1. Gujarat Man Gets 10 Years in Jail for Killing Calf
A court in Gujarat's Rajkot district has sentenced a man to 10 years of imprisonment and imposed Rs 1 lakh fine for slaughtering a calf.
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge HK Dave on Saturday, 6 July, sentenced Salim Makrani under the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 2017.
An FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint by one Sattar Koliya in January this year in which he accused Makrani of stealing his calf, slaughtering it and serving it at the wedding feast of the latter's daughter.
Witness testimonies and forensic reports were considered before Makrani was convicted and sentenced for the crime under the newly amended Act.
(Source: PTI)
2. As Alpesh Thakor Quits Congress, Nine Seats in Gujarat Now Sans MLA
Nine seats now remain vacant in the Gujarat Assembly following the resignation of Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala. Radhanpur and Bayad, the two seats represented by Thakor and Zala have now been added to the list of seats without a representative in the Assembly.
Both the Congress MLAs had resigned following the Rajya Sabha elections in which the two also went against the party whip and voted for the BJP candidates. Thakor had later launched a series of attack on the Congress saying that his vote was for an honest national leadership.
The 43-year-old MLA, who is one of the prominent leaders of the OBC community in Gujarat, said he was unhappy with the Grand Old Party since he first joined it in 2017.
(Source: DNA)
3. Over 1,400 Doctors Paid Rs 21 Cr to Escape Rural Service
In what is a reflection of the doctor shortage in the rural areas of the state, the government in the Gujarat Assembly admitted that in the last two years 1,490 MBBS doctors who passed from government medical colleges chose to pay up than serve their time in rural areas.
The government in fact earned Rs 21.85 crore in the last two years by way of bond collection from doctors who opted out of the compulsory service in rural areas.
As per the state government rules, MBBS students of government medical colleges have to sign a bond at the time of admission promising to serve in rural areas for three years, failing which they have to pay Rs 5 lakh.
Rs 21.85 crore is a substantial figure given that between the year 2009 and 2014 students had paid Rs 15.68 crore.
In reply to another question, the government also clarified that it was not mulling a proposal to grant the final degree certificate to MBBS doctors only after they mandatorily finish the three year rural posting.
(Source: DNA)
4. Heavy Rainfall Lashes South Gujarat, Light Showers Expected in the City
Normal life was thrown out of gear in several parts of south Gujarat on Sunday after heavy showers lashed the region leaving several areas under knee-to-waist-deep water.
The extremely heavy rainfall in the area is attributed to a cyclonic circulation which is lying over south Gujarat region and its neighbourhood, along with the incursion of moisture from Arabian Sea. However, the weather office has clarified that the intensity of rainfall will start subsiding from Monday.
As per the rainfall data made available by the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), the highest rainfall of 234 mm was recorded in Umergam taluka of Valsad district, whereas Vapi and Kaprada talukas in Valsad recorded 131 mm and 111 mm rainfall, respectively, between 6 am and 8 pm on Sunday.
Heavy rainfall was also recorded at isolated places in Navsari, Chhota Udepur, and Kheda district. Water level in Kolak river in Vapi increased significantly as water could not escape into the sea due to high tide during morning hours. However, the situation returned to normal after the tide receded.
(Source:DNA)
5. Sanjiv Bhatt's Wife Claims Husband Victim of Political Vindictiveness, Officials Counter
The wife of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case, on Sunday alleged her husband was a victim of political vindictiveness and there was a threat to her life, but official sources termed her charges "blatant falsehood".
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Shweta Bhatt said her family has had a hard time since Sanjiv Bhatt was convicted in the case and it has "torn them apart". The official sources said she was spreading "blatant falsehoods and trying to create a false impression about absence of fair trial in the case".
The case is related to the custodial deaths of Prabhudas Vaishnani, who was among 133 people caught by Jamnagar police after a communal riot broke out following a bandh call in view of BJP leader LK Advani's Rath Yatra.
(Source: Business Standard)
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