BOY KIDNAPPED FROM EAST DELHI RESCUED FROM UP

A three-year-old boy allegedly kidnapped while playing outside his East Delhi home a fortnight ago was rescued by police from Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun on Sunday.

To prevent the boy from being identified, the alleged kidnapper shaved off his head. The suspect, identified as Nawab, has been arrested and brought to Delhi. Police said he planned to sell the child and was on the lookout for a customer.

The child lives in East Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar with his parents who do odd jobs for a living. He was playing outside his house on April 20 when he went missing.

During police investigation, a neighbour said he had seen a local flea market vendor loiter around the house minutes before the kidnapping.

The man’s identity was ascertained and a hunt launched for him. Over the next few days, police learnt that Nawab was keeping the boy in a village in Badayun.

Electronic surveillance on the suspect led the police to his hideout in Badaun. But when the police team spotted the boy, they were confused as he did not appear to be the kidnapped child.

“Satyendra Jain told me that he has arranged a seven-acre land deal in Chattarpur for Kejriwal’s brother-in-law, the Bansal family. Being the PWD minister, he fudged bills up to ₹10 crore in the department to benefit Kejriwal’s relative,” he alleged.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia called the ousted colleagues allegations untrue and insensitive. “Mishra is levelling false allegations against a man who died today. He doesn’t even have humanity.”

Kejriwal’s wife Sunita tweeted: “My brother in law is no more n this stupid man is speaking all written script without any mind.”

For his part, Jain dismissed the allegations, and sources close to him said he will file a defamation case against Mishra, who has accused him of visiting the chief minister’s home on Friday and giving the money.

Mishra has “lost his mental balance” and was thus “speaking nonsense”, Jain said.

The ousted minister accused the party seniors of indulging in corrupt activities during the Punjab assembly elections and last month’s Delhi civic polls.

He said the AAP’s poll candidates in Punjab had to pay massive sums of money to the party.

He alleged that AAP leader Sanjay Singh was involved in lobbying for overseas funding of the party.

His fresh salvos came after he went to the anti-corruption bureau’s headquarters in New Delhi and apparently submitted an envelope containing his complaint against the AAP leadership over a 2012 water tanker scam.

He accused Kejriwal and two of his associates of trying to shield former chief minister Sheila Dikshit of the Congress, who is an accused in the scam.

“I told the ACB officials that Kejriwaldeliberatelydelayedthe report and public money was misused. Kejriwal along with his two men affected the tanker scam probe. They tried to shield Sheila Dikshit again and again,” he said.

The opposition BJP and Congress called for Kejriwal’s ouster. The AAP maintained that the allegations are false.

“I told them about Kejriwal trying to save Sheila Dikshit and his friends in the scam. In my complaint, I have narrated how he delayed forwarding the findings of the report on the tanker scam, which had implicated her,” he said.

“I told them how Kejriwal put pressure on me to meet the tanker mafia.”

The alleged tanker scam dates to 2012 when Dikshit was chief minister. Kejriwal has been accused of suppressing the findings of a report by a committee that Mishra headed after the AAP came to power in 2015.

Last year, the ACB registered an FIR in the scam. Though no arrests were made, ACB officials questioned Dikshit.

The FIR was based on BJP leader Vijender Gupta’s complaint that Kejriwal had suppressed the report and have not cancelled contracts to private companies providing stainless steel tankers to bring water to areas off the supply grid.

ACB chief MK Meena took stock of Mishra’s complaint and met lieutenant governor Anil Baijal at his home around 3.15pm on Monday.

“Mishra sought time to come to our office and provide a detailed statement. Our officials are in touch with him. I cannot say much on the investigation,” Meena said.

There will also be no change in the present fare structure of Airport Express Line, which is already higher than normal fares. In non-peak hours on weekdays, passengers with smart cards will get an additional discount of 10%, which means a total of 20% rebate on the total fare. The peak hours are between 8 am-12 pm and 5-9 pm.

The DMRC has been seeking a fare increase since 2009 but the Centre set up a fare panel only in May 2016. The three-member panel is headed by Union urban development secretary Rajib Gauba.

The DMRC has been citing rising operating cost, including a more than 90% rise in electricity tariff, in seeking the fare hike. Power tariff accounts for almost 30% of the DMRC’s total operating cost. The urban development ministry informed Parliament in 2015 that the DMRC has suffered a net loss of ₹708.5 crore in 2015-16.

DMRC sources said that their operating ratio in 2016-17 was approximately 76%, that is has to spend 76 paise to earn a rupee.

“We are expecting the operating cost to come down to 65% after the fare revision,” said a DMRC official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“The government had told DMRC that increase in fares will force commuters to shift to personal vehicles...In fact, fares should be reduced,” a government spokesperson said.

The judgment will also have a bearing on four more fodder scam cases against Prasad. A petition by him to drop criminal conspiracy charges in one more case is pending before the HC.

The SC order came on an appeal against the HC verdict filed by the CBI, which was pulled up for its lethargic approach in the case.

The SC verdict would also apply against former CM Jagannath Misra and retired bureaucrat Sajal Chakraborty who too were given relief by the HC. But, in the case of a doctor – also an accused in fodder scam – the HC had rejected his plea for a similar relief.

Monday’s ruling gives his rivals, particularly the BJP, ammunition to target Prasad again. He and his family have recently been under fire for allegedly acquiring a mall in Patna through front companies.

“The accused are at liberty to approach Parliament,” it added.

The order further added that since the compensation of ₹14 crore had not yet been paid to the victim judge (CS Karnan), the registrar general of the Supreme Court has to recover the sum from the salary of “each of the accused and remit the same to my account”.

The judge, in his earlier orders, had said that the CJI and other judges of the seven-member bench had insulted and humiliated him because he was a Dalit. He had criticised the suo motu contempt petition against him and orders that restrained his administrative and judicial work.

On Monday, Justice Karnan passed the suo motu 12-page order at his residence at New Town in the eastern fringe of Kolkata. It held CJI and Justices Dipak Mishra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, Pinaki Chandra Ghose, Kurian Joseph and Justice Mrs R Bhanumathi as “accused”.

The last judge, however, is not part of the seven-member bench that passed orders against Karnan in the contempt petition on February 8, 2017.

On May 4, a defiant Justice Karnan refused to be examined by a four-member team of psychiatrists who arrived at his residence to execute a Supreme Court order. The doctors from the Calcutta Pavlov Hospital for Mental Patients, who were accompanied by police officers, stayed at the judge’s residence for about an hour. None of them spoke to the media when they finally emerged at 2pm.

The order for Justice Karnan’s check-up was passed by the seven-member Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice of India.

On May 2, Justice Karnan ordered issuance of non-bailable warrants against the seven judges of the Supreme Court for not being represented before him. He had issued an order on April 13 asking the seven judges to appear before him on April 28 and then extended the date of appearance to May 1.

The dark shade, which denotes strength and authority, was apparently chosen to send the signal that this is a zero-tolerance area against trespassers.

The police HQ are a prime target of protesters of every shade, demand and cause.

“Demonstrators may cross over the first two tiers of yellow barricades, but should know they can’t go any further once they reach the black fence,” a source said.

The bright yellow has its optical advantage as it can be noticed from a distance and reflects light, especially car headlights, clearly at night. Also, the colour is associated with hope and happiness — esoterically speaking.

The government has also pushed for banning the practice which it says infringes on the rights of Muslim women.

In her petition against FGM, advocate Sunita Tiwari said there should be law against the practice as it was violative of human and child rights.

“...The practice...also amounts to causing inequality between the sexes and constitutes discrimination against women... It amounts to serious violation of the rights of children as even minors have a right of security of person, right to privacy, bodily integrity and the freedom from cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment,” the petition said.

She said it causes pain during menstruation and sexual intercourse, loss of libido and even pain during urination.

“It can be categorised as violence against women.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says FGM leads to repeated infections, cysts, infertility, childbirth complications and the need for repeated surgeries.

In the past few years, many women from the community have spoken out against the practice and even launched online campaigns to end what is seen as a patriarchal tradition to curb female sexuality.

Earlier this year, the National Commission for Women (NCW) also backed the campaign to outlaw the “barbaric” ritual in India.

FGM is common in African countries though many have banned it over the years.

In December 2012, the UN General Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution on the elimination of FGM .

The two million-strong Dawoodi Bohras in India are a close-knit business community mainly residing in western cities of India, including Mumbai, besides Pakistan, East Africa and Yemen.

“I’m really happy that seeing me makes them happy and this happiness gives me a lot of energy,” he added.

Parastesh loves football but has never played professionally, though he is working on some tricks so he can better play the role.

He remembers very well the last game between Iran and Argentina during World Cup 2014, when Messi’s 91st-minute goal robbed the Islamic republic of a place in the last 16.

“After the game, my dad called me and said don’t come back home tonight... why did you score a goal against Iran? I said: But that wasn’t me!” Parastesh said, laughing.

His goal now is to meet his hero in Barcelona, and maybe even land a job as his understudy.

“Being the best player in footballing history, he definitely has more work than he can handle. I could be his representative when he is too busy,” he said.