Terror plot...

For the safety of those on the list, the court requested that their names be withheld. Pawar’s questioning also revealed the name of another one of the accused men, currently on the run, chief public prosecutor Jaisingh Desai said.

The ATS also said it had recovered a diary from a locker belonging to Pawar. The book has notes in code words, which the agency is yet to decipher. The court has remanded Pawar in ATS’ custody till September 4. that it violated women’s right to equality.

“Most countries are now moving towards recognition of difference, and the mere existence of difference does not imply discrimination, but is indicative of a robust democracy,” the commission said.

The commission urged that the legislature should first consider guaranteeing equality within communities, between men and women, rather than equality between communities.

“I am glad the law commission has endorsed my position. I have consistently been arguing that we cannot go for a uniform civil code at one go and the reforms should be piecemeal,” said Faizan Mustafa, vice-chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. “We need to reform Hindu laws, Muslim laws, Christian laws and Parsi laws etc. Otherwise, there will be a lot of debate and the issue will be hijacked by fanatics of all religions”.

Mustafa said “uniformity” in itself was not a “value” and what is needed is more just and gender-sensitive laws.

For instance, the law panel said, women, upon divorce, should get equal share in property acquired after marriage. “The availability of a no-fault divorce must accompany community of self-acquired property,” the panel said. It recommended that the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Special Marriage Act, 1954, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 (for Christians) and the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 ought to be amended to reflect this change. bers such as Bhutan, Bangladesh and India had pulled out of the Saarc summit in 2016 over the issue of terrorism. India had then blamed “cross-border terror attacks” for creating an environment that was “not conducive” to the meeting of Saarc leaders.

“A stunted SAARC is giving impetus to Bimstec,” said strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellany.“legal assistance and frameworks are crucial instruments in combating terrorism and trans-national crimes. In this context, the Bimstec convention on mutual legal assistance may be finalised soon,” said Sachin Chaturvedi, who heads the Newdelhi based think tank, Research and Information System for Developing Countries. Considering that Bimstec has hosted only four summits since it was founded in 1997, the leaders decided to streamline and strengthen the working of the grouping. The grouping is also looking at setting up a Bimstec Development Fund with voluntary contributions from member states. The fund will be used for research,planningandfinancing of projects, programmes and other activities of Bimstec centres and entities as agreed on by member states, the declaration said. Sri Lanka is the next chair of the grouping. On the sidelines of the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held meetings on Friday with his Nepalese counterpart, KP Sharma Oli, Myanmar President, Win Myint, Thailand Prime Minister, Prayuth Chanocha, and the chief adviser of Bhutan’s interim government, Dasho Tshering Wangchuk. have been killed so far this year, including three on Eid, when policemen were visiting their homes despite an advisory that cautioned against such a move. About 1,600 policemen have died in J & K since armed insurgency broke out in 1990.Kashmir remained paralysed for a second straight day because of a strike in protest against a petition in the Supreme Court against Section 35A of the Constitution whose hearing was eventually deferred till January by the court. Schools, universities, businesses and most offices remained shut even as government forces in riot gear patrolled deserted streets. Traffic remained off the roads and restrictions were imposed in some parts of the old city.