1. ‘Barbaric, Diabolic’: SC Upholds Death for Convicts in 2012 Gangrape Case
The Supreme Court upheld on Friday the death sentence against four men convicted of gangraping and killing a woman in Delhi in 2012, a crime that sparked national outrage and led to stringent laws against sexual violence against women in India.
Applause broke out in the packed courtroom after a three-judge bench threw out an appeal by the convicts, saying the “brutal, barbaric and diabolic” crime had generated a “tsunami of shock” in the society.
“Sympathy in any form would be misplaced and it would shake the confidence of public in the administration of criminal justice system,” said Justice R Banumathi, upholding the death sentence given by a fast-track trial court and which was later reconfirmed by the Delhi high court.
Five men and a juvenile brutalised the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist and her male friend in the back of a moving bus on 16 December 2012. The woman died of her injuries – her internal organs damaged with an iron rod – nearly two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. No-Fly List: Unruly Passengers May Face
Two-Year Ban
The government proposed on Friday three-tier rules for a national no-fly list in an attempt to crack down on ill-behaved passengers and powerful politicians who often abuse and bully staff for convenience.
The Aviation Ministry’s draft rules say any unruly behaviour will invite suspension from flying for a minimum of three months. The maximum penalty could be grounding for two years or more.
The draft rules will be will be put up on the ministry’s website for a month for public comments.
“These provisions are completely open to suggestions,” Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey said.
The rules come weeks after Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad beat up an elderly Air India employee in an altercation over seat allocation. A video of the assault went viral on social media, triggering nationwide outrage and forcing the politician to apologise in Parliament.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Shivpal Yadav Announces New Front With Mulayam as Chief
Dissident Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav said on Friday he will within 3 months form an all-India secular front that will be led by his brother and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The 62-year-old leader didn’t make it clear if he was walking out of the Samajwadi Party to form the Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM). Neither did he specify if the new front will enter electoral politics.
If Shivpal forms a new party and the Samajwadi Party expels him, then he will remain an unattached state lawmaker. He can be disqualified only if he resigns from the SP or defies the party whip during a vote in the state assembly.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Clean-Up? Govt Shifts Chiefs of Large Banks
In a first-of-its-kind move, the Union government replaced two high-profile public sector bank chiefs on Friday for failing to do enough to revitalise their banks, in addition to appointing five new MDs and chief executives at state-run banks that are grappling with a pile of stressed loans.
The appointments came within hours of an ordinance signed by President Pranab Mukherjee that empowered the Reserve Bank of India to order action against loan defaulters apart from getting lenders to initiate insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings.
As part of the revamp of the management of state-run lenders, the government moved Punjab National Bank managing director and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian to Allahabad Bank. Similarly, Bank of India boss Melvyn Rego was shifted to Syndicate Bank. Last month, MK Jain replaced IDBI Bank MD & CEO KP Kharat, who was shifted to Indian Bank.
(Source: Times of India)
5. GSAT-9 Launched: South Asian Diplomacy Lifts Off on ISRO Satellite
Fulfilling a commitment Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made at the Kathmandu SAARC summit in 2014, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Friday launched a communications satellite that will serve the needs of all countries in South Asia, except Pakistan, which opted out of the project.
Modi and leaders of the other participating countries who joined via video conference – Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Maldives President Abdulla Yameen, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena – watched as the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle GSLV-F09, carrying the 2230-kg GSAT-9 South Asia satellite, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 4:57 pm.
(Source: Indian Express)
6. ‘Elopement’ That Led to Bulandshahr Lynching Is Now ‘Rape Case’
The lynching of a 60-year-old man in Bulandshahr that was triggered by the elopement of an inter-faith couple took a strange twist on Friday when police slapped rape charges against the youth soon after the woman “recorded her statement in court”. Cops, however, refused to divulge what exactly was it that she told the local judicial magistrate.
It was after the couple, a 24-year-old Muslim boy and a 19-year-old Hindu girl, disappeared from Fazalpur village of Bulandshahr on 27 April that a group of men, who police have now said belong to the Hindu Yuva Vahini, allegedly beat Ghulam Ahmed, a distant relative of the youth, to death. The men wanted to know the whereabouts of the couple, which Ahmed was unable to furnish. Three men have been arrested and charged with murder in the case even as two others, one of them the main accused called Gavinder Singh, are absconding.
(Source: Times of India)
7. After 26 Years, Assam May Lift AFSPA in Some Areas
The Assam government is reviewing whether the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) could be withdrawn from some areas before making recommendations to the Centre. This move may have repercussions in J&K and Manipur where the Act has been a major subject of dispute between the state governments and the Centre.
Declaring the entirety of Assam a “disturbed area”, the Centre had imposed the Act on 27 November 1990, at the height of militancy spearheaded by Ulfa. The Act enables the armed forces to exercise special powers while combating militancy.
Dispur will now present its proposal to review continuation of the Act at a meeting of the strategic group of the Unified Command structure in the state headed by the Army next week.
(Source: Times of India)
8. After Militant Attacks, J&K Bank Stops Cash Deals in 40 Branches
With bank robberies on the rise and south Kashmir in turmoil, the J&K Bank has decided to stop cash transactions at 40 of its branches, the majority located in the districts of Pulwama and Shopian.
In the last six months, there have been 13 attacks on banks and Rs 92 lakh in cash looted – four incidents have taken place in four days this month.
On 1 May, militants shot dead five policemen and two security guards. These attacks prompted police to issue an advisory to banks, especially J&K Bank, to stop cash transactions at branches in districts that have witnessed militant attacks.
Sajjad Bazaz, Corporate & Communications Head, J&K Bank, told The Indian Express: “The bank has stopped cash transactions at 40 branches after this police advisory. The branches are located in Pulwama and Shopian districts.”
(Source: Indian Express)
9. Thakurs vs Dalits in Saharanpur: One Killed,
25 Houses Set Ablaze
A 35-year-old man was killed, 16 persons seriously injured and at least 25 houses torched after clashes broke out Friday between members of the Thakur and Dalit communities in Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur in UP following a dispute over a procession in memory of Rajput ruler Maharana Pratap.
Officials said the clash was the latest incident in a three-month-old dispute between the two communities over the installation of an Ambedkar statue in the village. They said that while Shabbirpur is dominated by Dalits, the neighbouring Simlana village is a stronghold of Thakurs.
Police said the injured were rushed a local hospital where Sumit Rajput of Rasoolpur village in the area was declared dead. All the houses torched were those of Dalits in Shabbirpur, they said.
(Source: Indian Express)
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