Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News |
- United States still considers Russia as a National Threat
- Five important Scam Findings in CAG Report
- SC dismisses plea in L N Mishra Murder Case
- Tamil Nadu grants Safety to North East Students
- Former Lokayukta in West Bengal gets Threat Calls when Criticized Mamata
- Attack on North East Students not just a Rumour
- Ajmer Dargah receives $1 Million grant from Pakistan President Jardari
- Student Exodus to North East continues despite efforts
- Kanda’s Anticipatory Bail Plea rejected by Delhi High Court
- Women Safety a big concern in Bihar
| United States still considers Russia as a National Threat Posted: 17 Aug 2012 07:30 PM PDT US President Barack Obama has extended a legal act that lists Russia, among 16 other states, as a national threat, and allows for the freezing and confiscation of assets in the US. Russia, alongside Syria, Iran, North Korea, Belarus and other states, has been subjected to International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) since 2000 due to its ability to export weapons-grade uranium. IEEPA is a federal law authorising the US president to regulate commerce after declaring a national emergency in response to any unusual and extraordinary threat to the US that stems from a foreign source. It authorises the president to block transactions and freeze assets to deal with the threat. In the event of an actual attack on the US, the president can also confiscate property connected with a country, group, or person that aided in the attack. Some analysts believe IEEPA could become a US trump card in the situation around Syria.  |
| Five important Scam Findings in CAG Report Posted: 17 Aug 2012 07:27 PM PDT The Comptroller and Auditor General of India Report when tabled in Parliament has taken whole nation by storm. The Report suggested a total loss of over Rs 1,86000 Crores to the Government. Below are few important findings in CAG Report 1. The CAG report on the allocation of 57 coal-mining blocks in 2004 to 2011 said the government had lost as much as 1.85 trillion rupees ($33 billion) by allocating the licenses to private companies without a transparent auction. 2.The auditor also criticized the government for the way in which it awarded the contract for New Delhi’s international airport. The report said an international consortium led by GMR Infrastructure Ltd. paid too low a price in 2006 for the right to develop and operate the airport and surrounding land for 30 years, leading to large losses for the country. 3. The audit report also names 25 companies that were beneficiaries, including Essar Power, Jindal Steel and Power, Hindalco and Tata Power, DB Power, Adani Power, CESC, Monnet Ispat, Rungta Mines, Mukund and Tata Steel. 4. The CAG said that to be eligible to bid for a Ultra Mega Power Project, a company should have implemented projects worth Rs 3,000 crore in the last 10 years including one project of more than 500 crore. However, CAG estimated that out of investment of Rs 4,416 crore claimed by Reliance Power while bidding for the Sasan project, only Rs 1,292 crore was “admissible experience” while the rest “may not conform to the stipulated qualifying requirements”. The CAG report on power projects which is equally damaging, says undue financial benefit given to Reliance Power amounted to over Rs 29,000 crore. 5. Mr. Narayanasamy at the prime minister’s office says the CAG report can’t be considered as evidence of any loss to the government unless it is approved by the public accounts committee—a panel of parliamentarians that oversees such audit reports and is now headed by an opposition politician.  |
| SC dismisses plea in L N Mishra Murder Case Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:30 PM PDT Supreme Court has dismissed the petition of Ranjan Dwivedi, one of the accused in the 1975 assassination of then railway minister L.N. Mishra in a bomb attack in Samastipur Bihar, for quashing his trial on the ground of an inordinate delay of 37 years. Another accused Sudevananda Avadhuta too had moved the court seeking quashing of proceedings. A bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice C.K. Prasad directed the trial court to conclude the trial as early as possible by holding a day to day hearing of the case. The court also directed the trial court not to entertain any plea for unwarranted adjournment. Delivering the judgment, Justice Dattu said that the delay in the completion of trial in no way reflected any systemic failure but was on account of the dragging of the case by the accused. He said that the system has not failed. He said that 30 judges who presided over the trail court from time to time too could not be blamed, as they did their best to achieve the desired results. Disagreeing with senior counsel T.R. Andhyarujina, appearing for Dwivedi, that the it was case of systemic failure, the court said: “We certainly say that our system has not failed, but, the accused was successful in dragging on the proceedings to a stage where, if it is drawn further, it may snap the justice delivery system.” Pronouncing the order, Justice Dattu said: “We intend to say, particularly, looking into long adjournments sought by the accused persons, who are seven in number, that accused cannot take advantage or the benefit of the right of speedy trial by causing the delay and then use that delay in order to assert their rights”, the court said. Justice Prasad, in a concurrent but separate judgment, said that he had given a “most anxious” consideration to the plea of Andhyarujina that delay of 37 years was barbaric, oppressive and atrocious and was violative of right of speedy trial guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. “I have given my most anxious consideration to the submission advanced and, at one point of time, in deference to his passionate appeal, I was inclined to consider this issue in detail and give a fresh look”, Justice Prasad said. However, referring to the five judges and seven judges apex court constitution bench verdicts in Abdul Rehman Antulay case and in P. Ramachandra Rao case respectively, he said: “This course does not seem to be open to me”. Noting judicial discipline expects them to consider the earlier decisions of the constitution benches, he said: “Hence, in my opinion, the trial cannot be terminated merely on the ground of delay without considering the reasons thereof.” The case relates to the incident when a bomb was thrown at the dais where Mishra was addressing a public meeting in Samastipur in Bihar Jan 2, 1975. Mishra, injured in the attack, succumbed in hospital the following day. Dwivedi is one of the accused who threw a bomb at the dais when Mishra was addressing the meeting. The trial started in Bihar but was later shifted to Delhi.  |
| Tamil Nadu grants Safety to North East Students Posted: 17 Aug 2012 05:30 PM PDT Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa assured safety to the people from the northeast living and working here. In a statement, Jayalalithaa said: “Tamil Nadu has always been peaceful and my government will ensure that people from all parts of India living in Tamil Nadu do not face any difficulty.” Southern Railway authorities here are monitoring a sudden surge of people from northeastern states like Assam and Manipur, among others, at railway stations, who are wanting to return home. “We are attaching additional coaches to trains that pass through Chennai to Assam. Ee are not planning any special train(s) out of Chennai, but based on the situation, a decision would be taken,” a railway official official told IANS. “We did not attach any additional coach to the third special train that passed through Chennai,” the official said. The Egmore Railway Station here Thursday saw a sudden influx of people from Assam and Manipur. Most of them are working in hotels and as security guards at offices or apartment blocks. According to railway officials, a total of five additional coaches were attached to two special trains from Bangalore that passed through Chennai Friday and the rush has been cleared. Around 2,000 people have left in those additional coaches for Assam. Around 700 tickets have been sold for Howrah and beyond on regular trains like Coromandel Express Friday, which is relatively on the high side. “We are not sure whether the people leaving are from Chennai or coming from Bangalore to board trains here,” the railway official added. “Yesterday (Thursday) security guards in our office who are from the northeast were missing in the evening. Though my family members in Manipur are anxious about my safety, I feel safe,” Dilbir Soram, an engineer in an American company, told IANS. “We feel safe here. There have been no reports of any untoward incidents against people from our region. My parents are anxious about our safety,” a student from Manipur studying in an engineering college here told IANS.  |
| Former Lokayukta in West Bengal gets Threat Calls when Criticized Mamata Posted: 17 Aug 2012 04:30 PM PDT After he criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her “corruption in judiciary” remarks, retired Calcutta High Court judge and former Lokayukta Samaresh Banerjee has complained about receiving anonymous threat calls, police said Friday. Bidhannagar police commissioner Rajeev Kumar told IANS that Banerjee had filed two complaints Thursday night stating that he received two anonymous threat calls. “Our investigation showed that the first call was made from a mobile procured in the name of woman but being used by some other person. We are trying to locate him.” “I have no doubt that the calls were made after my remarks directed at (chief minister) Banerjee,” the retired judge said. Banerjee said he received the anonymous calls late Wednesday and Thursday evening. One of the callers claimed he was a journalist with an English daily and threatened him for his comments. The calls were made hours after he participated in a panel discussion on a television channel and made critical remarks against the chief minister for her comments that she made at the state assembly Tuesday. Following the threats, the former Lokayukta filed a written complaint with the Bidhannagar Police station and also made available to the police the telephone number from which the calls were made. He demanded arrests of the culprits and also expressed concern over the whole issue. Banerjee, who retired as the state’s first Lokayukta in February 2009, said that if people lose faith in the judiciary, there will be no democracy.  |
| Attack on North East Students not just a Rumour Posted: 17 Aug 2012 02:30 PM PDT Former Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang said tha there has to be some truth in reports of students being attacked in southern states and these can not be brushed aside as mere rumours. “These reports of attacks on northeastern students and subsequent threats of further reprisal cannot be brushed away as mere rumours,” Lapang, who is also the Chairman of the North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC), told journalists. NECCC is the apex body of the Congress party in the northeastern states. Lapang has also written to union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde expressing “concern and deep anguish” over the reported attacks and threats. He urged Congress leaders to render all help to northeast students and take appropriate stand on the threats and the reports of the attacks. “What rumours? Do you think the 1,100 students who have returned to the region did so without reason? The affected state governments must admit the reported attacks and threats instead of merely brushing them off as rumours,” Lapang said. “Why would students from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Maharashtra, flee if the situation was normal,” Lapang asked. He added: “The attacks and the circulation of SMS maybe a well-planned exercise of some political parties or agencies to gain political mileage.” Meghalaya is sending a fact-finding delegation to the states concerned. “It is a matter of concern and such incidents would have serious ramification in the long run,” Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said.  |
| Ajmer Dargah receives $1 Million grant from Pakistan President Jardari Posted: 17 Aug 2012 01:30 PM PDT Four months after visiting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari announced $1 million donation for Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s shrine at Ajmer, the shrine authorities finally received the money from a Pakistan delegation Friday evening, shrine officials said. The money was paid by a delegation of Pakistan High Commission at a government circuit house in the town, some 150 km from Jaipur, they added. Zardari had offered prayers at the revered shrine in Ajmer April 8 and announced the donation. He was accompanied by his son Bilawal, who had earlier visited the shrine in 2003. The shrine’s administrators had described the donation as one of the biggest in recent years. A six member-team of Pakistan High Commission had arrived at Ajmer Friday morning, a member of the shrine’s Anjuman committee, which comprises khadims (servitors) of the dargah, told IANS. “A closed door meeting between members of the Pakistan delegation and Anjuman committee was held for three hours. There was some dispute among the shrine authorities about distribution of the money among various committees involved in shrine’s regular affairs,” a source said. However the issue was resolved and the money was handed over to the shrine authorities in the evening.  |
| Student Exodus to North East continues despite efforts Posted: 17 Aug 2012 12:30 PM PDT The exodus of people from northeast, including hundreds of students, from Bangalore continued Friday even as police arrested three youths for allegedly assaulting three Manipuri workers at a shopping mall here. “As over 8,000 unreserved tickets were sold throughout the day… we have arranged three special trains from Bangalore to Guwahati to clear the extraordinary rush of passengers to northeast. One train left at 4 p.m. and another at 8 p.m. One more will depart at 10 p.m.,” South Western Railway (SWR) spokesman Syed Imtiaz Ahmed told IANS. The special trains are in addition to the regular express trains to Guwahati and Howrah, which leave Bangalore late in the night. The sudden exodus, majority of them students, workers, security guards and those employed in the hospitality sector, caught the authorities off-guard, as renewed efforts by the state government to desist them from leaving Bangalore had no effect. “An estimated 16,000 people from northeast have left Bangalore during the last three days despite our appeals to stay back with assurances to ensure their safety and security,” Deputy Chief Minister R. Ashoka, who holds the home portfolio, admitted to reporters here. Even desperate attempts by two Assam ministers – Nilamani Sen Deka and Chandra Brahma – who flew from Guwahati Friday afternoon, failed to convince the people. “We have appealed to our people to put off their travel plans and stay back as the Karnataka government had assured them full protection. They need not fear for their safety as the authorities have taken enough measures to provide security,” the ministers told reporters at the city railway station in the presence of Ashoka and state Law Minister S. Suresh Kumar. Though majority of those leaving said that they were rushing home for a break due to week-long holidays, some of them confirmed that they were going back in response to summons from worried parents and relatives, following rumours that they would be attacked after Ramadan in retaliation to the recent violence in Assam. “I have no clues why so many of our people have suddenly decided to rush back home. Wild rumours that they would be harmed for avenging the mindless violence in Assam have created a fear psychosis and a sense of insecurity among the people of northeast,” said Johson Rajkumar, who also hails from Assam and is working as a lecturer in a city college here. In a related development, police arrested Abrar Ahmed, Salman and Vinay, aged 22-24, for assaulting three persons from Manipur at a shopping mall. Police withheld names of the victims for their safety and security reasons, and are interrogating the accused to ascertain the reasons for the attack and if more people were involved in the incident. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar ordered an inquiry into the rumour-mongering that triggered exodus since late Wednesday. “The chief minister informed MPs from the state in New Delhi that he had directed police to investigate the wild rumours against northeast people in Bangalore and alleged threats to their students of a backlash against the ethnic violence in Assam,” an official of the chief minister’s office told IANS here. Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in sensitive areas across the city and patrolling intensified in localities populated by northeast people, including college-going students, blue collar and white collar employees, security guards and women working in beauty salons. “We are getting calls regularly on the two helpline numbers set up in the city control room. But they are general, to find out how the situation is, if threat calls are being made and if anyone attacked. No specific complaint against anyone so far” Bangalore deputy commissioner of police (intelligence) Vincent S. D’Souza told IANS. As part of the investigation, cyber sleuths attached to the city crime branch have started cracking at the sensational messages sent through SMS and MMS, e-mails and postings on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter that caused panic and fear among the 240,000 northeast people living in Bangalore and another 100,000 in other cities across the state.  |
| Kanda’s Anticipatory Bail Plea rejected by Delhi High Court Posted: 17 Aug 2012 11:47 AM PDT
Justice P.K. Bhasin said: “In my view, this anticipatory bail application is liable to be rejected, without going into the merits at all, only on the ground that the same has not been filed by the person (Kanda) apprehending his arrest.” The court dismissed the plea, observing that the affidavit filed with the bail application was not signed by Kanda, but was signed by his brother. The court observed that Kanda “appears to be sitting comfortably somewhere without any apprehension of his arrest by the police and that circumstance also appears to be the reason for his not claiming anticipatory bail himself”. “The present anticipatory bail application has been filed on the instruction of one Govind Kumar, who claims himself to be the brother and ‘pairokaar’ of Gopal Goyal Kanda,” Justice Bhasin said. “In the entire application, not even a word has been said as to why Gopal Goyal Kanda himself had not sworn an affidavit in support of this application if at all he had filed the same,” Justice Bhasin said, dismissing the plea. “I also find one vakalatnama (power of attorney) on record which purports to have been signed by Gopal Goyal Kanda in favour of some advocates. This vakalatnama is shown to have been executed by Gopal Goyal Kanda on Aug 13, 2012. “However, one of the advocates, whose name appears to be Mr. Ravinder Singh, has put his signatures for identifying the executant of the vakalatnama but that advocate had put his signatures on Aug 8, 2012. That creates a suspicion in the mind of the Court regarding the genuineness of this vakalatnama also.” “In any event, if this anticipatory bail application had actually been moved by Gopal Goyal Kanda himself and he had engaged advocates for that purpose by signing vakalatnama in their favour then there was no occasion for his brother/’pairokaar’ to have given instructions to any counsel for filing this anticipatory bail application and that too without any authorisation in his favour from Gopal Goyal Kanda and also without any reason for Gopal Goyal Kanda himself not giving any instructions to his own advocates for filing anticipatory bail application on his behalf.” “Considering the fact that Gopal Goyal Kanda is a free man, at least at the present point of time, he alone could have moved the anticipatory bail application supported by his own affidavit and in the absence of his having done that, this application cannot be considered by this court to have actually been filed by him,” the court added. The former Haryana minister was booked for abetment to Geetika’s suicide and criminal intimidation. He is yet to appear before Delhi Police for questioning. Geetika, 23, was found hanging from the ceiling of her house in north Delhi’s Ashok Vihar on Aug 5. She left behind two suicide notes, blaming Kanda and his employee Aruna Chaddha, who is now in judicial custody. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Devender Kumar Jangala, Thursday also issued non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Kanda, the victim’s employer, and fixed Aug 24 for hearing. The court had also sent Chaddha, a senior executive in Kanda’s group and employee of his now-defunct MDLR Airlines, to judicial custody till Aug 30. She was arrested Aug 8. Geetika earlier worked as a flight attendant in the MDLR Airlines owned by Kanda. After the airlines ceased to function in 2009, she was given a job in another company owned by him. Kanda moved high court seeking anticipatory bail after sessions court Aug 9 dismissed his plea.  |
| Women Safety a big concern in Bihar Posted: 17 Aug 2012 11:20 AM PDT A National Commission for Women (NCW) team Friday said women are not safe in Bihar and after probing the alleged gangrape of a Class 11 student here described the situation as “serious”. “Crimes against women including rape, gangrape, sexual harassment and molestation are reported regularly,” Charu Walikhanna, an NCW member, said here. She met Bihar police chief Abhyanand to inquire about the progress of the police probe into the gangrape. All the six accused have been arrested. The alleged incident took place at Rajvanshi Nagar of Patna June 14, but it was not reported till the end of July. The accused allegedly videographed the rape and circulated its CDs and MMS among friends, police said. A complaint was filed by the Bihar Commission for Women after opposition parties and activists took out a candle march and held a vigil to highlight the case. In her statement to both the women’s commission and the police, the girl stated that she was gangraped. Two groups of girls from Gaya and Rohtas districts, who are victims of sexual harassment, met Walikhanna. “These girls complained about the local police. They said that they ran from pillar to post for justice, but the police have not initiated any action against them the accused,” Walikhanna said.  |
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