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Defamation case against Priya Ramani: MJ Akbar denies allegations of sexual exploitation, court to hear witnesses on July 15

OpIndia Staff
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Defamation case against Priya Ramani: MJ Akbar denies allegations of sexual exploitation, court to hear witnesses on July 15

Former Union Minister MJ Akbar has appeared before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal for his cross-examination in his defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani. This is his third day appearing for the cross-examination.

Responding to cross-examination by Priya Ramani’s lawyer Rebecca John, MJ Akbar reportedly denied all allegations of sexual misconduct made by his former interns. He was enquired about the claims made by two former interns of Asian Age, Majile De Puy Kamp and Ruth David.

As per a report in Bar and Bench, Akbar had said that he read about the allegations made by another intern, Prerna Singh Bindra, but was unaware of the tweets that she had posted. He had also denied her allegations.

He said that he was aware of the allegations made by other women but he hasn’t complained against any other person nor any other publication. “I reserve my right to take legal action against any other person or entity in future”, said Akbar. Akbar had only filed a complaint against Priya Ramani after having issued a statement dismissing all allegations made against him.

Talking about the allegations made by Pallavi Gogoi, Akbar said that he and his wife have already issued a statement to ANI on that matter. He had denied all allegations. He also added that his response to ANI was not based on any legal advice to preempt any action.

Akbar said that his witnesses had expressed their shock while discussing the allegations that were made. He also said that they weren’t tutored and were not examined just to fulfil the legal requirements.

The court concluded the cross-examination of MJ Akbar and that case has been adjourned. His witnesses would be cross-examined on July 15 and 17.


MJ Akbar who was the former Union Minister of State for External Affairs was forced to resign owing to the public pressure that arose after several women who had worked with had levelled allegations of workplace sexual harassment. After the complaint was filed, twenty journalists have pledged to testify against him in court.

On April 10, Priya Ramani had pleaded not guilty after MJ Akbar had filed a defamation case against her. The case was filed after Ramani had accused him of sexual harassment in the wake of the #Metoo movement which had gathered considerable attention last year.

On May 4, a Delhi court had recorded Akbar’s statement regarding the defamation case followed by his second day of cross-examination on May 20 where he denied having met Priya Ramani in the hotel room.

Karnataka: 11 Congress-JD(S) MLAs submit resignation, drama is speaker’s chamber as DK Shivakumar struggles to save govt

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: 11 Congress-JD(S) MLAs submit resignation, drama is speaker’s chamber as DK Shivakumar struggles to save govt

The Congress-JD(S) ruling is coalition is providing for great drama in Karnataka. Reports have been coming in that as many as 11 MLAs have tendered their resignation and more are expected to follow. According to the latest information, as reported by Republic TV, DK Shivakumar, troubleshooter for the Congress in the state, has reached the Vidhan Soudha and tore the resignation letters submitted by the disgruntled MLAs.


Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar has confirmed that 11 MLAs have resigned thus far.


DK Shivakumar, however, had earlier said no one was going to resign.


Reportedly, all the resigning MLAs from the Congress belong to the Siddaramaiah faction. The former Chief Minister of the state is believed to have reached his residence in Bengaluru amidst the latest crisis. The BJP, on the other hand, says that it’s not in touch with the disgruntled MLAs and that they are resigning because they have realized that continuing in their position was not in the interests of their constituencies and the state.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, meanwhile, is not in the country at the moment and is expected to return tomorrow.

Union Budget 2019: Govt imposes 10% custom duty on newsprint and 5% on printed books to encourage domestic industry

OpIndia Staff
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Union Budget 2019: Govt imposes 10% custom duty on newsprint and 5% on printed books to encourage domestic industry

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in her maiden budget speech on Friday had announced that the government would be imposing 10% customs duty on newsprint and 5% on printed books. The import duty was never levied on newsprint until now.

“To encourage domestic publishing and printing industry, 5% customs duty is being imposed on imported books”, said the Finance Minister while presenting the budget.

The duty would be levied on both the uncoated paper used for printing of newspapers and lightweight coated paper used for magazines. The custom duty would come in effect from Sunday onwards.

This decision is set to have an impact on the newspaper industry, which largely depends on imports. Veerendra Kumar, Rajya Sabha member and managing director of the Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi, voiced his concern on whether the domestic newsprint industry can cater to the requirement of the newspaper industry.

However, the Indian Newsprint Manufacturers Association have welcomed the decision. They had sought the governments help to create a level playing field. They claimed that duty-free cheap imports were making domestic mills unsustainable.

Meanwhile, DMK chief Stalin had criticised the decision. He said, “The imposition of customs duty of ten per cent on the import of the newsprint, required for printing newspapers is a ploy to dismantle print media once and for all and disrupt the spread of news and opinion. The tax burden has been mounted to suppress and weaken one of the pillars of democracy”.

NCP leader arrested in Gadchiroli IED blast case that killed 15 policemen, NIA to take over investigation

OpIndia Staff
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NCP leader arrested in Gadchiroli IED blast case that killed 15 policemen, NIA to take over investigation

The Kurkheda Tehseel president of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Kailash Ramchandani, was reportedly arrested in the IED blast case in Gadchiroli in which 15 policemen and a civilian were killed in May. In addition to this, the blast case will be handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) by the local police.

On May 1, a civilian vehicle carrying 15 Gadchiroli police personnel which was headed for the Purada police station after being informed by the Sub-Divisional Police Officer Shailesh Kale of an incident of arson committed by Maoists a few kilometres from Purada was blown away by an IED blast. All 15 police personnel and a civilian lost their lives in the incident.

Investigating the case, the Gadchiroli police had obtained their first big success in arresting senior Naxal leaders Narmada and Kiran. According to the inputs provided by them and the technical evidence available, the police arrested Dilip Hidami, Parsaram Tulvi, Somnath Madavi, Kisan Hidami and Sukru Gota.

After taking custody of these 5 accused, their interrogation revealed Kurkheda Tehseel President of the NCP, Kailash Ramchandani’s involvement in the IED blast. Kailash owns an Electronics shop and is serving as the district president of the NCP from last several months. The police believe that several other big names might be involved in the blast as well.

The Gadchiroli police will be handing over the probe to the NIA in the next 2-3 days. On being asked why the NIA is being given the probe, the Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police Shailesh Balkawde said that the NIA has decided to take up some of the Naxalite cases. “They have also taken some cases in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand as well,” he said.

Video and statistics highlight from Bangladesh v Pakistan match

Ritesh
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Video and statistics highlight from Bangladesh v Pakistan match

Pakistan won the fourth consecutive game of the World Cup, but alas, that was not enough for them to secure a place in semis. Had they played up to their potential from the beginning of the tournament, they would have been in the semis easily.

Pakistan opted to bat first to score an unrealistic score of 500 in 50 overs, started slowly and the intent was missing. The openers added just 23 runs in 7 overs. However, Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq added 157 runs for the second wicket. Both scored at run a ball pace taking Pakistan to 180 in 32 overs. Babar Azam (96) missed to score another hundred, but Imam went on to score his maiden World Cup hundred before getting out as hit-wicket.

Mustafizur Rahman took another five-wicket haul which stopped Pakistan from scoring a total of over 350. The only other batsman who scored runs and helped Pakistan to score over 300 was Imad Wasim; he smashed 43 off 26 with six fours and 1 six. Pakistan scored 315 for 9 in 50 overs.

Bangladesh never looked like chasing the target. Only Shakib (64) scored some vital runs, and the rest of the batsmen couldn’t score much after a decent start. Shaheen Afridi took six wickets for 35 runs, ended the Bangladesh innings at 221. He became the youngest bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a World Cup match.

Video Highlights

STATS

  • Shaheen Afridi is the youngest bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a World Cup game.
  • Imam-ul-Haq is only the second ODI batsman to be dismissed hit wicket at Lord’s after West Indian Roy Fredricks (against Australia in 1975).
  • Imam-ul-Haq is only the second Pakistani batsman to register an ODI century at Lord’s after Sarfaraz Ahmed (105 v England in 2016).
  • Shakib Al Hasan is now the 3rd player to score 600 or more runs in a World Cup edition after Tendulkar (673) and Hayden (659).

‘I don’t know when I will retire’: MS Dhoni ends the speculation on his retirement

OpIndia Staff
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‘I don’t know when I will retire’: MS Dhoni ends the speculation on his retirement

The speculation on Dhoni’s retirement is over. The legendary wicket-keeper has denied reports of retiring after the World Cup 2019. As per some reports, India’s last match in World Cup could have been MS Dhoni’s final match of his international career.

Ahead of India’s final group stage match against Sri Lanka, Dhoni said, “I don’t know when I will retire. But a lot of people want me to retire before tomorrow’s game,” according to ABP News.

An unnamed BCCI official predicted Dhoni’s retirement as per the PTI reports after the Bangladesh game. Even MS Dhoni’s gesture of using different bat logos suggested that he might retire after the Wrld Cup is over.

“You never know with MS Dhoni. But it is unlikely that he will continue to play for India after this World Cup. But since his decisions to quit captaincy from the three formats have been taken so suddenly, it is tough to predict at the moment,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.

Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga also said that Dhoni should play for another one or two years as that would help the youngster to learn few things about the game from MS Dhoni.

Dhoni has scored 223 runs in 7 innings at a strike rate of 93 in World Cup 2019 so far.

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur criticises run rate rule after missing out on semi-finals

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur criticises run rate rule after missing out on semi-finals

Pakistani coach Mickey Arthur criticizes the run rate rule after being eliminated from World Cup semi-final. Both Pakistan and New Zealand have 11 points after their final group match, but New Zealand qualifies for the semis due to a higher run rate, although Pakistan won against New Zealand on June 26.

The ICC has been considering net run rate as their primary tie-breaker before the equation goes to head-to-head.

“I would certainly have liked them to consider head to head because then tonight we’d be in the semifinal,” Mickey said in the post-match media conference.

“I do think it needs a look. I certainly do. I think the number of wins, head to head, and then if there are three teams altogether, then I think the net run rate can sort it out. Because what it does and what it’s done to us is that one very poor game and you really battle to recover again,” Mickey continued.

The game Arthur refers to is Pakistan’s opening one of the tournament – their seven-wicket hammering by the West Indies.

Mickey added, “I think the nerves got us in the West Indies game, young team. We froze in that game. We then came back, dusted ourselves off, and beat England, then we got rained out against Sri Lanka, and we didn’t play a game for nine days. We didn’t train other than indoors, and we lost momentum again going into what was two very tough fixtures, Australia and India.”

The rules for qualifying the semi-final of World Cup 2019 were out well before the tournament started by ICC.

Delhi based activist Aviral Sharma says he was intimidated to cancel Hanuman Chalisa event at Durga Temple in Hauz Qazi

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi based activist Aviral Sharma says he was intimidated to cancel Hanuman Chalisa event at Durga Temple in Hauz Qazi

Right in the heart of Delhi, Laal Kuan area of Hauz Qazi has been simmering with communal tension. On 30th June 2019, a Muslim mob had desecrated a Durga temple and according to local Hindu residents, even urinated in the temple. After the desecration, several Hindu activists had pledged to ‘reclaim civilisation’. To that end, one activist, Aviral Sharma had taken to Twitter to announce that he will be conducting Hanuman Chalisa at the Durga temple which was vandalised on 30th June.


He had received several responses from people on Twitter saying that they will be joining him at Laal Kuan for the ritual.

However, though released now, Aviral was allegedly detained by the local police station where he was intimidated to withdraw the event and tweet that the event had been cancelled.

When OpIndia spoke to Aviral after he was released, he said that had started getting calls from various quarters including the DCP of Chawdi Bazaar inquiring where he lives and what he proposed to do in Laal Kuan. He also received a call from his local Police Station Gokulpuri saying that he had to visit the PS for a meeting.

Soon after the call, officers from the police station reached his residence and escorted him to the police station.

Aviral Sharma says that while he was in police detention, he was being pressurised to withdraw the invite for the event and give the police a statement in writing confirming that he would not be visiting Hauz Qazi for the planned event of conducting Hanuman Chalisa at the desecrated Durga Temple in the area. Aviral says that despite the pressure, he refused to do so and was intimidated thereafter with threats of cases being filed against him.

When he still refused to cancel the event, the police told him that they would be getting a medical test conducted, confirms Aviral. However, on route the medical test, he was unceremoniously released and dropped at his residence.

When news of Aviral’s detention surfaced, OpIndia tried to contact the SHO of Gokulpuri. the SHO flat-out refused that he even knew of any Aviral Sharma. He said that the incident is not in his knowledge that as per him, no person has been detained in connection with this proposed puja to be conducted at Hauz Qazi.

After Aviral Sharma’s release, OpIndia tried to get in touch with the SHO yet again, however, the attempt was unsuccessful.

Imminent collapse? 8 Congress-JD(S) coalition MLAs resign in Karnataka, more expected to follow: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Imminent collapse? 8 Congress-JD(S) coalition MLAs resign in Karnataka, more expected to follow: Reports

The Karnataka government appears to be on shaky grounds yet again. According to reports, 8 MLAs of the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition have tendered their resignation and there’s a possibility that more resignations are on the way.


Speculations are rife that as many as 13 MLAs of the ruling coalition, 11 from the Congress and 2 from JD(S) could submit their resignation on Saturday. The exact number is unclear as of now. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s close aide and Minister is the current cabinet, MTB Nagaraj, is also likely to resign.


There is also the possibility that the Karnataka government could collapse today as more are expected to join the mutiny. Meanwhile, Congress leaders in the state are running helter-skelter to prevent a collapse which has been appearing inevitable for quite some time.


HD Kumaraswamy has been crying frequently in public whining about the alleged misery he was enduring to keep the government functioning. Ever since the coalition materialized, it always appeared to be only a matter of time before its collapse. The massive defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections seems to have been the final nail in the coffin. If reports are to be believed, Kumaraswamy will be liberated from his suffering soon enough.

Meerut remains tense after Muslims protesting against Tabrez’s death turned violent, main accused Badar Ali arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Meerut remains tense after Muslims protesting against Tabrez’s death turned violent, main accused Badar Ali arrested

The city of Meerut has turned into a seething cauldron after Muslim groups in the city organised violent protests against the unfortunate killing of the alleged bike thief Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand last month. Internet services were suspended on Friday in Meerut and scores of police personnel were deployed amidst heightened tension, days after the police lathi-charged violent crowd that had gathered to protest against mob violence.

On Monday, in Meerut’s Mawana area, hundreds of people had gathered near the Mosque at Mill road to hear Maulana Nafees Ahmed, who had organised a meeting for the members of Muslim community over the death of Tabrez Ansari. As a crowd of several hundred gathered near the Mosque to hear the Maulana’s speech, soon they started altercations with the police. The police had to lathi charge again to disperse the crowd.

On the previous day, a similar crowd had gathered at the Faiz-e-Azam college and had pelted the police with stones and created a ruckus.

Tabrez Ansari was caught by the locals in the Dhatkidih village in Jharkhand on suspicion of bike theft on 18 June. He was beaten up by them before being arrested by the police. He had died on June 22. An investigation team set up by the government had concluded that Tabrez might have died due to stress-induced cardiac arrest.

Medical reports had established that no internal injury was found on Tabrez’s body, hence the police had dismissed the allegations that ‘mob-lynching’ was a cause of Tabrez’s death. However, as the media fanned ‘mob lynching’ narrative, several areas in the country have witnessed violence by Mulsim mob ‘protesting’ against Tabrez’s death.

Meerut has continued to remain tense after last week’s incidents. The Rapid Action Force and the Meerut police personnel, along with members of Provincial Armed Constabulary, were stationed in areas around Indira Chowk. Senior police officials, including Meerut zone ADG, carried out a flag march.

The police have initiated action against those involved in violent protest. More than 50 people have been arrested by the police so far. The accused have been booked under IPC Sections 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 352 (assault), 336 (act endangering life personal safety), among others. Badar Ali, allegedly the one who led the protest march on June 30, was arrested by the police from near a mall in Meerut. The police will prosecute him under the National Security Act(NSA) and his properties will be confiscated.

The SSP of Meerut, Ajay Sahni said: “As a precautionary measure, Police personnel have been deployed and patrolling carried out since 6 in the morning. The Internet services had been suspended because there were rumours of Bharat Bandh floated by some anti-social elements. However, the community members have claimed that they are not supporting the bandh.”

Similar violent protests were also reported from Agra and Surat. In Agra too, a crowd of Muslims had gathered at a Mosque and had then proceeded to pelt stones and attack shopkeepers in several areas. In Surat, a Muslim mob had gathered yesterday to ‘protest’ against Tabrez’s death. The mob had soon turned violent and had pelted stones, attacked police personnel and had also reported damaged public buses on the road.

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