New Delhi : The Supreme Court today agreed to examine a contentious issue whether a Parsi woman can be deprived of her religious identity, acquired by the virtue of her birth, after marrying a man of different religion.
The apex court was dealing with an appeal challenging the Gujarat High Court’s March 2012 verdict in which it was held that a born Parsi woman, by contracting civil marriage with a non Parsi under the Special Marriage Act, would cease to be a Parsi.
It was also held that she would be deemed to have acquired the religious status of her husband unless a declaration is made by a court for continuation of her Parsi status.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra observed that the issue actually dealt with the aspect of “religious identity” of a woman.
“We are actually dealing with identity… Presently it is about religious identity, as before marriage, you are a Parsi and you say after marrying a Hindu man, I cannot be deprived of my identity by virtue of birth and my identity by religion,” the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar, said.
“There has to be a broader canvass of understanding,” the bench observed and fixed the matter for hearing in the first week of August.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner said the issue which required consideration was whether a woman, after her marriage, is deemed to have acquired the religion of her husband.
The petitioner, a born Parsi woman, had approached the high court contending that even after her marriage with a Hindu man, she has continued to follow Zoroastrian religion and thus she has the right to enjoy all privileges under the Parsi religion, including right to offer prayers at Agiari, a Parsi temple having the ‘holy fire’ and the ‘tower of silence’.
She has contended that her rights as a Parsi Zoroastrian cannot be denied on the ground that she has married a non- Parsi man.
She had also argued that a male Parsi Zoroastrian continues to enjoy all rights, as available to born Parsi, even if he is married to a non-Parsi Zoroastrian woman.
New Delhi : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said investigative agencies are doing their best to ensure extradition of controversial businessman Vijay Mallya, who was arrested in London yesterday and later released on bail.
“I think the government and all the investigating agencies are certainly putting (in) their best efforts because the agencies do believe that an offence has been committed for which the person (Mallya) is required in India,” the minister told reporters here.
The minister further said Mallya’s extradition is part of the “judicial process” in the UK.
“It’s part of the judicial process in that country and the judicial process functions on certain considerations,” he said in response to queries regarding Mallya’s extradition.
Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender by Indian courts, was arrested in London by the Scotland Yard yesterday on India’s request for his extradition on fraud charges.
He was, however, released on bail a few hours later on a bail bond worth 6,50,000 pound. He is required to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 17.
The 61-year-old liquor baron has to face charges in Indian courts in connection with loan default cases.
Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had left India on March 2, 2016.
The Indian government has since revoked his Indian passport, but he has repeatedly dismissed all charges against him.
In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans.
India had placed a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8.
Earlier in January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case. He is the owner of a Formula One team.
While handing over the request, India had asserted that it has a “legitimate” case against Mallya and maintained that if an extradition request is honoured, it would show British “sensitivity towards our concerns”.
New Delhi, Apr 19 : BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti will face trial in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case as the Supreme Court today allowed the CBI plea and restored criminal conspiracy charges against them.
The court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and ‘karsevaks’ and said the proceedings should be completed in two years.
“We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement with certain directions,” a bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman said.
The apex court, however, noted that Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh enjoys Constitutional immunity and can be tried only after he ceases to hold the office. Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of UP in 1992.
The court also gave significant directions including that separate trials being conducted in trial courts at Raebareli and Lucknow will be clubbed and conducted in the capital of Uttar Pradesh only.
It also said that the trial judge of Lucknow “shall not be transferred” till conclusion and delivery of judgement in the sensational case.
The court further said that no party shall be granted adjournment without the sessions judge being satisfied of the reasons for it and conduct day-to-day trial which should be concluded within two years.
It also directed probe agency CBI to ensure that prosecution witnesses appear on each and every date for recording of evidence in the case and the trial court should start the proceedings within four weeks from today.
It, however, clarified that there would be no de novo (fresh) trial in the matter.
The bench also directed that its order should be followed in letter and spirit and granted liberty to the parties to approach it if its directions are not followed.
There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed ‘karsevaks’, the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the leaders in a Raebareli court.
Los Angeles, Apr 19 : Pop diva Lady Gaga and Prince William teamed up to promote mental health awareness.
The clip of the duo FaceTiming was live streamed on the Royal Family’s Facebook page.
In the video Gaga sports a floral top and sips tea while dialing into Prince William to talk about his Heads Together initiative and her work as a mental health advocate.
William commended Gaga on her open letter about post traumatic stress.
“Harry, Catherine and I really felt this was such an important area that throughout all our charitable work, whether it was the veterans, homelessness, addiction, most of it seemed to stem back to mental health issues,” he said of his work with his brother, Prince Harry, and wife, Kate Middleton.
“I read your open letter you wrote the other day and I thought it was incredibly moving and very brave of you to write down such personal feelings,” he added.
He also asked the pop star about the experience of opening up about her mental health issues.
Gaga, 31, said she was nervous to do so at first, but went on to explain some of her reasoning.
“For me waking up every day and feeling sad and going on stage is something that is very hard to describe. There’s a lot of shame attached to mental illness. You feel like something s wrong with you,” Gaga said.
“In my life, I go, ‘Oh my goodness, look at all of these beautiful, wonderful things that I have. I should be so happy.’ But you can’t help it if in the morning when you wake up you’re so tired, you’re so sad.”
William also invited Gaga to meet up with him in October in the UK so they could collaborate on a future project with Heads Together.
Indian railways has bagged its largest export order of Rs 680 crore that involves supplying modern locomotives and train sets to Sri Lanka. The ambitious project is likely to boost by great extent the finances of railways’, which is presently reeling under crores of loss.
Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), a Railways’ PSU which serves as the exporter arm of railways, has secured the grand order from Sri Lanka Railways for the supply of ten broad gauge diesel locomotives and six DMU (diesel multiple units) train sets. DMU train sets do not require separate locomotive as the engines are incorporated into one or more of its coaches.
A senior railway ministry official said that locomotives and train sets would be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and would be manufactured in Varanasi and Chennai. The contract will be funded under the Indian Line of Credit to Sri Lanka announced in 2011, and supplies will be made over the next two years, the official added. Supplies of locomotives from Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in Varanasi is likely to be completed in 2017-2018.
RITES is presently executing a contract for the supply of 18 locomotives to Myanmar Railways. Earlier, it had exported 20 DMU train sets, three locomotives to Sri Lanka, besides providing expertise for setting up railway maintenance facilities and training of the island nation’s railway officials during the period 2008-12.
London, Apr 18 : Embattled Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender, was today arrested in London by Scotland Yard on India’s request for his extradition on fraud charges.
The 61-year-old liquor baron, wanted in India for defaulting on loans, was arrested after he appeared at a central London police station this morning.
The flamboyant businessman, who once called himself ‘The King of Good Times”, was released on bail a few hours later.
“Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Extradition Unit this morning arrested a man on an extradition warrant. Vijay Mallya was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities in relation to accusations of fraud,” Scotland Yard told PTI.
The Metropolitan Police said Mallya was arrested after attending a central London police station.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London and was seen walking out with his legal team a few hours later after being granted bail.
“It was a voluntary action. He will be out in a few minutes,” said a member of Mallya’s team at the court, without giving any further details of the bail conditions.
“Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected,” Mallya tweeted soon after getting the bail.
Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2, 2016.
In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans.
Senior Indian officials described his arrest as the first salvo in the case, which will now involve a legal process in the UK to determine if Mallya can be extradited to India to face charges in Indian courts.
The arrest comes weeks after Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had indicated that Mallya’s extradition would feature in his talks during his visit to the UK.
India had given a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8.
While handing over the request, India had asserted that it has a “legitimate” case against Mallya and maintained that if an extradition request is honoured, it would show British “sensitivity towards our concerns”.
Last month, setting in motion the process of extradition of Mallya, the British government had certified India’s request and sent it to a district judge for further action.
The extradition process from the UK involves a number of steps including a decision by the judge whether to issue a warrant of arrest.
In case of a warrant, the person is arrested and brought before the court for preliminary hearing followed by an extradition hearing before a final decision is taken by the secretary of state.
The wanted person has a right to appeal to the higher courts against any decision all the way up to the supreme court.
Earlier in January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case.
Mallya is the owner of a Formula One team.
New Delhi : Former BCCI president N Srinivasan cannot represent the Board at the ICC meeting next week as he has been held guilty of conflict of interest, the Supreme Court said on Monday.
The apex court allowed Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) Acting Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary to represent the cricket board at the ICC meeting on April 24 and directed BCCI CEO Rahul Johri to accompany him.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said since Srinivasan has been held guilty by the apex court for conflict of interest, he cannot be allowed to represent the BCCI in the ICC meeting.
“It is directed that Amitabh Chaudhary shall represent the BCCI in the ICC meeting and Rahul Johri shall accompany him and he (Johri) will also attend the meetings of the CEOs’,” the bnech, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and and D Y Chandrachud, said.
On April 10, the apex court had said that a person, who is “ineligible” to become an office bearer in the BCCI and state cricket associations, cannot be nominated to take part in the ICC meetings.
The observations came when the counsel for the apex court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) sought a hearing on the interim plea seeking clarification on whether persons, who are rendered ineligible to hold posts in cricket bodies as per the July 18, 2016 judgement, can be nominated as BCCI representative to take part in the ICC meeting.
Earlier, the apex court had accepted the Lodha committee’s major recommendations on reforms in the BCCI, including a bar on ministers and civil servants and those above 70 from becoming its members, but left it to Parliament to decide whether it should come under RTI and betting on the game should be legalised.
Air pollution could increase the chance of having a heart attack by lowering levels of ‘good’ cholesterol in the bloodstream, according to new research.
A study of more than 6,500 people in the US aged 45 to 84 found exposure to black carbon – a marker of traffic-related pollution – was “significantly associated” with reduced amounts of HDL cholesterol.
Higher amounts of fine particles known as PM2.5, which are produced by burning fossil fuels, were also linked to less HDL, which has a protective effect.
The research adds to a growing body of evidence that air pollution, much of it invisible, causes serious health problems.
The British Heart Foundation described it as a “silent killer” responsible for a “myriad of changes in the body”, such as increased blood pressure.
A paper about the study in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology said: “We found that higher concentrations of PM2.5 over a three-month time period was associated with lower HDL-P, and higher annual concentrations of black carbon were associated with lower HDL-C.
“Lower HDL particle numbers have been associated with … cardiovascular events in previous studies, and lower HDL-C is a traditional risk factor for cardiovascular disease.”
The paper said the negative effects on good cholesterol were lower but “comparable” to the kind of positive changes seen when people give up smoking.
It added: “The association between air pollution and HDL was stronger in women, although the association in men was still negative.”
The study essentially shows a correlation between air pollution and cholesterol, but not actual causation. Sometimes correlations occur when the link is indirect.
For example, the mortality risk of someone who watches television for hours every day is higher than average. But it’s the sedentary lifestyle, not the TV itself, which is killing them.
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said it was clear that air pollution was harmful.
“There is an urgent need to fund more research that looks in to the dangerous effects of air pollution on the cardiovascular system,” he said.
“This silent killer is related to 40,000 deaths in the UK each year, with eight in 10 caused by a heart attack or stroke.”
He said the new study itself might not actually be evidence of a direct link between air pollution and heart disease.
“This is an interesting study showing an association between higher air pollution and lower levels of HDL-cholesterol, often called ‘good cholesterol’,” Professor Samani said.
“The effects are small and recent studies have questioned whether lower levels of HDL-cholesterol cause heart disease.
“Furthermore, air pollution causes a myriad of changes in the body – for example it also increases blood pressure – and therefore it is difficult to know how much contribution, if any, the observed difference in HDL-cholesterol makes to the risk associated with air pollution. This means it is still too early to say how these findings might fit in to the wider picture.”
“But the underlying message is the same: air pollution poses a serious risk to heart health.”