1. Ram Rahim Rape Case Live: 30 Killed, 250 Injured in Violence
At least 30 people have reportedly died in violence that broke out following the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan in a rape case by the CBI court in Panchkula. He was flown to Rohtak’s Sunariya jail in a chopper post the conviction.
Police resorted to tear gas to handle the growing mobs in Panchkula. Media vehicles were vandalised by Dera supporters, and some OB vans were set ablaze. Curfew has been imposed in Patiala, Panchkula, Sirsa, Bhatinda, Ferozpur, Sirsa, and Mansa, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat.
1000 supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda were detained in Panchkula.
Three deaths in Panchkula are cases of self-immolation, sources from Haryana CMO confirmed to The Quint.
Read the full story on The Quint.
2. Doctor Found With Throat Slit at St Stephen's Hospital in Delhi, Staff Shuts OPD in Protest
The body of a 26-year-old junior doctor was found with his throat slit in St Stephen’s Hospital in north Delhi on Friday morning. Sashwat Pandey was associated with the radiology department of the hospital and was a postgraduate intern.
The murder was reported to the police around 9 am after a hospital attendant discovered his body lying in a pool of blood. “Pandey’s body was found in the rest room of the hospital,” said Jatin Narwal, DCP (north).
Pandey’s mother suffered a heart attack after getting the news of her son’s death. She was admitted to St Stephen’s Hospital for treatment later.
He further said there have been no arrests in the case so far but the police are probing the role of a colleague who is missing. A police team has left Delhi to nab the suspect. The police refused to disclose the location.
Police sources said Pandey’s friends have been questioned following which they are investigating if a failed relationship could be behind the murder.
Source: Hindustan Times
3. Army Probe Had Found Purohit Dealt in Illegal Weapons Deals
Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit, the 2008 Malegaon blast accused who was granted bail Monday by the Supreme Court, left the Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai with an Army escort two days later. He said he was ready to don the uniform again. But a report of the Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI), which indicted Purohit for his “activities unbecoming of an Army officer”, is likely to come in the way of his reinstatement.
The report, dated 27 July 2011, lists the findings of a DGMI probe that began soon after Purohit’s name came up in the blast case.
It not only detailed his involvement with Hindutva radicals and his alleged role in the Malegaon blast but also accused him of dealing in arms illegally and selling ordnance weapons.
The report stated that Purohit was “involved in procurement and disposal of wpns (weapons) for monetary benefits”.
Source: Indian Express
4. Aravalis Finally Have a Definition and a Whole Lot More Protection
The definition of Aravalis, whose ambiguous interpretation has for years led to many court battles for the protection of the ecologically fragile hill ranges, has been decided by the Centre.
Removing all grey areas, which have been consistently exploited to give Aravali land away to real estate, particularly in Haryana, the Union environment ministry (MoEFCC) has told the National Green Tribunal that the Aravalis across NCR can be defined through their May 1992 notification.
Known as the ‘Aravali notification’, it says apart from reserved forests or places already classified as ‘forest’ in government records, areas categorised as gair mumkin pahar (uncultivable hill), gair mumkin rada (foothills, pastures), gair mumkin be hed (ravined foothills), banjar beed (cultivable grassy foothills) and rundh (rocky areas between two hills) will be treated as Aravalis.
Source: The Times of India
5. Triple Talaq: Ishrat Jahan Writes to Mamata Banerjee, Seeks Security
Ishrat Jahan, one of the five petitioners to the Supreme Court against instant triple talaq, has written to the West Bengal chief minister's office seeking protection for herself and her four children.
On Friday, TOI reported how the woman, who is being hailed as an icon for women equality and gender justice, has been facing insinuations and social boycott in her neighbourhood in Howrah since Tuesday after the Supreme Court declared instant triple talaq unconstitutional.
Yes I have written to the chief minister today seeking protection. I am not feeling safe in the neighbourhood so I have requested the chief minister to provide security for me and my children. I have sent my plea through post today.
Jahan stays in a house in Howrah's Pilkhana with her four children and husband's elder brother and his family.
Source: The Times of India
6. WikiLeaks Hints at CIA Access to Aadhaar Data, Officials Deny It
WikiLeaks published reports on Thursday that claimed to "expose" that CIA is using tools devised by US-based technology provider Cross Match Technologies for cyber spying that may have compromised Aadhaar data. The claim was dismissed by official sources in India.
Cross Match Technologies also provides biometric solutions to the Unique Identification Authority of India, the statutory body for Aadhaar, leading to claims of possible data leakage.
When contacted, official sources said the report was not a WikiLeaks “leak” but a report by a website.
Cross Match is a global supplier of devices used for biometric data capture. But the data collected cannot reach the company or any other entity as vendors collect data in an encrypted form that is transferred to Aadhaar servers.
The reports do not have any basis in fact. Aadhaar data is safely encrypted and is not accessible to any other agency.Official Sources
Source: The Times of India
7. Privacy Ruling to Have Bearing on Beef Ban Cases: SC
A day after a nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that right to privacy is a fundamental right, a two-judge bench of the court observed that the privacy ruling will have a bearing on the Maharashtra beef ban case pending before it.
“The judgment will have some bearing on these cases,” the bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan remarked while hearing cross-appeals against the Bombay High Court order decriminalising possession of beef in case the animal was slaughtered outside the state even as it upheld the ban on slaughtering of milch cattle.
Some voluntary groups, as well as the State of Maharashtra, have challenged the High Court order.
The challenge raised by the Maharashtra government is pending before a different bench of the court. Senior counsel CU Singh, who appeared for some of the petitioners who have challenged the prohibition, referred to the nine-judge bench verdict on privacy as a fundamental right.
Source: Indian Express
8. Separatists Call off Protests After SC Defers Hearing on Pleas Against Article 35A
Separatist leaders in Kashmir have suspended their five-day protest programme including the 29 August strike call after the Supreme Court accepted Jammu and Kashmir government’s plea to defer the hearing of petitions calling for scrapping of Article 35A .
Following a plea by the state government, the Supreme Court will now hear the petitions after Diwali. A three-member bench was earlier scheduled to hear the case on 29 August.
Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, in a joint statement, said they had announced a series of protest programs which will have continued till 29 August.
Now, because hearings in the Supreme Court have been postponed, the protest program has been postponed.
Article 35A of the Constitution allows the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define the list of permanent residents and their special rights and privileges.
Source: Hindustan Times
9. IAF Pitches for 36 More Rafale Fighters After It Gets the First 36 From France
The IAF is now strongly pitching for acquiring another 36 Rafale fighters after it gets the first 36 jets under the mega Rs 59,000 crore contract (7.87 billion euro) inked with France last September, stressing that the "follow-on" deal will cost just over 60 percent of the original acquisition and induction price.
Defence ministry sources say the IAF has made "some presentations" on the operational need to procure 36 additional Rafales as part of its long-term plans, with the force contending the French fighters will prove to be much cheaper than the proposed fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) to be developed with Russia.
But no final decision as yet has been taken on either the 36 more Rafales or the FGFA project.Ministry of Defence Source
Citing IAF's "critical operational necessity", the Modi government had last year inked the deal for the 36 Rafales, with their weapon packages, associated supplies and logistics, after scrapping the long-pending and deadlocked $20 billion MMRCA project for 126 fighters.
Source: The Times of India
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