Live news: TMC organises counter rally; alleges BJP trying to create constitutional crisis in West Bengal

Member of Parliament from Odisha's Aska Lok Sabha constituency Ladu Kishore Swain has passed away in Bhubaneswar, said family sources on Wednesday. He was 71. Swain died late on Tuesday while undergoing treatment at a private hospital.

The senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader was suffering from kidney-related ailments. He was admitted to the private hospital on the day after he complained of uneasiness in breathing.

SC commences hearing on pleas seeking review of verdict that had allowed women of all age groups entry into Sabarimala temple. Advocate K Prasaran, appearing for Nair Service Society, opens arguments before five-judge bench. Prasaran seeks setting aside of verdict that allowed women of all ages entry into Sabarimala temple

On September 28, 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by the then CJI Dipak Misra, in a 4:1 verdict had paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the shrine, saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination.

A village court in Kerala’s Malappuram district on Tuesday, February, 5 allowed Kanakadurga who visited the Sabarimala temple to return to her parents-in-law’s house.

Kanakadurga had visited Sabarimala on January 2 after the Supreme Court lifted the age bar on the entry of women at the shrine. She returned to her house in Angadippuram town on January 15, but was rejected by her husband and other family members.

"Sabrimala custom cannot be equated to untouchability. It is only a religious custom," K. Parasaran argues. “Article 15 threw open all public institutions of secular category. It does not refer to public institutions of religious category,” K Parasaran.

“Untouchability has nothing to do here. Entry is sought to be prohibited only due to nature of deity. It is not an exclusionary practice,” said advocate V Giri appearing for the priest.

Hindu Mahasabha’s Pooja Pandey and her husband Ashok Pandey produced before local court. They were arrested from Tappal for recreating Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

Pooja Pandey says, "No regrets. We have not committed any crime. We have used our Constitutional right."

A Delhi court on Wednesday gave Delhi Police time till February 28 to procure the sanctions needed to prosecute former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in a 2016 sedition case.

The court told the police to ask the authorities concerned to expedite the sanctions.

BSP president Mayawati has for the "first time" joined Twitter to interact with the media and masses, her party said on Wednesday, almost a fortnight after a handle in her name appeared on the microblogging site.

She will be also expressing her views on national and matters of political importance on Twitter, a BSP release said.

The Maharashtra government has set up a committee to review various schemes being implemented for the welfare of tribals in the state.

The 17-member committee, headed by former MLA and Shramjeevi Sanghatna president Vivek Pandit, will undertake study of various works done for providing employment opportunities, minimum wages and proper livelihood to tribals, as per a recent government order.

The committee will hold its meetings every three months and submit its recommendations to the government, it added.

Stand-in India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl against New Zealand in the first of the three-match Twenty20 international rubber on Wednesday.

All-rounder Daryl Mitchell makes his T20I debut for the Kiwis while Rishabh Pant, who missed a place in the ODI squad, finds a spot in the Indian playing eleven.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from activist and lawyer Prashant Bhushan on contempt pleas by Attorney General K K Venugopal and the Centre for his tweets allegedly criticising the court over the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as interim CBI director. Bhushan was given three weeks to reply.

“Sure. RSS is the most secular organisation just as I am Queen of England tweeting about this from the moon,” said Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti on Twitter in response to Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao’s comment where he said that the RSS is one of the ‘most secular’ organisations and it has always respected the rights of individuals who practice their faith.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi addresses a Public Meeting at Bhawanipatna, District Kalahandi. He said, “Centre, Naveen Patnaik govt in Odisha not working for farmers, tribals, dalits.”

He also said, “Congress will work for protecting land of tribals.”

Over 20 lakh Uttar Pradesh government employees went on a strike on Wednesday to demand restoration of the old pension scheme. The employees are protesting against the state's new pension scheme under which the share of the government has been raised from 10 per cent to 14 per cent. This also means a four per cent increase in the employee contribution, which they are opposed to.

Flight operations were adversely affected on Wednesday at the Srinagar international airport due to bad weather, officials said.

"Due to continuing snowfall and poor visibility, 14 flights have been suspended. No flight has landed or taken off from here," a Srinagar airport official said.

"Afternoon flight operations are also uncertain due to snowfall and poor visibility," the official said.

Meanwhile, the strategic Srinagar-Jammu highway was also closed on Wednesday due to snowfall and landslides.

The Madras High Court was informed that the Tamil Nadu Police has initiated disciplinary proceedings against at least 7,324 officers for failing to file final reports within the statutory time limit which resulted in closure of over 2.14 lakh FIRs by trial courts.

Filing a counter-affidavit on the interim order passed by Justice M V Muralidharan, the Director General of Police's office magistrate courts were not maintaining registers to enable police to know about cases which were "not taken on file".

There were 1,72,602 such cases between 2010 and 2018, according to the counter affidavit, which also claimed that the lower judiciary closed FIRs for not filing of charge sheets by police.

Human rights activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, has moved the Bombay High Court to seek bail.

The plea was taken up for hearing on Wednesday by Justice N W Sambre.

Bharadwaj, through her lawyer Yug Chaudhary, challenged the decision of a Pune court that had rejected her bail plea in October last year. Chaudhary told the bench that the Pune court, while denying the bail to Bhardwaj, had relied upon four letters produced as incriminating evidence by the Pune Police.

The bench is likely to hear the plea in detail on February 18.

The Congress has lodged a complaint with the local police in Balrampur, UP on Wednesday against derogatory and indecent remarks made on party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on social networking site Facebook.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved verdict on a batch of petitions seeking review of its September 28, 2018 judgement that allowed women of all age groups to enter the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi heard submissions on behalf of parties including the Kerala government, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), Nair Service Society and others and said that it would pronounce its order as to whether to review the judgment or not.

National Commission for Women (NCW) wrote to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan requesting, "to take prompt action to ensure prevention of sabotage of material evidence and witnesses in pending case against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, so that justice may prevail."

“Modiji has waived off loans of 15 people. Can Naveen Patnaik waive off the loans of farmers? He can’t,” said Rahul Gandhi.

Did Modiji keep his promise of second Brahmani bridge in Rourkela? Did he build a super-speciality hospital in Rourkela?, asks Rahul Gandhi.

“Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are not poor states. But the government looted the people of the two states. We will apply the land acquisition bill in Odisha,” says Rahul Gandhi.

The Devaswom Board, managing the affairs of Lord Ayyappa’s Sabarimala temple, on Wednesday joined Kerala government in supporting the entry of women of all ages in the temple, saying that any practice has to be consistent with the dominant theme of the Constitution -- "all persons are equally entitled".

The Devaswom Board spelt out its new position before the five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra as it opposed a batch of petitions seeking the review of the judgment permitting women of all age groups to enter the temple.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday organised a rally at Thakurnagar where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting last week, and senior party leaders accused the BJP of trying to create "constitutional crisis" in West Bengal.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is following the orders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has become the "BJP Bureau of Investigation" that has singled out opposition leaders, Kolkata Mayor and TMC leader Firhad Hakim alleged at the rally in Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district.

"The central government led by the BJP is trying to create a constitutional crisis in West Bengal. We will never let that happen. The people of this state will not a give a single seat to the BJP in Lok Sabha elections," Hakim said.