Tag: leader

ULFA pro-talk leader welcomes possibility of signing peace agreement

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Guwahati: Welcoming the possibility of signing a peace agreement between the government and the ULFA (pro-talk), its leader Anup Chetia on Thursday said the pact can be inked if the Centre accepts its demands like land rights for the indigenous Assamese people.
Chetia, who is the general secretary of the ULFA, said that they recently received a draft of the agreement but the matter was yet to be discussed in various fora of the organisation.
His statement came hours after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced in New Delhi that there was a possibility of signing a peace agreement with the group in May.

“The chief minister has taken an initiative for an agreement with the pro-talk ULFA and we welcome it But the entire matter lies in the hands of the Central government.
“If the centre accepts our various demands, including the constitutional, political and land rights of the indigenous Assamese population, then the agreement can be signed,” Chetia told reporters.
A draft of the agreement has been sent to the organisation just before the Rongali Bihu festival earlier this month.
“The matter has been discussed in the central committee. But the working committee and the general council will discuss it before a final decision on the draft can be taken,” Chetia, a founding member of the outfit, said.
Asked about the possibility of peace talks with the ULFA (Independent), led by hardliner Paresh Barua, he said that he will welcome it as it will lead to lasting peace in Assam.

The chief minister, after taking oath on May 10, had appealed to the ULFA(I) to come forward for peace talks and resolve the decades-old insurgency problem in the state. However, not much progress has been made in this direction.
On several occasions, Sarma has mentioned that the ULFA(I) talks about ‘sovereignty’ which he, as the chief minister, cannot constitutionally negotiate.
Chetia urged Sarma to take the right steps in this direction as he is also an Assamese and the “problems that we are talking about is not of the ULFA alone but of the indigenous people of Assam”.
Asked about reports that youths are joining the ULFA(I), the pro-talk leader said as long as there is an organisation, people will join it but many soon get disenchanted and return home.
“There has been a change in Assam’s environment and it is no longer conducive for an armed struggle,” he added.
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#ULFA #protalk #leader #welcomes #possibility #signing #peace #agreement
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 27, 2023
Modi BBC docu: HC sets aside DU order debarring NSUI leader over screening

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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday set aside a Delhi University (DU) order debarring a Congress leader for a year for his alleged involvement in the on-campus screening of a banned BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying the action was taken in violation of the principle of natural justice.
The documentary-‘India: The Modi Question’- was seen as critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was the Gujarat chief minister when the communal conflagration engulfed large parts of the state.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said the DU’s administrative authority did not offer Lokesh Chugh, a PhD scholar and national secretary of the Congress’ students wing NSUI, an opportunity to be heard.

“The court is unable to sustain the impugned order dated March 10, 2023. Impugned order is set aside. The admission of the petitioner is restored. Necessary consequences will follow,” the judge said in the order.
“From a perusal of the facts of the present case, the court finds that the impugned order has been passed without offering opportunity of hearing to the petitioner or considering his explanation,” stated the judge while dealing with Chugh’s petition against the debarment order.
Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani represented the university and opposed the petition.
The court clarified since the debarment order was being set aside for non-adherence to the principle of natural justice, the university is free to taken action against the petitioner in accordance with the procedure.
The AG claimed Chugh has approached the court with “unclean hands” and has made a “completely false” statement that he was not present at the time of the screening.

He said a committee was constituted to look into the incident and the petitioner, who was served a show-cause notice, was given a opportunity to explain his conduct.
The court observed the committee’s report records its findings but “does not deal with the explanation, if any, given by the petitioner” and the minutes of the meeting clearly indicate the petitioner’s presence but the “clarification given by him has not been mentioned or dealt with”.
It said there is no consideration of the submissions by the petitioner in the debarment order and he was also not specifically asked to explain the allegations.
“The perusal of impugned order indicates certain events that have taken place and as to whether petitioner was present at the time of screening of banned BBC documentary or not, it is not reflected,” the court said.
“The petitioner has not been specifically called upon to explain the allegations which form part of the impugned order. The reasons are necessary to be assigned by the administrative authority,” stated the court.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for the petitioner. He argued that the debarment order cannot be sustained for non-compliance of the principle of natural justice and DU cannot “supplement” reasons behind it at this stage.
Lawyers Naman Joshi and Abhik Chimni also appeared for the petitioner.
Chugh had earlier urged the court to permit him to submit his Ph.D thesis before the retirement of his supervisor on April 30.
The AG asserted it was “untenable” to say that the DU acted in an arbitrary manner and a notice was already in existence which mandated prior intimation to the proctor if a protest was to be staged.
The attorney general contended the petitioner had the knowledge that the BBC documentary had been banned and the transcript (of video footage) showed him saying the ban must be “disobeyed.”
The petitioner had approached the high court earlier this month challenging the university’s decision to debar him for a year for his alleged involvement in the screening of the documentary — ‘India: The Modi Question’ — related to the 2002 Gujarat riots. The documentary was screened earlier this year.
The Centre had issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the BBC documentary, which was described by the Ministry of External Affairs as a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.
The DU registrar had issued Chugh a memorandum in March under which he was not allowed to take part in “any university or college or departmental examination for one year”.
The DU defended its action before the high court and said the petitioner indulged in gross indiscipline which tarnished the image of a premier educational institution.
The university, in its reply filed to the petition, said it acted on the basis of a newspaper report on the ban on the BBC documentary.
It said several people, including the petitioner, assembled on the campus to screen the documentary in violation of Section 144 (issuance of prohibitory orders) of Code of Criminal Procedure imposed by police authorities.
“Petitioner had participated in the ‘showing’ of the banned BBC Documentary on 27.01.2023 at 4:00 PM in front of Gate No. 4, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi which amounts to an act of indiscipline,” the reply filed by the Delhi University before the high court said.
The petitioner contended in his plea that he was not involved in the screening and, to his knowledge, there was no prohibition on the screening of the documentary.
The DU, however, said instead of concentrating on his research, the petitioner was “instrumental in inciting other students and indulging in petty politics”, which was detrimental to discipline and was causing disruption in academic functioning.
The reply said, after watching the videos, a committee constituted to probe the incident found that the “mastermind of the agitation was the petitioner” and he was seen actively being part of the unlawful assembly.
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#Modi #BBC #docu #sets #order #debarring #NSUI #leader #screening
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 27, 2023
Suspended TDP leader gets lifer for girl’s suicide

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Vijayawada: A special court here has sentenced to life imprisonment a suspended Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader for sexually harassing a 14-year-old girl and abetment of suicide.
The POCSO Special Court awarded the sentence to 50-year-old Vinod Kumar Jain on Wednesday.
Special Court Judge S. Rajini also imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on him. Out of this fine amount, Rs 2.4 lakh will be paid to the girl’s family.

Unable to bear the sexual harassment, the girl had committed suicide by jumping from a five-storey apartment building on January 29, 2022.
In a suicide note, which police later recovered from her bedroom, the student of class 9 wrote that she was ending her life due to sexual harassment by Vinod Jain, who resides in the same building.
On a complaint by the girl’s grandfather, police had registered a case against Vinod Jain under sections 305, 306, 354, 509 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 and of Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and arrested him.
Following the incident, TDP suspended Vinod Jain, who had contested in Vijayawada municipal elections on the party ticket.
Police investigation into the case had revealed that the accused had been sexually harassing the girl by inappropriately touching her for two months. The girl wrote in her suicide note that Vinod Jain was resorting to harassment everyday in the apartment premises.

The victim wrote that she did not reveal this to her parents due to fear and shame.
The accused has remained in jail since February 2022. Police said 20 witnesses recorded their statements in the case and based on the evidence and after examining the witnesses, the court found him guilty.
Vinod Jain has been sentenced for life under IPC section 305 (abetment of suicide of child) and fined for Rs 1 lakh. The court also sentenced him for seven years and imposed fine of Rs 50,000 under POCSO section 9 (L) and 10, three years imprisonment and Rs 50,000 fine under section 12 of POCSO, five years imprisonment and Rs 50,000 fine under IPC section 354 and three years imprisonment and Rs 50,000 fine under IPC section 509.
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#Suspended #TDP #leader #lifer #girls #suicide
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 27, 2023
Maha: Too early to talk about alliance with BRS, says AIMIM leader Jaleel

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Aurangabad: Amid attempts by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi to expand its footprint in Maharashtra, AIMIM Lok Sabha member Imtiaz Jaleel said they are keeping a close watch on the BRS but it is too early to talk about an alliance with them.
Jaleel was speaking after the BRS, led by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, held its third rally in Maharashtra in Aurangabad on Monday.
“It is too early to say anything about an alliance. One public meeting does not indicate how powerful they are. Let them work and show some results at the ground level. We have to see what response they get in Maharashtra. This question should be asked after a few months,” he said.

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#Maha #early #talk #alliance #BRS #AIMIM #leader #Jaleel
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 26, 2023
Elon Musk is back on Capitol Hill and meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

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The billionaire Twitter and Tesla owner visited the Capitol earlier this year to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

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#Elon #Musk #Capitol #Hill #meeting #Senate #Majority #Leader #Chuck #Schumer
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 26, 2023
Proud Boys leader, awaiting Jan. 6 sedition verdict, assails Justice Department

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“I’m the next stepping stone,” Tarrio said in the call, which was broadcast to a freewheeling Twitter Space organized by the Gateway Pundit, a far-right media outlet known for promoting conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 and the government.
Tarrio’s attorneys used their closing arguments in court Tuesday morning to lay blame for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack at the feet of Donald Trump, who they say bore the ultimate responsibility for riling up supporters and aiming them at Congress. Tarrio praised his legal team but declined to elaborate on their contention.
But his lawyers’ claim stands at odds with many of Tarrio’s far-right supporters who have, with no evidence, characterized Jan. 6 as a government setup fueled by undercover agents, or the result of left-wing agitators.
Tarrio also used the call to praise congressional Republicans — including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan by name — for pursuing investigations about the “weaponization” of government. He said Jordan should call some Jan. 6 defendants to testify about their experiences.
Tarrio’s decision to speak publicly came two weeks after he opted against taking the stand in the trial. He elaborated on that decision in Tuesday’s call, saying he wanted to avoid a grilling from prosecutors about statements he’s made over the years.
“What’s happening is, in these cross examinations, they’re bringing things in from years past — things from 2015, 2016, 2017 is fair game,” Tarrio said. “It has nothing to do with January 6th. We were afraid they were going to use old statements, muddy up the waters.”
Prosecutors have charged Tarrio and four allies with acting as the “tip of the spear” of the mob that overran the Capitol, assembling a group of hundreds of Proud Boys to form a “fighting force” on Jan. 6. Those men surged across police barricades and stoked the crowd’s anger at decisive moments in the melee. One of them — Dominic Pezzola — ignited the breach of the Capitol itself when he smashed a Senate window with a riot shield.
Tarrio wasn’t present on Jan. 6 — he had been ordered to stay away from Washington due to an arrest for a separate charge two days earlier — but prosecutors say he stayed in contact with other Proud Boys leaders from a hotel in Baltimore and later celebrated their role in the attack.

Tarrio spoke to supporters and journalists for more than an hour Tuesday, calling into the Twitter broadcast from the cell phone of a friend, Bobby Pickles. He claimed he’s treated as a greater security risk in the Alexandria jail than the Lockerbie bomber, who is housed in the same facility, and he lamented being held in his cell for 23 hours a day.
Although two of Tarrio’s codefendants — Pezzola and Zachary Rehl — took the stand last week, Tarrio opted against testifying. But in Tuesday’s call, he echoed the arguments defense lawyers made about the Proud Boys, describing their often violent or vulgar language in group chats as “locker room” banter.
“It’s simple fun,” he said.
Tarrio also insisted that he never opened or saw a document titled “1776 Returns” that prosecutors featured in the case. The document, sent to Tarrio by a girlfriend a week before Jan. 6, outlines a plan to storm government buildings in order to protest the election results. Defense attorneys in the case argued that there was no evidence Tarrio ever opened the document, though an FBI agent called by prosecutors noted that Tarrio’s Google searches at that time referenced “The Winter Palace,” an analogy to the Russian Revolution that was referenced in 1776 Returns. Tarrio also referred to “The Winter Palace” on the night of Jan. 6 in text messages with Proud Boy Jeremy Bertino.
Tarrio also used the call to emphasize that he believes the jury in his case can be “fair.” Although many of his allies have been sharply critical of the judge in his case, Tim Kelly, Tarrio described any conflicts with him as simple disagreements over legal issues and said he respects the court’s decisions.
Tarrio also said he and his codefendants “are in a good place.”
“We’re very positive,” he said. “We haven’t given up on each other.”
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#Proud #Boys #leader #awaiting #Jan #sedition #verdict #assails #Justice #Department
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 26, 2023
Proud Boys leader a scapegoat for Trump, attorney tells January 6 trial

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A defense attorney argued on Tuesday at the close of a landmark trial over the January 6 insurrection that the US justice department is making the Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio a scapegoat for Donald Trump, whose supporters stormed the US Capitol.
Tarrio and four lieutenants are charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors say was a plot to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
In his closing argument, the defense lawyer Nayib Hassan noted Tarrio was not in Washington on 6 January 2021, having been banned from the capital after being arrested for defacing a Black Lives Matter banner. Trump, Hassan argued, was the one to blame for extorting supporters to “fight like hell” in his cause.
“It was Donald Trump’s words,” Hassan told jurors in Washington federal court. “It was his motivation. It was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6 in your beautiful and amazing city. It was not Enrique Tarrio. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power.”
Seditious conspiracy, a rarely used charge, carries a prison term of up to 20 years.
Tarrio is one of the top targets of the federal investigation of the riot, which temporarily halted certification of Biden’s win.
Tarrio’s lawyers have accused prosecutors of using him as a scapegoat because charging Trump or powerful allies would be too difficult. But his attorney’s closing arguments were the most full-throated expression of that strategy since the trial started more than three months ago.
Trump has denied inciting violence on January 6 and has argued that he was permitted by the first amendment to challenge his loss to Biden. The former president faces several civil lawsuits over the riot and a special counsel is overseeing investigations into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election.

A prosecutor told jurors on Monday the Proud Boys were ready for “all-out war” and viewed themselves as foot soldiers for Trump.
“These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump’s army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it,” said Conor Mulroe.
Tarrio, a Miami resident, is on trial with Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter president. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described organizer. Rehl was president of a chapter in Philadelphia. Pezzola was a member from Rochester, New York.
Attorneys for Nordean and Rehl gave closing arguments on Monday.
Tarrio is accused of orchestrating the attack from afar. Police arrested him two days before the riot on charges that he burned a church banner during an earlier march. A judge ordered him to leave Washington after his arrest.
Defense attorneys have argued that there is no evidence of a conspiracy or a plan for the Proud Boys to attack the Capitol. Tarrio “had no plan, no objective and no understanding of an objective”, his attorney said.
Pezzola testified he never spoke to any of his co-defendants before they sat in the same courtroom. The defense attorney Steven Metcalf said Pezzola never knew of any plan for January 6 or joined any conspiracy.
“It’s not possible. It’s fairy dust. It doesn’t exist,” Metcalf said.
Mulroe, the prosecutor, told jurors a conspiracy can be an unspoken and implicit “mutual understanding, reached with a wink and a nod”.
The foundation of the government’s case is a cache of messages Proud Boys leaders and members privately exchanged in encrypted chats and publicly posted on social media before, during and after the deadly January 6 attack.
Norm Pattis, one of Biggs’s attorneys, described the Capitol riot as an “aberration” and told jurors their verdict “means so much more than January 6 itself” because it will “speak to the future”.
“Show the world with this verdict that the rule of law is alive and well in the United States,” he said.
The justice department has secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the founder and members of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers. But this is the first major trial involving leaders of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group that remains a force in mainstream Republican circles.
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#Proud #Boys #leader #scapegoat #Trump #attorney #tells #January #trial
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 26, 2023
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó ejected from Colombia

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Venezuela’s best-known opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has touched down in the United States after being unceremoniously ejected from Colombia while attempting to gatecrash a summit about the political future of his crisis-stricken homeland.
Guaidó shot to fame in early 2019 and for a brief moment looked poised to topple Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, with the support of dozens of foreign governments including the US, UK and Brazil.
But four years later the 39-year-old’s star has waned dramatically as a result of his failure to unseat Hugo Chávez’s political heir. Maduro has crushed street protests and consolidated power. Most of the international community has abandoned Guaidó’s parallel “presidency” and “interim government”.
And key regional powers such as Colombia and Brazil have elected leftist leaders who have revived ties with Maduro’s administration and condemned Guaidó’s attempt to bring it down by using foreign pressure to spark a military uprising.
Late on Monday, Guaidó announced he had crossed into Colombia on foot to escape Maduro’s “persecution” and attend an international summit which Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, is hosting, in an effort to solve Venezuela’s deeply entrenched political crisis.
However, hours later Guaidó was removed from the South American country by migration officials and boarded a plane to the US, where he landed early on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, the persecution of the dictatorship spread to Colombia today,” he said in a video statement filmed inside.
“Guaidó didn’t say it, but everything suggests he will not return to Venezuela,” Luz Mely Reyes, a prominent Venezuelan journalist, tweeted as the politician touched down in Miami.
Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America specialist from Chatham House in London, said Colombia’s decision to send Guaidó packing was a melancholy reflection of how dramatically his political standing had changed since early 2019, when he led huge protests through the streets of Caracas and enjoyed significant global support.

“It’s a sort of sad coda to his so-called presidency,” said Sabatini, who said he suspected Guaidó’s decision to travel to Colombia was a political stunt designed to reassert his waning authority over Venezuela’s opposition.
In fact, Sabatini said he believed Guaidó’s move – which he likened to a botched comeback attempt by the US actor Mickey Rourke – had merely highlighted his weakness. “It’s pure performance. He’s trying to make himself relevant again but it has the opposite effect. It makes him look sad.
“The truth is that most of the governments that are attending [Petro’s conference] – Spain, the UK, Chile and others – no longer recognize [Guaidó’s] government, such as it was, or are now engaging with the Maduro government,” Sabatini added.
“He’s become a little bit of a caricature, to be honest. [He has] no real authority, not much popularity. He is clearly trying to grab headlines and make himself relevant and engaging.” But this week’s drama had merely “reinforced the sense of his irrelevance”.
Guaidó continues to insist his crusade to bring political change to Venezuela is alive.
Before leaving the country, he had planned to take part in October opposition primaries designed to select a candidate to challenge Maduro in a presidential election scheduled for next year. That will be the first such vote since the 2018 election which Maduro won despite leading his country into one of the worst economic collapses outside a war zone in recent history. Much of the international community denounced the 2018 election as an undemocratic sham.
Guaidó’s party, Voluntad Popular (Popular Will), condemned what it called his “arbitrary expulsion” from Colombia.
However, Petro pushed back, claiming his country would have “gladly” offered Guaidó asylum had he arrived at an official port of entry and presented a passport.
“There is no reason to enter the country illegally,” Colombia’s leftist president tweeted.
“Clearly, a segment of politics wanted to disturb the unhindered progress of the international conference on Venezuela,” Petro added.
At the opening of his one-day conference on Venezuela, Petro said he wanted to see steps to ensure its citizens were free to democratically elect their leaders. But Colombia’s president also called for an end to US sanctions which he blamed for the dire humanitarian crisis that has forced more than seven million Venezuelans to flee abroad over the past eight years.
“We have seen it on our streets: [Venezuelan] people going hungry on the streets of Bogotá and Colombia. People fleeing hunger, fleeing misery,” Petro told diplomats from countries including the US, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, the UK and Brazil.
“The Americas cannot be a place of sanctions. The Americas must be a place of freedoms. And the Americas must be a place of democracy.”
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#Venezuelan #opposition #leader #Juan #Guaidó #ejected #Colombia
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 26, 2023
Atiq Ahmad’s wife Shaista Parveen still in BSP, says party leader Uma Shankar

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Ballia: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Uma Shankar Singh on Sunday said Shaista Parveen, the wife of slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad, is still in the party and has not been expelled from it.
Speaking to reporters here, Singh — the lone BSP MLA in the 403-member UP Legislative Assembly — said, “Shaista Parveen, wife of Atiq Ahmad, is still in the party. She has not been expelled from the party. She is not occupying any post in the party. If she is convicted, she will be expelled from the party. She is yet to be convicted. The party is sympathetic towards her.”
To a question that the BSP has been termed as BJP’s “B-Team” by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, he said, “Akhilesh Yadav does not have any issue except defaming the BSP.”

On April 10, BSP chief Mayawati had said her party will not field gangster Ahmad’s wife Parveen or any other member of his family in the mayoral election in Prayagraj.
Parveen had joined the BSP in the presence of its senior leaders on January 5, and was reportedly being considered as the party’s mayoral candidate for Prayagraj.
The urban local body elections will be held in the state on May 4 and 11.
“As far as Shaista Parveen is concerned, I would like to make it clear that as per the facts emerging from media reports regarding the Umesh Pal murder case, as soon as the name of Atiq’s wife emerged and after she has gone underground, the situation has changed,” Mayawati had told reporters.
“In this scenario, our party will now not give the mayoral ticket to Atiq’s wife, nor to any member of his family,” she had said.

The BSP chief had also said, “As far as the question of keeping Atiq’s wife in the party is concerned, a decision will be taken soon from the facts that emerge after she lands in the police net.”
On March 13, BSP leader Uma Shankar Singh, who is also the Leader of the party in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, had come out in support of Parveen, saying the police’s cash reward for information on her is an attempt “to divert attention” from its failure in solving the Umesh Pal murder case.
The Rasra MLA had said, “Shaista Parveen has no relation, even remotely, with the murder case. Even the police have not been able to prove it. She is a social person.”
“Shaista Parveen is all set to become the mayor of Prayagraj and the BJP is going to lose the seat. This is the (reason) behind the BJP’s fury,” Singh had said, and stressed that BSP chief Mayawati has already announced that action will be taken against Parveen if the allegations against her are proven.
“We still stand by that. If the allegation is proven, Shaista Parveen will be expelled from the party. The BSP never compromises on matters of crime,” Singh had said.
Umesh Pal and his two police security guards were shot dead on February 24 outside his home in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj area.
Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Atiq Ahmad, his brother Ashraf, wife Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.
On March 28, an MP/MLA court held Atiq Ahmad and two others guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case and sentenced them to life imprisonment. That was Ahmad’s first conviction even though more than 100 cases had been registered against him.
The 60-year-old former Samajwadi Party MP was brought from Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat by road for hearing in the case in Prayagraj.
On April 15, Atiq Ahmad (60) and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night while police personnel were escorting them to a medical college here for a checkup.
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#Atiq #Ahmads #wife #Shaista #Parveen #BSP #party #leader #Uma #Shankar
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 23, 2023
Congress expels woman who levelled harassment charges against Assam leader

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New Delhi: Assam Youth Congress president Angkita Dutta was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress for six years on Saturday for anti-party activities.
Dutta had accused Indian Youth Congress chief Srinivas B V of causing mental agony to her after she levelled sexual harassment charges against former IYC president Keshav Kumar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Congress over the move, saying this is its model of women empowerment and its slogan of “ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon” (I am a woman and I can fight) is hollow.

“Congress president has expelled Dr Angkita Dutta, president, Assam Pradesh Youth Congress, from the primary membership of the party, for six years for her anti-party activities with immediate effect,” Tariq Anwar, member-secretary of the Disciplinary Action Committee of the Congress, said in an order.
Hitting out at the Congress, BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted: “This is Congress’s model of women empowerment!”
“Sack the woman who alleged harassment instead of providing a platform to hear her grievances. The manner in which Angkita Dutta has been removed from the Congress is uninspiring for women,” he said.
Malviya also said, “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon is a hollow slogan.”
The Congress had come up with the slogan in the run-up to last year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

Dutta had tweeted: “When previous IYC president Keshav Kumar had sexually harassed and because of #MeToo came out. He was compelled to remove. Now despite being mentally harassed and discriminated by B V Srinivas for 6 months. I have been told to keep mum and no enquiry is initiated.”
“Honestly I am aware this could lead to an end of my political career. If this is the price I have to pay, so be it. About me meeting some BJP leader, one is welcome to check CCTV footage of home and office where you will probably see me reading trolls my colleagues are spreading,” she tweeted on Friday.
Dutta was issued a show-cause notice by the Assam Congress, asking her to explain why action should not be taken against her for her alleged antiparty activities.
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#Congress #expels #woman #levelled #harassment #charges #Assam #leader
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 22, 2023