Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday ordered a probe into “rumours” that some objectionable videos of several women students were recorded after students of the Chandigarh University in Mohali held a massive protest in the campus located on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh road.
The university authorities, however, rejected reports that videos of several women students were made and shared on social media.
Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Sheel Soni said that protests erupted in the university after a “rumour” that videos of several women students had been made. He said an FIR under IPC section 354-C (voyeurism) and the IT Act has been registered in the matter and a woman student has been apprehended.
During preliminary investigation, it has come to light that a woman student, who had been apprehended, had shared her own video with someone stated to be from Himachal Pradesh whose role is also under the scanner, the police officer said.
Mann ordered a probe and expressed anguish over the incident. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty, he said. He also said he was in touch with the administration and appealed to the people not to believe rumours.
Meanwhile, Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal said those involved in the incident will get strict punishment.
“In Chandigarh University, a girl recorded objectionable videos of several girl students and made them viral. This is very serious and shameful. All the culprits involved in this will get the harshest punishment. Victim girls should keep courage. We are all with you. All should act with patience,” he said in a tweet in Hindi. Punjab Minister for School Education Harjot Singh Bains asked the students of the university to stay calm and assured them that the guilty will not be spared.
Dr Arvinder Singh Kang, Director, Students Welfare of Chandigarh University said, “At the preliminary level, we investigated and did not find that videos of other students were made… For fair investigation, university authorities got the FIR registered into the incident for a thorough and fair probe. Rumours regarding attempted suicide (by some students) and MMS of 60 students are not correct.”
Net Direct Tax kitty crosses ₹7 lakh crore
India’s net Direct Tax collections have crossed ₹7 lakh crore so far this year, 23.33% higher than the same period last year, signalling a clear post-pandemic rebound in the economy, the Finance Ministry said.
Net Direct Tax collections as on Saturday stood at ₹7,00,669 crore, compared to ₹5,68,147 crore as of September 17 2021, with corporate taxes inflow constituting little over a half of the kitty at ₹3,68,484 crore. Personal Income Tax and the Securities Transaction Tax have yielded ₹3.3 lakh crore.
Gross Direct Tax revenues were 30.2% higher than the same period of 2021-22, at ₹8,36,225 crore. This included Corporation Tax of ₹4.36 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax, including STT of ₹3,98,440 crore. Tax Deducted at Source accounted for over ₹4.34 lakh crore of the gross Tax kitty, while Self-Assessment Tax was ₹77,164 crore.
Advance Tax collections stood at ₹2,95,308 crore, 17% higher than the corresponding period of 2021-22, with Corporate Tax contributing a little over ₹2.29 lakh crore and personal income tax inflows, bringing in the rest of the ₹66,176 crore.
The Ministry said there has been a “remarkable increase in the speed of processing of income tax returns filed during the current financial year” with almost 93% of the duly verified ITRs having been processed till September 17.
Regular Assessment Tax contributed ₹20,080 crore to the gross Direct Tax collections and Tax under other minor heads brought in another ₹8,933 crore.
Jairam Ramesh slams PM Modi over his criticism of previous govts on Cheetah re-introduction
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh shared a letter on Twitter which, he said, initiated 'Project Cheetah' in 2009 and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being a "pathological liar" for criticising previous governments of not making constructive efforts to reintroduce the big cat in India.
Modi on Saturday had hit out at previous governments, saying no constructive efforts were made to reintroduce cheetahs in India after they became extinct from the country seven decades ago.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks at a cheetah after it was released at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Photo: PIB via AFP
He made the remarks after releasing three of the eight cheetahs flown in from Namibia into special enclosures in the Kuno National Park (KNP) in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh.
"This was the letter that launched Project Cheetah in 2009. Our PM is a pathological liar. I couldn't lay my hands on this letter yesterday because of my preoccupation with the Bharat Jodo Yatra," Ramesh tweeted.
Along with the tweet he shared the letter that he had written as then Minister for Environment and Forests to M.K. Ranjitsinh of the Wildlife Trust of India in 2009.
In the letter, Ramesh had asked Ranjitsinh to prepare a roadmap for the reintroduction of the Cheetah and include a detailed analysis of different potential sites. There was no immediate reaction from the BJP on the remarks.
NSCN (IM) ‘agrees’ to resume peace talks on Naga Political Issue
The extremist National Socialist Council of Nagalim or Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN has “agreed” to resume peace talks with the Centre based on the Framework Agreement signed on August 3, 2015.
The decision followed a meeting between the 11 representatives of the NSCN (I-M) and the 22-member Core Committee on Naga Political Issue comprising MPs and MLAs of Nagaland at Chümoukedima near the State’s commercial hub Dimapur on Saturday.
“The NSCN has agreed to resume talks on the condition that they are based on the Framework Agreement and the formulation papers submitted to N.N. Ravi and A.K. Mishra,” T.R. Zeliang, the co-convenor of the core committee said.
Mishra, a former special director of the Intelligence Bureau, succeeded Ravi as the Centre’s interlocutor for the Naga peace process in September 2021. The latter is now the Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Zeliang said an NSCN (I-M) delegation would be leaving for New Delhi on September 19 to discuss some unresolved matters with Central government officials. There are reports that a Central team has been working on a new set of “formulation papers” for packaging a set of offers, along with the old, to facilitate the final peace deal soon.
Zeliang also said the meeting was focussed on conveying what Home Minister Amit Shah had told the committee at a meeting in New Delhi on September 12. The NSCN (I-M) delegation, he said, was unhappy with Mishra for omitting some important political points that Ravi had included in his formulation papers earlier.
“Our role is to act as facilitators of the peace process and convey the feeling of the Nagas and the Centre to each other. We are not at all involved with the negotiation,” he said.
He also said the onus was now on the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) to sign the final agreement before the Assembly elections due by February 2023. The Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) is ready to sign the final agreement any time, he added.
The NNPGs consist of at least seven groups that have traditionally been the rivals of the NSCN (I-M).
The NSCN (I-M) said the ball of the final agreement was in the Centre’s court. “We have been waiting for their response,” Rh Raising, member of the outfit’s collective leadership said.
World leaders head to London for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral
Thousands of police, hundreds of troops, and an army of officials made final preparations for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II — a spectacular display of national mourning that will also be the biggest gathering of world leaders for years.
U.S. President Joe Biden and other dignitaries are arriving in London for the funeral, to which around 500 royals, heads of state, and heads of government from around the globe have been invited.
Meanwhile, thousands of people continued to line up around the clock to file past the queen’s coffin as it lies in state at Parliament’s Westminster Hall, braving chilly overnight temperatures and waits of up to 17 hours. The queen’s eight grandchildren, led by heir to the throne Prince William, circled the coffin and stood with heads bowed during a silent vigil on Saturday evening.
The miles-long queue is expected to be closed to new arrivals later on the day so that everyone in line can file past the coffin before Monday morning, when it will be borne on a gun carriage to Westminster Abbey for the queen’s funeral.
People across the U.K. are due to pause Sunday evening for a nationwide minute of silence to remember the queen, who died September 8 at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne. Monday has been declared a public holiday, and the funeral will be broadcast to a huge television audience and screened to crowds in parks and public spaces across the country.
Thousands of police officers from around the country will be on duty as part of the biggest one-day policing operation in London’s history.
Crowds also gathered Sunday near Windsor Castle, where the queen will be laid to rest at a private family ceremony on Monday evening. A tide of people continued to stream into Parliament’s Westminster Hall, where the queen’s coffin is lying in state, draped in the Royal Standard and capped with a diamond-studded crown.
The number of mourners has grown steadily since the public was first admitted on Wednesday, with a queue that stretches for at least five miles (eight kilometers) along the River Thames and into Southwark Park in the city’s southeast.
In Brief:
A strong earthquake shook much of Taiwan toppling a three-storey building and temporarily trapping four people inside, stranding about 400 tourists on a mountainside, and knocking part of a passenger train off its tracks. The magnitude 6.8 quake was the largest among dozens that have rattled the island's southeastern coast since Saturday evening, when a 6.4 quake struck the same area. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries. Most of the damage appeared to be north of the epicentre, which Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said was in the town of Chishang at the relatively shallow depth of 7 km.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
