Home » Catch Wire » Your news wire on 2 Aug: Vyapam, Bengal flood, Sania Mirza Khel Ratna, Maggi, Special Olympics and more
 

5 arrested for gangrape of 17-year-old girl in an Ahmedabad hotel

A 17-year old girl was allegedly raped by her boyfriend and five of his associates in a hotel in Ahmedabad. The girl had registered a complaint on 31 July and five culprits have been arrested so far. The sixth accused is absconding.

"As per the girl's complaint the boy took her to a hotel in Kagdapith area of the city and raped her. She also alleged that later he called up his five friends to the hotel where three of them raped her and two others helped them," police inspector of Maninagar Police Station AG Gohil said, narrating the girl's complaint.

Independence Day: 700 prisoners to be freed from Madhya Pradesh jails on 15 August

Prison_Praful G angurde/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

Photo: Praful Gangurde/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

After one year of waiting, around 700 prisoners who have completed their life term for murder and other serious crimes will be released from different jails in Madhya Pradesh on 15 August.

80 prisoners will be released from Bhopal Central Jail, while rest of the prisoners will be released from other jails of the state. This comes after the Supreme Court repealed its stay on the release of the 700 prisoners.

SP sacks leader who raised a demand to make Yakub Memon's wife an MP

Md Farooq Ghosi

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Samajwadi Party has suspended its senior leader and Vice President of SP's Maharashtra unit, Mohammed Farooq Ghosi following his controversial demand of nominating Yakub Memon's wife Raheen to the Parliament.Earlier to his suspension, Ghosi wrote a letter to Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav demanding a nomination for Yaseen in Rajya Sabha as 'she has suffered a lot'."Raheen Yakub Memon was also arrested in the Mumbai blast case but the court released her later as charges against her couldn't be proved.

But she was in jail for years and might have suffered a lot. You have always supported needy and helpless. I feel that Raheen is also helpless. Likewise, many Muslims in the country are today feeling helpless. We must support Raheen, making her an MP so that she can raise her voice for all such helpless people," the DNA quoted from the letter.

Sania Mirza nominated for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna

Sania Mirza_Wire

Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for IPTL 2014

The Sports Ministry on Friday confirmed that Wimbledon doubles champion Sania Mirza has been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. The final decision rests not with the Sports Ministry but only with the Awards Committee. Sports Secretary Ajit Sharan said the Sports Minister Sarbanada Sonowal has indeed recommended to the tennis exponent for the highest honour given for achievement in sports. "We had got a late recommendation from AITA but the Minister accepted that and recommended the same to the Awards Committee," Sharan told said.

Supreme Court Deputy Registrar quits over judgement on yb Memon

Yakub Memon_Wire

Photo: HC Tiwari/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Professor Anup Surendranath, Deputy Registrar (research), who was appointed over a year ago on a contact, resigned on July 30, the day Yakub Memon was hanged, saying two decisions within a span of hours are instances of "judicial abdication" that should count among the "darkest hours" of the apex court. His resignation has been accepted and he has been relieved.

Professor Surendranath is a faculty member of National Law University, Delhi, and Director of Death Penalty Research Project. He was also associated with the filing of the petition for stay of Memon's death warrant. "It would be silly and naive to see the events of the last 24 hours at the Supreme Court as some triumph of the rule of law - the two orders at 4 pm on 29th July and 5 am on 30th July (and the reasoning adopted therein) are instances of judicial abdication that must count amongst the darkest hours for the Supreme Court of India.," Prof Surendranath had remarked on July 30.

Bengal flood situation turns grim, 1.19 lakh people affected

Bengal Flood_Wire

Photo: Saikat Paul/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

The flood situation in South Bengal turned worse on 1 August with 1.19 lakh people taking shelter in relief camps in 12 districts of the state. More heavy rains are forecast for the next two days. "So far 966 relief camps have been set up sheltering 1.19 lakh affected people," West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told newspersons here. "We have opened 124 medical camps," she said. The death toll stood at 39 that was reported a day earlier.

Cops say no fould play in a Vyapam case in Gwalior that has claimed 9 lives so far

Shivraj Singh Chouhan_Wire

Photo: Ramesh Sharma/India Today Group/Getty Images

It has emerged that nine people have died, since 2007, in a Vyapam scam case in Gwalior. The case has been registered with the Jhansi Road police station.The tests were held over four years - 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. The cops have so far ruled out any foul play. They attributed the deaths to accidents, suicides and in one case, excess drinking. The Central Bureau of Investigation took up eight of the nine cases for preliminary inquiry over the past two weeks. Virendra Jain, Gwalior additional superintendent of police, revisited the cases after the scam, but did not find anything.

Rape accused 'godman' Asaram Bapu listed under category of great saints of India

Rape accused

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Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu has been listed under the category of 'great saints' in a class 3 moral science books in Jodhpur schools.

The books are published by Delhi-based 'Gurukul Prakashan' and they claim that they have followed guidelines of NCERT. Asaram shares the space alongside Mother Teresa, Swami Vivekananda and Guru Nanak in the book.

Not Cecil's brother, but a lion has been shot down

Cecil_Lion_Wire

Photo: Getty Images

Reports of Jericho, a brother of Cecil, Zimbabwe's best known lion who was hunted last week, being killed on 1 August were untrue. However, the name of the second lion killed has not been revealed yet.

Reuters reports that sources at the national parks agency said that a foreign hunter, whose nationality hasn't been disclosed yet, killed the second lion illegally on July 3. The hunter had since left Zimbabwe, but police had recovered the lion's head and carcass.

"I think this type of misinformation is characteristic of that particular source," field researcher at Hwange Lion Research, Brent Stapelkamp said. A collar was put on Jericho and the latest update confirms that Jerico is "alive and well."


Pizza Hut serves non-veg pizzas to vegetarians, faces Rs 30,000 fine

Pizza Hut_Wire

Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A Pizza Hut outlet in Chandigarh has been directed to pay a sum of Rs 30,000 as compensation to a Jain family which was served non-vegetarian pizzas despite ordering vegetarian ones. The family detected the error only after consuming the pizzas while comparing the invoice with the ordered product. The consumer disputes redressal forum has also directed Pizza Hut and its Sector 35 outlet to refund the bill of Rs 605, along with Rs 7,500 as litigation expenses to the consumer.

Achal Jain had moved the consumer forum against Pizza Hut and its franchise in Sector 35, alleging that on October 8, 2014, he had ordered vegetarian pizzas online. He furthered that due to negligence, their religious sentiments were hurt.

CBFC withdraws list of cuss words

Pahlaj Nihlani_Wire

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Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India has withdrawn the controversial list of cuss words that was released soon after Pahlaj Nihalani took over as its chairperson. "The issue was discussed and most members fovoured that the list be withdrawn. And since the overwhelming majority held this view, the decision was taken," a Board member, who had attended the meeting on Friday, said.The controversial list banning the use of "objectionable" and "abusive" words was circulated by its chairperson Nihalani, but the Board had decided to hold its implementation after a massive controversy broke out and it was felt that more consultation is required.The move to ban all the words in the list met with much opposition from film-makers and even the Information and Broadcasting is also understood to have been not too pleased with the controversies that emanated.

Bihar says bye bye to Maggi and 11 other noodles

Maggi Noodles_Wire

Photo: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

After Maggi being off the shelves in Bihar, the state government on 1 August banned sale, advertisement and storage of 11 other brands of instant noodles after lab tests found presence of monosodium glutamate (MSG) in them. The banned brands include 'Knorr Mast Masala Soupy Noodles' manufactured by Hindustan Unilever Limited, 'Foodles Multigrain' and 'Ata Masala Noodles' by Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Healthcare, 'Ching's Manchurian' and 'Veg Hakka Noodles' of Capital Foods Private Limited.

'Top Ramen Super Noodles', 'Top Ramen Curry Noodles' were also banned along with the 'Curry Veg Noodles' manufactured by Indo Nissin Foods Limited and its 'Cup Noodles Veggie Manchow', whose tastemaker was found to contain more lead than permitted. Sunfeast 'Yipee Noodles Magic Masala' and 'Yipee Noodles Classic Masala' made by ITC Limited Foods Division too have been banned, Kishor said.

Over 9,700 cases of atrocities against women reported, highest in UP

More than 9,700 cases of atrocities against women have been reported in the past four months, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha on 31 July. These include cases of 'domestic violence, outraging the modesty of women, dowry harassment, property dispute, rape'.

With 6,110 cases, Uttar Pradesh has seen the highest number of violations this financial year, followed by Delhi (1,179), Haryana (504), Rajasthan (447) and Bihar (256). In the last three years, a total of 44,328 cases have been reported in UP alone.With regard to violation of child rights, Gandhi said 2,270 cases have been reported by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights till June 30 this fiscal.

Gandhi said the government would set up 36 'one-stop' help centres for helping women who are victims of any form of violence. Gandhi also said that states should look at having at least 33 per cent women in police force and there should be more sensitisation among police.

Six medals were won by athletes from Delhi government-run Asha Kiran Home at Special Olympics

Athletes from the Delhi government-run Asha Kiran Home have bagged six medals so far at the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games being held in Los Angeles. A ten-member contingent from Asha Kiran Home for mentally-challenged is part of the Indian team to participate in the 2015 Special Olympics being held from July 25 to August 2.

"Phoolan Devi has won the first Gold for India in Power-lifting (Bench Press). She has also won 3-Bronze medals in power-lifting (all lifts, dead-lift and squat lift)," a Delhi Government release said. "Sonakshi has won Bronze in power-lifting (Bench-press). The Gold for Soft-ball (team event) was won by Mathru. In total, Asha Kiran has won 6-medals till now (2 Gold and 4 Bronze)," it added.

Bihar is the most flood-prone state in India

Assam Floods_y Luit Chaliha/Pacific Press/LightRocket  via Getty Images

Photo: y Luit Chaliha/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images

According to the recent study conducted by the International Water Management Institute, Bihar is the most flood-prone state in India. The most vulnerable region in the state are the areas of North Bihar, where 76 per cent of the population are risk prone. Giriraj Amarnath, senior researcher and project lead of IWMI, added that Index- based Flood Insurance (IBFI) could prove to be a boon for the situation.Speaking at a workshop here, he said that IBFI can ensure an objective, post-flood compensatory mechanism to enable robustness against uncertainties and minimise the burden on governments. The index is developed with inputs on rainfall, water- level, flood extent, flood hazard models, flood loss models, crop yield loss, economic loss, crop damage and use of remote sensing applications.