LIVE news updates: Muslim youths thrashed, forced to chant Jai Shri Ram in Assam

Barely two weeks after a youth was arrested for forcing some Muslim youths to chant 'Jai Shri Ram', four miscreants in Assam's Barpeta district thrashed three Muslim youths and forced them to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'.

According to the police, the incident took place at the Jyoti Gaon area located near the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College in the wee hours of Friday when four bike-borne miscreants came to a medical store and thrashed one of its employees, Rakibul Haque.

"The miscreants also caught hold of Kurban Khan and Buran Ali, who worked at a nearby tea stall, and verbally abused and thrashed them for no reason. Later, they also forced the trio to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'," said Jakir Hussain, President of the West Barpeta Traders' Association.

The National investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the May 1 naxal attack, in which 16 lost life including 15 policemen and 1 civilian lost their lives in a blast in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra 8 accused have been arrested in the case till now

DMK President M.K. Stalin on Saturday demanded Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K.Palaniswami move a motion condemning the Central government for rejecting the two legislations passed by the Assembly for exempting the state from the common entrance exam for medical admissions.

In a statement issued here, Stalin said it is painful to note that the Central government submitted to the Madras High Court on Saturday that it has rejected the two legislations passed by the Assembly that was sent for President's assent 27 months back.

The two legislations sought exemption for the students from Tamil Nadu from taking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission into under-graduate medical and dental courses and post-graduate medical and dental courses.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday met the six-year-old rape victim and her family at Safdarjung Hospital here and offered financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the family along with a promise of arranging a lawyer for the case.

"I am shaken after seeing the plight of the minor rape victim. If children are not safe even in the national capital, we should all hang our heads in shame. CCTV cameras helped in nabbing the accused. We are installing cameras across Delhi. We are also ready to cooperate with the Centre to make Delhi safe," he told the media here.

The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon when the accused identified as Nanhey, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, lured the girl and took her to a deserted area in Dwarka's Sector 23 area.

A man was arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district in January this year, police said Saturday.

The arrested accused was identified as Anmol, they said, adding that he allegedly raped the 16-year-old girl of the same village on January 20.

The girl's mother had filed a complaint on the basis of which a case was registered against the accused. She also alleged that the accused used to threaten her daughter and had fraudulently withdrawn approximately Rs 1.5 lakh from the family's joint account.

Delhi and its surrounding areas will experience light rain on Sunday and Monday as the monsoon has arrived in the region, weather officials said.

"Monsoon has arrived in Delhi-NCR and Rohtak. The condition for rain is favourable with catchy winds and humidity. Light showers can be expected in some areas later in the evening," said Mahesh Palawat, Vice President of Meteorology and Climate Change, Skymet Weather.

"There could be light drizzle on Sunday and moderate activity on Monday. We hope showers would occur at a good rate on July 10 and 11," said Kuldeep Srivastava, Head at India Meteorological Department's regional centre.

An alleged drug peddler was arrested Saturday with six gram heroin in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

During checking, a motorcycle rider Teg Ali, a resident of Malani village of Ghagwal, was intercepted at Y-Junction on the Rajpura-Malani road, an official said.

The official said initially Ali tried to escape but was apprehended along with the narcotic.

A Delhi court on Saturday reserved its order over the bail plea filed by Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain in connection with a case of disproportionate assets

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal reserved the order in the matter for July 16.

The court also extended the interim protection from arrest for Jain till the date of order.

Bombay High Court on Friday rebukes the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) while a petition seeking grant of universal (U) certificate to a children's film Chidiakhana was being heard.

Young actor and popular Bengali singer Silajit Majumder's son Dhree Majumdar and his two friends were arrested on Saturday for keeping narcotic drugs, police said.

"Dhree Majumder (23), Karan Panchal (25) and Priyam Panchal (22) were arrested at 1.10 a.m. during a checking of their four-wheeler near the DPS Road Naka point in front of Tolly Club," said an officer from Regent Park Police station.

A BJP activist died allegedly after being beaten up by a group of men for chanting "Jai Shree Ram" in West Bengal's Nadia district, party sources said on Saturday.

Krishna Debnath, the saffron party activist from Swarupnagar in Nadia district's Nabadwip, was rushed to a local hospital after family members found him lying by the road side on Friday evening.

He was later shifted to Kolkata's NRS Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead.

Rescue operation underway by Navy helicopter at Marine Drive for 2 people who've drowned due to high tide. One of the 2 missing people had tried to rescue the another and got carried away in the high tide. Police tried to rescue them by throwing rope but failed.

A traffic policeman was suspended and a departmental inquiry ordered after a video purportedly showed his subordinate demanding bribe from a driver to allow him a passage, officials said on Saturday.

They said the department will also take action against the subordinate officer, an SPO, for his "gross act of indiscipline", misconduct and dereliction of duties.

Selection grade constable Chattar Singh and SPO Sanjay Sharma are the traffic policemen concerned, they said. The incident happened on Friday when the two were deployed for traffic regulation at 4th Tawi bridge in the city. The driver, from whom the bribe was allegedly sought, secretly shot a video footage, which late went viral, when he was stopped by traffic police personnel at 4th Tawi bridge.

Vipul Agrawal and Vivek Agrawal both, accused in the Pune wall collapse, have been sent to judicial custody till July 20, by Pune Sessions Court. 15 people had died and 3 were injured in the incident that occurred on June 29 in Pune's Kondhwa.

Shiv Sena leader assaults truck driver. The Sena neta can be seen slapping truck drivers on camera and hurling abuses at him.

Ruling BJD's Patnagarh MLA Saroj Kumar Meher was on Saturday granted conditional bail in an alleged case of harassment of a tribal junior.

The bail was granted by Additional District Judge (ADJ) Court, Bhubaneswar, Arun K Mallick. The court is also designated as a special court dealing with cases involving MLAs and MPs.

"The court granted conditional bail to the MLA on the surety of ₹25,000 and two bailers with a direction to cooperate with police in the investigation process," said Arup Chand, the advocate of junior engineer Jayakanta Sabar.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday congratulated people of the Walled City of Jaipur, known for its iconic architectural legacy and vibrant culture, for making its entry into the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.

"It is a matter of great pride that our Pink City Jaipur has been declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO. It will add to the glory of capital city of Rajasthan," he tweeted.

A 35-year-old radio jockey was arrested on Saturday in connection with an alleged hit-and-run case in which a man had died last week, police said. The accused, Ankit Gulati, a resident of East Patel Nagar, was arrested from his residence, they said.

Gulati, who works at a private radio station, had allegedly ramped his SUV into a scooter near Le Meridian Hotel on Raisina Road in Lutyens' Delhi on June 30, killing 37-year-old Dhiraj, the police said.

"During investigation, police identified the car after scanning CCTV footage. Later, they got details of the owner of the vehicle and arrested Gulati," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma.

The Hyderabad Police on Saturday arrested a man after he gave fake information about bomb threats to two Hyderabad-Chennai flights, the police said.

The accused, said to be a jilted lover, called the airport authorities about bomb threats to Indigo and Trujet flights at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shamshabad, Prakash Reddy said the call proved a hoax after Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel and bomb disposal teams searched the planes.

At least 20 Amarnath pilgrims were injured in a road mishap in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. The injured were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Police sources said two buses carrying Amarnath Yatris rammed into each other at Hernag in Anantnag district.

"20 Yatris were injured in this mishap. 18 people sustained minor injuries while two reported at the hospital with serious injuries.

The Indian government is yet to decide on the improvement of mobile networks along the international border areas of the northeastern states due to security reasons, a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) official said on Saturday.

"If the mobile networks along the bordering areas of northeastern states improve then it (system) would be used and misused by the inimical elements, terrorists and criminals for their vested and illicit interests," BSNL General Manager Asheesh Pathak told the media.

"If we improve the mobile networks along the bordering areas or we set up Base Transceiver Stations (BTS)s, then the people inside and across the borders and foreign elements could exploit the system. If they do any crime using the Indian networks, no law enforcing agencies could track their activities."

The cross-examination of former Union minister MJ Akbar concluded on Saturday before a Delhi court in a criminal defamation case filed by him against scribe Priya Ramani, who has accused him of sexual misconduct in #MeToo campaign.

During his cross-examination by senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Ramani, Akbar was questioned about the allegations made by other women journalists who had also accused him of sexual misconduct while they were working with him.

While he termed as "misunderstanding” the allegations made by Majlie De Puy Kamp, who worked with him as an intern, Akbar said he was not aware of an article written by his former colleague Ruth David accusing him of sexual harassment.

The RJD on Saturday announced that party leader Tejashwi Yadav will be the party's chief ministerial candidate in the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls.

The announcement was made during the party's national executive meeting here, in the presence of senior party leaders Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav, former MP and RJD state President Ramchandra Purve.

CBI has registered a case against former Indian Revenue Service officer Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, the then Commissioner of Income Tax, Noida, and others after allegations including of cheating,forgery & of obtaining undue advantage etc. Searches underway

Pakistan violates ceasefire along the LoC in Nowshera sector, Rajouri. Indian Army retaliating.

Eight MLAs from the ruling Congress-JDS coalition in Karnataka on Saturday went to meet the Speaker of the state Assembly, triggering a buzz that they could resign.

Out of the eight legislators, five are from the Congress and three from Janata Dal-Secular(JD-S), according to sources.

The Speaker K.R.Ramesh Kumar, however, was not in office and the MLAs were waiting for him, sources said.

CBI Court finds seven people guilty in RTI activist Amit Jethwa murder case, including former BJP MP Dinu Bogha Solanki. Quantum of punishment to be pronounced on 11th July.

Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy: I have come to submit my resignation to speaker. I don't know about my daughter (Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy), she is an independent woman.

I am not going to blame anyone in the party or the high command. I somewhere feel I was being neglected over some issues. That is why I have taken this decision.

A court in Odisha on Saturday granted bail to Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator Saroj Meher, arrested for forcing a junior engineer to do sit-ups for alleged poor road construction work.

The special court of Additional District Judge in Bhubaneswar granted conditional bail to the Patnagarh MLA against a surety of Rs 25,000 and two bailers.

The court also directed Meher to cooperate with the police in the probe.

Eight people were killed and three others injured in a collision between a tempo and a truck early on Saturday morning in this district of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

"The accident took place at around 6.30 am on Dibiyapur-Bela road when the ill-fated tempo tried to overtake another tempo and collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction," Superintendent of Police Suniti said.

She said eight passengers of the tempo died on the spot while three others sustained serious injuries.

PM Narendra Modi during BJP membership drive in Varanasi: More than the availability of water, the wastage and careless use of water are bigger problems. So be it use in homes or for irrigation, we have to stop the wastage of water.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a financial assistance of ₹10 lakh on Saturday for the family of a six-year-old girl who was allegedly raped in Dwarka earlier this week, and said he would meet the city police commissioner over the law-and-order situation in the national capital.

Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal met the girl and her family members at the Safdarjung Hospital.

Announcing the financial help, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo said the Delhi government would ensure the best medical facilities for the victim, who was undergoing treatment at the hospital.

"We will give ₹10 lakh to the family and get her treated by the best doctors. We will also meet the police commissioner over the law-and-order situation and extend to him whatever cooperation he requires," the chief minister told reporters.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has demanded a legislation from the Centre to curb the increasing incidents of mob lynching, as directed by the Supreme Court.

He said it had been a year since the apex court directed the Centre to draft a legislation but the Modi government has done nothing.

Terming those indulging in mob lynching as terrorists, Owaisi said these incidents were result of the hatred being spread against Muslims. He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discharge his Constitutional responsibility by acting on the incidents of mob lynching.

A bomb threat on a Hyderabad-Chennai Indigo flight at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Saturday has turned out to be a hoax, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shamshabad, Prakash Reddy said a jilted lover who was travelling on the same flight, provided the fake information about the bomb.

Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Pune today passed an order asking Nirav Modi and his aides to repay amount to the tune of ₹7300 crore with interest to Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Two Army personnel were injured in Pakistani firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Saturday.

The soldiers, who were manning a forward post in the Romali Dhara area of Nowshera sector, were injured in the firing from across the border on Friday night, they added.

A defence spokesperson said Pakistani troops initiated the unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing from small arms, followed by mortar-shelling around 9 pm on Friday.

BJP MP RS Katheria: My security did not attack toll plaza employees, they first attacked my ppl. Toll employees did not know other cars were part of my convoy, they thought some other car is slipping through behind mine. My security guard only fired in self defence.

Four Naxals killed in an encounter with Police Special Task Force (STF) in Dhamtari. All 4 bodies & seven weapons recovered.

A clash broke out allegedly between Trinamool Congress (TMC) & Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Asansol, today. Police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

The incident occurred yesterday, not today as reported earlier. 13 BJP workers have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Former Union Minister MJ Akbar appears before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal for his cross examination in his defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani.

Delhi court posts for July 15 and 17 for cross-examination of Former Union Minister MJ Akbar’s witness.

Former Union Minister MJ Akbar during his cross-examination said in Court that it’s wrong to suggest that the articles and tweets of Priya Ramani were meant to raise awareness regarding the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace.

With reports of 49 deaths and 190 positive cases of Japanese Encephalitis (JE), the Assam government has kept on hold leaves for all doctors and paramedical staff across the state, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.

Sarma said that any kind of emergency leave will however, be granted only with the prior approval of the Deputy Commissioners (DC).

"Unauthorised absence from the place of posting even after duty hours will be treated seriously amounting to criminal dereliction of duty," he said, adding that all Additional Deputy Commissioners, Joint Director (JD), District Medical Officer (DMO) will compulsorily tour affected areas regularly along with visiting of at least two hospitals per week

Two injured in a clash allegedly between TMC & BJP supporters in Burdwan, yesterday. Injured have been shifted to Burdwan Medical College & Hospital.

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit southern California on Friday at 8:19 pm (0319 GMT Saturday), the United States Geological Survey said.

The latest quake is part of what geologists are calling an "earthquake sequence" and follows a 6.4-magnitude quake that struck the same area the day before.

The USGS said the previous day's tremor was a "foreshock" to Friday's quake, with CNN reporting that the latest tremor was 11 times stronger. Residents on the ground said they were feeling aftershocks.

Two women thrashed by two men in Kotkapura area in Faridkot. Gurmit Kaur SP Faridkot (pic 2), says, “On the basis of viral video, FIR lodged. Investigation is underway. It is related to a property dispute. Case registered against the culprits.

Over 67,000 pilgrims performed the Amarnath Yatra during the first five days while another batch of 5,124 yatris left Jammu on Saturday, officials said.

The yatris on Saturday left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in two escorted convoys for the Kashmir Valley. The Yatra began on July 1.

"Of these, 1,994 yatris left in the first escorted convoy at 3 a.m. for Baltal base camp while the second convoy of 3,130 yatris left at 3.20 a.m. in the second convoy for the Pahalgam base camp," a police officer said.

The regional Met Office has forecast generally cloudy sky along the twin routes to the cave shrine on Saturday.

Security Personnel of BJP MP and Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes Ram Shankar Katheria, thrash toll plaza employees and fire in the air after an argument in Agra. Katheria was also present at the spot

Mumbai: One dead and five injured in a collision between a truck & a car on Jogeshwari flyover bridge opposite Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari (East), earlier today.

Heavy firing exchanges started on the Line of control on Friday between the Indian and Pakistan troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.

Defence Ministry spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand told IANS in winter capital Jammu that about 9 p.m. today, Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation followed by shelling with mortars along the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district.

"Indian army is retaliating befittingly," he said.