NEW DELHI, Nov 2:

The Supreme Court Monday asked the trial courts to expedite hearing in the pending cases against foreign Tablighi Jamaat members for alleged visa violations.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna listed the pleas filed against blacklisting of foreign members of Tablighi Jamaat for attending the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation in the national capital for further hearing on November 20 and asked the lower courts to expeditiously deal with their cases.
Senior lawyer Maneka Guruswamy, appearing for some Jamaat members, said the pleas seeking discharge of eight people are listed before trial courts on November 10.
Another senior advocate C U Singh said that revisions have been sought by the authorities in cases where some foreign members of the jamaat have been discharged.
The courts should dispose of such petitions expeditiously, the bench observed.
“It has become a punishment for them, even after discharge the revision applications are filed, and matters will now be heard… They are not being allowed to go back to their countries,” Singh said.
The top court had earlier directed the Bihar Government to move the Patna High Court to seek transfer of pending criminal cases against 13 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members for alleged visa violations before a trial court for quick disposal, preferably within eight weeks of their transfer.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, had said that he did not have any objection and the trial can be consolidated as done in Delhi where a court at Saket is hearing all such cases.
Prior to this, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that look out notices issued against some foreigners, who have challenged in the apex court the government’s orders blacklisting several citizens of 35 countries for alleged involvement in Tablighi Jamaat activities, have been withdrawn.
Mehta said the petitioners who are before the apex court would be “free to leave” India subject to no other pending proceedings, including order passed by the court, requiring their presence.
As per the information available, 205 FIRs have been lodged against foreign Tablighi Jamaat members by 11 states and 2,765 such foreigners have been blacklisted so far, the Centre had said in its affidavit.
Of these, visas of 2,679 foreigners (including 9 Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders) have been cancelled, it said, adding that the remaining 86 include Nepalese nationals who do not require a visa. (PTI)

HOUSTON, Nov 2:
The novel coronavirus is accumulating genetic mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious, according to a study involving more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients in the US.
The research, published in the journal mBIO, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes.
The researchers noted that the mutation, called D614G, is located in the spike protein that pries open our cells for viral entry.
“The virus is mutating due to a combination of neutral drift — which just means random genetic changes that don’t help or hurt the virus — and pressure from our immune systems,” said Ilya Finkelstein, associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin, US.
The researchers noted that during the initial wave of the pandemic, 71 per cent of the novel coronaviruses identified in patients in Houston had this mutation.
When the second wave of the outbreak hit Houston during the summer, this variant had leaped to 99.9 per cent prevalence, they said. This mirrors a trend observed around the world, according to the researchers.
The reason why strains containing this mutation outcompete those that didn’t have it may be that natural selection would favour strains of the virus that transmit more easily, the researchers said.
However, some scientists have suggested another explanation, called “founder’s effects.”
In that scenario, the D614G mutation might have been more common in the first viruses to arrive in Europe and North America, essentially giving them a head start on other strains, according to the researchers.
The spike protein is also continuing to accumulate additional mutations of unknown significance, they said.
The team also showed in lab experiments that at least one such mutation allows spike to evade a neutralising antibody that humans naturally produce to fight SARS-CoV-2 infections.
The researchers said this may allow that variant of the virus to more easily slip past our immune systems.
Although it is not clear yet whether that translates into it also being more easily transmitted between individuals, they said.
The scientists noted a total of 285 mutations across thousands of infections, although most don’t appear to have a significant effect on how severe the disease is. (PTI)

SHIMLA, Nov 2:
High reaches of Himachal Pradesh recorded moderate spell of Snowfall and downstream lashed by light rainfall increasing the cold wave in the state.
Met Office said that Gondola in Lahaul Spiti had 15 cm(half feet) snowfall and Keylong headquarters of LS ten cm.
The Gateway to LS, 13050 ft high Rohtang pass, Kunzum pass, Lady of Keylong, Seven sisters hill, Goshal hill, Baralacha, Sachpass of Chamba, Kinner Kailash of Kinnaur also had heavy snowfall.
Tourist resort Manali had three mm and Kalpa one mm rainfall.
Minimum temperature of Keylong plunged to minus 0.9 degrees Celcius, Kalpa 3.2 degrees, Manali 6.2 degrees, Mandi seven degrees, Solan and Seobagh in Kullu 8.8 degrees, Tourist resort Kufri and Palampur nine degrees each and Dalhousie 9.6 degrees.
Minimum temperature of Sundernagar and Una 9.8 degrees, Shimla 10.2 degrees, Hamirpur 10.7 degrees, Chamba & Bilaspur 11 degrees each, Dharmshala 11.2 degrees, Kangra 11.4 degrees, Bhuntar 11.8 degrees, Jubberhati in Shimla 12 degrees, Nahan in Sirmaur 14.2 degrees and Poantasahib 16 degrees respectively.
The Met Office forecast mainly dry weather in the state during next 24 hrs. (UNI)

NEW DELHI, Nov 2:
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to extend the security of former special judge S K Yadav who had pronounced the verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case and acquitted all 32 accused, including BJP veterans L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti.
A bench, headed by Justice R F Nariman and also comprising Justices Navin Sinha and Krishna Murari, was considering the former judge’s request to continue his personal security in view of the sensitivity of the case decided by him on his last day in office.
“Having perused the letter, we don’t consider it appropriate to provide security,” the bench said.
On September 30, the special court had acquitted all 32 accused in the case saying there was no conclusive evidence that they were part of any conspiracy to bring down the disputed structure in Ayodhya.
The 16th century mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992 by ‘kar sevaks’ who believed that it occupied the site where Lord Ram was born, the destruction triggering riots that left hundreds dead in the country and widening rifts between the communities.
Last year, a five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court had ruled that the 2.77-acre land claimed by both Hindus and Muslims would be handed over to a trust for the building of a temple.
The top court had also ordered allocation of five-acre land at another site in Ayodhya for building a mosque. (PTI)