43 Indians who had arrived from Pakistan last night through Attari-Wagah Border have been sent to a quarantine facility in Amritsar. Reportedly, 29 people had gone to Dubai to watch a cricket match returned to India on Wednesday through the land transit route of Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar.
Addition to them, fourteen Indian students who were studying in Pakistan have also returned back to the country. They have all been quarantined at a facility in Amritsar, said civil surgeon Parijeet Kaur Johal.
Punjab: 43 Indians who arrived last night through Attari-Wagah Border have been sent to quarantine facility in Amritsar. Parijeet Kaur Johal, Civil Surgeon says,”29 have travel history of Dubai&14 are students studying in Pakistan. Medical reports sent to state govt”.#Coronaviruspic.twitter.com/jdabKIdC1j
As reports emerged that Indian citizens, especially students were residing in Pakistan, netizens expressed surprise regarding the rationale behind Indian citizens going to the terror state of Pakistan for educational purposes.
What the hell is studying in Pakistan supposed to mean? Who even goes to Pakistan for studies? ?♂️ And what do they even study there? ?♂️? pic.twitter.com/hBSdKIG1Ur
May be religious study or some other activities on students visa. @HMOIndia should grill these students. Sleeper ISI Cell toh nahi Hai na? Many possibilities
However, it turns out that the Indian students returned from Pakistan are from Kashmir. As per a Hindustan Times report dated 16th March, 2020, about 100 Indians including 15 students from Kashmir were allowed to return to India from Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah border. A senior customs official on condition of anonymity informed Hindustan Times reporter that about 15 Kashmiri students studying in Pakistan have also returned to India after special screening was carried out for them at the border.
Hundreds of Kashmiri students study in Pakistan. As educational institutes there closed because of coronavirus outbreak, most of them are returning home. Prior to that, about 60 Kashmiri students had returned from Pakistan at Wagah border.
Chennai police have registered a case against four office-bearers of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath (TNTJ) and 2500 unknown persons for staging a protest without permission and flouting the governments advisory to maintain social distance amidst the coronavirus threat.
#Breaking | Chennai police books 4 office bearers of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath & 2500 unknown persons for staging a protest without permission & gathering in large numbers during the time of #Coronavirus spread.
After repeated warnings given to the anti-CAA protestors to call off the protests in the wake of the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the Chennai police booked these protestors and the four organisers who have been sitting for the Shaheen-Bagh-style protest in the state.
Shaheen Bagh-style protests were going on in 58 places in the state to protest against the CAA, NRC and NPR. The first such protest started at Washermenpet in Chennai on February 14.
According to reports, these protestors have been booked under four sections of the IPC including section 269 of the IPC which says that whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.
Nearly 50 organisations, which were protesting against CAA since December, have suspended their agitation in the interests of public health. However, the TNTJ had announced that its protest march outside the Madras High Court premises in the already crowded Broadway area will be held as planned on Wednesday.
Hundreds of TNTJ cadre and sympathisers, holding umbrellas to protect themselves from scorching heat, converged and raised slogans against the Centre and state governments. The mass gathering was organised despite CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami orders on Monday that no permission would be granted for rallies or public meetings as a precaution to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus.
The TNTJ cadre had said the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC are “more dangerous” than COVID-19, which has so far “killed only two people” but the former has “consumed the lives of several.”
Earlier in the day, it was reported how one of the organisers of the anti-CAA protests in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri has shown symptoms of the COVID-19 and is currently undergoing tests after he met his sister, who was earlier tested positive. His sister had returned from the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on 11th March. The 35-year-old protestor said he had been to the anti-CAA protest site in Delhi “a couple of times” after meeting his sister on 13 March.
Yesterday we had reported how ‘protestors’ at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh were defying rules to lead mass protests at the protest site despite warnings from the government that the virus could affect them. Targetting the government over such diktats, the ‘protestors’ had said it was a conspiracy by the government to evict them from the protest site and asserted that they would not move an inch until the government revoked the law.
They also claimed that the protests were a call from Allah and they do not fear the Coronavirus. Instead, they asked to repel all the laws if they cared for the ‘protestors’ at the Shaheen Bagh.
The total number of novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 170 on Thursday after a record number of fresh cases reported from the various parts of the country. Globally, the virus has infected more than 2,25,000 people and killed more than 9200, as per the data available online.
Amidst the Coronavirus scare, the District Administration of Kodagu, Karnataka has released an advisory asking all the passengers who had travelled in the IndiGo flight 6E96 which flew from Dubai to Bengaluru on 15th March to report to the nearest Government hospital, as a positive case of COVID-19 had travelled in the same flight, reports ANI.
Similarly, the district administration has also asked all the people who had travelled in KSRTC Bus No. KA-19-F-3170 from Bengaluru to Madikeri to report to the nearest hospital, as the suspect who had travelled from Dubai, had reached Madikeri in that KSRTC bus.
District Administration Kodagu, Karnataka releases advisory asking those who were on IndiGo flight 6E96 on 15th March, KSRTC Bus No. KA19F3170 from Bengaluru to Madikeri, should report to the nearest Govt hospital, as a positive case of COVID19 had used these facilities. pic.twitter.com/EJpwml2QFf
The total number of novel coronavirus cases in India has risen to 166 on Thursday after a record number of fresh cases reported from the various parts of the country. Maharashtra is the worst affected state with the maximum number of cases. According to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total tally includes 141 Indian nationals and 25 foreigners.
There is a much
famous quote of Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist of Hitler, about how ‘It
would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological
understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle’. But
then there is another quote by the same gentleman which is of relevance to the
topic I am about to broach upon.
‘If the day should ever come when we must go,
if some day we are compelled to leave the scene of history, we will slam the
door so hard that the universe will shake and mankind will stand back in
stupefaction.’
This is one
quote which reflects closely to the statement made by a senior Congress leader
after the electoral rout in 2014 elections. One could have called that
statement as frustrated outburst of a leader who was struggling to stay
relevant in the world which was fast-changing around him. But then, if we look
at the lies which have been propagated with ample support of media and sold-out
intellectuals, we realize Goebbels speaking through that leader. This
propensity to lie with a straight face, unburdened by a conscience, has now
placed our society at large in a strange situation. I am sure when the farce
wears out, we, as citizens, will find ourselves standing back in stupefaction.
The young,
created softly, over the years with little facts and an overdose of emotions, are
reading Preamble of the Constitution these days. People have told them that the
current Narendra Modi government has messed it up and the constitution of India
is in danger. For a democratic nation, there are two things in the Constitution
which were of utmost significance- the definition of the nation and freedom of
expression. The government which came to power in 2014 is being attacked by the
young on both the counts. What helps them is that before and after 2014, the
students continue to read the same books which were meant to create a zombie
out of them, of the kind which ignored facts and celebrated lies.
Only other day,
a young kid argued vehemently with me on the above matters. I wanted to tell
her, that while the first amendment of US constitution was brought in to
liberalize thought and speech, the first amendment of Indian constitution,
brought in by Jawaharlal Nehru, was affected to curtail the freedom of speech. But
I have written on the first amendment earlier as well. I will here restrict
myself to the Preamble. That is something which defines the nation.
There have been
104 Amendments to the Indian constitution. Between Modi and late Shri Atal
Bihar Vajpayee, the BJP ruled government has made 20 amendments (6 by Modi and
14 by Vajpayee). The most far-reaching amendment in the history of independent
India was made by Mrs Indira Gandhi and that amendment was called 42nd
amendment. This amendment came in when the opposition was in prison under the
draconian rules of Emergency. The dictatorial right of the state to pick up
anyone and throw in the prison was challenged in Supreme Court and was rejected
by a judiciary which was led by the Chief Justice of India who was had
superseded three judges senior to him and was appointed with the blessings of
Mrs Gandhi. This amendment did many things to the democratic constitution of
India which was put in place with much care by Dr. Ambedkar and Dr. Rajendra
Prasad.
Let us go back
to the time when the Preamble was finalized to understand the damage that the
Congress government brought to it when India was suffering under an Emergency.
The Preamble was brought in for the debate on 17th of October, 1949.
The earlier Preamble, in its unadulterated form, read that “We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India
into a sovereign Democratic Republic”. Initially it was proposed to put the
Constitution in for third reading without Preamble. This was objected by
Maulana Hasrat Mohani and supported by Shri KM Munshi. Maulana Hasrat Mohani
brought in three amendments to the Preamble, first being, replacing Sovereign
Democratic Republic as the nation with Sovereign Federal Republic or Sovereign
Independent Republic. The amendment was rejected. The second amendment or
alternative he proposed was to name India, Union of India Socialist Republic,
in line with the Russia being called USSR. This too was rejected. Then another
amendment was sought to introduce ‘In the name of God’ or ‘In the name of
Gandhiji’ in the preamble. This too was rejected by 68 votes to 41.
Shri Brijeshwar Prasad brought the discussion on the inclusion of the word- Secular and Socialist- in the Preamble. This inclusion was also sought about in a debate on 15th November, 1948, when Shri KT Shah brought in amendment seeking in Clause (1) of Article 1, mention of the terms “Secular, Federal and Socialist”. Dr. Ambedkar’s response explains that the Preamble should never have been tampered with. Dr Ambedkar was against the hard-wiring of the Constitution according to the wishes of Constituent Assembly which might or might not have represented the wishes of all the people, at all the times. He said, “What should be the policy of the State, how the Society should be organized in its social and economic side are matters which must be decided by the people themselves according to time and circumstances. It cannot be laid down in the Constitution itself because that is destroying democracy altogether.”
When the state was under democracy, the opposition was in prison or underground, Mrs Indira Gandhi sneaked in the two terms into the preamble of the constitution. Apart from circumstances, Dr Ambedkar’s words do tell us what she did- destroyed democracy. It is unfortunate that the same Congress which thus destroyed democracy is now handing the same preamble to ill-informed youth who read it believing it to be Ambedkar’s Preamble. Another reason Dr Ambedkar gave while rejecting the amendment is that this was ‘superfluous’. Dr Ambedkar cited Fundamental Rights which anyway assures freedom, liberty and equity to the citizen. It was quite an irony that the 42nd Amendment while introduced these two terms to compensate for Indira Gandhi’s excesses against the minorities and to the people at large under Emergency, they diluted the same fundamental rights like never before.
The original preamble of the constitution
The 42ndAmendment, 1976 brought in by Indira Gandhi Government, and presented in Lok Sabha on 28th of August, 1976 by HR Gokhale, in essence, sought to make 59 changes in the Constitution. It took away the authority of the Courts to examine the decisions taken by the Parliament (this is exactly what the opposition today wants the court to do on CAA). It also proposed that no law providing for the prevention of anti-national activities and prevention of the formation of antinational associations shall be deemed void on the grounds of being inconsistent with article 14, 19 or 31. Essentially it meant that fundamental rights cannot be cited to escape the laws to prevent anti-national activities. Imagine a Narendra Modi bringing such an amendment.
The amendment defines antinational activities too. For instance, action by individual or association which is intended to bring about, on any grounds whatsoever, the cession of a part of the territory of India, or which incites any individual or association to bring about such cession or secession. I do not think supporters of Sharjeel Imam have read Indira Gandhi or 42nd Amendment much. This amendment also brought in fundamental duties under 51A which included the duty of every citizen to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the national flag and the national anthem. The amendments contained in 42nd Amendment gave discretionary powers to the state and the individual rights which are so strongly contested today, were curtailed like never before.
The ceiling of the maximum duration of the President’s rule was increased from 6 months to 12 months and allowed the union to deploy central military forces to handle any grave law and order situation in any state. Mamata Banerjee was then with the Congress. It was only later decisions of Supreme Court which struck down some of these amendments and restored the balance. The amendment to the Preamble which should have happened after Emergency could not happen as initially it was defeated by the Congress which held 163 seats in the Rajya Sabha, even while in the opposition, and later dismissed in the SC by CJ KG Balakrishnan in 2008 on a petition filed by an NGO and represented by Fali Nariman as being merely academic since the government had not attempted to restore the Preamble in its pre-emergency form. As we see, after the first Amendment, again it was Congress which was on the side working to cripple the liberty and democracy, and as fate would have it, the Right on the side of freedom and fundamental rights. It is really unfortunate that the evil desperation of the opposition and the lack of grassroot communication by the BJP has allowed the truth to be twisted and turned to such an extent that all squares have turned into circles.
After President Ram Nath Kovind refused to consider the second mercy petition filed by 2012 Delhi gang-rape case convicts Pawan Gupta and Akshay Thakur on Thursday and the Supreme court dismissed the curative petition of Pawan Gupta where he claimed that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime, a Delhi court has cleared the way for the hanging of the four convicts on Friday. While passing the order, the court maintained that no legal remedies of any of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case were pending in any of the courts.
On March 5 this year, a trial court had issued the death warrant with March 20 as the date.
Earlier today, the Patiala House Court has dismissed the pleas of Akshay Kumar, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma seeking a stay on the death penalty, saying the second mercy plea of one of them was still pending.
The victim’s family, who have been seeking justice for their deceased daughter for the last 8 year, will today surely heave a sigh of relief, as the four convicts in the 2012 case- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma, are finally scheduled to be hanged at 5:30 am on March 20 (Friday).
Asha Devi, the mother of the victim said: “The courts gave them so many opportunities that they have now got the habit of bringing something ahead of the hanging date in order to get it postponed. Now, even our courts are aware of their tactics,” Devi told ANI.
She added: “Tomorrow, they will be hanged. Nirbhaya and all the girls in India would get justice. They don’t have any pleas left in order to postpone the hanging date.”
Earlier in the day, hours, before the court was to decide on the execution, the lawyer of the convicts, had once again made an attempt to save the lives of the convicts.
Lawyer AP Singh, who had claimed that one of the convicts Pawan Kumar Gupta was a juvenile at the time of the gruesome crime, called the entire case a media trial and made a bizarre comment that ‘govt should be making masks instead of hanging ropes’.
The visibly upset AP Singh made the comments while talking to reporters after the curative petition filed by Pawan Gupta was dismissed by the Supreme Court today. Pawan had filed the curative petition challenging the Supreme Court order dismissing his earlier review petition making the same claim.
Ever since the mercy petition of Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma were rejected by the President, the lawyers of them have been using one delaying tactic after another to postpone their hanging. As the death warrants are issued giving a time of fourteen days, they have been filing petitions separately. Every time a petition of one convict is rejected, another one files a petition, starting the process all over again. But now seems they have almost exhausted all the opportunities of legal review, as no court has stayed the death warrant issued by a Delhi court this time.
Every time death warrant was issued, the Tihar Jail authorities have been making arrangement for the hanging. Pawan Jallad, a hangman from Meerut, reached Tihar jail on 17th for the fourth time in three months in this regard. The Jail authorities have already prepared the gallows, and dummy hanging took place on Wednesday to make sure that everything goes well on the day of execution.
According to reports, the jail has procured 8 manila ropes, 4 to use and rest 4 to keep as standby. Moreover, all the four convicts – Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma – will be hanged simultaneously inside jail number 3.
The four men are currently lodged in jail 3 next to the hanging courtyard. Each convict is lodged separately and guarded by at least 2-3 jail wardens who monitor their movements round-the-clock.
One of the organisers of the anti-CAA protests in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri has shown symptoms of the COVID-19 and is currently undergoing tests after he met his sister, who was earlier tested positive, reports ThePrint. His sister had returned from the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on 11th March. The 35-year-old protestor said he had been to the anti-CAA protest site in Delhi “a couple of times” after meeting his sister on 13 March.
“I did not show any symptoms of the disease at the time, so I went about life as usual,” claimed the protestor as he spoke to the Print. He informed that his sister tested positive two days after he met her. She is currently undergoing treatment at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital. The anti-CAA protestor claimed he developed a slight cough on 16th March. Since he had come in contact with his sister who later tested positive for coronavirus and had flu-like symptoms himself, he approached the doctors. He is currently undergoing treatment at LNJP Hospital, Delhi. Results are expected later today, the report says.
Yesterday we had reported how ‘protestors’ at Shaheen Bagh were defying rules to lead mass protests at the protest site despite warnings from the government that the virus could affect them. Targetting the government over such diktats, the ‘protestors’ had said it was a conspiracy by the government to evict them from the protest site and asserted that they would not move an inch until the government revoked the law.
They also claimed that the protests were a call from Allah and they do not fear the Coronavirus. Instead, they asked to repel all the laws if they cared for the ‘protestors’ at the Shaheen Bagh.
Union Minister Smriti Irani today took to Twitter to announce a new government medical college coming up in her constituency, Amethi.
43 years ago he came to Amethi as a 4th year MBBS student to help in the campaign against the then scion; today with the blessings of PM @narendramodi Ji, he fulfilled Amethi’s 4 decades old demand of a Government Medical College. Thank you to the good doctor @drharshvardhan Ji. pic.twitter.com/eB6FlFuBSW
Thanking Union Minister Dr Harshvardhan, Irani said how things have come to a full circle for Dr Harshvardhan. She informed that 43 years back, Dr Harshvardhan, who was still studying MBBS back then, had gone to Amethi ahead of 1977 General Elections to campaign against Sanjay Gandhi who was contesting from Amethi, which has essentially been the Nehru-Gandhi family bastion.
43 years later, after Irani defeated Sanjay Gandhi’s nephew and 3 time Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi from the home turf, as Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harshvardhan informed Irani that the Government of India has approved of opening a new medical college in Amethi.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, many a giants and dynasts were slain. The one battle that stood out was that of Amethi, the constituency that has been the bastion of the Gandhi dynasty. Smriti Irani fought a valiant fight and defeated the reigning MP from Amethi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
The opposition party’s contempt against BJP does not come as a surprise anymore. However, the malice just seems to be increasing with every passing day. Hitting a new political low, the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has gone on to now equate BJP to coronavirus. In a statement, the SP bigwig has called “BJP a bigger virus than corona”.
It is shocking that a senior leader like Akhilesh has come up with such an insensitive comment especially at the time when India is struggling to battle the deadly coronavirus which has caused over 8000 deaths and affected more than 2,00,000 people globally.
The Samajwadi Party supremo, at a press conference in Lucknow, also went on to criticise the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government of not taking the coronavirus outbreak seriously. He alleged that there are no adequate provisions in UP hospitals and the government is simply unprepared for the crisis.
Even though Covid-19 has been declared a pandemic, the SP chief is of the opinion that instead of dealing with this epidemic, at this point of time, the government should tackle the other issues, which are, according to him, far more serious than the Covid-19 threat.
Trivializing the Central and State government’s fight against the deadly disease, Akhilesh Yadav went on to target BJP by saying: “The issue which the people are worried about is more serious than corona. We will fight this disease for a few days but the BJP, which for its own gain has worked to spread hate across the country is a serious disease. I appeal to all the mothers and sisters to do something to protect themselves from coronavirus but once it’s gone then we all have to fight with this long term disease.”
To contain the coronavirus spread, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday extended the closure of all educational institutions, cinemas, multiplexes and tourists places in the state till April 2 and implemented work-from-home protocol to the extent possible. The Yogi government has also decided to promote students up till class eighth, to the new session, without exams amid the coronavirus threat in the country.
The Chief Minister has appealed to the people to avoid venturing into crowded places and not to panic. Yogi Adityanath also ordered that the government will get the coronavirus victims tested and treated free of cost.
Three fresh cases from Noida in last two days took the total number of confirmed patients in Uttar Pradesh to 19. Meanwhile, the total number of novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 170 on Thursday after a record number of fresh cases reported from the various parts of the country.
Globally, the virus has infected more than 2,20,000 people and killed more than 8900, as per the data available online.
Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi took oath as a member of Rajya Sabha today, while facing protests from oppostion parties. He was nominated by President Ram Nath Kovind to the Upper House on March 16. Ranjan Gogoi is allotted seat number 131.
The opposition including members of Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and others opposed the appointment of former CJI. The opposition created a severe pandemonium while shouting ‘shame’ in the hall and later walked out in protest while CJI was reading the oath. The Communist Party of India, DMK, and MDMK also joined the protest.
Reacting to the sloganeering by the opposition members, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said, ‘We know the constitutional position, we know the precedences, we know the powers of the President of India, and we should not do anything in the house. We can say whatever you want to say outside the house’.
Law minister Ravi Sankar Prasad said that the house has a great tradition of many eminent persons coming from diverse fields, including former chief justices being nominated by those who have shouted today. Gogoi who has taken oath today will surely contribute his best as a nominated member, and it was grossly unfair to do like that.
While exiting the Parliament after taking the oath, Ranjan Gogoi told reporters, “they will welcome me very soon. There are no critics”.
Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi had retired as Chief Justice of India on November 17 last year. He has delivered many landmark verdicts on diverse topics like the decades-old politically and religiously sensitive Ayodhya land dispute, he also headed the bench of judges which gave a clean chit to Modi government on the pleas seeking review of the Rafale deal.
The former CJI’s nomination to Rajya Sabha has given heartburn to Supreme court Judges like Justice Madan Lokur, Kurien Joseph, AK Patnaik and Markandey Katju who fiercely ranted against CJI through his twitter handle.
However, CJI Ranjan Gogoi defended his nomination to Rajya Sabha saying, “I have accepted the offer of the nomination to the Rajya Sabha because of strong conviction, that the legislature and the Judiciary must at some point of time worked together for Nation-building.”
He said that his presence in Parliament will be an opportunity to project the views of the Judiciary before the legislature and vice versa.
An FIR has been registered against unidentified people in Aligarh who allegedly circulated pamphlets of ‘Fatwa’ issued by Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
The #UttarPradesh Police in #Aligarh have registered an FIR against an unidentified person who allegedly circulated pamphlets of a “fatwa” issued by Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamat-ud-Dawa chief #HafizSaeed in the city. pic.twitter.com/rVN64G8ulN
The FIR has been registered under section 505(1) (b)(with intent to cause fear) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by the public servant) of the Indian Penal Code at Kotwali police station.
The Superintendent of Police has said that this is an attempt to fume the community as the pamphlets were carrying objectionable content that may result in communal clashes. The probe into the matter is being done. The pamphlets have been found in large numbers and it reflects that it’s an attempt to disturb the peaceful environment. Police have stated that a large number of pamphlets have been found in a communally sensitive area.
Hafiz Saeed has been designated as a terrorist by the United Nations. The UN announced a 10 million dollar bounty on his head. He was recently convicted by Pakistan court in two terror funding cases and slapped with a prison sentence of five and half years and a fine of 15,000 rupees in each case.
Hafiz Saeed-led JuD is believed to be the front organization for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack which claimed the lives of 166 people.
