New Delhi, Aug 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday greeted people on the occasion of Janmashtami.
“May this festival of devotion and gaiety bring happiness, prosperous and good fortune to everyone,” he said.
Devotees believe that Lord Krishna was born on this day, as per the Hindu calendar, and Janmashtami is celebrated to mark the occasion
PM Modi greets people on Janmashtami
3 IAS, 1 IRS officers transferred
The Government of Jammu and Kashmir today ordered transfer and postings of three IAS and 1 IRS officers with immediate effect.
Are you not ashamed of such politics: Rahul attacks PM on BJP’s ‘support’ to rape accused
NEW DELHI, Aug 18: The BJP’s support to criminals displays the party’s mindset towards women, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Thursday and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he was ashamed of “such politics”.
He cited the examples of rape cases in Unnao and Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and now Gujarat where the government this week released those convicted of rape and murder in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case.
“Unnao – worked to save BJP MLA. Kathua – rally in favour of rapists. Hathras – the government in favour of rapists. Gujarat – the release and honour of rapists. The support to criminals displays the petty mindset of the BJP towards women,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
“Are you not ashamed of such politics, Prime Minister ji,” he asked.
Discussing the release of the Bilkis Bano case convicts, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram added that two BJP MLAs were part of the review panel that granted them remission.
“There is an interesting side story to the grant of remission to 11 persons convicted for gang rape in Gujarat. Among the Review Panel were two BJP MLAs Shri C. K. Raolji and Shri Suman Chauhan!
“Another member was Shri Murli Mulchandani who was a key witness for the prosecution in the Godhra Train burning case!,” he alleged on Twitter.
He asked whether this was a neutral, non-partisan panel of experts in criminology and penology and said the district collector was the chairperson.
Gandhi and his Congress party have been attacking the BJP and the prime minister for releasing the rapists in the Bilkis Bano case by granting them remission.
Eleven convicts, sentenced to life imprisonment, walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. They had completed more than 15 years in jail.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai on January 21, 2008, had sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment on charges of gangrape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gangraped while fleeing the violence that broke out after the Godhra train burning. Among those killed were three-year-old daughter. (Agencies)
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad calls on Vice President
NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday called on Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar in New Delhi.
The Vice President’s Secretariat tweeted about the meeting between Dhankhar and the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.
Mr. Azad had been a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Dhankhar took over as the Vice President on August 11.
“Former Union Minister and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad called on the Hon’ble Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas today,” the Vice President Secretariat tweeted. (Agencies)
Dr Farooq calls All Party Meeting on Monday; Says except BJP all parties invited
Srinagar, Aug 18: National Conference (NC) president, Dr Farooq Abdullah on Thursday called an All Party Meeting on Monday over this recent decision of Election Commission of India (ECI) to allow non locals to vote in Jammu and Kashmir.
Abdullah said that the All Party Meeting will be held at his Gupkar residence on Monday (11:00 AM) to discuss the latest ECI decision.
He said that all the parties except Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been invited to discuss future course of action.
Pertinently, PDP president earlier in a day had said that she contacted Dr Farooq and asked him to call an All Party Meeting to discuss future course of action.
Notably, the Election Commission has allowed non locals, living ordinarily in J&K to cast votes in the Union Territory.
Eight YouTube channels blocked for spreading disinformation against India
NEW DELHI, Aug 18: The Government on Thursday ordered the blocking of eight YouTube channels, including one operating from Pakistan, for allegedly spreading disinformation related to India’s national security, foreign relations and public order.
The blocked YouTube channels had over 114 crore views; and 85.73 lakh subscribers and the content was being monetised, an official statement said.
The channels that were blocked under the Information Technology Rules-2021 include seven Indian news channels. The blocked YouTube channels made false claims such as the demolition of religious structures by the Government of India, ban on the celebration of religious festivals, and declaration of religious war in India, an official statement said.
“Such content was found to have the potential to create communal disharmony and disturb public order in the country,” it said.
It said the YouTube channels were also used to post fake news on various subjects such as the Indian Armed Forces and Jammu and Kashmir.
“The content was observed to be completely false and sensitive from the perspective of national security and India’s friendly relations with foreign States,” the statement said.
The blocked channels are Loktantra TV, U&V TV, AM Razvi, Gouravshali Pawan Mithilanchal, SeeTop5TH, Sarkari Update, Sab Kuch Dekho and Pakistan-based News ki Dunya. (Agencies)
NIA raids house of accused in case related to arms, ammunition dropped by Pakistani drones
Jammu, August 18: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted raids at multiple locations in Jammu, Kathua, Samba and Doda in connection with recovery along the International Border of arms and ammunition dropped via drones controlled through Pakistan.
Officials of the NIA were seen at the residence of Faisal Muneer, the main accused in the drone-dropping case, who was arrested last month.
Jammu and Kashmir Police have made several arrests in recent months in the drone case.
Early on Wednesday morning, the Jammu and Kashmir Police recovered a consignment of arms and ammunition dropped by a Pakistani drone in Jammu’s Toph village located near the international border.
According to Police, a case was registered on February 24 this year at Arnia police station regarding the recovery of arms and ammunition dropped by Pakistani drones.
One accused, from Jammu had revealed that a Pakistani prisoner/handler Mohd Ali Hussain alias Qasim has been instrumental in dropping of arms and ammunition via drones controlled by Pakistan and is the main operative of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Al Badr.
He was then brought before court on production from jail and subsequently police remand was taken.
Police said during sustained questioning, the accused confessed to his role in the Arnia weapon drop case and also disclosed two locations where the arms and ammunitions dropped by Pakistan-controlled drones was concealed.
In order to recover the weapons, a police team, along with the magistrate concerned visits the spot.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Mukesh Singh said, “Though no recovery was made at the first place but at the second place in Toph village (near the International Border) in Phallian Mandal area, a packet of arms, ammunitions and explosives were recovered. When the packet was being opened, the accused attacked one of the police officials and snatched his service rifle. He fired at the police party and tried to flee from the spot.”
“In retaliation, the accused got injured and was shifted to Governmnet Medical College Jammu along with an injured police official. The injured terrorist later succumbed to his injuries,” said the official.
The dropped packet was then scrutinized with the help of the Bomb disposal squad. An AK rifle, magazines, 40 AK rounds, a star pistol, pistol rounds, and Chinese small grenades were recovered from the packet. (Agencies)
Pakistan drone spotted near J&K border village
JAMMU, Aug 18: A joint team of Army, Border Security Force, police and special operation group on Thursday launched a mega search operation along the International border after a Pakistani drone was spotted in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Police sources said the Pakistani drone movement last night in the Sultanpur area of Hiranagar village prompted the action.
“Suspecting drone dropping, the security forces during wee hours launched a search operation in the villages all along the international border,” the police said. (Agencies)
Mainly dry weather likely in Jammu and Kashmir
JAMMU, Aug 18: Jammu and Kashmir is likely to witness mainly dry weather in the next 24 hours, the Meteorological (MeT) office said on Thursday.
Weather was mostly dry in Jammu and Kashmir during the last 24 hours.
“Mainly dry weather is expected in J&K during the next 24 hours,” an official of the MeT department said.
Jammu had 26.4, Katra 24, Batote 18.2, Banihal 17.4 and Bhaderwah 16.7 as the minimum temperature.
Srinagar had 19.6, Pahalgam 13.7 and Gulmarg 11 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature.
In Ladakh region, Drass town had 11.3 and ALeh 13 as the minimum temperature. (Agencies)
Coronavirus in India : India reports 12,608 new Covid cases in last 24 hours
There has been a nearly 50% jump in the number of Covid-19 hospitalisations in Delhi in just two weeks: from 291 on August 1 to 591 on Wednesday. The number of fresh cases spiked to 1,652 from Tuesday’s 917, though the positivity rate tumbled to 9% from 19.20%.