Rescue workers pulled out all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakand’s Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation that hovered between hope and despair over almost 17 days.
Union minister V K Singh and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami welcomed the workers as National Disaster Response Force men brought them out through a steel chute that lined a 60-metre escape passage.
An ambulance with the first of the 41 workers left the mouth of the tunnel around 8 pm, about an hour after a group of rat-hole mining experts dug through the last stretch of rubble.
There was hugging and cheers as the ordeal ended. Outside the tunnel some people chanted “Har Har Mahadev” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” Ambulances which had lined up at the tunnel ferried the workers to a community health centre where a special 41-bed ward had been set up.
Before this, the workers were given a quick medical checkup as they emerged out of the steel pipe.
A portion of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, blocking the exit for the workers who were inside.
Food, medicines and other essentials were sent to them through a six-inch pipe pushed through the rubble of the collapsed portion.
Allow families to conduct last rites of Manipur victims at a govt.-identified site, Supreme Court tells State
Months after the ethnic clashes in Manipur snuffed out 175 lives, the Supreme Court witnessed an acrimonious slanging match between the State government and lawyers representing civil society organisations on Tuesday over the last rites of 169 identified bodies lying in mortuaries since May.
“We cannot keep the bodies in the mortuary indefinitely… The violence happened in May,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, heading a three-judge Bench, pointed out. They deserved a dignified farewell, the court noted and directed the Manipur government to allow the families of the 81 identified victims to do last rites at a government-identified site by December 4.
The Justice Gita Mittal Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to bring a “healing touch” to the State, had said that the civil society groups are “unfortunately insisting on the burial of bodies at unsuitable sites, causing a great source of mounting tension. These sites are on the inter-district boundary between the hills districts and the valley”.
In Tuesday’s order, the Supreme Court said the State should ensure that no third party intervened in the performance of the last rites of the victims.
The Justice Mittal Committee had said that of the 169 bodies identified, 81 have been claimed by families, while 88 still remain unclaimed.
The panel’s October 21 report accused civil society organisations of trying to “prevent the next of kin of the dead to take their bodies for their last rites”.
Earlier, Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta said civil society organisations had no claim over the bodies or a say in where they should be buried or cremated.
He said the State has already identified nine burial/cremation sites for the bodies. “The next of kin have agreed to bury the bodies in one of the sites. Nobody else can have anything to say on it,” Mr. Mehta said.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, for the Manipur Tribal Forum Delhi, said “we will bury them all in a single burial site according to our Kuki custom… They did not die as Mr. X or Y, they died as a tribe that was exterminated. So, we will do it collectively”.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, also for petitioners, said “we have no information about the nine sites, about the 88 bodies which have been identified but not claimed, what is standard operating procedure?”
Mr. Mehta asked who this “we” were.
“The next of kin knows, you need not know. The next of kin have been informed in writing,” the Solicitor-General said.
Mr. Gonsalves burst out at one point in the hearing, turning to Mr. Mehta, “I am the victim… you are the assailant… don’t bully us”.
He and senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi urged the court to share the committee’s report, saying the “State has leaked the report to the media… we do not have it”.
“Frankly, it appears the effort is only to keep the pot boiling,” the Chief Justice remarked.
Directing the Manipur government to ensure last rites of 81 identified and claimed victims at any one of the nine sites by December 4, the court said the State should also reach out to relatives of the 88 dead, who have been identified but not claimed as yet, by the same date. If no relatives claim the body, the State was free to carry out the last rites as per the law.
The court permitted the State to carry out burial/cremation of unidentified bodies with due observance of religious rites.
The court ordered District Collectors and police chiefs to take measures to ensure the peaceful conduct of the last rites.
The Bench ordered the State to take DNA samples from the bodies as criminal investigation about the circumstances of their deaths were still on.
IIT Madras professor suspended after enquiry committee finds him responsible for death of research scholar
An institute spokesperson confirmed that the professor, who was Sachin Kumar Jain’s guide, has been placed under suspension based on a direction from the Board of Governors, and after following all due procedures.
Sachin Kumar Jain, a 31-year-old PhD scholar at the Mechanical Engineering Department, died by suicide on March 31. His brother Bhavesh Jain, had written a six-page letter to the director of IIT Madras, V Kamakoti, alleging that his brother was under “undue pressure” from his PhD guide Ashish Kumar Sen. Jain said his brother had been upset with the treatment he was receiving from his guide. Jain and fellow students at IIT Madras also sought a detailed probe into Sachin’s death.
Following this, a five-member enquiry committee was constituted with former Director General of Police, G. Thilagavathi as chairperson, and consisting of retired IAS officers Sabitha and Kannagi Packianathan, Professor Ravindra Giddu and Amal, a student representative to enquire into the circumstances which led to the death. The committee looked into the death, and held inquiries with fellow students, wardens, counsellors, faculty members and relatives and friends of Sachin. The committee then submitted a report with 35 findings to the IIT management.
Sources said the committee found Sen was solely responsible for the death of the research scholar. Sachin was a topper at Jadavpur University. He was supposed to complete his research at IIT-M in five years but, the committee found, it had been delayed to eight years due to Sen’s actions. The guide reportedly made fun of and humiliated Sachin in front of other research scholars. When Sachin developed a close relationship with a female research scholar, the professor made her cut ties with Sachin and isolated him.
On the day he died by suicide, Sachin had submitted his thesis, but Sen had asked a junior to peer review it, which upset Sachin, said sources.
Assets of those named by UNSC for terror funding to be frozen within 24 hours, government tells agencies
Financial sanctions against entities named by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for their links to terrorism and terror financing should be imposed “without delay” and within 24 hours under the UAPA and a law against use of weapons of mass destruction, the government has directed regulatory and probe agencies.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the federal agency tasked to detect money laundering and black money in the country’s economic channels, has been made the nodal agency for identifying, notifying and initiating legal action against such entities under section 12A of The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005, also known as the WMD Act.
India, as per official records, enacted the law as per its commitment to the country specific efforts under UNSC resolution 1718 (2006) and 2231 (2015), and their successor resolutions, as mandated under section 2 of United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1947.
The Department of Revenue (DoR) under the Union Finance Ministry issued a directive to the country’s regulatory, investigative, intelligence gathering and State police agencies last month explaining the procedure for the implementation of the 2005 law that aims to prohibit the proliferation of “weapons of mass destruction”, which stands for any biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. The law is a tool to affirm India’s commitment to prevent a non-state actor and a terrorist from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.
The DoR communication, which has been accessed by PTI, says that “orders have been issued under section 51A of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) of 1967 and under Section 12A of the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005, by government implementing targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terror financing as well as proliferation financing against persons and entities designated by United Nations Security Council Resolutions and the list of such designated entities is communicated by MEA (ministry of external affairs) from time to time...”
The directive, issued in the form of an office memorandum, has been issued to country’s banking regulator RBI, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), insurance regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), ministry of corporate affairs, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the National Investigation Agency, chief secretaries and directors general of police of all states and Union territories, apart from other agencies in this domain.
The Centre, early this year, had designated the FIU director as the central nodal officer (CNO) under section 12A of the WMD Act.
In Brief:
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on November 28 sought three more weeks from the district court in Varanasi for submitting the scientific survey report of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The court will hear the plea on November 29. The district court of Varanasi had asked the ASI to submit the report on the Gyanvapi Masjid complex by November 28.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
