Arokiaraj is new collector of Visakhapatnam

DC | 05th Sep 2013

                                                                Solomon Arokiaraj.

Visakhapatnam: Solomon Arokiaraj has taken charge as the collector of Visakhapatnam district here on Wednesday. Interacting with mediapersons, Arokiaraj said he would focus on land issues. Earlier, he served as the sub-collector of Paderu.

This experience, he said, would help him serve tribal communities. Education, mother and child welfare will be other priorities, he said. The new collector said appropriate measures would be taken to resume land from grabbers.

He said he implemented Telugu as the official language for administration in 10 departments in Chittoor district and added that he would verify the situation in the district and take necessary steps to follow the rule here as well.

Additional joint collector Y. Narasimha Rao, chief executive officer of zilla parishad D. Venkat Reddy, DRDA project director Maheswar Reddy, Simhachalam temple executive officer K. Ramachandra Mohan and other officials formally greeted the newly-joined collector.

States: Andhra Pradesh

Geetika Sharma suicide case: Gopal Kanda gets interim bail to attend Assembly

DC Online/ Agencies | 05th Sep 2013

New Delhi: In a relief to former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda, the Delhi High Court on Thursday granted him bail so that he could attend the Assembly Session which starts tomorrow. He is a sitting MLA from Sirsa.

Kanda is the prime accused in the suicide of Geetika Sharma, his employee.

Earlier, the court had quashed the charges of abetment of rape and unnatural sex against against MDLR airlines employee Aruna Chadha.

"It is apparent that the ASJ (additional sessions judge) unjustly admitted into evidence the confessional statement made by the petitioner (Chadha) and illegally put the burden to prove the same on the co-accused (Kanda) and the Petitioner which is not permissible.

"The ASJ fell into gross error in framing the charge under Sections 376/377 (rape and unnatural sex) against the co-accused GGK (Kanda) which cannot be sustained. Since no charge against co-accused under these Sections could have been framed, the Petitioner could not have been guilty of abetting these offences," Justice G.P. Mittal said.

The verdict, which came on the plea of Chadha, referred to her statement to police and held that except the disclosure statement, there was "not even a shred of evidence" to show that Kanda sexually exploited the victim and Chadha abetted in the commission of these offences.

"Apart from the supplementary disclosure statement of the Petitioner AC (Chadha) there is nothing to indicate that co-accused GGK (Kanda) had illicit relations with ‘X’ (victim) or that she had multiple pregnancies... "All the more, there is not even a shred of evidence to indicate that co-accused GGK committed sexual intercourse with deceased ‘X’ or had carnal intercourse against the order of nature with her or that the same was against her (the deceased) will or without her consent or that the Petitioner facilitated in any act of rape or unnatural offence alleged to have been committed by GGK," the court said. "...the petition is partly allowed to the extent that the framing of the charge for the offence punishable under Section 376/109 and Section 377/109 IPC is set aside," it said.

Meanwhile, the bench also allowed another plea of Delhi Police seeking to expunge the adverse remarks made by the lower court against the probe agency and the public prosecutor for not probing the sexual exploitation angle in the case.

The 23-year-old former air hostess, who was earlier employed with Kanda's MLDR Airlines, was found dead on August 5, last year at her Ashok Vihar residence in North West Delhi. In her August 4 suicide note, she had said she was ending her life due to 'harassment' by Kanda, 46, and Chadha, 40.

The lower court had on May 10 framed charges against Chadha and Kanda for various offences including abetment of suicide, criminal conspiracy and forgery under the IPC and the Information Technology Act for hacking computers and sending offensive or false messages. It had framed additional and fresh charges of rape and unnatural offence against Kanda and Chadha who was also booked for abetting the commission of these offences.

The High Court held the offences, including abetment of suicide, was made out against them, but there was no prima facie evidence indicating that they were also involved in the commission of rape and unnatural sex.

Sensex surges by 402 points during pre-noon trade

Mumbai, Sep 5, 2013, (IANS):

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Thursday surged by 401.53 points or 2.16 percent during pre-noon trade after the speech of the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan the previous day on potential measures injected hope among traders of more economic reforms.

The rally was led by banking index (bankex), consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), public sector undertakings (PSU), capital goods, oil and gas and auto sectors. However, selling pressure was observed in IT and technology, media and entertainment (TECK) sectors.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,857.60 points, was trading at 18,969.08 points in the pre-noon session, up 401.53 points or 2.16 percent from the previous day's close at 18,567.55 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 19,117.52 points and a low of 18,857.60 points during the trade so far.

The S&P BSE bankex surged by 681.73 points, consumer durables index augmented by 232.97 points, FMCG index gained 224.29 points, PSU index spiralled up by 134.86 points, capital goods index moved up by 173.69 points, oil and gas index increased by 149.48 points and auto index went up by 159.01 points.

However, IT index dipped by 186.37 points and TECK index went down by 68.21 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading 129.10 points or 2.37 percent up at 5,577.20 points.

UN urges UK to allow press freedoms

New York, Sept 5 : Two United Nations independent experts Wednesday called on the United Kingdom to ensure journalists can perform investigative work without fear of intimidation, and stressed that national security concerns do not justify curtailing press freedom.

"The protection of national security secrets must never be used as an excuse to intimidate the press into silence and backing off from its crucial work in the clarification of human rights violations," the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, said. "The press plays a central role in the clarification of human rights abuses."

La Rue and the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, requested further information from the UK on the recent detention of David Miranda, partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has broken several stories on surveillance activities carried out by various Governments.

Miranda was detained at Heathrow Airport in London last month for nine hours under the UK Terrorism Act 2000, which gives police with the power to arrest and detain a person without charge for up to 48 hours if they are suspected of being a terrorist. British officials also destroyed computer hard drives at the Guardian newspaper."It is clear that the revelations on the extensive mass surveillance initiatives implemented by some Governments need to be widely debated," La Rue said. "The intimidation of journalists and newspapers questioning alleged abuses by intelligence bodies is certainly not a contribution to the open debate that needs to place."

Emmerson added that current assessments of the threat posed by terrorism in the UK have changed significantly over the past three years. "There should now be a debate on the extent to which the public in both States is prepared to tolerate official access to meta data," he stressed.

"The powers used in this case are currently under challenge in the European Court of Human Rights," Emmerson said. "I urge the British authorities to review their operations to ensure that they comply fully with the UK's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the right to liberty and security, and the right to respect for private and family life."

La Rue expressed grave concern regarding the widespread use of mass surveillance in all regions of the world and its impact on human rights defenders and journalists' activities.

"National laws regulating communications surveillance are often inadequate or simply do not exist Wednesday," he said. "Privacy and freedom of expression are interdependent rights - without adequate protection to privacy, security and anonymity of communications, no one can be sure that his or her private communications are not under States' scrutiny."

--IBNS (Posted on 05-09-2013)

Russia accuses US of avoiding direct contacts over Syria

Moscow, Sep 5 : Russian Foreign Ministry Wednesday accused the US of steadily avoiding direct contacts with Moscow over developments involving Syria.

"Commencing Saturday, Aug 31, the US State Department repeatedly requested phone call with (Russian foreign minister) Sergei Lavrov. Although we have constantly confirmed it, the US side every time informed us there was no possibility to get through to the secretary of state," ministry spokesperson Alexander Lukashevich said, Xinhua reported.

He added that Russian attempts to set up an exact time for a phone conversation with John Kerry have also been left unanswered.In a separate statement, the foreign ministry said that US intentions to carry out a military strike against Syria would contradict the core of international law.

"Response of the international community and separate states on chemical weapons use must fit the strict legal frames. Any reaction must be backed by the results of a thorough independent investigation," it said.

Moscow said if Damascus actually used chemical weapons, it could be qualified as violation of the international law.

--IANS (Posted on 05-09-2013)

Eight killed in Vietnam floods

Hanoi, Sep 5 : Floods and landslides have killed at least eight people in Vietnam, officials said Thursday.

The Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control said one person died in Ha Giang province, three in Lai Chau and four in Lao Cai, Xinhua reported.

At least 14 people were injured and 10 others are still missing.Heavy rains also caused severe damage to houses and crops.

--IANS (Posted on 05-09-2013)

Chinese official jailed for smiling at accident

Beijing, Sep 5 : A court in China Thursday sentenced a work safety official to 14 years in prison after he was filmed "smiling" at the scene of a fatal road accident.

Yang Dacai, former head of the Shaanxi provincial work safety administration department, was also found guilty of taking bribes and holding a large amount of property which he could not account for, Xinhua reported.

The court in Xi'an city also fined him 50,000 yuan (around $8,200).

--IANS (Posted on 05-09-2013)