Le Journal

The Supreme Court on Monday told the Madhya Pradesh government to decide within two weeks on granting the sanction to prosecute Bharatiya Janata Party leader and state minister Vijay Shah for his remarks allegedly targeting Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, Live Law reported.A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Deepankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi noted that the Special Investigation Team the court had formed in May had filed its report and was awaiting sanction from the state government.The sanction from the state government is necessary for the court to take cognisance of the offence under Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which pertains to promotion of communal hatred and ill will.The matter pertains to remarks made by the BJP leader at an event in Mhow on May 13.Shah had said that those who had widowed the daughters of India had been taught a lesson by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “by sending the sister from their own community”. He repeated the remark immediately after saying it the first time.While the BJP leader did not name a person, Opposition parties had alleged that the minister was alluding to Qureshi, one of the spokespersons during the media briefings relating to Operation Sindoor held by the external affairs ministry and the defence ministry.On May 14, the Madhya Pradesh High Court...Read more

The United States has invited India and Pakistan to join President Donald Trump’s proposed Board of Peace, which Washington has described as a global initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts, initially focusing on Gaza.It was not clear whether New Delhi has agreed to join the initiative.A contribution of $1 billion secures permanent membership on the board instead of a three-year appointment, AP reported quoting an unidentified US official. The three-year appointment does not require any contribution.The Board of Peace will be part of the second phase of a US-backed ceasefire proposal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. A United Nations Security Council resolution in November authorised the Board of Peace to oversee Gaza at least until the end of 2027.Trump has extended invitations to about 60 countries, Al Jazeera reported. This includes Turkey, Egypt, Argentina, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Britain, Germany, Canada and Australia.Sharing Trump’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media on Sunday, the US ambassador to New Delhi, Sergio Gor, said that the board “will support effective governance to achieve stability and prosperity”.In the letter dated Friday, Trump said the board was a “critically historic and magnificent effort to solidify peace” in West Asia and to embark on a “bold new approach to resolving global conflict”.The US president also said that...Read more

The Delhi High Court on Monday quashed income tax reassessment notices issued to NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy in 2016 in connection with alleged interest-free loans advanced to their company RRPR Holdings Private Limited, the promoter company of the broadcaster, Bar and Bench reported.A bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinod Kumar also imposed costs of Rs 2 lakh on the Income Tax department, directing it to pay Rs 1 lakh each to Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy for issuing the notice.“No amount of cost can be treated as enough for these cases,” the bench was quoted as saying by Bar and Bench. “However, we cannot leave these cases without imposing any.”The detailed judgement is yet to be made public.The reassessment proceedings stemmed from allegations relating to certain interest-free loans advanced to RRPR Holdings Private Limited.The tax department had alleged that an interest-free loan of Rs 403.85 crore from Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited to RRPR, along with a series of share transfers between RRPR and the Roys, were “colourable transactions” intended to evade tax, Business Standard reported.The Roys had approached the High Court in November 2017, arguing that the reassessment amounted to a second reopening for the same assessment year.They submitted that the Income Tax department had already reopened the assessment in July 2011 and...Read more

A fisherman from Gujarat who had been languishing in a jail in Pakistan’s Karachi, despite his sentence having ended in 2022, died in custody on January 16, journalist and activist Jatin Desai told Scroll.In early 2022, the fisherman inadvertently crossed into Pakistani waters. About seven or eight others who were caught with him remain in jail in Karachi, Desai said.Desai, a peace activist who has for several years been taking up the cause of Indian fisherfolk arrested in Pakistan, did not disclose the name of the fisherman who died.However, he noted that a 2008 bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan on consular access states that arrested persons should be released and repatriated to each other’s countries within one month of their nationality being confirmed and their sentences being completed.“As per this document, the fisherman should have been released long ago,” Desai told Scroll. “But for that to happen, the agreement has to be implemented in letter and spirit.”The journalist-activist claimed that three to four Indian fishers die in Karachi’s Malir Jail every year. “In the first place, such persons should not be arrested at all,” he said. “If they are arrested, a situation should certainly not arise in which they die in prison.”Desai said that India and Pakistan should...Read more

Activist Sonam Wangchuk’s detention under the National Security Act is “illegal” and has “no merit”, which is why the Union government was repeatedly seeking fresh court dates in the appeal against it, his wife Gitanjali Angmo was quoted as alleging by PTI on Sunday.“The solicitor general of India, who represents the Union [government], always keeps taking dates after dates, employing delay tactics, because I think they have realised that there is no merit in the case,” she said in an interview to the news agency. Angmo added that Wangchuk should already be out of prison due to what she described as serious “procedural lapses” by the authorities.Police firing and violence had broken out in Leh on September 24 during protests seeking statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Demonstrators clashed with and threw stones at the police, and set fire to the Bharatiya Janata Party office and a police vehicle.Wangchuk was arrested in Leh on September 26, two days after four persons were killed in the police firing. He was later taken to a jail in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur.The Union government has claimed that the violence was incited by Wangchuk’s “provocative statements”.In October, Angmo filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging his detention and seeking his immediate release. She has contended that the...Read more