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| Court to hear Aishwarya’s plea to dismiss case Today MUMBAI, Mar 21: A Sessions Court here would tomorrow hear the plea of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai and her.....more Spell out
stand on foreign NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Keeping up the heat on Congress, the BJP today asked it to clearly spell out its stand on people of....more Half of
husband’s income NEW DELHI, Mar 21: In a significant ruling, Delhi High Court discarded the normal practice of allowing a wife one fifth......more Will
BJP’s strategy NEW DELHI, Mar 21: For a party that increased its tally in the Lok Sabha from two to 84 on a distinct pro-Hindu vote....more |
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Nominations open this week for LS, assembly polls NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Nominations open this week for the first phase of polling — on April 20 — in the simultaneous.....more NWFP Govt
giving NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Government is giving a facelift to a historic Sikh.......more Muslim
morcha to take LUCKNOW, Mar 21: Taking a cue from political parties, the All India United Muslim Morcha will take out a ‘rath yatra’......more Granted
bail, yet NEW DELHI, Mar 21: For 180 undertrials in Tihar jail, it is a case of freedom so near, yet so far........more |
| ‘PM has not done anything substantial for Temple construction’ ...... |
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Court to hear Aishwarya’s plea to dismiss case Today MUMBAI, Mar 21: A Sessions Court here would tomorrow hear the plea of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai and her family members to dismiss a cheating case filed by a real estate agent for non-payment of brokerage towards purchase of a property. Earlier, the Court had extended till tomorrow its stay on a Magistrate’s order issuing summons to the actress and her family members to appear in the case. Magistrate S Y Shishode had issued summons on January 10 asking Aishwarya Rai, her brother and parents to appear on February 27 before him in the case filed by estate agent Krishnakumar Shetty. Shetty had moved the Bandra Court alleging that during 1998 he had rendered services to help Aishwarya’s family in buying a 3,000 sq ft flat in Suburban Bandra. However, they did not pay him the brokerage as agreed by them. According to Aishwarya Rai’s lawyer Girish Kulkarni, no offence was made out against the actress and her family and also there was no agreement between them and the real estate agent. However, according to Shetty, the flat in ‘La Maid’ building in Suburban Bandra, was jointly purchased by Aishwarya, her father Krishnaraj, mother Brindaraj and brother Aditya for Rs 1.75 crore and they had agreed to pay him two per cent of the value of the flat as brokerage, which worked out to Rs 3.75 lakh. Shetty said in the complaint that he had served a legal notice on them asking them to pay the brokerage charges. But they did not respond and he filed a complaint in the court charging the actress and her family with cheating and criminal breach of trust in respect of their agreement. (PTI) |
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Spell out stand on foreign origin issue: BJP to Cong NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Keeping up the heat on Congress, the BJP today asked it to clearly spell out its stand on people of foreign-origin occupying country’s highest posts like the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice. The saffron party, which has made Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin an important issue in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, also asked Congress to name its leader in case it was voted to power at the Centre. "The Congress should (in its election manifesto to be released tomorrow) spell out clearly its stand on people of foreign-origin occupying posts like that of the Prime Minister," BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here. "We want Congress to clarify its stand on three vital issues. One, what alternative — one party rule or coalition Government — are they presenting before the nation. If it is coalition, then their agenda should be laid out and lastly, who is their leader," he said. Naidu said the Congress manifesto should state the party’s policy on the foreign origin issue, adding "if they want to reserve tops posts for people of non-Indian origin, they should say it clearly." He, however, clarified the BJP was not raising the issue because of any individual but in the larger interest of the country. On the Congress charge that the ruling BJP had not done enough to bring a legislation to bar people of foreign origin from holding top posts, Naidu said "we did not have majority in Rajya Sabha. If Congress would have cooperated with us like it did on many other bills, we certainly would have brought the bill. Congress did not extend support to such a legislation." He said the CPM in its manifesto has held Congress "misrule" responsible for the country’s state of affairs in the last 40 years. "Is Congress in agreement with the observation," he sought to know. The BJP president raised the issue of Congress joining hands with DMK in Tamil Nadu and asked what had changed its mind to contest Lok Sabha elections with the party whom it had accused of involvement in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. "Congress is hobnobbing with PMK and DMK, the parties it had once accused of involvement in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination." On Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress party contesting elections with Congress, Naidu said NCP was formed as it was opposed to a person of foreign origin becoming the Prime Minister. "Now they are contesting elections together," he said and asked the party to explain the rationale behind this. (PTI) |
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Half of husband’s income
should go to NEW DELHI, Mar 21: In a significant ruling, Delhi High Court discarded the normal practice of allowing a wife one fifth of the husband’s ‘disposable’ income, and held that as much as one half of the husband’s earnings should be divided equally among the other members of the family. Justice Vikramajit Sen said in my view, a satisfactory approach would be to divide the ‘family resource cake’ in two portions, one should go to the husband since he has to incur extra expenses in the course of making his earning, and one share each to other members. The archaic rule (of allowing 1/5th of the husband’s disposal income) was a vestige of a bygone era where the wife/women was considered inferior to the husband as somewhat akin to his chattels, the Judge said. Law had advanced appreciably, and for the better. In the face of legislatures reluctant to bring about any change over 50 years ago, the courts have held that the deserted wife was entitled to an equal division of matrimonial assets, he added. "I would be extremely loath to restrict maintenance to 1/5th of the husband’s income where this would be insufficient for the wife to live in a manner commensurate with her husband’s status or similar to the lifestyle enjoyed by her before the marital severance." The ruling came in case in which the Court increased monthly maintenance paid by the husband to the wife from Rs 6000 to Rs 15,000, when the husband’s disposable income was Rs 32,000 per month, and though it was also observed that the wife and child were actually entitled to Rs 18,000. The amount was decided keeping in view the tender age of the child of the parties and it was also argued on behalf of the husband that the wife left the marital home on her own and was staying with her affluent parents. The Court also pointed out that whenever a change in circumstances occured like the child going to school, the affected party could seek further modification of the order from the trial Court. Determination of maintenance pendente lite (with the lawsuit pending) was essentially an interim measure which normally does not call for interference, however, in the present circumstances the lower Court had committed an error, which would necessitate interference by this Court, the Judge said dealing with an appeal against the trial Court’s order fixing the maintenance amount. (UNI) |
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Muslim morcha to take out ‘rath yatra’ LUCKNOW, Mar 21: Taking a cue from political parties, the All India United Muslim Morcha will take out a ‘rath yatra’ across Uttar Pradesh from tomorrow to educate the Muslim masses about their rights and urge them to vote for parties which pledged to work for their welfare and progress. "The Muslim community has been held for ransom by various political parties for long and now it is high time when they are educated about their rights and told that their vote should go to only that party which is really interested in their uplift," morcha vice president Gulam Azad told PTI here. "About 85 per cent of the Muslims has been deprived of the benefits of reservation and remained economically and educationally backward while the affluent classes ruled through their votes and enjoyed power," he claimed. Through this yatra, he said Muslims would be told to vote the party that would work for reservation in jobs for minorities on the lines of Scheduled Castes under Article 341 of the Constitution, Azad said. The yatra would cover the entire length and breadth of Uttar Pradesh and also some other states with the message: "Hamare Vote Ka Vahi Haqdaar, Jo Dilaye Samvidhani Adhikar (our vote will go to only those parties who would ensure us our constitutional rights)" he said. Azad asked political parties to come in the open and announce their programmes and policies for Muslim emancipation to get their support in the Lok Sabha elections. Azad said by the time elections were held the Muslims would be made aware enough to cross question the different candidates and check their antecedents before casting votes. On the need of taking out the rath yatra, he said for the past 10 years, the morcha had been carrying out a lonely battle for inclusion of Dalit Muslims in the Scheduled cCstes list. "When we failed to get any concrete help from any quarter we decided to reassert ourselves on election eve to build pressure on political parties who considered us as mere vote bank." Azad was also critical of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and accused it of working under the influence of a handful of influential people of the community. (PTI) |
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Granted bail, yet languishing in jail NEW DELHI, Mar 21: For 180 undertrials in Tihar jail, it is a case of freedom so near, yet so far. Just as they hoped to walk free after being granted bail, these inmates realised that bail bond and surety conditions ordered by the Courts were too big for their purse. Thus it was back to incarceration in Asia’s largest prison. But now they have a ray of hope with the District and Sessions Judge J P Singh directing trial Courts to consider their cases and take appropriate remedial measures within 10 days, jail sources told PTI. The direction follows an order of the Delhi High Court in February 2003 on a criminal writ petition filed by the rotary club district. The order was for early release of the undertrials on relaxed surety conditions and where necessary, on personal bonds informing Director General (prison), Tihar, directly, the sources said. The list of 180 under trials which stands updated till the month of December 2003, includes 12 women too. While four of them are lodged in jail number one, the rest are in jail number six. Jail number one also houses the largest number of undertrials - 122 - who are facing incarceration even after being granted bail. While 28 inmates in the list of 180 have been booked under the Arms Act, 18 face charges under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (prevention) Act, the sources said. Three are serving life terms, while two others have seven year terms on them and one a three-year term. The list also includes alleged offenders under the Negotiable Instruments Act, Excise Act and even Motor Vehicle Act, they said. (PTI) ‘PM has not done anything substantial for Temple construction’ AYODHYA, Mar 21: Accusing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of not doing anything ‘substantial’ for construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, VHP president Ashok Singhal today claimed otherwise the BJP would have got two-thirds majority in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. "It is a matter of regret, Vajpayee has not done anything substantial for the construction of Ram Janmabhumi Temple in Ayodhya otherwise the party would have secured two-thirds majority in the coming Lok Sabha," he told reporters here. Singhal hoped that the next Lok Sabha would enact suitable legislation for the construction of the Temple as there was a possibility of an out of court settlement of the Temple issue after formation of new Government at the Centre. He expressed the hope that Vajpayee would again become the Prime Minister and BJP would return to power although with reduced majority. To a question on sharp deifferences between VHP and BJP regarding the vexed Temple issue, he said "it is like existence of difference of opinion in a family, but our approach about the Temple issue is identical". Singhal said Vajpayee was fully aware about Hindu agenda and Ram Temple issue. The issue was purely religious and has been given political coloures by political parties. VHP continued to exert pressure on BJP to fulfil VHP’s eleven-point agenda, which will go a long way to unite Hindus in the country, and also help brighten prospects of BJP in General Elections, he claimed. He said several ‘sant yatra’ have been planned from Varanasi, Ayodhya and other religious places by Hindu saints and religious leaders to explain to people about the Hindu agenda. Singhal accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi for taking the country towards christianity and called partymen as anti-national elements. (PTI) Committee set up to review Tihar jail security NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Terror attack on Jammu jail and incidents of prisoners’ escape from various prisons recently have prompted Delhi Government to take a fresh look at security arrangements at Tihar here amid fears of a strike to free militants. A high-level five-member committee headed by Delhi Police’s Special Commissioner (security and administration) S K Jain has been set up by the Government to assess the prevailing security arrangements in terms of manpower and equipment and suggest measures to sanitise the Asia’s biggest prison from a possible terrorist attack and escapes. Constituted by Lt Governor Vijai Kapoor this week, the panel has been asked to present its report within 15 days, official sources said. Principal Secretary of Delhi Government P Narayanaswami sent a note to Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul five days back intimating him about constitution of the committee. The panel would look into the current strength and pattern of deployment of security personnel at Tihar to assess whether it is appropriate and sufficient to prevent escape of prisoners and foil an external armed aggression, they said. A possible need for deployment of central para-military forces for guarding the prison would also be looked into by the committee. The panel will also guage the need for deploying commandos and Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) at the prison to ward off an attack from outside like that on Jammu central jail on March 3. About 10 days prior to that, criminals exploded three bombs in a jail in Bihar leading to escape of eight inmates. Tihar houses several hardcore terrorists, including Pakistanis and Afghans, and security agencies fear an attack to facilitate their escape. Chinks in security arrangements at the high-security prison were exposed on February 17 when Sher Singh Rana, alleged killer of Bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi, escaped from there with the help of an associate who posed as a policeman. Earlier also bids have been made by Tihar inmates, including terrorists, to flee from the prison. The committee, set up after detailed discussions in view of concerns, also includes J K Sharma, Additional Commissioner of Delhi Police (security), Deputy Commissioner of Police (armed) Purshotam Dass and Additional Secretary (Home) in Delhi Government A S Dagar. (PTI) ISI, Bangladesh assisting ULFA NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Despite the recent detente in Indo-Pak ties, the ISI is assisting the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to regroup in Bangladesh and seek revenge for the ‘operation all clear’ by the royal Bhutanese army which dealt a severe blow to the outfit, according to official sources. The ISI along with its Bangladesh counterpart Directorate General of Field Intelligence (DGFI) are helping the ULFA insurgents led by its "commander-in-chief" Paresh Barua to regroup and strike back, the sources said. Parseh Barua is now based in a Bangladesh rifles camp at Srimangal in Bangladesh and receiving active support from the intelligence agencies to regroup the outfit. Paresh Barua was also trying to forge a working unity between the insurgent groups from the north east based in Bangladesh and a meeting of these groups was held recently in a posh locality of Dhaka, the sources said, adding, apart from him, ULFA’s Raju Barua and other insurgent leaders attended the meeting. A stock-taking of the ULFA strength following the Bhutan debacle was undertaken and priority was given to the strategy to rejuvenate and regroup the scattered cadres, the sources said. However, despite attempts by the ULFA leaders to boost the morale of the cadres, they are dejected by Paresh Barua’s lavish lifestyle, the sources said, adding, these cadres argue that while they lead a tough life in the jungles, the leaders enjoy with their families under the patronage of ISI and DGFI. "The cadres were agitated, when Paresh Barua in his recent Sainik Diwas speech claimed that the ULFA was ousted from Bhutan because of the indiscipline of the cadres and the presence of the families in the camps," the sources said. Infact the ‘Sainik Divas’ speeches of Paresh Barua and ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa underlined the serious differences between them. While Rajkhowa raised questions about the ULFA’s "armed wing’s" inability to resist the RBA despite possessing modern weapons, Paresh Barua highlighted political shortcomings as being responsible for the Bhutan debacle, the sources said. They said following ‘operation all clear’ several ULFA, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation and National Democratic Front of Bodoland cadres were either killed or arrested, while the rest including some top leaders have fled to Bangladesh which is a safe sanctuary for anti-India elements. "Despite repeated requests, Bangladesh is yet to take any meaningful steps against these groups and hand over the insurgents to India.(UNI) |
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