The Week That Was
23
INDIA IN NEW YORK FEBRUARY 14, 2014
PAGE 22
Gangster Abu Salem
marries girlfriend
Jailed gangster Abu Salem married a
woman on a train while being escorted by
the police from Mumbai to Lucknow to
appear in court, the Mumbai Mirror
reported. The nikaah was reportedly solemnized after Salem and his bride made
their vows over the phone.
Northeast watch
A group of lawmakers from Northeastern India met Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh February 10 and
demanded an anti-racial discrimination law and judicial inquiry into the
death of Arunachal Pradesh youth
Nido Tania.
***
A 22-year-old Manipuri man was
stabbed by some unidentified men in
south Delhi February 11.
Police said he was out of danger at
press time.
Telangana bill rocks Delhi
Pro and anti-Telangana supporters
clashed during a protest in New Delhi.
The issue rocked both Houses of the
Indian Parliament too as the federal government announced that it would take up
the Bill to carve out a separate Telangana
state from Andhra Pradesh in the ongoing
Parliament session that ends February 21.
The federal cabinet approved the draft
bill and Indian President Pranab
Mukherjee gave his nod.
It was to be tabled in the Upper House
of Parliament February 11, in an effort by
the United Progressive Alliance government to keep it alive even after the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, which is currently
conducting the last session of this term.
Bills introduced in the Upper House and
not passed by it remain in the ‘live register.’
But the bill wasn’t tabled that day since
the House secretariat sought clarifications
over whether or not it was a money bill,
which has to be necessarily introduced
and passed in the Lok Sabha first.
Ugandan women lured
by Delhi drug mafia
The Delhi government sought the intervention of India’s external affairs ministry
in providing ‘protection’ to three Ugandan
women after they alleged they were held
hostage by the drug mafia in the capital.
The women told the police they were
lured by placement agencies and assured
jobs.
Congress pitches Azhar
in West Bengal
Face off
DANISH ISMAIL/REUTERS
A supporter of the Awami Ittihad Party, a pro-India party, scuffles with a policeman during a protest
in Srinagar February 9. Authorities imposed restrictions across Srinagar as separatists called for a
three-day shutdown to demand the remains of Mohammad Afzal Guru, who was executed February
9, 2013, for the attack on India’s parliament in December 2001.
Shiv Sena’s
discordant notes
Riots may rock Bihar,
UP, Karnataka: Alert
Bureaucrat accused in
rape case suspended
The Intelligence Bureau has issued alerts
about the possibility of communal clashes
in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka
before the general election.
IB officials say such alerts are issued
before most elections, but they are more
serious this time in the face of a particularly divisive election season, which comes
soon after the Muzzafarnagar riots.
The Rajasthan government suspended
bureaucrat B B Mohanty in the alleged rape
and exploitation case of a 23-year-old woman.
The woman told the police that Mohanty
exploited her on the promise of helping her
clear the civil services examination.
Dutt seeks another parole
extension!
Former India skipper Mohammad
Azharuddin, a Congress party member of
Parliament from Uttar Pradesh’s
Moradabad, is set to cross state frontiers
and contest the Lok Sabha elections from
Howrah, West Bengal.
Sources in the Congress say the party’s
strategy is that even if he does not win,
the choice will help the Left Front seal the
seat, keeping Mamata Banerjee’s
Trinamool Congress out of the reckoning.
The Jammu and Kashmir police registered
a first information report against state Health
Minister Shabir Ahmad Khan for alleged sexual assault after a complaint by a woman doctor February 7.
Actor Sanjay Dutt, who was jailed in the
1993 bomb blasts case, has sought a second extension of his parole to be with his
wife Manyata, who is reportedly recovering from surgery, police said.
The actor was granted a month’s parole
from December 21 for the second time
after he spent all of October at home.
He was supposed to return to jail
January 21, but he sought and was granted an extension by another month.
Wielding saffron flags
and chanting ‘Pakistanis
go back,’ Shiv Sena workers in Mumbai barged
into Pakistani guitarist
Mekaal Hasan’s press conference. The protestors
heckled the artistes and
vandalized the venue.
The event was organized by the Meekal Hasan
Band to announce a joint
venture between Indian
and Pakistani artists.
Penguin to axe Doniger’s
book, The Hindus
Reports say Penguin Books India has
succumbed to pressure by various groups
and agreed to withdraw all published
copies of Wendy Doniger’s book, The
Hindus: An Alternative History.
Reports say Penguin even agreed to
destroy all the remaining copies of the
book, which are currently with the publisher.
Shiv Sena supporters
protest at the venue.
SAHL SALVI
J&K health minister
booked for sexual assault
Gang-rape assumes political
overtones in West Bengal
In West Bengal’s Howrah district the gang
rape of two women from a family has gained
political overtones.
According to a news channel it was found
that the women were from a family of
Communist supporters and the alleged
rapists, seven of whom have been arrested,
had links to the state’s ruling Trinamool
Congress party.
Rape victim shot dead
A 20-year-old rape victim and her mother
were shot at in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh,
February 6. They were on their way to court
to testify against the girl’s rapist.
While the victim died on the spot her
mother was battling for her life in hospital.