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THE TIMES OF INDIA, JAIPUR TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2018 11TIMES NATION
Rajiv [email protected]
Pamba/Sabarimala: Twowomen pilgrims in their mid-forties took up the challenge totrek from Pamba to Sabarima-la on Monday, a day after a mobhad forced 11 women to flee,abandoning their plans toworship Ayyappa. But they,too, had to turn back.
The two came as close as alittle over a kilometre from themain shrine but proceedingfurther would have requiredthe police to use force against amassive crowd of protestersand the consequences of suchaction were unpredictable.
Industries minister andsenior CPM leader E P Jaya-rajan said on Monday that“the protesters are behavinglike Taliban militants” but inthe same breath said the gov-ernment would not “take anystand which will destroy the
peace in Sabarimala”.Bindu (42), from Koyilan-
dy in Kozhikode district, whoworks as guest faculty at theSchool of Legal Studies, Tha-lassery, under Kannur Uni-versity, and Kanakadurga
(44), a civil supplies employ-ee from Angadipuram in Ma-lappuram, reached Pamba by3.30 am and started trekkinguphill.
The police were unawareof their plan till they reached
Pamba. Sources said the pil-grims didn’t wait for policeclearance and began the trekby themselves and the policehad no option but to escortthem. As the trekking pathwas not crowded at the time,they managed to reach Appa-chimedu where a group ofdevotees blocked them.More police personnel re-ached the spot and re-moved these protesters.
But as news spread andhundreds of protestersgathered, it became im-possible for the police totake the two women be-yond Marakoottam. Theprotesters hovered menac-ingly while the police con-sidered the options. Thestandoff continued forabout an hour. Kanaka-durga said she was feelingfaint but Bindu insisted oncontinuing to the temple a
little more than a kilometreaway. “I am here to uphold con-stitutional values. There is theSC ruling allowing us to havedarshan. Please make ar-rangements for that,” she toldthe reporters accompanyingthem.
Full report on www.toi.in
Won’t Do Anything To Destroy Peace, Says Kerala Govt As Mob Blocks Women’s Path
Wall of Sabari protesters blocks 2 again
People clash with police while protesting the visit of the two womento the Sabarimala temple, in Pathanamthitta on Monday
New Delhi: Serial PIL advo-cate M L Sharma, undeterredby Rs 50,000 cost imposed onhim this month, moved theSupreme Court on Mondaychallenging the validity of thegovernment’s ‘surveillance’notification and alleged it vio-lated citizens’ right to privacy.
The Centre on December20 had authorised 10 agen-cies, including CBI, ED, IBand NIA, under the Informa-tion Technology Act to inter-cept, monitor and decryptany information generated,transmitted, received orstored in any computer re-source.
In his PIL, Sharmasought quashing of the noti-fication and claimed it was is-sued “to find political oppo-nent, thinker and speaker tocontrol entire country underdictatorship to win cominggeneral election under an un-disclosed emergency as wellas slavery which cannot bepermitted within Constitu-tion of India”.
He feared the agencieswould use the power to put citi-zens in jail for expressingviews against the NDA gov-ernment.
The Centre had rubbishedthe controversy over the noti-fication and said the power tonominate agencies existed un-der Section 69 of the IT Act, aprovision that was introducedby the UPA government on De-cember 22, 2008. It said themove was necessary as else,terrorists would be free to useinformation technology whileintelligence and investigatingagencies would be hand-icapped.
The Centre had said thepowers to ‘intercept, monitorand decrypt’ informationfrom computer resources hadbeen extensively used by theUPA government. Exercisingsurveillance power under In-dian Telegraph Act, the agen-cies during UPA regime hadextensively intercepted a cor-porate lobbyist’s telephonesand recorded her conversa-tions with powerful and influ-ential persons. Leak of ex-cerpts of such conversationshad forced industrialist Ra-tan Tata to move the SC in No-
vember 2010 seeking protec-tion of his right to privacy. Ta-ta’s petition is still pending incourt.
Sharma’s PIL alleged theDecember 20 notificationgave the government powerto access all communicationsemanating from computersor mobile phones and “to useit to protect political interestof the present political execu-tives and ruling political par-ty”.
On December 7, SC hadslapped Rs 50,000 cost on Shar-ma for filing a PIL accusing fi-nance minister Arun Jaitleyof attempting to “plunder” theRBI’s capital reserves to offsetNPAs of PSU banks, despitebeing warned earlier to curbhis penchant for filing PILs. Abench headed by CJI RanjanGogoi had ordered, “Thewrit petition is accordinglydismissed with cost of Rs50,000 to be deposited withthe Supreme Court LegalServices Committee. We di-rect that until cost amount ispaid, no PIL filed by advo-cate M L Sharma will be en-tertained and put up beforethe court.” Listing of Shar-ma’s fresh PIL before an SCbench in the new year woulddepend on him depositingRs 50,000.
Serial PIL-filerchallenges ‘snoop’law in apex court
Sharma’s PILalleged the Dec 20notification gave the Centre thepower to access allcommunicationsbetweencomputers ormobile phones anduse it to protect itspolitical interests
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The first meet-ing of the follow-up commit-tee for implementation ofthe trilateral ChabaharAgreement between India,Afghanistan and Iran washeld in the port city of Cha-bahar on Friday to finalisetrade and transit corridors,the government said. It alsoannounced that India PortsGlobal Limited had openedan office and taken over op-erations at the Shaheed Beh-esti port in Chabahar.
The port, which India hashelped develop, is importantas it will allow India to bypassPakistan in accessing not justIran and Afghanistan but al-so much of Central Asia.
“Positive and construc-tive discussions were heldbetween the three sides onfull operationalisation ofthe Trilateral TransitAgreement for internation-al transit and transportthrough the Chabahar port.
They agreed on the routesfor the trade and transit cor-ridors between the threecountries,’’ the MEA said ina statement.
According to the govern-ment, it was agreed to final-ise the protocol to harmonisetransit, roads, customs andconsular matters at the earli-est. It was agreed to allow car-go movement at Chabaharusing TIR (Transports Inter-nationaux Routiers) Conven-tion provisions.
The three countries willhold an event in February topromote and popularise thepotential of Chabahar port.
“Also, a study would beinitiated for determiningmeasures to make the routeattractive, decrease logistic
costs and pave the way forsmooth operationalisationof the Chabahar Agree-ment. The next follow-upcommittee meeting, fol-lowed by the 2nd coordina-tion council meeting at thelevel of secretaries/deputyministers, will held in Indiain 2019,’’ the statement said.
In May 2016, India, Iranand Afghanistan inked apact to establish a Transitand Transport Corridor be-tween the three countriesusing Chabahar port as oneof the regional hubs for seatransportation in Iran, be-sides multi-modal transportof goods and passengers.
The port in the Sistan-Balochistan province on theenergy-rich nation's south-ern coast is easily accessiblefrom India's western coastand is increasingly seen as acounter to Pakistan's Gwa-dar port, which is being de-veloped with Chinese invest-ment and is located around80 km from Chabahar.
India, Af and Iran discussChabahar port operations
The three nationsagreed on tradeand transitcorridors betweenthem through theChabahar port
New Delhi: Bhutan PrimeMinister Lotay Tshering willbe on a three-day visit to In-dia from Thursday, duringwhich he will hold talks withcounterpart Narendra Modi,the Ministry of External Af-fairs said Monday.
This is Tshering’s firstvisit to the country. The min-isters of foreign affairs, eco-nomic affairs and other se-nior officials will accompa-ny the Bhutanese PM, a state-ment said.
During the December 27-29 visit, Tshering will delib-erate on ways to step up tiesbetween the neighbours andalso call on President RamNath Kovind and Vice-Presi-dent Venkaiah Naidu. Exter-nal affairs minister SushmaSwaraj and other ministerswill also call on Tshering, thestatement said. The two sidesare likely to discuss all as-pects of bilateral relations,including high-level ex-changes, people-to-peopleties, and economic, develop-ment and hydropower coop-eration. PTI
Bhutanese PMon 3-day Indiavisit from Thu
Kolhapur: A group of peo-ple, including women, at-tending a congregationalprayer at Kowad in Chand-gad taluka in Kolhapur,was attacked by 10-15 uni-dentified men, leaving 12injured on Sunday afterno-on.
According to police, thevictims were holding the Sunday mass in a rented ro-om in the village, about100km from here, when theywere attacked by the misc-reants with hockey sticks,bottles, stones and chop-pers. The mob attacked so-me more people in Talguliand Dindalkop villages whi-le fleeing towards Belagavi,said the police. The attack-ers had covered their facesto avoid being identified.
Kolhapur superinten-dent of police AbhinavDeshmukh told TOI thatthere is a possibility thatthe attack was orchestra-ted by right-wing activists.
“We are looking at allangles and the investiga-tion is under way accor-dingly.” When contacted,Shriniwas Ghadge, additio-nal SP of Gadhinglaj, said,“The modus operandi is be-ing studied and CCTV ca-meras are being checked.We have formed four teams,which are on the trail of the
attackers. So far, there hasbeen no arrest.”
Another police officerfrom Chandgad said thatfour people with head inju-ries were admitted to a pri-vate hospital in Belgaviwhile those with minor in-juries were treated in a lo-cal hospital and dischar-ged.
The officer said that acase has been registeredagainst the men under IPCsections 143 (punishment),147 (punishment for rio-ting), 148 (rioting, armedwith deadly weapon), 149(every member of unlaw-ful assembly guilty of of-fence committed in prose-cution of common object),452 (house-trespass afterpreparation for hurt, as-sault or wrongful restra-int).
➤ Victims were holding Sunday mass in a rented room in village when they were attacked by the gang with hockey sticks, bottles, stones and choppers
➤ Kolhapur SP Abhinav Deshmukh says there is a possibility that the attackwas orchestrated by right-wing activists
➤ Police say probe on but no arrest as yet
NO ARREST YET
Mob attacks Sundaymass in Kolhapurvillage, 12 injured
