CHANDIGARH, Sept 19: Students of Chandigarh University in Punjab’s Mohali ended their protest in the early hours on September 19, 2022 after the district administration and police assured them of a fair and transparent investigation into allegations that objectionable videos of several women students had been recorded.
The university on September 19, 2022 suspended two wardens for negligence and also declared “non-teaching days” till September 24.
Further, it formed a joint committee comprising students and senior functionaries to address certain issues pertaining to hostel timings and other demands of the students, sources in the varsity said.
“They (students) ended their protest at around 1:30 am,” Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Sheel Soni said.
He told reporters that a special investigation team headed by a senior police officer will be formed to probe the case.
The university in a tweet said, “We are always with our students, be it their academic aspirations or their safety and well-being. We will leave no stone unturned to live it upto this commitment towards our students.” Protest had rocked the campus on Saturday night over allegations that objectionable videos of several women students were recorded by a hosteller. Some students claimed that the videos were even leaked.
Police, however, had said the woman student appeared to have shared a video of only herself with a 23-year-old man, stated to be her boyfriend, and no objectionable video of any other student was found.
She was arrested from Punjab itself while the man was held in Himachal Pradesh and handed over to the Punjab Police. Officials said the woman’s mobile phone has been seized for forensic analysis and added that there was no suicide attempt by any student.
The university authorities had also rejected as “false and baseless” reports that claimed videos of several women students in the hostel were made and leaked on social media and that distraught students had attempted suicide.
The students, however, had accused the university authorities of “suppressing facts” and held a fresh protest on Sunday evening, which continued till late night.
An FIR under Section 354-C (voyeurism) of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act has been registered in the matter and further probe is on, police said. (Agencies)

NEW DELHI, Sept 19: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and killings in Jammu and Kashmir.
The plea was filed by Ashutosh Taploo, whose father Tika Lal Taploo was killed by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorists at the time.
Tika Lal Taploo, a prominent Kashmiri Pandit and BJP’s former vice president, was gunned down by terrorists in Srinagar 33 years ago.
The killing of Taploo in 1989 triggered the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley. His killing also was also followed by a series of target killings of Kashmiri Pandit leaders and activists in Kashmir.
The apex court allowed the petitioner to withdraw the plea and seek an appropriate remedy.
An NGO ‘We the Citizens’ has also filed a plea seeking an SIT probe into the targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs in Jammu and Kashmir between 1990 and 2003, which forced their exodus from the Valley.The NGO also sought rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the top court said that the issues relating to rehabilitation is “purely in the domain of the executive” and asked the petitioner to first approach the Centre and the Union territory administration. (Agencies)

New Delhi, Sep 18: Gross direct tax collections till 2022-23 as on September 17 stood at Rs 8.36 lakh crore, witnessing a growth of 30 per cent over collections of the corresponding period of last year.

Net direct tax collections stood at Rs 7.01 lakh crore for the current fiscal till September 17, showing a 23 per cent rise over the corresponding period of last year.

Cumulative advance tax collections were at Rs 2.95 lakh crore till September 17 in 2022-23, a growth of 17 per cent over the corresponding period of last year, according to the data released by the Finance Ministry.

Kargil, Sept 19: A medium-intensity earthquake struck Ladakh on Monday. According to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), the earthquake occurred at around 9:30 am. The quake was measured at 4.3 on the Richter Scale. The epicenter of the earthquake was at 64 km WNW of Kargil, while the depth of the earthquake was 10 km below the ground.

Srinagar, Sep 19: The Meteorological (MeT) department on Monday forecast dry weather in Jammu and Kashmir during the last 24 hours.

“Weather is likely to remain dry in J&K during the next 24 hours”, an official of the MeT office said.

Meanwhile, Srinagar registered 12.6 degrees Celsius, Pahalgam 8 degrees and Gulmarg also 8 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature this morning.

Drass in Ladakh region recorded 3.4 degrees, Kargil 9.6 and Leh 5.8, while Jammu clocked 22.7 degrees, Katra 21.2, Batote 14, Banihal 9.8 and Bhaderwah 12.6 degrees.

SRINAGAR: Three people died in a mud house collapse in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said on Sunday. Manzoor Gorsi (40), Hajira (55), and Asif Gorsi (16) were in the temporary structure built in the Mather Patheri Daksum area of the district on Saturday night when it suddenly collapsed, they said.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha expressed condolences to the bereaved families, and directed the district administration to ensure immediate assistance.
“Deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to a house collapse in Larnoo, Anantnag. My deepest condolences to the bereaved families. Directed district administration to ensure best possible treatment to the injured & immediate assistance to the affected families,” Sinha said in a tweet. Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, Basharat Qayoom issued ex gratia relief of Rs 50,000 each to the families of the victims, the officials said.
In addition, other necessary items, including blankets and utensils, were also provided to the families, they said. The officials said the relief was issued within 24 hours of the incident coming to light.
The deputy commissioner said soon after the report regarding the incident was received, a team of revenue and police officials was sent to the spot. (Agencies)

New Delhi, Sep 19: With 4,858 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,45,39,046, while the active cases increased to 48,027, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.
The death toll has climbed to 5,28,355 with 18 fatalities, which includes eight deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.11 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.71 per cent, the health ministry said.
An increase of 105 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it said.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.76 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was at 1.78 per cent, according to the health ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,39,62,664, while the case fatality rate was 1.19 per cent.
According to the ministry, 216.70 crore doses of vaccines have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.
It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, three crore on June 23 last year and four crore on January 25 this year. (Agencies)