Some media coverage on Disha sensational, prejudicial, says HC
Delhi court sends climate activist Disha Ravi to 3-day judicial custody in toolkit case
The Delhi High Court on Friday said certain media coverage of investigation into the FIR against climate activist Disha Ravi for her alleged involvement in sharing a toolkit backing farmers’ protest indicates “sensationalism and prejudicial reporting”, but declined to order removal of any such content at this stage.
Justice Prathiba M Singh said the interim plea for removal of such news content and tweets by Delhi Police would be considered at a later stage.
The court, however, asked media houses to ensure that no leaked investigation material is broadcast as it could affect the probe and directed Delhi Police to abide by its stand on affidavit that it has not leaked nor intends to leak any probe details to the press.
The court also said that police would be entitled to hold press briefings in the matter in accordance with the law and the agency’s 2010 office memorandum with regard to media coverage of cases.
To media houses, the court said they should ensure the information received from their sources is authentic and only verified content ought to be publicised as also that the investigation is not hampered.
The court was hearing Ravi’s plea to restrain police from leaking to the media any probe material in relation to the FIR lodged against her.
The petition also sought to restrain the media from publishing the content or extract of any private chats, including those on WhatsApp, between her and third parties.
The police, represented by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, placed an affidavit before the court categorically denying leaking of any information to the media.
It also assured the court that it has no intention of leaking any information to the media.
The ASG during the hearing said that the possibility of leakage by some officer of the agency cannot be ruled out entirely.
The court, however, directed that the police has to abide by its affidavit.
The media houses, one of them represented by advocate Mrinal Bharti, told the court that the source of information in the present case was the Delhi Police and its tweets.
ASG Chetan Sharma and central government standing counsel Ajay Digpaul, appearing for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, told the court that the petition was not maintainable as no complaint was first made to it for taking action against any TV channel or media house for any
alleged incorrect of the case.
The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) told the court that it can take any action only if a complaint is made to it regarding the media houses named in the plea.
It further told the court that media houses named in the plea were members of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).
Ravi, in her plea, has said she is “severely aggrieved and prejudiced by the media trial surrounding her arrest and
reporting the ongoing investigation, where she is being viscerally attacked by the respondent 1 (police) and several media houses”.
She has claimed that her arrest from Bengaluru on February 13 by a Cyber Cell team of Delhi Police was “wholly unlawfully and without basis”.
She has also contended that in the present circumstances, it was “highly likely” that the general public will perceive the news items “as being conclusive as to the guilt of the petitioner (Ravi)”.
“In these circumstances, and to restrain the respondents from further violating her privacy, her reputation, and her right to a fair trial, the petitioner is moving the present petition,” the plea has said.
Her petition has alleged that investigative matters have been leaked to the media and the press briefings by the police are “prejudicial” and “grossly violative of her right to a fair trial and presumption of innocence”.
It has claimed that the police first “leaked investigative material” - like alleged WhatsApp chats the substance and details of which were only in the possession of the investigating agency.
Thereafter, the “private alleged WhatsApp chats” were published and disseminated by various media houses which was a violation of the provisions of the Cable Televisions Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 (CTN Act), the Programme Code and the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines, the petition has contended.
Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Friday sent climate activist Disha Ravi, arrested for allegedly being involved in sharing a “toolkit” on social media related to the farmers' protest, to three-day judicial custody. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain sent Ravi, 21, to jail after Delhi Police produced her before the court on expiry of her five-day custodial interrogation. Police said that her custodial interrogation was not required for the time being and the agency may seek her further interrogation once her co-accused - Shantanu Mukul and Nikita Jacob join the interrogation.
19: A bicameral US Citizenship Act of 2021 proposing a pathway to citizenship to 11 million undocumented workers, elimination of per country quota for employment-based green cards and work authorisation for dependents of H-1B foreign workers, was introduced in the Congress.
The bill, if passed by both the chambers of the Congress — House of Representatives and the Senate — and signed into law by President Joe Biden would bring citizenship to millions of foreign nationals, including undocumented and those who came to the country legally.
The legislation would also benefit hundreds and thousands of Indian IT professionals and their families. Authors of the bill — Senator Bob Menendez and Congresswoman Linda Sánchez — told reporters that the US Citizenship Act of 2021 establishes a moral and economic imperative and a vision of immigration reform that is expansive and inclusive.
It grows the economy by making changes to the employment-based immigration system, eliminating per-country caps, making it easier for STEM advanced degree holders from US universities to stay, improving access to green cards for workers in lower-wage industries, giving dependents of H-1B holders work authorisation, and preventing children of H1B holders from aging out of the system.
“I am the daughter of immigrant parents from Mexico. I have dedicated my career to building an immigration system that lets people live without fear, and a system that gives immigrants — like my parents — who sought a better life and contribute to our nation a fair opportunity to thrive,” Sanchez said.
“Immigrants contribute greatly to our country and society. They own businesses, pay taxes and teach our children. They are our
Feb.
coworkers, neighbors and friends,” said Menendez. “We have a historic opportunity to finally enact bold immigration reform that leaves no one behind, addresses root causes of migration, and safeguards our country’s national security. We have a moral and economic imperative to get this done once and for all,” he said.
The ruling Democrats have a majority in both the House and Senate. However, in the upper chamber, they need support of 10 Republicans to get the legislation through the Congress before it can be signed into law.
The Democratic leadership and the White House hope that they will get the necessary support in the interest of millions of non-citizens living in the country. Supported by the White House, the bill creates an earned roadmap to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants, with an expedited threeyear path to citizenship, and giving all other undocumented immigrants who pass background checks and pay taxes with an eight-year path to citizenship without fear of deportation.
It reforms familybased immigration system to keep families together by recapturing visas from previous years to clear backlogs, including spouses and children of green card holders as immediate family members. It also eliminates discrimination facing LGBTQ+ families, provides protection for orphans, widows and children, allows immigrants with approved family-sponsorship petitions to join family in the US on a temporary basis while they wait for green cards to become available. —
Washington, Feb. 19: After seven months in space, Nasa’s Perseverance rover overcame a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed maneuvers to gently float down to the Martian soil on Thursday and embark on its mission to search for signs of past life.
“Touchdown confirmed,” said operations lead Swati Mohan at 3:55 pm Eastern Time (2055 GMT), as mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in cheers.
The autonomously guided procedure was in fact completed more than 11 minutes earlier, the length of time it took for radio signals to return to Earth.
Shortly after landing, the rover sent back its first black-and-white images, revealing a rocky field at the landing site in the Jezero Crater, just north of the Red Planet’s equator.
More images, video of the descent and perhaps the first sounds of Mars ever recorded by microphones are expected in the coming hours as the rover relays data to overhead satellites.
US President Joe Biden hailed the “historic” event. “Today proved once again that with the power of science and American ingenuity, nothing is
beyond the realm of he tweeted.
Perseverance’s prime mission will last just over two years but it is likely to remain operational well beyond that, with its predecessor Curiosity still functioning eight years after landing on the planet, said Nasa acting administrator Steve Jurczyk.
possibility,”
“It’ll be on Mars for its entire life,” he said, adding “these robots tend to be really reliable.” Over the coming years, Perseverance will attempt to collect 30 rock and soil samples in sealed tubes, to be eventually sent back to Earth sometime in the 2030s for lab analysis.
About the size of an SUV,
the craft weighs a ton, is equipped with a seven foot(two meter-) long robotic arm, has 19 cameras, two microphones and a suite of cutting-edge instruments to assist in its scientific goals.
Before it could set out on its lofty quest, it first had to overcome the dreaded “seven minutes of terror”—the
● AS THE world witnessed the historic landing of Nasa’s Perseverance rover on the Martian surface, it was Indian-American scientist, Swati Mohan, who led the guidance, navigation, and control operations of the Mars 2020 mission.
MOHAN ALSO confirmed that the rover had survived a particularly tricky plunge through the Martian atmosphere.
risky entry, descent and landing phase that has scuppered nearly half of all missions to Mars. The spacecraft carrying Perseverance careened into the Martian atmosphere at 12,500 miles (20,000 kilometers) per hour, protected by its heat shield, then deployed a supersonic parachute the size of a Little League
field, before firing up an eight-engined jetpack.
Finally, it lowered the rover carefully to the ground on a set of cables.
Allen Chen, lead engineer for the landing stage, said a new guidance system called “Terrain Relative Navigation,” which uses a special camera to identify surface features and compare them to an
onboard map, was key to landing in a rugged region of scientific interest.
“We are in a nice flat spot, the vehicle is only tilted by about 1.2 degrees,” he said. “We did successfully find that parking lot, and have a safe rover on the ground.”- Scientists believe that around 3.5 billion years ago the crater was home to a river that flowed into a deep lake, depositing sediment in a fan-shaped delta.
Perseverance ended up landing about two kilometers (a mile) southeast of the delta, NASA scientist Ken Farley said, in a geologically significant area.
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