Year: 2018

Will transfer Kathua gangrape case at slightest hint of unfair trial: Supreme Court

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Supreme Court said the Kathua gangrape and murder trial should be fair not only for the accused but also for the victim’s family. It has also ruled out a CBI probe. The Supreme Court on Thursday indicated that it might move the case of an eight-year-old girl’s gang rape and murder out of Jammu’s Kathua in case it concludes that a fair trial of the suspects is not possible there. “Fair trial is the consideration and we are concerned with the interest of the victim and accused. If we find…

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Take up procurement of machinery for deweeding in Cabinet: HC to Govt

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The High Court has directed the government to re-submit the proposal for procurement of machinery for de-weeding Dal lake here to the state cabinet. “Memorandum of submission approved by the competent authority and already placed before the cabinet shall be re-submitted by the competent authority so that appropriate decision in-keeping with the requirements is taken,” a bench of Justice Muhammad Yaqoob Mir and Ali Muhammad Magrey said. Hearing a Public Interest Litigation on conservation of Dal lake, the court held that keeping in view the timeline for procurement and utilization…

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BJP reluctant to rein in Lal Singh, stop his anti-govt rallies

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Even as the outspoken party legislator Choudhary Lal Singh has stepped up attacks on Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, the ruling BJP appears to be not in mood to “rein in” its former forest minister. Although some ministers have been mounting pressure on the party to stop Lal Singh from directly attacking the CM, the leadership is convinced that he has, so far, not indulged in any anti-party activity or indiscipline which warrants action.“There is no reason, so far, to take action against Lal Singh, who is the party’s prominent leader,”…

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BJP workers flee for their lives, a day after militants kill one

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It appears that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s plan to expand its footprint in the Kashmir valley has received a jolt from the killing of Ghulam Nabi Patel on Wednesday. Hours after he was killed by militants at the market in Rajpora, many of BJP’s followers there and in the wider area of the south have fled and taken refuge in Srinagar. The party is looking to accommodate around 30-odd “workers” in private accommodations in Srinagar who have been shaken by the attack in broad daylight on a politician who had…

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27 Pvt, 20 Govt schools fare poorly in Class XII exams

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Even though the overall pass percentage in the recently declared result of the higher secondary part II (Class XII) J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE) examination for the summer zone stood at 55 per cent, 47 schools, including 20 government and 27 private, of Jammu province performed poorly with 0-20 per cent pass percentage. As per the data, 1,546 candidates of government schools who appeared in the examination, only 242 passed and only 43 of 395 candidates from private schools passed. What is more shocking is that 19 private schools…

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Bar Council of India bails out Kathua Bar

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Despite Kathua Bar Association admitting in a statement that it had obstructed the Crime Branch from producing the charge-sheet against the accused in Kathua rape and murder case, the Bar Council of India on Thursday told the Supreme Court that nothing of the sort had happened. What is more, the BCI also advocated the CBI probe into the case. The BCI report, which was filed before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said the demand of Jammu & Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Jammu, and Kathua District Bar…

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Militants target CRPF patrol in Anantnag, passerby killed

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A civilian was killed after car-borne militants opened fire at a road opening party of the Central Reserve Police Force here on Thursday. The civilian had been identified as Shakeeb Shabir Shah from Shopian district. A hunt had been launched to nab the militants, said the police. “At 2.20 pm, the militants, travelling in a Santro car, opened fire at security forces in the Laizbal area of the town, along the Khannabal-Pahalgam road,” Senior Superintendent of Police Altaf Khan said, adding that one of the bullets hit Shakeeb, who was…

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Kashmir Valley to see more bloodshed in 2018 than previous year: Kuldeep Khoda

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Former Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda said the killing of over 200 terrorist in the Valley would not “restore normalcy” in the state and predicted that the year would see more bloodshed than 2017. Khoda, who was J&K’s top cop between 2007 and 2012, was in New Delhi to attend a security conclave. “The year 2018 is bound to be worse than 2017, where casualty of security forces is likely to cross 100,” he told The Indian Express. Eighty-two security personnel were killed in 2016, while…

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13 Students killed after school van collides with train at railway crossing in UP’s Kushinagar

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The accident occurred on Thursday morning when the bus was passing an unmanned railway crossing. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe. Thirteen school students died and eight were injured when the van they were travelling in was hit by a train at an unmanned crossing in Uttar Pradesh’s Khushinagar district on Thursday morning, an official said. The children, students of Divine Public School, were killed on the spot when Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train (55075) crashed into the van at Behpurva, said Ved Prakash, spokesperson for Railways. There were at…

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Lingering Kashmir issue pushes Kashmir youth towards armed struggle: Resistance Leadership

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Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) of Kashmir in a statement has said obstinacy of the Indian state to refuse to resolve the Kashmir dispute and the resulting repression is forcing young boys to take up arms and in the process they lose their lives in pursuit of liberating their land. Paying tributes to the militants Abid Ahmed, Ishfaq Ahmed, Umar Javaid and Yasir Ahmed killed in Laam, Tral in Pulwama district the JRL in a statement issued to Kashmir News Bureau said GOI looks at a military solution for Kashmir and…

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