RIVANCH

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant anticipatory bail to civil rights activists Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde in the Elgar Parishad, alleged Maoist links case. Justice PD Naik rejected the pre-arrest bail pleas filed by them. The court, however, extended the interim protection from arrest granted to them for a period of four weeks so that they can approach the Supreme Court in appeal. Navlakha, Teltumbde and several other activists have been booked by the Pune Police for their alleged Maoist links and several other charges following the violence at Koregaon Bhima village in Pune district on 1 January, 2018. According to Pune Police, "inflammatory" speeches and "provocative" statements made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on 31 December, 2017 had triggered caste violence at Koregaon Bhima the next day. The police alleged that the conclave was backed by Maoists. Teltumbde and Navlakha had approached the high court seeking p...

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on a plea challenging the bail granted by the Jharkhand High Court in one of the fodder scam cases. A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant, sought a response from Yadav on the plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The probe agency has challenged the 12 July, 2019, order passed by the high court at Ranchi, saying it had "erroneously" suspended the sentence awarded by the trial court and released the RJD chief on bail in one of the fodder scam cases. The high court had granted Yadav bail in the case of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury on the ground that he had served half of his prison term of three-and-a-half years. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2SoWKRg Press Trust of India

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday took umbrage at not being invited to the inauguration of the East-West Metro corridor, asserting that her team had to "shed tears" to sanction the project when she was the railway minister. The first phase of the East-West corridor of the mass rapid transport network was flagged off by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday, but the TMC gave the event a miss after Banerjee's name did not feature in the list of invitees. "We had worked hard for the East-West Metro project. We had to literally shed tears for it (approval). I felt bad as I was not even informed about the inauguration," Banerjee said in the state assembly. She was the railway minister from 2009-2011. The first phase of the metro project connects a 4.88-km stretch between Sector V of Salt Lake -- the IT hub of the city -- with Salt Lake Stadium. Criticising the opposition parties in West Bengal for spreading "political pollu...

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Karti Chidambaram, who is facing criminal cases being probed by the ED and CBI, to travel to the UK and France this month for attending a tennis tournament. A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde permitted Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad from 14 to 28 February subject to compliance of conditions imposed earlier. The apex court had earlier allowed Karti, the son of Congress leader P Chidambaram, permission to travel abroad after depositing Rs 10 crore with the secretary general of the Supreme Court. The top court had also asked him to file an undertaking that he would return and cooperate with the investigation. One of the cases faced by Karti Chidambaram relates to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to INX Media for receiving foreign funds of Rs 305 crore when his father was the finance minister. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2UQ8Mok Press Trust of India

Washington: The US can supply energy to India as much as it wants as there is a much greater potential between the two countries in the key sector, a top White House official has said ahead of President Donald Trump's maiden visit to the country. Talks are going on between India and the US on a trade deal, Larry Kudlow, economic advisor to President Donald Trump, told reporters at the White House on Thursday when asked about the progress on a trade deal ahead of the presidential visit. Trump will pay a state visit to India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Wednesday said the US President's visit will be a "very special one" and it will go a long way in further cementing India-USA friendship. Ahead of his visit, the two countries are eyeing to finalise a raft of mega defence deals including procurement of a batch of military helicopters by Indian Navy from American defence major Lockheed Martin at a cost of USD 2.6 bill...

For over 23 years now, Jaibunisha has been working as a conservancy worker, handling waste without proper gloves, for a measly wage. Her monthly salary — Rs 300 in 1997 — is now Rs 8,000, and is often accompanied by inordinate delays. Fifty-five year old Jaibunisha was among 30 conservancy workers attached to the Naravarikuppam Town Panchayat in Redhills, a neighbourhood in the north-west part of Chennai, who gathered at a community hall for a meeting on 6 February 2019. In the meeting, Jaibunisha and the others hesitantly narrated the ordeals they must overcome to complete their allocated task — collecting garbage from residential and commercial establishments, cleaning the sewer and stormwater drains, and disposing of the waste of nearly 18 wards, that altogether hold a population of nearly one lakh people. The Panchayat employs about 30 permanent staff and 45 contract employees as conservancy workers. For contract employees like Jaibunisha, who receive no benefits unlike permanen...

The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday on a plea filed by Sara Abdullah Pilot challenging the detention of her brother and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah under the Public Safety Act. A bench, comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee, said it would hear Pilot's plea challenging Abdullah's detention on 2 March. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Pilot in the apex court. Reacting to the developments, Pilot said that she had hoped for some immediate intervention as this was a Habeas Corpus case. She, however, said that she retains her faith in the judiciary. "We were hopeful that,as this is a habeas corpus case, that the relief would be sooner. But we have full faith in the justice system. We're here because we want that all Kashmiris should have the same rights as all citizen of India and we're waiting for that day," she told  ANI Pilot had on Monday approached the top court challenging...