Arguing in the Delhi High Court against Congress leader DK Shivakumar’s bail plea, The Enforcement Directorate has stated yesterday that the former Karnataka minister has hit a triple century in acquiring properties will ill-gotten wealth.
As per a report in Deccan Herald, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj argued before Justice Suresh Kumar Kait that if granted bail in the middle of the investigation, Shivakumar might attempt to influence the witnesses and tamper with evidence.
The ED’s counsel submitted, “In cricket, there are instances of creating a record by hitting a triple century. But former Congress minister D K Shivakumar made an all-India record by acquiring 300 properties using ill-gotten wealth.”
The ASG stated that Shivakumar has amassed vast wealth as a politician and has tried to convert black money into white by purchasing properties.
The ASG also submitted, “The main issue pertains to the source of money which is not being disclosed. If a person is unable to explain the source, just by making a payment or giving a declaration to the Income Tax department, the ill-gotten money cannot be converted to white money and IT department is not authorised to regularise it.”
The ED stated that Shivakumar has 317 bank accounts. He also has 24 agricultural properties in his name while his brother and mother have 27 and 38 properties respectively. The value of declared assets only stands at Rs 800 crores. His daughter Aishwarya, who has just graduated, has assets worth Rs 108 crores.
Pleading to the court for granting bail, Shivakumar’s lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi stated that the former Karnataka minister has already spent 45 days inside the jail. He also stated that Shivakumar is ready to deposit his passport to allay the apprehension that he may leave the country.
Seven-time MLA Shivakumar was arrested by the ED on September 3 under the PMLA and is currently lodged in the Tihar jail under judicial custody.
Before the commencement of the hearing the ED’s counsel was reprimanded by the court for arriving 30 minutes late. After the ASG apologised saying that he was held up in the proceedings of the Rouse Avenue Court, justice Kait agreed to continue the hearing. Justice Kait has reserved his order on Shivakumar’s bail petition.
The ED case against Shivakumar pertains to the raids on his properties in 2017. After the maximum period under police custody completed on September 17, he was sent to Tihar under judicial custody till October 25.
A Kerala government gazette notification has taken social media by storm lately. The Gazette, that was released in August 2019, invited applications through One Time Registration Scheme for Assistant Surgeon and Casualty Medical Officers. What caught the eye of those talking about the notification was the specific mention that Scheduled Caste Converts to Christianity (SCCC) could apply. Essentially, many wondered why the Kerala government would specifically favour those who became Christians after leaving Hinduism.
Gazette notification by Kerala state government
Interestingly, this was the third NCA notification as the Kerala government failed to fill up the vacancies due to paucity of candidates from the SCCC category, essentially, the people who left Hinduism to become Christians. The first notification to fill this vacancy was released in December 2014 and the second such NCA notification for the same set of vacancies was released in December 2016.
The payscale mentioned for these posts that have been earmarked for Christian converts specifically ranges from Rs. 45,800 to Rs. 89,000.
While several individuals have raised alarm as to how the Kerala government can discriminate on the basis of religion and publish a notification that says only converts to Christianity can apply, this notification should not come as a surprise at all. In reality, the Kerala government has an entire department that is dedicated to the ‘welfare’ of people who have left Hinduism to convert to Christianity.
The Kerala government has a department called Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts from Scheduled Castes and the Recommended Communities Ltd.
In its stated goal, the department, which is a government undertaking mention:
“Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts from Scheduled Castes and the Recommended Communities Ltd., Kottayam was incorporated in 1980 under the Companies Act 1956 with the main objectives to promote the comprehensive social, educational, cultural and economic upliftment and other living conditions of the Christian Converts from Scheduled Castes and the Recommended Communities”.
While it is evident that it is a government undertaking, it is extremely intriguing that it would be incorporated under the Companies Act 1956. Normally, a department like this would need to be incorporated under the Societies Act or a Special Act. While it being incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act could be justified, one wonders why the Kerala government would incorporate it under Companies Act and not as a Society. What ‘business’ is this department selling for it to be incorporated under the Companies Act?
Even the official web portal of the Kerala government mentions the department.
Official Kerala government website
According to the website, here are the schemes that this department offers:
Schemes for SCCC according to Kerala government website
As one can see, from the official Kerala govt website, the department made especially to take care of SC Hindus who convert to Christianity offers a host of schemes. From Agricultural Land Purchase Scheme to Foreign Employment Scheme, Marriage Loan to Personal Loan etc.
In 2010, Loan Waiver to the tune of Rs 159 crores was also given to the people belonging to the SCCC category.
According to a report in The Hindu, “In his address at the inauguration of the loan waiver scheme, undertaken by the Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts from Scheduled Castes and the Recommended Communities Ltd. here on Thursday, Mr. Balan said the current loan waiver scheme would write off Rs.159 crore and this would benefit nearly one lakh people, mostly belonging to the poorest sections of the society, he said”.
According to this farm loan waiver in 2010 for individuals who left Hinduism to convert to Christianity, loans up to Rs.25,000 maturing on 31 March 2006 would be written off fully. In cases where the loan amount exceeds the stipulated amount, penal interest part would be written off, providing the persons with an opportunity to avail a one time benefit.
This loan waiver scheme was hailed by none other than Archbishop Vattappara of the Anglican Church of India.
According to the official website of Kerala government, the Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts from Scheduled Castes and the Recommended Communities Ltd also has PIO officers constituted under the RTI Act. While the Department being constituted under the Companies Act raised some questions, it is evident that this is an official department of the Kerala government and not an independent body.
Details of PIO and Appellate Authorities under RTI
The SCCC category, which is the people belonging to SC who left Hinduism to convert to Christianity are espoused and recognised by the Kerala government officially.
SCCC under Backward Classes Development Department
According to the official website of the Backward Classes Development Department of Kerala, people who became Christians after leaving Hinduism (SC Converts to Christianity) is a separate class recognised as a Backward Class and is given reservation in State Government Services. This reservation is in addition to the reservation given to Latin Catholics and Anglo Indians. The ‘SC Converts to Christianity’ is recognised in the State OBC list as well.
There are several other posts for which several candidates belonging only to SCCC are hired. Even for the post of Assistant Prison Officer, SCCC candidates were called upon as recently as June 2019.
Call for SCCC candidates for Assistant Prison Officer
Another example, the Kerala government hired Christian converts specifically for Surveyor with Water Authority post.
Notification calling upon SCCC candidates for Surveyor position
This is merely the tip of the iceberg and several such posts are filled by members of the SCCC community, which is to say, SC community individuals who left Hinduism to join Christianity.
It is thus evident that the Kerala government goes out of its way to ensure the ‘well-being’ of those who leave Hinduism and become Christians. The call to fill vacancies only by Christian converts is not a one-off notification and the state provides several benefits to the members of the SCCC community.
The Enforcement Directorate yesterday filed its charge sheet against MP CM Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri and his company Moser Baer for alleged money laundering and bank fraud. As per reports, the ED charge sheet states that Puri and his company laundered money and misappropriated funds worth Rs 8000 crores.
As per reports, the ED charge sheet mentions that Puri, who is the nephew of Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, and his associates have misappropriated funds, raised from nearly 30 banks and financial institutions for business purposes, to the tunes of approximately 8000 crores.
The embezzled amount mentioned by the ED reportedly surpasses their previous estimates. Moser Baer’s total liabilities have been put at Rs 7979 crores.
Special judge Sanjay Garg has reportedly taken cognisance of the charge sheet and has scheduled the examination of documents from November 25.
The ED had arrested Puri on August 20. He was sent into judicial custody by the court till October 17. Apart from ED, the CBI and Income Tax department are also probing Puri and his company Moser Baer.
He is also accused of money laundering in the AugustaWestland VVIP Chopper scam. His anticipatory bail was earlier rejected. The ED has also accused that Ratul Puri is responsible for the murder of a witness in the VVIP chopper scam.
Ratul Puri, his father Deepak Puri, and his mother Nita Puri (Kamal Nath’s sister) were booked by the ED in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case in connection with a bank fraud case filed by the Central Bank of India. The ED case was based on the August 17 CBI FIR against Puri.
Apart from the Puri family, other individuals, Sanjay Jain and Vineet Sharma were also booked by the CBI for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption for using forged and fabricated documents to get the banks to release funds for Moser Baer.
On 16th October 2019, Pakistan has reportedly denied entry to a CPJ journalist with a valid journalist visa who was in the country to attend a Human Rights Conference. Steven Butler, the program coordinator of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) was denied entry into Pakistan despite holding a valid visa as he was in the country to attend the Asma Jahangir Conference-Roadmap for Human Rights in Pakistan.
When journalist Steven Butler reached the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, Pakistan, according to CPJ, he was stopped by Border Security personnel and informed that though he has a valid visa, he is not allowed to enter Pakistan since he is on the “stop list of the Interior Ministry”.
The Pakistan Airport Authority confiscated Butler’s passport and other documents and forced him on a flight to Doha, Qatar. When he reached Doha, he was then forced on a flight to Washington DC, USA.
According to a report in CPJ, Steven Butler communicated to CPJ while on the flight and asserted that he was in some kind of ‘preventive custody’ as the flight officials had confiscated not only his passport but also his boarding pass.
According to the CPJ report, “Pakistani authorities’ move to block Steven Butler from entering the country is baffling and is a slap in the face to those concerned about press freedom in the country,” said Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director. “Pakistani authorities should give a full explanation of their decision to bar Butler from entering and correct this error. If the government is interested in demonstrating its commitment to a free press, it should conduct a swift and transparent investigation into this case.”
Asma Jehangir, in whose name the Human Rights Conference was being held was a staunch critic of the Islamisation of Pakistan. She opposed the blasphemy laws of the country and fought for the minorities of Pakistan throughout her life.
In 1986, Jahangir and Hina set up AGHS Legal Aid, the first free legal aid centre in Pakistan. The AGHS Legal Aid Cell in Lahore also runs a shelter for women, called ‘Dastak’, looked after by her secretary Munib Ahmed. She was also a proponent of protecting the rights of persecuted religious minorities in Pakistan and spoke out against forced conversions.
She also spoke out against how women were raped and sexually assaulted in the presence of female constables in Pakistan every day.
Asma Jehangir had once written, “A Hindu income tax inspector gets lynched in the presence of the army personnel for allegedly having made a remark on the beard of a trader. Promptly, the unfortunate Hindu government servant is booked for having committed blasphemy, while the traders and the Lashkar-e-Taiba activists were offered tea over parleys. A seventy-year-old Mukhtaran Bibi and her pregnant daughter Samina are languishing in Sheikhupura jail on trumped-up charges of blasphemy” while fighting for the rights of the minorities and demanding that Pakistan improves its internal track record in Human Rights. She passed away in 2018 due to a massive stroke.
Carcasses of over a dozen bovines which were buried in a field of a government school in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district have been recovered. According to reports, these were stray cows, which had been locked up inside a classroom of the school for a week, where they died of starvation.
The school which is located in Samudan village on Dabra-Gwalior road in Madhya Pradesh had been closed for holidays when someone locked the cows inside one of the classrooms of the school. There were 17 cattle in total, including 8 cows. After the cows died inside the locked classroom, villagers tried to bury them in a field in the village, but at that time some gau rakshaks reached the spot and created a ruckus. After that police was called who took control of the situation.
Following the incident, Bajrang Dal members protested on the streets asking for a probe into the incident.
Madhya Pradesh police have registered an FIR under MP’s anti-cow slaughter law and under provisions of cruelty to animals act against 10 unknown people and also the excavator who was engaged in digging the ground to bury the dead cows.
Gwalior, superintendent of police, Navneet Bhasin, said, “Police personnel have been deployed in the area to maintain law and order. The carcasses were buried respectfully in the outskirt of the village.”
“Prima facie, the abandoned cows were roaming at National Highway 75 and creating trouble for commuters. The villagers of Samnadan village drove them and locked in a room of a government high school a week ago,” said area sub-divisional magistrate, Dabra, Raghvendra Pandey, said.
Pandey said the villagers did not provide food and water to the cows which subsequently died. “As the foul smell of carcasses spread in the village, the villagers tried to bury them in the school premises. Some gau rakshak (cow vigilantes) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders from Dabra reached the spot and created a ruckus. Later, police and district administration reached the spot and controlled the situation,” he said.
Gwalior district collector, Anurag Chaudhary, ordered an inquiry against the school administration, village sarpanch and villagers and asked sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Dabra, to submit a report in three days.
Condemning the inhumane act, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said: “From day one Congress-led state government is making announcements to provide safety to cows in MP but the announcement proved hollow as nothing happened in the past 10 months. The state government is responsible for the death of the cows as animal husbandry minister Lakhan Singh Yadav failed to save the cows in his home district.”
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh CM and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath took to Twitter to say: “The news of the death of 17 cows at Dabra in Gwalior is very sad. Instructions for an impartial investigation into the incident have been given. Strict action would be taken against the guilty. We are committed to protecting cows. Such incidents cannot be tolerated.”
He has ordered an inquiry in the matter as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the incident showed “hollowness” of the state government’s claim on cow protection.
Continuing with its soft-Hindutva, Congress in its Madhya Pradesh manifesto has made several promises in that direction. Along with promising construction of Ram Path and a Narmada Parikrama route, Congress had also promised setting up of Gaushalas at all village panchayats. However, looking at the contemptuous attitude of Congress towards Hindu sentiments in the past, it would be interesting to see whether Kamal Nath government takes up some concrete steps to tackle this transgression.
A day after one woman came up against sexual harassment charges against playwright and poet Sudipto Chatterjee, two more women have revealed similar horrific experiences with him. Yesterday in a Facebook post, Angela Mondal had narrated how Chatterjee had sexually assaulted while teaching her about the traumas of rape. She had alleged that he had penetrated her with his fingers so that she learns how to scream when being raped.
Responding to the post of Mondal, another woman has narrated a similar story on Facebook. Rajeswari Paul has said that she had contacted Sudipto Chatterjee for a voice exercise. Before granting her appointment, he had sent her a message warning about what to expect. He had written, ‘there are lots of things, hope you won’t mind. There will be a lot of physical touch in this process. Nothing very sexual, but close contact. Think beforehand if you have inhibition. I always make this clear with my female students so that there is no misunderstanding later on. And of course, privacy will have to be maintained. I am saying this to maintain transparency’. He also wanted to know whether she will be having her menstruation period during the exercise, as she will have to put pressure on her stomach muscles.
Receiving the message Paul thought that Chatterjee does not have any wrong intention and she went to his home. After teaching her voice exercise for some time, he asked her to take off her Kurti. She felt embarrassed at this, but thought that she will have to be comfortable if she wants to learn. Moreover, he was repeatedly assuring her that he is not interested in having sexual relations with her. So, she went ahead and removed her top in front of him. He taught her some more exercise after that.
After that, he asked her to lie on the bed, which she did. Then he started to move his hand over her body, saying that he won’t be able to teach if he does not hear her screaming. And it is very important to practically learn how to scream, he said. During all this, he was repeating that he was not sexually excited after seeing her, and was not wanting to have sex with her. Paul said that Chatterjee was wearing only trousers at that time, and he even pointed towards his genitals to show that he had not got an erection as proof that he was not interested in sex.
‘At that time I realised what is going completely blank’, Rajeswari Paul wrote describing her state of mind on that day. After some time, she gathered her courage and told him that she can’t do this. He was surprised at this, asking why can’t she do it. He also asked how would she learn acting if she refuses such exercises.
Paul said that not a single word written by Modal is a lie, and asked people to stand behind her.
Another woman named Srabasti Ghosh has also alleged that Sudipto Chatterjee harassed her for a long time, almost two and a half years, although she refused to divulge the details in her Facebook post. She said that what Chatterjee was did was not direct, but covered with many layers in many subtle ways. She added that abuse-consent-assault stay in a overlapping position in some such cases.
“I cannot deny the fact that I have learned from him a lot, but at the same time, I was the one of the victims of his trap. I was 20 years old at that time, when it all started,” Ghosh wrote. Explaining why she was silent for two years, she said that she didn’t know how to talk, know how to come up with this complex situation.
Sudipto Chatterjee has denied the allegations made against him by Angela Mondal on social media. He said that he had found deficiencies in her acting, and she needed to learn ‘diaphragm breathing’ for the sake of theatre. Moreover, the woman herself had approached him to learn, he said. Chatterjee said that teaching diaphragm breathing technique requires partial nudity, some physical touch, all of which were done on the consent of the woman. He stressed that he didn’t have any sexual motive.
Chatterjee said that although he does not know if any of his contemporaries use this technique, he himself learnt this way, and he feels this is a very effective technique. He said that he employs this technique on both male and female students, after taking their consent.
He said that he is shocked that such charges were levelled against him, as he is teaching acting to students this way for a long time and nobody had complained before. It can be noted that he didn’t deny the description of his diaphragm breathing teaching technique, but said that it was done for the sake of teaching acting and he didn’t have any sexual motive.
In the meanwhile, Sudipto Chatterjee resigned from his post in Heritage Academy in Kolkata after Angela lodged a complained against in the college on Monday. According to reports, Chatterjee was called by the college’s human resources department on Tuesday and was told that the college had zero tolerance for sexual abuse. After this he submitted his resignation. The College also constituted an internal complaints committee, which it didn’t have earlier as required by UGC guidelines.
The Lok Sabha House Committee taking strong action against the 27 ex-MPs who have been overstaying in their official residences in Lutyen’s Delhi despite repeated notices from the authorities to move out, has sought Delhi police help to immediately get the accommodations vacated. It has also decided to cut off the water, power and gas connections for these MPs to necessitate immediate eviction.
The 12-member committee is headed by BJP member from Navsari (Gujarat) C R Patil. The committee spearheaded the process after it was reported that in August more than 200 former Lok Sabha MPs have still not vacated their official bungalows here.
According to the law, former MPs have to vacate their respective accommodation within one month of dissolution of the previous Lok Sabha. President Ram Nath Kovind had on May 25 dissolved the 16th Lok Sabha with immediate effect on the recommendation of the Union Cabinet after the Modi government was formed for a second term.
Employees of the Government of India, including MPs, are provided residential accommodation while they are in service or till the end of their office term on the basis of a license generally given till the end of their term. After this license is expired, they are no longer eligible to occupy the accommodation and are required to vacate it immediately.
With these ex-MPs not vacating the government accommodations, the newly-elected MPs are not getting to stay in these bungalows and are being forced to stay at transit accommodation such as their respective state guest houses or the Western Court, sources said. The panel has been unable to allot houses to the MPs despite their repeated requests, they added.
French actor Jhon Rachid threw open a can of worms as Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) fans who call themselves ‘SRKians’ descended on his Twitter timeline, censuring him for sharing an image of actors Jean-Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan while cropping out SRK from the frame. The fervid SRKians had gone bonkers as Rachid had cropped out superstar Shah Rukh Khan from his uploaded picture while retaining the other actors Jean-Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan.
A few days ago, Shah Rukh Khan shared a picture of his along with actors Jean-Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan on Twitter during their recent meet-up in an event in Riyadh. Khan, along with other dignitaries were in Riyadh for attending Joy Forum, an initiative by GEA, to develop the entertainment industry in the Saudi Kingdom. Sharing a selfie picture with Van Damme and Jackie Chan, SRK tweeted that he got an opportunity to meet his heroes.
Three days later Rachid uploaded the picture shared by Khan but evidently cutting SRK out, triggering his ardent followers. Many passionate SRK fans took to Twitter to express their anguish on this purported slight and slammed the french actor for leaving out Khan.
Wishing hell upon Rachid, one livid Twitter user proclaimed that SRK is the biggest movie star.
He is a biggest movie star If you Accept that or not,go to hell?????? https://t.co/Jtot3NYnow
Taking a jibe at actor Tushar Kapoor, another Twitter user who seemed aggrieved by Rachid’s post ignoring SRK said that not even Tushar Kapoor deserves such insult.
One SRK fan insinuated that the french actor is jealous of SRK to have him crop out of the picture.
Haters & jealous souls are born to see @iamsrk win everything & they will die watching him win everything. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️??????????OLALALALA pic.twitter.com/oMEiC8E2Hf
After the hate he received, he acknowledged how he had cropped out SRK from the frame but he ‘died laughing’ because of the first international buzz he created for negative publicity.
Je suis mort de rire comme j’ai coupé un grand acteur de Bollywood j’ai plein de fans indiens qui m’insultent en dessous c’est mon premier bad buzz international j’suis super fier ????????????? https://t.co/MdjeN9LmCw
A Pune district court, in an order dated September 26, 2019, has asked a man to pay Rs 1 crore as defamation charges to Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital in Pune along with the outstanding bill amount of Rs.3,89,795, with 18% annual rate of interest. The ruling was made in a case dating back to 2013.
In the case registered on March 23, 2013, the complainant, Aditya Birla Health Services Limited accused one Tejinder Singh Ahluwalia of not only fleeing away from the premises without paying for the treatment he underwent in the hospital but also defaming the hospital by circulating defamatory contents in the newspaper against the hospital.
The Pune District Court in its judgement has ordered Tejinder Singh Ahluwalia to clear all the remaining dues to Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital and moreover slapped a fine on him, as the court believed that “due to the said act of the defendant (Tejinder Singh Ahluwalia), the plaintiff (Aditya Birla Hospital) not only suffered mental agony but harm has been caused to their reputation”. It also ordered that Ahluwalia needs to pay interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum on the total amount from the date of filing of the suit till its realisation.
Summary of the order passed by the district court in Pune
The order read: ‘that the plaintiff hospital being a public institute needs to maintained standard regarding its equipment to provide better services to the public at large. Therefore, if the defendant had paid entire medical treatment charges within time then the plaintiff hospital would have invested said amount to develop the hospital as well as to provide better facilities to its patient. Therefore, I hold that the interest @ 18% over the amount of Rs.1,03,89,795/ claimed by the plaintiff is not exorbitant’.
On January 4, 2013, one Tejinder Singh Ahluwalia was admitted to Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital in Chinchwad, Pune, with a complaint of retrosternal chest pain, left arm pain and back pain with profuse sweating. The hospital had performed coronary Angiography on him which had revealed 100% blockage in one artery and 50% in another. As a treatment of the condition, an angioplasty procedure was conducted and a drug-eluting stent (DES) was placed in his blocked artery.
Ahluwalia’s attendants had deposited a sum of Rs.40,000 during admission and he was required to be discharged on payment of an outstanding bill of Rs 3,89,795, as the total bill was 4,29,795. Miffed by the hefty bill, Ahluwalia had left the premises without settling the hospital bill.
Ahluwalia later held a press conference where he accused the hospital of forcing his wife to sign the consent form and then overcharging him for angiography tests and the subsequent angioplasty procedure. He had also claimed that the hospital security guards beat him up after he protested against the ‘inflated bill’ and the surgery.
He had then divulged that the hospital at first suggested an angiography. After he was administered medicines and fell unconscious, the authorities approached his wife Balbir Kaur and told her that her husband’s condition was serious as there was 100 per cent blockage in his artery and that there was an immediate need for an angioplasty procedure. They also told her that a stent should be installed in the artery through angioplasty.
“Since I was unconscious, the hospital authorities started pestering her to sign the consent papers saying that I had a cardiac arrest and could fall prey to another heart attack anytime. Shocked with the news, my wife told the hospital authorities and doctors that she wanted to shift me to N M Wadia hospital. The hospital authorities refused her request saying that I was serious and the process of shifting would put my life at risk,” claimed Ahluwalia.
He also said that the doctors and the administration staff told his wife to give in writing that the hospital would not be responsible if anything happened to the patient while shifting him from the hospital. “She fell prey to the pestering and signed the consent papers”, claimed Ahluwalia.
On January 8, 2013, while giving discharge, the hospital presented him a bill of Rs 4,29,795 which according to him was exorbitant. “I protested and offered to pay part of the bill, but the security personnel assaulted me with batons and I sustained bruise marks to both my arms,” said Ahluwalia.
Ahluwalia then ran away from the hospital after hospital authorities refused to accept the part payment of Rs 2 lakh that the patient was offering.
After he ran away, hospital authorities approached the Hinjewadi police station and filed a written complaint against Ahluwalia.
The hospital authorities had refuted the allegations and claimed that the patient’s condition was critical and surgery was essential to save his life. The medical facility even accused the patient of assaulting the hospital security guard while escaping from the hospital premise without paying the bill of around Rs 4.30 lakh.
Chief Executive Officer of the hospital Rekha Dubey claimed that when the bill was generated, Ahluwalia took a U-turn and refused to pay the bill and in a bid to run away from the premises, he assaulted one of the security personnel wherein he bruised his fingers, said Dubey.
When a media reporter had then asked Dubey to show the medical reports of Ahluwalia, she had refused, stating that the reports are confidential and cannot be divulged. Moreover, when a request was put to meet the security guard who was assaulted, Dubey said she does not have any idea where he is. The name of the guard too was not revealed.
The court order notes that all the reports along with photographs of treatment of the defendant have been proved by the hospital. The judgement says, “the documents filed on record clearly reveals that the doctors of plaintiff has performed operation and the defendant without paying the entire treatment charges left the hospital.” The judge also said that unchallenged testimonies of witnesses and documents placed on record proved that an amount of Rs.3,89,795 is due and outstanding against the hospital by Ahluwalia.
The judgement further agreed that articles published in the media were defamatory. “These articles undisputedly caused mental agony and harm to the reputation of plaintiff and its office bearers”, the judge notes. Therefore, Ahluwalia has been asked to pay Rs 1 crore towards defamation. With 18% annual interest since January 2013, the total due would be around Rs.2.80 crores.
Two days after PM Modi declared in his election rally that India’s share of waters flowing to Pakistan will be stopped and diverted for the welfare of Indian farmers, a rattled Pakistan has resorted to shrill sabre-rattling claiming that any attempt by India to divert water flow would be considered as an ‘act of aggression’.
In his weekly media briefing, the Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said that Pakistan had “exclusive rights” over the waters of three Western rivers under the Indus Water Treaty. “Any attempt by India to divert the flows of these rivers will be considered an act of aggression and Pakistan has the right to respond,” he said.
In his election campaign trail in Charkhi Dadri, PM Modi announced that the waters of the river flowing towards Pakistan will be diverted and utilised for the farmers in Haryana, Rajasthan and other states of India. Referring to the Indus Water Treaty that allowed water distribution from 6 rivers between India and Pakistan, PM Modi said, “People of Haryana, trust me, Indian farmers’ legitimate share of water, Haryana farmers’ legitimate share of water, that was going to Pakistan for the last 70 years will be stopped. I will stop the water and divert it to your houses. I have already initiated the work in this direction because Indian farmers have right over this water, framers of Haryana, Rajasthan have right over this water.”
The statement comes at a time when there are heightened tensions between the two neighbours over India’s decision to abrogate Article 370, stripping away the separate status of Jammu and Kashmir and turning it into two union territories-Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Pakistan has approached multiple international forums and foreign powers in an attempt to pressurise India into undoing the abrogation. But, most countries except China and Turkey have sided with India, hailing the decision as a harbinger of growth and development for the strife-torn region.
