attracted disqualification. By voting in the vote of confidence violating official whip, they have incurred disqualification,” said Sibal.

He further said that the Governor should not have sworn-in to the new government when the Supreme Court was hearing the matters.

“Speaker recognizing a whip other than the official whip nominated by the party is mala fide,” he said.

Sibal said that the issue of the political party is itself in question. When disqualified members elect a person and they stand disqualified, then the election itself is bad.

“What happens to the verdict of the people who elected the government,” Sibal asks.

He said that the Schedule that has been used to prevent defection has been used to instigate defection. The tenth schedule has been turned topsy-turvy. Every day’s delay will play havoc with democratic decisions. An illegitimate government should stay for a single day, he added.

Senior advocate Singhvi appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp also told the Supreme Court that the so-called departing faction sent a letter to the then Deputy Speaker seeking his removal and they sent it from an unauthorized email followed by a letter by an advocate. Deputy Speaker didn’t take it on record saying no MLAs came before him.

Singvhi said the condition in the 10th Schedule is that not only you should have two-thirds going but also the 2/3rd should merge with another party. They have not merged with another party and they are not calling themselves BJP either. It is common ground that they have not merged. Yet they are not disqualified. They can vote in a floor test and form a contrived majority. We are beseeching the court to uphold a very important moral, ethical, legal and constitutional aspect, he added.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve for the Eknath Shinde camp said that inner party democracy has been throttled by disqualification proceedings.

“If a large number of people in a party feels that another man should lead, what is wrong with that. The moment someone gathers enough strength within the party and stays within the party to question the leader without leaving the party and says we will defeat you in the house, that is not defection. Defection is only when they leave the party and join hands with one another, not when they stay in the party,” he said.

Salve further said that the inner party matter and the court has never interfered in the workings of a political party.

The Supreme Court was hearing the pleas one by the Shinde camp and five by the Thackeray camp pertain to the disqualification proceedings, the election of Speaker, recognition of whip, floor test and others.

Uddhav Thackeray-led faction had approached the top court challenging the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s decision to invite Eknath Shinde to form the government and also the Speaker’s election and floor test.

They had also challenged the newly appointed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s action recognising the whip of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group as the whip of Shiv Sena. The plea said the newly appointed Speaker has no jurisdiction to recognise whips nominated by Shinde as Uddhav Thackeray is still the head of the Shiv Sena official party.

However, the Shinde group challenged the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker to 16 rebel MLAs as well as the appointment of Ajay Choudhary as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader, which is also pending before the apex court. (ANI)

With hours to go for the counting of votes to take place to elect the 15th President of India, people belonging to the native place of NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu, Rairangpur in Odisha, have made sweets anticipating her victory in the contest against Yashwant Sinha, the Opposition candidate.

The people of her native place have also planned a victory procession and tribal dance on Thursday.
“Tomorrow will be a big day for Rairangpur and for the entire Odisha because, for the first time in the history of India, a tribal woman will become the President of India. There is an atmosphere of celebration here. 20,000 sweets are being made. There will be fireworks and tribal dance tomorrow morning. The victory procession will be taken out tomorrow,” said a local resident.

The Headteacher of the Government Upper Primary School where Murmu studied, recalling her school life, said that she was a brilliant student and wanted to “serve the people”.

“From 1968 to 1970, I was the Head Teacher, when she was studying in the school. I feel very proud to know about Droupadi Murmu. She was a brilliant student. I remember once, the students were asked to share what they want to become in future, students mentioned different professions, but when Murmu was asked, she stated that she wants to serve the people. Today I can connect to that,” Bisweswar Mohanty told ANI.

“First she served as Governor and now she will be on the highest constitutional post,” he added.

The students of the school said that they felt proud that Murmu who was a student of the school had attained a high position.

“She had also studied in this school. Tomorrow she is going to be the President of India. It is a matter of pride and happiness for us that we are studying in the same school. We are inspired by her,” a student, Tanushree said.

Another student, Indrajeet said, “I am feeling proud that she studied at this school. We too want to make it big when we grow up.”

Meanwhile, the counting of votes to elect India’s 15th President will take place on Thursday. The counting will begin at Parliament House at 11 am.

The voting took place on July 18 and was completed in a peaceful manner.

The contest is between BJP-led NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu and opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha. The NDA candidate is seen to have a clear edge in the contest.

The voting ended at 5 pm at the Parliament House and at designated places in the capitals of all states besides the UTs of Puducherry and Delhi on Monday.

Of the 736 electors comprising 727 MPs and nine MLAs who were permitted by the Election Commission to vote at Parliament House, 728 electors cast their vote. This includes 719 MPs and nine MLAs. The total turnout at Parliament House was 98.91 per cent.

Arrangements were made to bring back the polled ballot boxes from states to Parliament House by July 19.

The counting will take place in Room No 63 in Parliament House and the result will be declared immediately after the counting. The immediate precincts of Room Number 63 have been declared as a sanitised and “silent zone”. (ANI)

Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on Wednesday said that the digitization of ration cards has been completed in all states/UTs and about 19.5 crore ration cards are available on the transparency portal of respective states/UTs.

Jyoti stated this in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, said a press release by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
A statement showing state/UT-wise progress of Aadhaar seeding in ration card was also provided.

99 per cent of the total 19.5 crore ration cards under NFSA have already been seeded with an Aadhaar number (i.e. at least one member of the household). States/UTs have been given time upto September 30, 2022, to complete the Aadhaar seeding of the remaining ration cards.

For effective implementation and bringing transparency to Public Distribution System (PDS), the government has implemented a scheme – “End-to-end Computerization of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) Operations”.

Under this scheme, various activities were carried out such as digitization of ration cards/beneficiary and other databases, online allocation, computerization of supply-chain management, setting up of transparency portal and grievance redressal mechanism, etc.

Besides, automation of fair price shops (FPS) had also been done which involves installation of an electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) device at FPS for authentication of beneficiaries and electronic capturing of transaction data. About 5.32 lakh fair price shops out of a total of 5.33 lakh across the country have been automated so far. (ANI)

China’s debt trap diplomacy became a major cause of Sri Lanka’s unprecedented economic crisis due to the failure of the island nation to take better steps to restructure its debts in dialogue with the IMF.

Sri Lanka has become a cautionary tale of misgovernment and misfortune as the sweeping impact of the pandemic crashed the vital tourism sector, and then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which disrupted global supply chains and accelerated the inflationary spiral that dragged Sri Lanka’s economy into an abyss.

Moreover, the island nation entered a new phase Wednesday as the country’s Parliament elected its next president. The panicked departures and resignations of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, two brothers who loomed large over the country’s politics for more than a decade, came amid an astonishing economic collapse that precipitated mass protests, The Washington Report stated.

Spiking inflation has a vast swath of the country’s 22 million people in need of food assistance. Schools and many businesses remain shut, while ordinary citizens wait days in mile-long lines for gas.

International experts warn that other debt-ridden countries — from Laos in Southeast Asia to Kenya in East Africa — are teetering toward a similar fate.

“Countries with high debt levels and limited policy space will face additional strains. Look no further than Sri Lanka as a warning sign,” International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said during meetings of the Group of 20 finance ministers this weekend, highlighting Sri Lanka’s looming crisis.

Beijing has been Sri Lanka’s biggest creditor, accounting for some 10 per cent of the country’s foreign debt. The communist nation between 2000 and 2020, moreover extended it to close to USD 12 billion in loans to the Sri Lankan government, largely for a slate of major infrastructure projects that turned into white elephants — including a costly port facility in the Rajapaksas’ hometown of Hambantota, which was effectively ceded to Chinese control half a decade ago after Sri Lankan authorities recognized they could no longer pay off the loans, reported The Washington Post, adding that Sri Lanka opted for this path rather than taking the more painful steps of restructuring its debts in dialogue with the IMF and pushing through austerity measures to appease the Paris Club, the grouping of 22 rich nations that are the world’s major creditors. (China is not a member, a reflection of its own geopolitical ambitions and distaste for rules set by other powers.)

Notably, Sri Lanka walked into China’s “debt trap” diplomacy and has been facing its worst nightmare till now.

“Instead of making use of the limited reserves we had and restructuring the debt in advance, we continued to make debt payments until we ran out of all of our reserves,” said Ali Sabry, Sri Lanka’s caretaker finance minister from April to May, to the Wall Street Journal. “If you had been realistic, we should have gone [to the IMF] at least 12 months before we did.”

The legacy Beijing lays down in Colombo will be a marker for the years to come. “This is the first major, uncontrolled collapse where China is a dominant lender,” wrote Peter Hartcher of the Sydney Morning Herald. “This throws open big questions about how it handles its new power over the fates of nations when they’re at their most vulnerable.” (ANI)

Former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss emerged as the final two candidates in the Tory leadership race after Penny Mordaunt was knocked out of the contest on Wednesday.

International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was knocked out in the final round of ballot among Conservative lawmakers. Rishi Sunak won 137 votes, while Truss received 113 in the final round, reported Xinhua.

The two will now go through a postal ballot among all Conservative Party members, numbering around 200,000, over the summer. The winner, to be announced on September 5, will automatically become UK’s next Prime Minister, replacing outgoing Boris Johnson.

Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, topped the first round with 88 votes, according to Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative Backbench 1922 Committee.

The other five survivors were International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (67 votes), Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (50 votes), former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch (40 votes), Backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat (37 votes) and Attorney General Suella Braverman (32 votes).

Subsequently, four candidates made it to the Tory leadership race to replace outgoing Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) after the third round of voting concluded on July 18. Tom Tugendhat, House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, was knocked out of the race as he received the fewest votes.

The four survivors were former Sunak (115 votes), Mordaunt (82 votes), Truss (71 votes), and Badenoch (58 votes).

Indian-origin former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak retained the lead in the fourth round of voting on Tuesday to succeed Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister, while one candidate was eliminated.

Sunak came on top with 118 votes, followed by Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt with 92 votes and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 86 votes. Former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch was eliminated from the contest, reducing the number of contestants to three, according to the 1922 Committee of Conservative Party backbenchers.

Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May as prime minister in 2019 and announced on July 7 that he was stepping down as prime minister and leader of the UK Conservative Party.

A total of 58 ministers quit the government following an ethics scandal which ultimately forced the UK premier to resign. Johnson, 58, managed to remain in power for almost three years, despite allegations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament and was dishonest to the public about government office parties that broke pandemic lockdown rules.

Johnson would continue to remain in office until October as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader is elected.

Johnson, who won a landslide victory in the general elections in 2019, lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals, including the ‘Party Gate’ scandal and the Pincher scandal involving his appointment of a politician accused of sexual misconduct. (ANI)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to fact-checking website Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair in all the FIR registered against him in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna said there is no justification to keep Zubair in continued detention, especially since the allegations in the FIRs registered in Uttar Pradesh are similar to those in the Delhi Police FIR.

“Existence of powers of arrest must be distinguished from the exercise of powers of arrest which must be used sparingly,” Justice Chandrachud said.

It also clubbed all the six FIRs registered by the UP Police and transferred all the FIRs registered across the country as well as in UP to Delhi. The apex court also disbanded the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the UP Police to probe the cases against Zubair.

The apex court ordered that the transfer of the FIRs shall apply to all existing FIRs and to all future FIRs that may be registered on the issue.

The top court, while granting interim bail to Zubair, noted that he had already been granted bail by the Patiala House Court in Delhi in a similar case registered by the Delhi Police.

The bench directed Zubair to furnish a bail bond of Rs 20,000 before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House Court.

It said that immediately after the submission of the bail bond, the Superintendent of Tihar Jail must ensure that Zubair is released before 6 pm today.

The bench in its order stated, “Essentially the gravamen of allegations are tweets by him. He has been subjected to fairly sustained probe by Delhi Police. We don’t find a reason for his deprivation of liberty to persist further. We direct Zubair be released on bail on each of the FIRs in UP. Existence of powers of arrest must be distinguished from the exercise of powers of arrest, which must be used sparingly.”

The apex court also said that Zubair can move Delhi High Court for quashing of all or any of the FIRs.

Additional Advocate General of UP, Garima Prashad appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government urged the bench to impose a bail condition on Zubair that he should not tweet again.

The bench declined the request saying “We can’t say that he won’t tweet again. It is like telling a lawyer that you should not argue. How can we tell a journalist that he will not write? If there is any tweets against law, he will be answerable. How can we pass any anticipatory order that someone will not speak…”

During the hearing today, advocate Vrinda Grover appearing for Zubair, contended that “we are in the age of digital media and social media” and that is why the role of someone debunking propaganda can irk someone but the law cannot be weaponised against Zubair.

AAG Prashad said that the accused is not a journalist and he calls himself a fact-checker. “Instead of fact-checking, he posts tweets which are getting viral and spreading venom,” Prashad said.

She added that Zubair “has been paid for these tweets and he gets paid more for the malicious tweets”.

“State is conscious that here is a person who instead of informing police, takes advantage of videos, speeches etc which can create communal divide. UP State is not here because of some tweets, but because of violence that has happened after such tweets,” she added.

Zubair had approached the top court seeking to either quash all the FIRs registered against him in Uttar Pradesh or in the alternative club them and also challenged the constitution of SIT.

Zubair challenged the FIRs registered at six places in Uttar Pradesh — Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Hathras (two FIRs).

On Monday, the Supreme Court directed the Uttar Pradesh police to not take any precipitative action against Zubair in any of the FIRs filed in the state till July 20.

The top court had stayed precipitative action against Zubair in connection with five FIR saying it appears that he is being taken into custody in another FIR if he gets bail in one and that the content of the FIRs appeared similar.

In the plea, Zubair said his personal liberty has been completely jeopardized without following the due procedure established by law, and requested the court either to quash the six FIRs in UP or club all of them with the FIR at Delhi, where he was first arrested, to avoid multiplicity of proceedings and prolonged detention.

The plea also challenged the constitution of the two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Uttar Pradesh government had last week formed the SIT to investigate the six cases registered against Zubair in various districts of the State. The SIT comprised Inspector General Preetinder Singh, currently posted at Department of Prisons Administration and Reform, and Deputy Inspector General of police Amit Verma.

Zubair also sought interim bail in all FIRs.

On July 12 the Supreme Court had extended till September 7 the five days of interim bail granted to Zubair in the case registered against him by Uttar Pradesh Police in Sitapur. The apex court had clarified that its interim bail order is with respect to the FIR lodged in Sitapur only and has nothing to do with a separate case registered against him in Delhi.

Zubair had challenged the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash an FIR registered against him by Uttar Pradesh police in Sitapur for a tweet in which he allegedly called three Hindu seers “‘hate mongers”.

Sitapur court had sent him to judicial custody and declined his bail plea.

Hathras court had also sent Zubair to 14-day judicial custody after two cases were registered against him in the district on July 4. The case was registered by Deepak Sharma for Zubair’s remarks on Hindu Gods and Goddesses in a tweet in 2018.

Last week, the Lakhimpur court had sent Zubair to 14-day judicial custody.

Delhi court had also sent him to judicial custody in the case registered against him. The Delhi police had arrested him on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets. (ANI)

Over 5,502 Kashmiri Pandits have been provided government jobs in different departments of the government of Jammu and Kashmir post the scrapping of Article 370 in the valley, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha.

“Under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP), 5,502 Kashmiri Pandits have been provided government jobs in different departments of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir,” said the Union Minister.
The MoS Home also said that no Kashmiri Pandit has reportedly migrated from the valley from August 5, 2019, till July 9, 2022, and 128 security force personnel and 118 civilians have been killed by terrorists during the period.

Replying to a question of Congress MP Digvijay Singh, MoS Home Nityanand Rai in a written reply to Rajya Sabha said, “From August 5, 2019, till July 9, 2022, 128 security force personnel and 118 civilians have been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Out of the 118 civilians killed, five were Kashmiri Pandits, and 16 belonged to other Hindu/Sikh communities. No pilgrim has been killed.”

There has been a substantial decline in terrorist attacks from 417 in 2018 to 229 in 2021, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

While giving a written reply to a query to the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, the MoS said the government has a “policy of zero tolerance against terrorism and the security situation has improved significantly in Jammu and Kashmir.”

The minister said the incidents of terrorist attacks also decreased significantly since 2018 in Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 229 terrorist attacks were reported in 2021; 244 in 2020; 255 in 2019; and 417 in 2018.

In these attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said, a total of 42 security force personnel were killed in 2021 following 62 killings in 2020, 80 in 2019 and 91 in 2018. Similarly, a total of 41 civilians were killed in 2021 following 37 in 2020 and 39 each in 2019 as well as 2018.

Also replying to Kharge’s question “Whether the government was aware of the rising attacks on Kashmiri Pandits during last few months” the Mos said, during the last few months two incidents of attacks on Kashmiri Pandits have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir in which one person was killed and another person injured.

“The government has taken several measures to ensure the safety of minorities in the valley. These include a robust security and intelligence grid, day and night area domination, patrolling and proactive operations against terrorists, round-the-clock checking at Nakas, deployment of Road Opening Parties at strategic points to thwart any terrorist attack,” Rai said.

He also shared data showing the year-wise attacks on civilians during the last five years.

As per the data, a total of seven civilians had been attacked in Jammu and Kashmir up to June 30 this year.

“The number of civilians attacked in 2021 was 12. The number stands at 28 both in 2020 and 2019. However, 33 civilians were attacked in 2018,” as per the data. (ANI)