Tag: continues

2,789 people held so far as crackdown on child marriage continues: Assam CM

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Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that 2,789 people have been arrested so far during the ongoing crackdown on child marriage, which completed a week on Friday.
The government has also initiated a process to take measures for the rehabilitation of “victims” of child marriage.
“Now, total arrest 2789. Crackdown continues,” Sarma wrote on Twitter.
Though protests at various places by families of those arrested have been reported in the last few days, Assam Police spokesperson Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan had on Thursday said that no such incident took place anywhere in the state during the last 24 hours.
The Assam Police had launched the crackdown on child marriage on February 3, with over 2,000 people, including Hindu and Muslim priests who officiated these weddings, arrested within the first two days.
The arrests are being carried out on the basis of 4,135 FIRs registered across the state.
The state government has formed a cabinet sub-committee on the rehabilitation of “victims” of child marriage, and Sarma’s cabinet colleagues Ranoj Pegu, Keshab Mahanta and Ajanta Neog have been named as members of the panel.
Opposition parties have criticised the manner in which the drive is being carried out, terming the arrests of teenage husbands and family members as “abuse of law” for political gain, and equating the police action with “terrorising people”.

Sarma had earlier this week justified the crackdown and said nearly 17 per cent of over 6.2 lakh pregnant women in Assam last year were teenagers, according to the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) portal.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 10, 2023
235 more held in Assam as crackdown on child marriage continues

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Guwahati: The Assam Police on Thursday said it has apprehended 235 more people for allegedly marrying minors, taking the tally of arrests to over 2,750, as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma vowed to continue the crackdown on the social menace.
A total of 2,763 people have been arrested so far against 4,135 FIRs registered across the state, the Assam Police said in a statement.
“Our crackdown against child marriage continues… The drive against this social evil will continue. We seek the support of the people of Assam in our fight against this social crime,” Sarma tweeted.
He had earlier this week justified the measures and said nearly 17 per cent of over 6.2 lakh pregnant women in Assam last year were teenagers, according to the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) portal.
Meanwhile, police said a pregnant woman, who married last year while being a minor, died at a hospital during delivery in Bongaigaon on Sunday, and her husband and father-in-law have been arrested.
“The 18-year old girl died at a hospital in Jogighopa during delivery,” Bongaigaon SP Swapnaneel Deka told PTI.
The SP also said the deputy commissioner of the district has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the woman’s death.
Though protests at various places by families of those arrested have been reported in the last few days, Assam Police spokesperson Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan said that no such incident took place anywhere in the state during the last 24 hours.

The Assam government has also formed a cabinet sub-committee on rehabilitation of the “victims” of child marriage, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said.
“I am a member of that sub-committee along with Health Minister Keshab Mahanta and Finance Minister Ajanta Neog,” he told a press conference here.
“We will submit a report within a very short span of time,” Pegu added.
The Assam Police had launched the crackdown on child marriage on February 3, with over 2,000 people, including Hindu and Muslim priests who officiated these weddings, arrested within the first two days.
Opposition parties have criticised the manner in which it is being carried out, terming the arrests of teenage husbands and family members as “abuse of law” for political gain, and equating the police action with “terrorising people”.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 9, 2023
Temporary jails coming up in Assam as crackdown on child marriage continues

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Guwahati: As the crackdown on child marriage continued in Assam, the police are now setting up additional prison facilities to house the accused, with two such arrangements in Goalpara and Cachar districts already in the offing.
While accused from different districts have already been moved to the facility in Goalpara, another such temporary jail is coming up in Cachar as well.
“We have got the approval for setting up a temporary jail. It will be established in a non-functional existing government premises near Silchar,” Cachar Superintendent of Police Nomal Mahatta told PTI.
He said building and other infrastructure are already available and security arrangements are now being put in place.
Mahatta added that the temporary jail will be used once the existing facilities run out of space.
In Goalpara district, a transit camp for doubtful and declared foreigners in Matia area is being used to accommodate accused in child marriage cases from neighbouring districts, a police official said.
“Some of the accused held in Nalbari, Barpeta and Kamrup districts are being brought to this temporary jail,” he said.
The first dedicated centre to put suspected and declared foreigners in Assam, the Matia transit camp has a capacity to house 3,000 inmates, with 68 people moved into it in the first batch in January.

The opposition has criticised the manner in which the drive against child marriage was being carried out, equating the police action with “terrorising people”.
Family members of those arrested have also been protesting against the operation.
The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation has demanded that the Assam government provide a monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to every woman whose husband has been arrested till he gets bail.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had said that the Assam government should have concentrated on increasing literacy levels if it was actually seized of the problem of child marriage.
At least 2,528 people have been arrested and 4,074 cases registered in the state so far as part of the crackdown that began on Friday.
With the large number of household heads, in many cases the sole bread earners, being arrested, protests were staged in different parts of the state with wives, children and family members coming out on the streets.
“Our menfolk have been taken away by the police, leaving us without anyone to look after or to provide food for us,” said Reshma Khatun, one of those protesting at Dhubri on Monday.
Justifying the action, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said teenage pregnancy accounted for nearly 17 per cent of over 6.2 lakh pregnant women last year in the state.
The state cabinet recently approved a proposal to book men who have married girls below 14 years under the POCSO Act.
Cases under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 will be registered against those who have married girls in the age group of 14-18, the cabinet had decided.
The offenders will be arrested and the marriages declared illegal.
Assam has a high rate of maternal and infant mortality, with child marriage being identified as the primary cause, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 8, 2023
DeSantis continues broadsides against the media ahead of likely 2024 run

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“The idea that they would create narratives that are contrary to discovering facts, I don’t know that was the standard,” DeSantis said. “Now it seems you pursue the narrative, you’re trying to advance the narrative and trying to get the clicks, and the fact checking and contrary facts has just fallen by the wayside.”
DeSantis has long had a contentious relationship with the media since he became Florida governor in 2019. He rarely gives interviews to major media outlets and regularly criticizes outlets like CNN and his former press secretary, Christina Pushaw, was well-known for singling out reporters on Twitter for ridicule. The Republican governor, who’s widely believed to be staging a campaign to unseat Democrat President Joe Biden in 2024, even unsuccessfully pushed the Legislature to approve a law challenging First Amendment protections during last year’s legislative session, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
DeSantis’ criticism of the media is similar to those of former President Donald Trump, who regularly condemned media outlets like the Washington Post and the New York Times. In 2018, Trump also suggested that he’d try to change libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations.
During Tuesday’s discussion, DeSantis didn’t detail any specific laws he wanted enacted but pressed Florida legislators to “protect” Floridians.
“When the media attacks me, I have a platform to fight back. When they attack everyday citizens, these individuals don’t have the adequate recourses to fight back,” he said. “It would contribute to an increase in ethics in the media and everything if they knew that if you smeared somebody, it’s false and you didn’t do your homework then you have to be held accountable for that.”
Carson Holloway, a scholar from the conservative think tank the Claremont Institute, also said during the discussion that the Supreme Court’s legal precedents that govern most defamation lawsuits makes libel claims against media companies by public figures nearly impossible to win.
“This is distorting our politics in fundamental ways,” Holloway said. “It really discombobulates our ability to govern ourselves.”
Sandmann, who became embroiled in a social media firestorm after a video was posted of him smiling in front of a Native American beating a drum at the National Mall, said he thought nothing of the video until he saw it on social media as he boarded a bus back to Kentucky. National media outlets reported that the video showed Sandmann blocking the path of Native American, but Sandmann, who was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, claimed he was trying to stay motionless to calm the situation at the event.

“In my case I didn’t have a reputation to ruin — I hadn’t started any sort of professional career and I haven’t even started my life,” Sandmann said. “But they predetermined how that would happen.”
Libertarian journalist Michael C. Moynihan told Sandmann his “death sentence” was because he wore a MAGA hat indicating his support for Trump.
Barbara Petersen, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, said during a phone interview that the Ivy League-educated DeSantis is smart enough to understand why the country’s forefathers believed the press was so important.
“It’s the only profession protected by the Constitution,” Petersen said. “Why is he so hot and bothered over this?”
Libby Locke, who was one of the lawyers representing Dominion Voting Systems, said the media is no longer doing the job that the public expects of it, especially with the growing use of anonymous sources. The voting systems company sued some of Trump’s biggest supporters, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, for defamation after the defendants allegedly made false statements about Dominion.
“The thumb is on the scale in favor of the press,” Locke said. “Media defense lawyers come in and say First Amendment, and judges get very nervous about applying the law in a way that is favorable or even handed to a defamation plaintiff, and lives are ruined as a result.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 8, 2023
Evacuee Property Department Continues Anti-Encroachment Drive On Evacuees’ Land

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SRINAGAR: On the instructions of Commissioner Secretary to Government, Revenue Department and Divisional Commissioners, the Evacuee Property Department with the active support of all District Administrations has retrieved huge chunks of evacuee land of different nature particularly agricultural at various places during last few months.
As per an official statement issued here, it has been given out that the department has for the first time reconciled the figures of evacuee land in the Valley in due consultation with the Revenue Department and wherever the hidden property was found, the same was notified as an ‘Evacuee Property’ under Section 6 of J&K Evacuees` (Administration of Property) Act, Svt. 2006 and its retrieval on spot.
The Evacuee Property department has the mandate towards safeguarding the evacuee property as such as and when reports of encroachment are available, the department acts swiftly with the collaboration of Revenue Department and retrieves illegally occupied evacuee land from the encroachers/ land grabbers/ illegal occupation.
The department has appealed to the general public to refrain from raising illegal constructions on the evacuee land and illegal occupation thereof failing which action as warranted under the relevant provisions of J&K evacuees` (Administration of Property) Act, Svt. 2006 shall be taken against the violators.
The Tehsildars who are also Assistant Custodian of the Evacuee property have been directed to ensure timely action on any type of encroachment if any surfaced within their jurisdiction.
With the active support of relevant quarters, the department has been able to carry out reconciliation of E.P Record with Revenue Department for identification of evacuee property and its reflection in the revenue records. This has helped to trace out the hidden property, illegal occupation and total quantum of land.
The department completed demarcation of evacuee land at various places and the process is still going on. This will follow retrieval thereof by removal of encroachment, illegal occupation/ cancellation of lease during last two years
It has also prepared a proper inventory of evacuee land and land bank, besides, the exercise of photography and geo-tagging of evacuee property is underway.

The identified chunk of land shall be utilized for developmental projects by UT Government either by lease or acquisition mode besides commercially viable land for gainfully utilization.
So far, the department has also provided land for various public purposes such as setting up of government offices and institutions and for such noble causes as setting up of hostels for wards of police and armed forces martyrs.
The practice of allotment of land on the basis of individual request has been done away with and now a transparent procedure of auction to determine lease premium of property has been adopted. In this connection recently the department has auctioned various flats and shops in Srinagar city and also auction of shops in Baramulla is under way. Various patches of land have also been identified which will put to auction to determine lease, after giving wide publicity.

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( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

February 6, 2023
Assam: Crackdown against child marriages continues; over 2K held

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Guwahati: Continuing the crackdown on child marriages, Assam Police have arrested a total of 2,258 people so far, an official said on Saturday.
Rajib Saikia, PRO of Assam Police, has said that the highest numbers of arrests were reported from Biswanath district where 139 people were held and 97 cases were registered against child marriage.
Barpeta district has the second highest number of arrests, which stands at 128 against the total number of 81 cases lodged.
The Muslim-dominated district of Dhubri logs the third-highest arrests. Already 127 people have been arrested by the police. Here, 374 complaints of child marriages have been registered.
Meanwhile, many women in different parts of the state have expressed displeasure over the arrest of their husbands. They have been protesting outside the police stations against the crackdown. Some of them even asked “who will feed the family if their spouses are jailed”.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday, however, made it clear that the police operation against child marriage will continue in the state.
“People should not try to draw sympathy on this issue. This is extremely necessary to save the future generation,” he said.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 4, 2023
Adani speaks for first time since turmoil as stock rout continues

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New Delhi: Embattled billionaire Gautam Adani on Thursday spoke publicly for the first time since his ports-to-energy conglomerate publicly battled a short seller’s accusation of stock manipulation and accounting fraud, saying the abrupt move to withdraw a fully-subscribed share sale at his flagship firm was due to market volatility.
His group continued to lose on the stock market, with the cumulative rout now nearing USD 108 billion in a week — one of the biggest wipeouts in India’s history.
“After a fully subscribed follow-on public offering (of Adani Enterprises Ltd), yesterday’s decision of its withdrawal would have surprised many. But considering the volatility of the market seen yesterday, the board strongly felt that it would not be morally correct to proceed with the FPO,” Adani said in a video message to investors.
The company decided to refund the money to investors.
Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) closed at Rs 1,564.70 on the BSE on Thursday, less than half the price at which shares were offered to investors in the follow-on public offer (FPO) that closed on January 31.
Sources close to the group said it was felt that investors may feel cheated for investing in AEL shares in a price band of Rs 3,112-3,276 when the stock is available in the open market at a much lesser rate.
The offer price of the Rs 20,000 crore FPO was at a discount to the trading price when it was first announced last month. But the US-based short seller’s report triggered a selldown in stocks of all 10 group companies and the cumulative loss of value is now close to USD 108 billion.
“In my humble journey of over 4 decades as an entrepreneur I have been blessed to receive overwhelming support from all stakeholders, particularly the investor community… For me, the interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary. Hence to insulate the investors from potential losses, we have withdrawn the FPO,” Adani said.

US-based short seller Hindenburg Research’s report and the stock rout figured in Parliament on Thursday, with opposition parties seeking a discussion and a probe by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also asked banks for details of their exposure to the Adani Group.
Adani said the decision to withdraw the FPO will not have any impact on the group’s existing operations and future plans. “We will continue to focus on timely execution and delivery of projects.”
“The fundamentals of our company are strong. Our balance sheet is healthy and assets, robust. Our EBITDA levels and cash flows have been very strong and we have an impeccable track record of fulfilling our debt obligations. We will continue to focus on long term value creation and growth will be managed by internal accruals,” he said.
The share sale plans will be considered once the market stabilises.
“Once the market stabilises, we will review our capital market strategy,” he said.
Adani group, he said, has a strong focus on ESG and every business will continue to create value in a responsible way. “The strongest validation of our governance principles comes from several international partnerships we have built across our different entities.”
Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Co., which invested about USD 400 million in AEL’s FPO as anchor investor, said the funds have been returned.
It was among 33 investors who poured in close to Rs 6,000 crore on January 24 — the day Hindenburg came out with its report.
State-run insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) took 5 percent of the anchor portion. It already holds a 4.23 percent stake in AEL and has exposures in other group companies as well, including a 9.14 percent stake in Adani Ports and 5.96 percent in Adani Total Gas.
The FPO opened to the public on January 27 and managed to get fully subscribed on the last day on January 31 after non-retail investors poured in money even though the offer price was higher than the stock’s trading price on the bourses.
Adani, who last year became the world’s second-richest man with a USD 147 billion fortune, has seen his own personal wealth plummet by around USD 57 billion since then.
The January 24 report accused Adani Group companies of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”. The group has denied all allegations, calling the report “bogus” and full of lies, and has threatened legal action.
Citigroup Inc’s wealth arm as also Credit Suisse Group AG have stopped accepting securities of Adani Group firms as collateral for margin loans as banks ramp up scrutiny of the conglomerate’s finances.
Hindenburg in its report said Adani companies had “substantial debt” and that shares in seven listed companies have an 85 percent downside due to what it called “sky-high valuations”.
Adani Group has maintained that its companies have “consistently de-levered”.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 2, 2023
Protest against anti-encroachment drive in Jammu locality continues

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Jammu: Thousands of people, including women and children, hit the streets in Sunjwan-Bathindi on the city’s outskirts against the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s ongoing anti-encroachment drive to retrieve “illegally occupied” state land.
The residents’ protest comes in the backdrop of the authorities serving public notices asking violators to remove illegal constructions within seven days, officials said.
The protesters also observed a complete shutdown in the area.
Waving Tricolours and shouting slogans against the eviction drive, the protesters passed the main roads before staging a peaceful sit-in at a vast land adjoining the bypass.
Police were deployed in large numbers as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order.
The sub-divisional magistrate was seen requesting the protesters to disperse on the assurance that no residential homes would be demolished. He added that the district administration was ready to listen to their grievances.
Representatives of almost all major political parties, including the National Conference, Congress, People’s Democratic Party, Apni Party and the AAP, also joined the protest and demanded an immediate end to the “anti-people” drive.
The residents also staged a protest in the area on January 30 and had threatened to intensify their agitation if the government went ahead with the demolition drive.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 1, 2023
Taaraka Ratna continues to be in critical state at B’luru hospital

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Bengaluru: Telugu actor and politician Nandamuri Taaraka Ratna continued to be in a critical state on ventilatory and other support in Bengaluru’s Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences (Narayana Hrudayalaya) on Monday, the hospital said.
“We would like to clarify certain media reports, and state that he has not been put on any ECMO support till now. His family is constantly updated about his condition. Any changes to his clinical condition will be notified as required. We request that the public continue to support us in providing privacy and uninterrupted treatment,” a hospital statement said.
The famous Telugu actor and Telugu Desam Party leader suffered cardiac arrest in Andhra Pradesh’s Kuppam on January 27 and was shifted to a hospital there. He was transferred to Narayana Hrudalaya via road on January 28.
On arriving at the hospital, higher level diagnostics showed that his condition was highly critical due to cardiogenic shock after the myocardial infarction.
Telugu superstars Nandamuri Balakrishna and Junior NTR visited him as well as his family and TDP chief and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023