Month: April 2025

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: Election Commission and the Centre Thursday told Supreme Court that SC's 2013 mandate to provide the option of NOTA to voters had turned out to be a "failed idea" and that it was preposterous for a PIL to insist on conducting polls even in the rare instance of there being only a single candidate in the fray to know whether she/he secures more votes than NOTA.Appearing for EC, advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told SC, "NOTA... never impacted any election as a minuscule of voters exercised this option. Every winning candidate got far higher votes than NOTA."Attorney general R Venkataramani, with additional solicitor general S D Sanjay, said govt concurred with EC. The bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said, "Can the Union govt and EC deliberate on prescribing a minimum vote percentage benchmark for winning […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: An analysis of data complied from 416 districts in 23 states by a collective of voluntary organisations shows as many as 1,351 child marriages were stopped and over 1.2 lakh prevented through legal interventions in 2024-25, reports Ambika Pandit.As many as 779 FIRs were registered in cases where marriage could not be stopped with the maximum cases (170) filed in West Bengal followed by Tamil Nadu (146) and Bihar (114).The data collated by 'Just Rights For Children' (JRC) - a network of over 250 organisations shows that of the 1,351 cases where marriages were stopped , legal inverventions involved making a general diary entry in the police stations record (737 cases), intervention of Child Welfare Committees (593 cases) and through an injunction order from the courts ( 21 cases).In over 1.2 lakh cases, mostly where information regarding […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: Categorically denying any involvement in the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan pointed fingers at what it called "state oppression, abrogation of statehood, and political and demographic gerrymandering" in J&K as well as alleged "systematic persecution of Muslims in India" through measures like the "forced passage of waqf bill".Persisting with its script of disowning terror attacks by jihadi groups operating from its soil and calling it "homegrown" terrorism, Pakistan claimed abrogation of Art 370 and other steps had triggered a "perpetual cycle of violence".Pakistan: Prepared to defend our sovereigntyA Pakistani statement claimed India’s “systemic persecution of minorities, particularly Muslims”, had become increasingly pervasive, citing what it called “forced passage of waqf Bill” as the latest effort to marginalise Muslims across the country.The statement followed a meeting of National Security Committee, chaired by PM Shehbaz Sharif. It also said “India must […]

[ad_1] Akshay Kumar starrer 'Kesari 2' where he plays C. Sankaran Nair, a brave Indian lawyer who took on the British Empire in court, has been getting some rave reviews. Due to word of mouth, the film has managed to stay steady and did a decent number on Monday as well. However, it is yet to cross Rs 50 crore at the box office even after its 7-day run. Of course, this wasn't a massy movie like 'Sikandar' which was expected to get in those big numbers. But it can still be expected to see some growth. On Wednesday and Thursday, the film has dropped further and it may have to do with the terrorists attacks in Kashmir as due to that, the people in the country are not in the frame of mind to go and enjoy a movie […]

[ad_1] Kanpur: Shubham Dwivedi's sky-blue shirt wrapped his wife Aishanya in an embrace of love and memories Thursday as she stood in front of his coffin with a faraway look. The shirt has been Aishanya's second skin since Shubham, 31, fell to terrorist bullets in Pahalgam Tuesday. It wasn't until the Kanpur native's funeral procession left his home that the young woman took off the shirt and held it to her face, crying inconsolably.As dusk fell and the tears dried up, the cotton shirt remained neatly folded on Aishanya's lap. Shubham, a businessman, and Aishanya had been married for just over two months. The trip to Kashmir was going as planned until the first gunshots rang out through the expanse of the Baisaran meadow."We had just ordered Maggi. Shubham and I sat on the grass, while dad was in the […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: Ahead of formally launching a money-laundering investigation, the Enforcement Directorate Thursday detained Puneet Jaggi, one of the promoters of Gensol Engineering, which operated BluSmart cab services, to question him on alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act violations. The probe is to ascertain if Gensol diverted funds for acquiring foreign exchange.While Puneet was picked up from a hotel in Delhi during searches conducted by the agency at multiple places in Delhi, Gurgaon and Ahmedabad, his brother and co-promoter Anmol Jaggi is believed to be out of the country and will soon be summoned for questioning.Jaggi brothers earlier barred from operating in share market The Jaggi brothers were earlier barred from operating in the share market after regulator Sebi found the promoters had diverted company funds for personal gains, including buying property in Gurgaon worth over Rs 45 crore for […]