MAHARASHTRA RELEASES HIGHEST NUMBER OF UNDERTRIALS
At least 4,923 undertrial prisoners have been released from Maharashtra’s jails between July 2015 and January 2016, a report said on 30 April. Their release has been in pursuance of a Supreme Court directive that asked states to release on bail the prisoners who had served at least half the sentence they would have been awarded if convicted. This number of released prisoners accounts for nearly 24.74 per cent of Maharashtra’s last-known undertrial population of 19,895 prisoners and has made activists skeptical about the claims of the government.
A total of 5,819 prisoners were released across the country after the SC’s order, with Maharashtra accounting for nearly 85 per cent of these released prisoners. The second largest number is from Uttar Pradesh, with 198 released undertrials. These numbers were made public in the Lok Sabha on 26 April by MoS Home Affairs Haribhai Chaudhary.
30% WAQF PROPERTY ENCROACHED BY DDA, OTHERS: BOARD
Delhi Waqf Board chief Amanatullah Khan on 28 April claimed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) was the biggest “encroacher” of its properties in the national capital. The Board has also released a list of its properties on its new website along with a list of tenants and will soon put out gazette notifications that provide the Waqf ownership of such properties.
The Board also claimed to have increased its revenue – the rent received from various properties – from Rs 7 lakh a month to over Rs 50 lakh in the last one month. Recently elected chairman of the Board, which didn’t have a chief for over a year, Mr Khan pledged to reclaim all Waqf properties and “invest the earnings of the Board into starting educational institutions for the Muslim community.”
PANEL ALLEGES ‘SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG’ WITH SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT IN PATHANKOT ATTACK
A parliamentary panel in its report pulled up the Centre for the Pathankot terror attack, saying had the Centre been serious and the intelligence agencies had functioned properly, the picture would have been entirely different, a report said on 3 May. The reports said that there is “something seriously wrong with our counter-terror security establishment” and suggested that Pathankot airbase’s security cover was not robust and had a poorly guarded perimeter wall.
The report of the panel was tabled in Parliament on 3 May. The committee, which visited the Indian Air Force base, questioned how terrorists from Pakistan managed to reach the airbase.
IRANI’S 1996 BA COURSE DOCUMENTS YET TO BE FOUND: DU
The Delhi University on 3 May told a local court that documents pertaining to Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s BA course in 1996, as mentioned by her in an affidavit filed during 2004 Lok Sabha elections, were yet to be found. The university’s response came in pursuance to the court’s earlier order summoning documents from its School of Open Learning department on the allegation that while Irani’s affidavit for 2004 polls claimed that she completed her BA in 1996, another affidavit by her for the 2011 Rajya Sabha poll from Gujarat had mentioned her highest qualification as B.Com (Part I) from DU.
The Delhi court has now asked the SDM of north Delhi to bring documents filed by Irani with her affidavit for contesting 2004 polls from Chandni Chowk constituency. The matter has been fixed for further hearing on 6 June.
NO OFFICIAL ESTIMATE OF BLACK MONEY STASHED ABROAD: GOVT
There is no official estimation of amount of black money that has been sent to foreign countries by Indians, government reportedly said on 3 May. “Determination of black money sent to foreign countries by Indian persons is subject matter of investigation and other follow-up actions by relevant law enforcement agencies, including Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, CBI etc, which is on-going. However, details regarding the amount of money involved in such cases are not maintained centrally,” Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
SC WANTS GOVT TO CONSIDER UTTARAKHAND TRUST VOTE
The Supreme Court on 3 May asked the Union Government to consider the possibility of a floor test to ascertain the legislative strength of ousted chief minister Harish Rawat of Uttarakhand that is under President’s Rule since March 27. The apex court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra asked Attorney General to take instructions from the government and intimate the court about it.
During the brief hearing, the bench repeated its suggestion that the Centre should consider holding a floor test in the Assembly under its supervision to ascertain the actual situation.
DECLARE DROUGHT AS NATIONAL EMERGENCY: KAILASH SATYARTHI
Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi on 3 May urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately declare drought as a “national emergency”, saying it had badly hit children in rural areas. Over 16.3 crore children were affected by the “severe drought situation”, Satyarthi said in a letter to Modi that was released to the media.
The child rights activist said the drought across 10 states had led to rampant child marriage, child labour and kidnapping of children. “Owning to this drought and the ongoing water crisis, children are becoming increasingly vulnerable,” Satyarthi said in the letter. “Reports of children being forced into child labour, trafficking, child marriage and the Devadasi system are coming to light,” he added.
HC REJECTS CBSE APPEAL AGAINST ALLOWING MUSLIM GIRLS TO WEAR HIJAB FOR AIPMET
The Kerala High Court on 29 April dismissed an appeal filed by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) challenging its single judge’s order granting permission to Muslim girls to wear the Hijab while appearing for All India Pre-Medical Test-2016. A division bench, comprising Justice P N Ravindran and Justice Sunil Thomas, observed that no ground had been made out to interfere with the April 26 order of the single judge.
In his order, Justice Muhammed Mushtaq had permitted all candidates who, based on the religious practice, want to wear headscarf and full-sleeved dress to appear for the test but on condition that they be present at the hall an hour before the exam for frisking by women invigilators.
ROW OVER WPI WOMEN CAMPAIGNERS IN HIJAB
Photographs of women in hijab campaigning for Welfare Party of India (WPI) in Kerala’s Ponnani has triggered a social media debate over the freedom of women in Islam. The pictures showing the women shouting slogans and carrying banners in support of WPI candidate M M Shakkir sparked a controversy after some Muslim groups called the act of the women anti-Islam. Soon an abusive campaign against the girls began online. Progressive Muslim groups, though, threw their weight behind the girls. Shakkir said the girls had faced a lot of flak and had been advised to stay away from campaigning.
State women’s commission member Noorbina Rasheed said her organisation didn’t agree with the move to curtail political freedom of women.
KASHMIRI BUSINESSMAN ALLEGES DISCRIMINATION AT DELHI AIRPORT
A Kashmir-based businessman travelling from New Delhi to Srinagar alleged that he and his aged mother were prevented from boarding a plane last week at the Delhi airport and has accused a private airline of discriminating on the basis of his religion, a report said on 30 April. A resident of Baramulla district, Khurshid Ahmad and his 85-year-old mother Taja Begum were scheduled to board an Indigo plane, 6E 555 on April 20 but were allegedly barred from travelling in the flight.
“I had arrived well before time and even my luggage had passed through. There was some time for the flight departure. I went down and by the time I came back they had closed the gates,” he said, adding, “there was no announcement and when I asked the reason, I was told they no longer make announcements.” However, Ahmad said the next day when he returned to Delhi airport, he witnessed that announcements were made as usual.