NEWS

Bombay High Court granted relief from arrest till May 20 to former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Thursday. The Thane police will not effect Singh's arrest till May 20. This is in connection with the corruption case lodged against him last month.

Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appearing for Singh said that the first information report (FIR) registered against him was not maintainable. Since the Maharashtra government's advocate Darius Khambata said he would need time to file a reply, Jethmalani stated that there should, then, not be any "coercive action against the petitioner".

West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visited Sitalkuchi in the Cooch Behar district, where four people were killed in firing by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) during fourth phase of assembly polls on April 10. The governor said that he is shocked to see condition in the area in the wake of post-poll violence.

"This is total collapse of rule of law. I could have never imagined this. I have seen the fear of Police in the eyes of the people, they are scared to go to Police, their houses were looted. I'm really shocked, this is destruction of democracy," a news agency quoted Dhankar as saying.

"People have left their houses and are living in jungles. Women tell me, that they (goons) will come there once again and there is such failure of security before the governor. I'm shocked at it. I can imagine what the people here must be going through," he added.

The Punjab government joined the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative to procure Covid-19 vaccines globally at the best price, becoming the first state in India to do so, chief minister Amarinder Singh’s office announced on Thursday. The decision to join COVAX alliance was taken during a virtual Cabinet meeting, chaired by the chief minister.

“The Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab government on Thursday decided to join the COVAX facility alliance for global sourcing and procurement of Covid vaccines at the best price, becoming the first state in the country to take such a well thought out strategic initiative towards addressing the problem of vaccine shortage amid the deadly second wave of the pandemic,” the state government said in a press release.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued notices to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, on the matter of dead bodies of suspected COVID-19 victims found floating in the Ganga river after receiving complaints.  

A press statement was issued to this effect which stated that: "It (NHRC) has issued notices to the Chief Secretaries of both the states and the Secretary, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, today calling for action taken report within four weeks."

The NHRC statement noted that the public authorities had allegedly failed to take concentric efforts in educating the masses and checking the immersion of half burnt or unburnt dead bodies into the Ganga.