Delhi HC upholds TRAI's call-drops compensation
The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed petitions from telecom operators and upheld the decision of TRAI to make it mandatory for cellular operators to compensate their customers for call-drops, reports the Hindustan Times.
The telecom operators had, in their petitions, called the rule "arbitrary and whimsical" and argued that providing compensation to consumers amounted to interfering with the companies' tariff structure.
Chief Justice G Rohini said: "The regulations made under the TRAI Act are placed on a par with the rules which can be framed by the Central Government... We uphold the validity of (TRAI's) regulation."
Condom-counting BJP MLA will reveal evidence of his claims soon
The BJP MLA from Rajasthan who had caused a social media storm last week when he said that 3,000 used condoms are found daily on the JNU campus, has promised to back his claims with evidence, reports The Indian Express.
On Monday, Gyandev Ahuja, the MLA from Ramgarh constituency in Alwar, said, "I will hold a long press conference and in an organised manner will display the proof and evidence."
At a rally on 22 February, the MLA had said 2,000 bottles of liquor, 50,000 pieces of bones, and 3,000 used condoms are found daily on the JNU campus, where "girls and boys dance naked".
Home Ministry re-examines Ishrat's files
After former home secretary GK Pillai revealed that former home minister P Chidambaram had changed an affidavit which had originally described encounter victim Ishrat Jahan and her companions as Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, the Home Ministry is digging out the files to examine the case all over again, reports The Indian Express.
"We are trying to locate files relating to Ishrat Jahan case. We are yet to get all files as some of these are yet to be traced," said a senior official. "We are looking at the files keeping in view that new facts have come to light."
Rohith Vemula's mother and brother meet Mayawati
The mother and brother of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit research scholar who committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University in January, met BSP chief Mayawati on Monday to urge for a law to end caste discrimination in educational institutions, reports The Indian Express.
A Bahuhan Samahwadi Party statement said Rohith's mother told Mayawati that she does not believe that the BJP government at the Centre would be able to giver justice in the case and that that HRD Minister Smriti Irani made false statements in both Houses of the Parliament.
Eyewitnesses from ABVP claim Kanhaiya raised anti-national slogans
The Delhi Police's evidence against JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar who has been charged with sedition, is based on 17 eyewitnesses of whom four are members of the ABVP, reports The Indian Express.
These four eyewitnesses stated that Kanhaiya had raised anti-national slogans at the 9 February pro-Afzal Guru event on the JNU campus that prompted the charges of sedition on Kanhaiya and eight other JNU students.
A JNU security officer said that Kanhaiya had led the procession, and the other eyewitnesses, including other campus security personnel and an ABVP office bearer, stated that Kanhaiya was present at the event where a few students had raised anti-national slogans.
SC seeks govt response to petition on triple talaq
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the government for a response to a petition filed by a Muslim woman that challenges the Muslim practices of triple talaq, nikah halal and polygamy as unconstitutional because they violate the right to equality, reports the Hindustan Times.
Justices AR Dave and AK Goel issued notices to the ministries of women and child development, law and justice and minority affairs, as well as the National Commission for Women for responses to Shayara Bano's petition.
Marathwada farmers unhappy with Jaitley's budget
In drought-stricken Marathwada, where 168 distressed farmers have committed suicide since the beginning of the year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's budget has been described as upsetting, reports The Indian Express.
While the Centre called the budget 'rural centric', villagers in Marathwada are unhappy that Jaitley made no mention of farmer suicides. They also say they had hoped for loan waivers.
"Did he say anything about our farmers' loans? Did he say anything about our mounting debts? If he had, I have not heard, neither have scores of farmers in our village," said Shivaji Gajar, a marginal cotton farmer.
Kebab lands man in trouble. Vienna police slaps 70 euro fine
Edin Mehic has been fined for offending public decency. He burped loudly in public after eating a kebab. Mehic was fined for belching while standing close to a policeman in the city's famous Prater Park.
Writing on Facebook, Mehic said he burped after eating a kebab with too much onion. Moments later, he wrote, "I felt a hand on my shoulder". "But what had I done?... I was being reported for a 'decency violation', the policeman shouted. "I had a long discussion with him about why he wasn't picking up real criminals who were obviously consuming and selling completely legal drugs. That didn't get us very far."
Mehic posted a photograph of the fine on his Facebook page, which says that he violated "public decency with a loud belch next to a police officer." Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger on Monday confirmed that Mehic had been fined for the offending burp, a report in the Guardian said.
Unicef warns of severe child malnourishment in North Korea
About 25,000 children in North Korea require immediate treatment for malnutrition after a drought cut food production by a fifth and the government reduced rations, Unicef has warned. The UN's children's fund is asking for $18m in donations for its North Korea work as part of a global 1.9 bn pounds humanitarian appeal for children.
It said the money needed for its work had doubled in three years, driven by global conflicts and extreme weather that were forcing growing numbers of children from their homes and exposing millions more to food shortages, violence, disease and abuse. For the first time, it said a quarter of the worldwide appeal would go towards educating children in emergencies, focusing on 5 million children affected by the Syrian civil war, which is now in its fifth year.
In North Korea, Unicef said severe drought during 2015 in four agricultural provinces led to a 20% reduction in crop production compared with 2014.