Karnan sends parole plea to Guv, will also forward it to CM Mamata
Justice C S Karnan who is lodged in Presidency jail since June 21 has filed an appeal to the West Bengal governor for release on parole, his lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara told HT.
The same application will also be forwarded to chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the state home secretary Malay De.
The appeal was sent by e-mail to the office of governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Saturday.
The hard copy will be submitted by Tuesday.
The 14-page document prays, “... it is most respectfully prayed that Your Excellency, the Governor of West Bengal, be pleased to exercise the jurisdiction invested in Your Excellency and enlarge the prisoner, Shri Justice C S Karnan on bail/parole in the interest of justice and equity.”
The appeal has summarised the developments leading to the arrest of Karnan on June 20 in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
Nedumpara met Karnan at SSKM Hospital on Saturday evening. After the meeting, he told Hindustan Times that they are hopeful of a positive response from the governor.
A team of West Bengal police arrested the former judge of Calcutta high court on the orders of the supreme court of India. On May 9, a seven member bench of the supreme court sentenced him to six months in prison.
Karnan evaded arrest since that order. He was born on June 12, 1955. Nedumpara told Hindustan Times that Karnan who is admitted in an ICCU at SSKM Hospital since Thursday is now feeling better.
Two security personnel were killed and four others were injured in encounters at various places between Maoists and security forces in Chhattisgarh’s South Sukma on Saturday.
IG Bastar, Vivekanand confirmed that the two jawans of district reserve guards (DRG) were killed in an encounter near Bheji area of South Sukma.
The injured were rushed to Raipur. The condition of three jawans is said to be serious, police sources said. The encounter continues to rage.
“A massive encounter is going on since Friday in that area of South Sukma. A joint force of security forces is in the jungles of South Sukma and they are fighting with the battalion of Maoists,” special director general of naxal operations, DM Awasthi told Hindustan Times.
Awasthi also said that around 20 Maoists are also killed in the encounter. But security forces could find only one body of a Maoist so far.
The joint team, comprising personnel from STF, District Reserve Guard (DRG) and CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), was carrying out anti-Naxal operation in Chintagufa area, around 500 km from the Chhattisgarh capital Raipur.
“The team is still cordoning off a forest patch in southern part of Sukma and positive results will come in next few hours,” said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity.
An RSS think tank wants the Centre to design local thalis (set meals) aimed at popularising indigenous food items known for their health value, thereby meeting the nutritional requirements of people across the country.
These meals – designated as ‘Bharatiya thalis’ – should be composed of locally produced and traditionally consumed foods, the Deendayal Research Institute (DRI) said. The think tank, however, refrained from commenting on food choices or discouraging the consumption of nonvegetarian items.
The DRI proposed that the Centre expand its food security to include nutrition, and suggested the constitution of a ‘national indigenous food initiative’
THINK TANK STEERED CLEAR OF OPPOSING THE CONSUMPTION OF NONVEG ITEMS
to study indigenous foods and their health benefits.
This suggestion was made at the end of a two-day conference on ‘nutrition-sensitive agriculture’ jointly organised by the DRI and the Madhya Pradesh government, with the support of the ministry of culture, in Shillong. The institute will present these recommendations to the Union government as well as central think tank NITI Aayog.
The DRI is pushing for the renewed consumption of traditional food items that have gone out of vogue despite their high nutritional value.
“The central government must set up an independent technology mission, consisting of experts from various integrated nutrition and agricultural streams, for developing local thalis (which will have ingredients sourced from that particular region),” said DRI general secretary Atul Jain. “(Recommendations for consumption of) such thalis will only be advisory in nature,” he added.