1. In Goodwill Gesture, India to Release 39 Pakistan Prisoners
In a significant sign that India is finally responding to Islamabad's peace overtures, the government has decided to release 39 Pakistani nationals languishing in Indian jails.
Among them are 21 prisoners who have completed their sentence and 18 fishermen.
Immediately after Islamabad released Indian soldier Babulal Chavan, Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit had told TOI that Pakistan expected India to acknowledge the repatriation and release 33 Pakistanis whose sentences had run out.
We have identified the prisoners and with Pakistan confirming their nationality, they will be released on 1 March.Official Source
While India has reacted cautiously to the house arrest of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, the Centre believes it may be the right time to open channels of communication.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. Gurmehar Kaur Responds to Rijiju's Remark: 'Nobody Is Polluting My Mind'
Hours after Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju tweeted asking who is “polluting” her mind, daughter of a slain Kargil marytr Gurmehar Kaur replied to his comment on Monday saying:
“I have my own mind, nobody is polluting my mind. I am not anti-national.”
In a veiled reference, she also criticised former Indian cricketer Virendra Sehwag for trolling her on Twitter.
I am heartbroken, these are the people you yell for in matches and they troll you at the expense of your father’s death.
In a tweet, Sehwag held a placard that read: “I didn’t score two triple centuries. My bat did.” Meanwhile, two women constables of Delhi Police have been provided to Kaur for round the clock security following rape threats reportedly from ABVP.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. 57 Percent Turnout Recorded in Fifth Phase of UP Polls
Millions voted on Monday in 51 Assembly constituencies in the fifth phase of staggered elections in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
An estimated 57.36 percent of the 1.8 crore electorate had voted between 7 am and 5 pm, the Election Commission said.
After a slow start, voting picked up massively across all the 11 districts including Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
The election commission on Monday revealed that it seized 4.21 crore of cash, 2.20 lakh litre of liquor worth 6.43 crore, drugs worth 47.7 lakh, and jewellery worth 53.36 lakh during the 5th phase of polling in UP.
(Read the full story on The Quint)
4. Paramilitary Force to Use Modified Pellet Guns in Jammu and Kashmir
The Central Reserve Police Force has finally come up with a solution to the eye and face injuries caused on hundreds of protesters over last eight months due to the use of pellet guns.
The paramilitary force has decided to modify all the weapons used to fire the pellets by mounting ‘deflectors’ on them, which makes sure that the pellets don’t scatter in unintended direction and hit any person above abdomen.
Used in J&K since 2010, after over 110 people were killed during a public unrest at that time, the pellet guns were being labelled as 'non-lethal weapons'.
The pellets' cartridges have few hundred lead pieces which, when fired, don't follow a definite path and penetrate the skin's soft tissues. The pellets led to serious injuries to young boys and girls in the valley.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Kerala Priest Held for Rape of Minor, Who Later Gave Birth
A Catholic priest was arrested in Kochi on Monday on the charge of sexually abusing a minor girl who later gave birth to a child. Kerala police identified the priest as 48-year-old Robin Vadakkancheril, vicar at the St Sebastian’s Church in Kottiyoor in Kannur district.
He will face charges under the POCSO Act and IPC Section 376.
Police said the victim was a school girl, the daughter of farm hands. Police said the priest raped the girl in his bedroom at the parsonage attached to the church.
There was only one incident of abuse. The girl gave birth to a child three weeks ago. After the case was registered, the baby was handed over to a government-run orphanage in Kannur.Police
(Source: Indian Express)
6. Transfer of Two HC Judges: Govt Sends File Back to SC Collegium
After sitting on the recommendation made by the Supreme Court collegium to transfer one High Court chief justice and two High Court judges, the Narendra Modi government has quietly sent back the recommendations with regard to two High Court judges to Chief Justice of India JS Khehar for reconsideration by the collegium.
In another development, the SC collegium’s move to transfer Tripura HC Chief Justice T Vaiphei to Hyderabad HC as CJ has also run into rough weather with Chief Justice Vaiphei expressing his disinclination to move to Hyderabad over language concerns.
He is learnt to have told the collegium that since he is from the North-East, he wants to serve in the region. He was appointed CJ of Tripura HC last 21 September. The SC collegium is learnt to have decided to take back its recommendation about him since a judge can’t be transferred twice without his consent.
The reluctance of the government to process the transfer recommendations became a major bone of contention between the higher judiciary under previous CJI TS Thakur and the Modi government with the Supreme Court questioning the government inaction on numerous occasions.
(Source: Indian Express)
7. SC Restores Punishment for Acid Attacker, Compensation for Victim
The Supreme Court came to the relief of an acid attack victim from Telangana as it ordered Rs 3.5 lakh compensation for her and one-year jail term for the accused, whose punishment the high court had reduced to 30 days — time already spent behind bars — despite holding him guilty.
Shocked at the HC’s lenient approach towards the accused, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Bhanumathi restored the rigorous one year imprisonment the accused was handed out by the trial court.
State government was directed to pay Rs 3 lakh of the compensation amount and the court asked the accused to give the rest.
“…the approach of the HC shocks us and we have no hesitation in saying so. When there is medical evidence that there was an acid attack on the young girl and the circumstances having brought home by cogent evidence and the conviction is given the stamp of approval, there was no justification in reducing the sentence to already undergone,” the SC said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Speedbreakers Kill over Nine a Day, Half of Deaths in UP, TN & Karnataka
Speedbreakers account for an average 10 deaths a day in the country, data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways show.
Data compiled by the ministry’s Transport Research Wing put the number of speedbreaker-related accidents in India in 2015 at over 11,000, which resulted in 3,409 deaths.
For example, a speedbreaker designed for trucks can be dangerous for motorcyclists, and one designed for motorcyclists could be ineffective for trucks.
The IRC’s design recommendation, therefore, is basically a compromise to suit average Indian road traffic conditions. Based on field investigations and research, it has suggested that speedbreakers be provided a rounded hump of 3.7 metres width and 0.10 metres height for the preferred advisory crossing speed of 25 km/h for general traffic.
The IRC has also recommended that signs should be put up warning drivers of an approaching speedbreaker, and that speedbreakers should be painted with alternating black and white bands or with luminous strips, or be embedded with reflective road safety devices to give additional visual warning at night.
(Source: Indian Express)
9. In Orange Cycles for Rajasthan School Girls, Congress Sees Saffronisation Bid
Amid allegations of “saffronisation of education”, the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has started free distribution of bicycles – painted in orange colour — among school girls. A group of class 9 girls at a government school in Kota have now been gifted the new bicycles under a state government initiative to check the drop out rate.
The previous Congress government in the state had in 2012-13 proposed to distribute bicycles among girl students, but had not specified any colour.
Education department sources informed that a supply order for bicycles was issued on 3 January, under which the firm had to supply 2,95,671 cycles in 120 days. The firm till date has supplied 50,000 cycles, of which half have been distributed in around 16 districts.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
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