1. Aarushi Case: Setback for Talwars as SC Admits CBI Plea Against Their Acquittal
The Supreme Court admitted on Friday an appeal against the acquittal of Rajesh Talwar and his wife Nupur over the murders of their daughter Aarushi and their domestic help Hemraj, reopening one of the country’s most infamous criminal cases that dragged on for years without a conclusive indication of who was behind it.
Combining appeals filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the wife of Hemraj, the top court issued a notice to the Talwars, who were in prison for four years until the Allahabad high court overturned their conviction in October last year noting the evidence to be largely circumstantial.
“CBI will now present its case before the top court to get the acquittal overturned,” said a CBI spokesperson. In its appeal, the agency called the high court’s ruling “wrong on many counts”.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. NDMC School Rape Sparks Protest in Delhi
More than 200 people gathered in front of a New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) school in the national capital on Friday, 10 August, to protest the rape of a six-year-old girl on the premises.
The protesters, mostly parents and guardians of children who study in the school where an electrician allegedly raped the girl, demanded adequate protection for their children.
The agitators allegedly also tried to vandalise school property, spurring heavy police deployment in the area to maintain law and order. They said the school authorities refused to meet them even as they demanded assurance from the principal that the school install CCTV cameras, deploy security guards and women helpers to escort primary section students to toilets.
The accused, who allegedly raped the girl at the school pump house, has been arrested.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Releasing Rajiv Gandhi’s Killers Will Have ‘International Ramifications’: Centre to SC
Releasing the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case will have “international ramifications” and will set “dangerous precedents”, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday, 10 August, while rejecting the Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to free the accused.
Emphasising that the trial court had given “cogent reasons” for imposing death penalty upon the accused and the apex court had termed the assassination an “unparalleled act”, the government said, “… Releasing the four foreign nationals who had committed the gruesome murder of former prime minister of this country, along with 15 others most of whom were police officers, in connivance with three Indian nationals will set a very dangerous precedent and lead to international ramifications by other such criminals in the future.”
The government submitted the document to a bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi, Navin Sinha and KM Joseph who adjourned the matter.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Maldives Wants India to Withdraw Helicopters, Personnel Even as It Woos China
The Maldives wants India to withdraw military helicopters and personnel posted there following the expiry of an agreement in June, its envoy said, the latest snub to New Delhi by President Abdulla Yameen’s China-backed government.
India and China are going head to head in the Maldives, the Indian Ocean island chain where Beijing is building roads, bridges and a bigger airport, upstaging India which has been the country’s prime provider of military and civilian aid for decades.
India has opposed Yameen’s crackdown on political rivals and the imposition of an emergency this year and some of the president’s rivals have called on New Delhi for military intervention, creating worries in the Maldivian government.
The tensions are impacting aid programmes such as security assistance that New Delhi has given to smaller countries in the region to help them protect exclusive economic zones, carry out surveys and combat piracy.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Gang Targets People at Random in Dadri
A group of people has been shooting people arbitrarily in Greater Noida’s Dadri area in the past one month, leaving the police clueless and spreading fear among the villagers.
As many as five persons have been shot and injured in four instances between 8pm and 10pm on the unlit stretches of Dadri over the past 30 days.
The modus operandi of the perpetrators remained the same in all cases — two or three men on motorcycles shoot the persons just once before fleeing the spot.
None of the cases has any robbery or personal enmity angle, claim the police and the victims.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. India Envoy Meets Imran Khan, His Party Says Resumption of Talks a Priority
India’s High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria met Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairperson Imran Khan Friday, a week before he is sworn in as Prime Minister after winning the general elections held there last month.
The meeting was attended by senior PTI leadership, including Shireen Mazari, Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shahzad Waseem and Naeemul Haque, Bisaria congratulated the Prime Minister-elect on his electoral success. Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Islamabad, JP Singh, also accompanied the High Commissioner to the meeting.
The two sides discussed a range of issues, focusing on prospects of the India-Pakistan relationship. The meeting lasted for half an hour and was marked by a candid exchange between the two sides.
Bisaria said that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s phone call to Khan, there was new optimism in India that relations would move forward in the right direction.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. Half of Kerala Flooded; Death Toll Reaches 29
Dam reservoirs and rivers overflowed, sections of highways collapsed and homes were swept away in severe flooding in more than half of Kerala, after days of incessant rains left nearly 54,000 people homeless and killed at least 29, officials said on Friday, 10 August.
Five columns of Army were deployed in the state’s seven severely-hit northern districts, out of Kerala’s 14, to help evacuate people and to build makeshift bridges even as the Navy’s southern command was put on alert after the water level in Periyar river rose amid concern that parts of Wellingdon Island in Kochi could be inundated.
Tourists were barred from entering the hilly Idukki district after roads caved in at many places. Army soldiers were building small bridges to evacuate people stranded at various places in Kozhikode and Wayanad.
A red alert was issued for Idukki and its adjoining districts in view of the possibility of release of more water from the Idukki reservoir.
(Source: The Tribune)
8. ATS Arrests 3 Hindu Activists for Plotting Attacks
The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested three people including a Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti member on Friday on the charge of conspiring to carry out a terror attack, and seized 20 crude bombs among other materials from one of them.
The police claimed the accused were planning to target sites in Mumbai city, Nalasopara, Pune, Satara and Solapur.
The arrested people have been identified as Vaibhav Raut, 40, Sharad Kalaskar, 25, (both picked up from Nalasopara), and Sudhanva Gondhalekar, 39, from Pune.
According to police sources, the Vikhroli unit of the ATS got a tip-off on Tuesday about the alleged conspiracy as well as the phone numbers of the suspects. The informant also told the police that the accused had a cache of weapons at Nalasopara.
(Source: DNA)
9. Triple Talaq Bill Hits RS Hurdle Again
The contentious Triple talaq bill, which seeks to criminalise the practice of instant divorce, could not be taken up for discussion and passage in Rajya Sabha on the last day of the Monsoon session on Friday, 10 August. There was no consensus among political parties on the proposed legislation.
The government is said to be considering bringing an ordinance to outlaw the practice as its efforts to get the bill passed in Parliament have again failed.
“A decision will be taken soon in this regard. The government is committed to protecting the interest of Muslim women,” a minister familiar with the developments said on condition of anonymity.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
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