QBullet: Court Defers Nirbhaya Case Hangings; Britain Exits EU
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1. Court Defers Nirbhaya Case Hangings, No New Date Set
Redress of grievances through procedure established by law is the hallmark of any civilised society, said a Delhi court on Friday and “postponed till further orders” hanging of the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya case.
Additional sessions judge Dharmendra Rana stated, “The courts of this country cannot afford to adversely discriminate against any convict, including death row convicts, in pursuit of his legal remedies by turning a Nelson’s eye towards him.”
Special prosecutor Irfan Ahmed said that Mukesh had exhausted all his constitutional and legal remedies and the
mercy plea of another convict Vinay Kumar Sharma was pending. In case of the other two, Pawan and Akshay, there weren’t any pleas pending. The state prosecutor, therefore, said that barring Vinay, the other three men could be hanged on 1 February.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. Britain Formally Exits European Union After 47 Years of Membership
After 47 years of sitting at the European Union’s top table, the UK on Friday exited the 28-member group to beat an independent path into a future some see as a new dawn and others a leap into the unknown.
It is the first time a member-state has left the group whose origins lie in efforts in the aftermath of the Second World War to counter impulses of extreme nationalism. The moment of exit – 11 pm GMT – was described as a ‘bittersweet’ one by many, including Ireland PM Leo Varadkar.
There was sadness in various quarters in the UK and across Europe after nearly five decades of close engagement brought together not only rules, regulations and markets, but also personal relationships and families. Pro-Brexiteers partied to celebrate the occasion.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Jamia Shooter Bought Gun With Cash for Clothes
The 17-year-old, who shot at a Jamia student during an anti-CAA protest Thursday, had been given Rs 10,000 by his parents to get clothes stitched for a relative’s wedding, but he spent the money on buying a country-made pistol from a 19-year-old who stays in his village in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. This came to light during his initial questioning by police.
On Friday, the youth was produced before a Juvenile Justice Board and sent to 14-day protective custody.
The questioning also revealed how round-the-clock consumption of hateful content on social media and WhatsApp over the past eight months sent the 17-year-old down a path of anger, culminating in Thursday’s shooting.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Farrukhabad: Man Who Took 23 Kids Hostage is Killed, Wife Beaten to Death by Mob
A nine-hour hostage crisis in a village in UP’s Farrukhabad, where 23 children were held overnight by a 40-year-old man identified as a murder convict out on bail, ended with his killing by police. His wife died later in hospital early Friday after she was assaulted by a mob of local residents, police said.
None of the children held hostage suffered any physical injury, police said. But two policemen were injured as Batham detonated an explosive placed among a heap of bricks outside his house, police said. Batham also shot and injured a local resident, who tried to negotiate with him. Another policemen was injured in firing. The condition of the injured is stable, police said.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Kunal Kamra Ban: AirAsia and Vistara Put Process Above Hardeep Singh Puri’s Tweet
Two big airline companies, AirAsia India and Vistara, with a combined market share of 11.4 percent, did not act upon stand-up comedian Kunal Kamrafor heckling Arnab Goswami on board an IndiGo flight, because such action, even if advised by Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, would be in transgression laid down regulations, according to sources with direct knowledge of the developments.
To deviate from the civil aviation requirement as specified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would call for written instructions from the government, the sources said. As of now, they said, the two airlines have initiated independent enquiries by referring the Kamra-Goswami episode to their respective internal committees.
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. Pakistan Likely to Stay in FATF Grey List Over Inadequacy in Curbing Terror
Pakistan is expected to be retained in the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list” at an upcoming meeting of the multilateral watchdog as it hasn’t made adequate progress in countering terror financing, diplomats of two European countries have said.
The working group and plenary meetings of FATF in Paris from February 16 to 21 will assess the implementation of a 27-point action plan by Pakistan, which was placed in the grey list in June 2018 for failing to stop fund raising by groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Taliban and al-Qaeda.
“The available information suggests Pakistan has taken some steps to bring its terror financing and money laundering laws in line with international obligations and to improve its legal structures,” said a diplomat from a European country that was closely involved in the efforts which led to Pakistan being included in the grey list.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Call Intercepts Reveal Vijay Mallya’s Plan to Influence ED, Court Told
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed a Delhi court on Friday that fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya, currently facing extradition proceedings in London, last week spoke to Yasmin Kapoor, a close aide of aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar, asking her to “manage his case” in the Enforcement Directorate.
The agency’s special public prosecutor Nitesh Rana made this stunning revelation before Special Central Bureau of Investigation judge Anurag Sain at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Courts while opposing Kapoor’s anticipatory bail in a money laundering probe related to Talwar’s NGO Advantage India. It is alleged that the NGO received ~90.72 crore under the CSR scheme for carrying out social activities but diverted this for some other purpose, with Kapoor playing an important role in the laundering.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. SC to Hear Petition Seeking ‘Victim-Centric’ Guidelines
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider the plea by the central government seeking victim-centric guidelines to ensure the timely execution of death row convicts.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde agreed to examine the plea, which, among other things, sought deadlines for death row convicts to avail the remedies of curative petitions and mercy petitions. However, the court made it clear that it will not alter the existing rights of death row convicts.
The development comes at a time when uncertainty looms over the hanging of the four convicts in 2012 Delhi gang rape case, and two death warrants issues by a Delhi court have been put on hold because the convicts are yet to exhaust all the remedies available to them.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. Bhima-Koregaon Inquiry Panel Tells State to Wind It Up for Lack of Funds
The two-member inquiry commission set up to investigate the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon riots on Friday wrote to the Maharashtra government, recommending it winds up the commission owing to paucity of funds.
The letter, which HT has a copy of, stated that the superintendent of the commission used to be humiliated by the staff of the Maharashtra home department whenever he came to enquire about pending bills.
Friday’s development comes amid the Centre versus state government tussle over the transfer of the Elgar Parishad probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
It is alleged that the conclave was backed by Maoists and the speeches made there triggered caste-based violence near the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial the next day on 1 January 2018, leaving one dead.
(Source: Hindustan Times)