Month: April 2025

[ad_1] US vice president JD Vance JAIPUR: Pink City is prepping up to host US vice-president J D Vance, his wife Usha and the couple's three children on April 22 during their India visit.The part personal, part official trip will see Vance engage with industry leaders and govt officials in Jaipur, apart from visiting Amber Fort and City Palace. He is also scheduled to address an industry function on 'Trade and Technology'.Security arrangements have been intensified in the city ahead of Vance's visit. Sources said the US second family is likely to arrive in Jaipur on April 21, following the vice-president's formal dinner engagement with PM Narendra Modi in Delhi earlier in the evening.State officials involved in the preparations said multiple security agencies had begun groundwork to ensure a smooth and secure stay for the visiting dignitary and his family. […]

[ad_1] Kolkata: Calcutta High Court held on Thursday that the need of the hour was to rehabilitate the victims of violence in Murshidabad over protests against amendments to the waqf act, and ruled out the plea for an NIA probe for lack of "adequate material"."Presently we are seized with the problem of restoration and rehabilitation of the displaced persons… It includes children and aged persons. Even the displaced persons who have received temporary shelter may not be receiving the basic amenities," the HC observed.The division bench of justices Soumen Sen and Raja Basu Chowdhury ruled out the prayer for an NIA investigation at this stage on the ground that "no adequate materials" had been placed before the court. The bench, however, left it to Centre to order an NIA investigation suo motu in case it held that scheduled offences had […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: A Muslim woman, NGO Khuran Sunnath Society and now a Muslim advocate have moved SC over the years seeking that they be kept out of the purview of "unfair" inheritance provisions in the Sharia law which they consider to be palpably discriminatory towards women, and sought that they be allowed to follow the secular Indian Succession Act.Kerala-based Khuran Sunnath Society had moved a petition before SC a decade ago, and one Safiya PM in 2024, but the court is yet to decide on the issue. On Thursday, advocate Naushad KK's PIL sought similar relief, but with a difference. A bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar heard Naushad and Safiya's counsel and agreed to tag the petitions together.The court issued notices to Centre and Kerala govERNMENt.Sunnath Society had asked SC to adjudicate whether it was […]

[ad_1] BHOPAL: A local court in Bhopal has ordered further investigation into the unsolved death of Mahila Congress activist Sarla Mishra in Feb 1997. How can anyone with 90% burns give - and sign - a dying declaration, was one of the key questions asked by the court.Police had filed a closure report in the case in 2000, suggesting it was suicide. Sarla's brother Anurag Mishra, however, wasn't convinced and moved court to reopen the investigation. The court accepted his plea Thursday, observing the investigation was incomplete.Sarla was found burnt at her home in Bhopal on Feb 14, 1997. She was transferred to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital where she died five days later. It triggered a political storm in MP with fingers being raised at even then CM Digvijaya Singh for 'hushing up' the case. Around six months ago, Anurag filed […]

[ad_1] Prime Minister Narendra Modi NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi said Thursday the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 was enacted following hundreds of complaints from people from the Muslim community, including women and widows, against the earlier system.During a meeting with a delegation of the Dawoodi Bohra community, the PM recalled receiving over 1,700 complaints about waqf properties from various Muslim communities after his re-election in 2019, which prompted govt to initiate reforms."The new law will soon resolve these grievances, earning the blessings of the poorest of the poor. I've been fighting to empower victims of the previous laws, especially widows, who suffered the most. Our goal is to ensure justice for them," Modi said during his brief address.Highlighting his long-standing ties with the Dawoodi Bohra community, Modi praised their tradition of social welfare and significant contribution to the waqf Act. […]

[ad_1] CHENNAI: Madras high court has directed the Tamil Nadu police to register an FIR against state minister K Ponmudy for his recent derogatory remarks against Saivism, Vaishnavism, and women. "If you (police) don’t register an FIR, the court will initiate suo motu contempt against the authorities," Justice N Anand Venkatesh said.The minister himself admitted to making the statement and apologised and the video is still in the public domain. "Do not register multiple FIRs. Just register one FIR and proceed with it," the judge said. The court then directed advocate-general P S Raman to get instructions from the police by April 23.The observations were made while hearing the suo motu revision initiated by the court against the acquittal of the minister from a disproportionate assets case. On Thursday, when the suo motu revision came up for hearing, the judge […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: Calling the new waqf law BJP's message that "institutions of minorities are fair game", Congress on Thursday said that the legal challenge was not about Muslims but about a constitutional principle like Article 26, whose absence can threaten other communities as well.Senior lawyer and AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told a press conference that waqf law was a retaliation in the guise of reform that hurts religious freedom of the minority community by redrawing its rights with a bureaucratic pen. He singled out Clauses 9 and 14 of the said law as particularly offensive and legally unsustainable. "The law is about infiltrating institutions and closing them. You can't amputate Article 26 (freedom to manage religious affairs) and call it administrative efficiency. It is an assault on their identity and autonomy, and on constitutional values," he added.Singhvi likened the […]

[ad_1] <p>File Photo: US President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping<br></p> US President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States and China were in talks on tariffs. He expressed confidence that the countries, the world's two largest economies, would reach a deal to end what has been a bitter trade war.Click here for live updates on Donald Trump's tariffs"Yeah, we're talking to China. I would say they have reached out a number of times," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, news agency AFP reported. The US leader also revealed the two sides had been in talks since he upped tariffs on China to a whopping 145 per cent, after Beijing retaliated to his sweeping "Liberation Day" worldwide levies, which he announced on April 2.Also Read | Explainer: Why Donald Trump has slapped up to 245% tariff on ChinaHowever, […]

[ad_1] AGRA: A 21-year-old man from Haryana's Mewat district has been arrested on charges of sexually harassing a 23-year-old Lithuanian tourist at Agra Fort, police said on Thursday. Investigating officers said the incident took place when the woman and her male friend were waiting in the security queue around 3pm on Wednesday. SHO Ruby Singh of the tourist police said Mizan allegedly touched the woman inappropriately. When he repeated the act, she caught him and alerted nearby tourist police. Based on a complaint filed by her companion, a case was registered under BNS Section 75(2) (sexual harassment). Mizan was arrested on the spot, produced in court, and sent to judicial custody. The woman was taken to Agra district hospital for medical examination, and her statement was recorded. Police said the couple had been in Agra for six days and left […]