India

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, in the split verdict on Karnataka hijab ban, on Thursday said by asking girls to take off their hijab before they enter school gates is an invasion of privacy, attack on dignity, and denial of secular education.

He said this is the time when children should learn not to be alarmed by our diversity but to rejoice and celebrate this, and also this is the time when they must realise that diversity is our strength.

Justice Dhulia said: "By asking the girls to take off their hijab before they enter the school gates, is first an invasion of their privacy, then it is an attack on their dignity, and then ultimately it is a denial to them of secular education. These are clearly violative of Article 19(1)(a), Article 21 and Article 25(1) of the Constitution".

The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Dhulia. While Justice Gupta dismissed the appeals challenging the Karnataka High Court judgment, Justice Dhulia set aside the high court judgment and quashed the Karnataka government order dated February 5.

The petitioners had moved the apex court, challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.

Justice Dhulia said there shall be no restriction on the wearing of hijab anywhere in schools and colleges in Karnataka. He added that the unfortunate fallout of the hijab restriction would be that they would have denied education to a girl child.

"A girl child for whom it is still not easy to reach her school gate. This case here, therefore, has also to be seen in the perspective of the challenges already faced by a girl child in reaching her school. The question this court would put before itself is also whether we are making the life of a girl child any better by denying her education merely because she wears a hijab!" he said.

He added that the constitutional scheme, wearing a hijab should be simply a matter of choice and it may or may not be a matter of essential religious practice, but it still is, a matter of conscience, belief, and expression.

Justice Dhulia said if a girl wants to wear hijab, even inside her class room, she cannot be stopped, if it is worn as a matter of her choice, as it may be the only way her conservative family will permit her to go to school, and in those cases, her hijab is her ticket to education.

In a 73-page judgment, he said, "fraternity, which is our constitutional value, would therefore require us to be tolerant, and as some of the counsel would argue to be, reasonably accommodating, towards the belief and religious practices of others. We should remember the appeal made by Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy in Bijoe Emmanuel -- our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practices tolerance; let us not dilute it."

He emphasised that the Government Order dated 5 February, 2022, and the restrictions on the wearing of hijab, also goes against constitutional values of fraternity and human dignity.

Justice Dhulia said: "Liberty, equality, fraternity, the triptych of the French Revolution is also a part of our Preamble. It is true that whereas liberty and equality are well established, properly understood, and recognised concepts in politics and law, fraternity for some reasons has largely remained incognito. The framers of our Constitution though had a different vision. Fraternity had a different, and in many ways a much larger meaning with the main architect of our Constitution, Dr Ambedkar".

He added that schools, in particular our pre-university colleges are the perfect institutions where children, who are now at an impressionable age, and are just waking up to the rich diversity of this nation, need to be counselled and guided, so that they imbibe our constitutional values of tolerance and accommodation, towards those who may speak a different language, eat different food, or even wear different clothes or apparel!

"This is the time to foster in them sensitivity, empathy and understanding towards different religions, languages and cultures. This is the time when they should learn not to be alarmed by our diversity but to rejoice and celebrate this diversity. This is the time when they must realise that in diversity is our strength," he said.

--IANS
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Ahmedabad, Oct 13 (IANS) Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Thursday appealed to voters to ensure that Congress does not come to power in the poll-bound Gujarat.

Addressing a gathering after flagging off the 'Gaurav yatra' from Zanzarka village here, Shah said, "Congress people are smartly trying to divide voters on caste and creed lines, one should be aware about such evasive plans and not get trapped."

Reminding people how women select a water pot (mud pot), the same way before voting for any party, electorate too should check its credentials and worthiness.

"Congress has never delivered development work; it has always indulged in caste politics and grabbed power on divide and rule policy," he claimed.

Shah enumerated the development work done by the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and how he first led Gujarat on the growth path.

The Union Home Minister assured people that the development work will continue in the state.

After flagging-off the 'Gaurav Yatra' from Zanzarka, Shah, along with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and BJP state unit president C R Patel, flew to Unai in Navsari, where he flagged-off two 'Gaurav Yatras', of which one will cover tribal belt and another Surat, Bharuch and other parts of Central Gujarat.

--IANS
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New York, Oct 12 (IANS) A Purdue University student, who allegedly stabbed his Indian-origin roommate to death on October 6, told reporters he had been "blackmailed" when asked about a motive for the crime.

Ji Min Sha, a 22-year-old junior cybersecurity major from Seoul, made his first court appearance last week before Tippecanoe County Magistrate Sarah Wyatt after being arrested for allegedly killing Varun Manish Chheda, a 20 year-old studying data science at the university in West Lafayette, Indiana.

"I was blackmailed," the suspect was reported as saying in the New York Post, But he didn't elaborate much on his statement.

When asked by reporters if he had anything to say to the victim's family, Sha replied: "I am very sorry."

Wyatt granted Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Timothy Kern's motion for a 72-hour continuance.

Prosecutors have until Thursday to file the charges against Sha, who had said "I love my family" as he was hauled to jail for allegedly killing Chheda.

The Indian-American student died of "multiple sharp force traumatic injuries" and the manner of death was a homicide.

Purdue Police Chief Lesley Wiete called the crime "unprovoked and senseless".

The suspect allegedly admitted that the knife was his and that he had used it to kill his roommate, the New York Post said.

India, calling the incident unfortunate, said that it is keeping an eye on developments of the case.

"It's a very unfortunate incident. I think the perpetrator has been arrested. We are keeping an eye on the developments," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during a press briefing.

Meanwhile, several members of the Purdue community came forward to set up GoFundMe pages to help Chheda's family cover funeral costs, but his family has asked people to contribute to Riley Children's Foundation instead.

Varun's grandfather Nemji Chheda had migrated to the US in 1964 from Kundrodi in Gujarat's Kutch district.

According to media reports, he was the third generation of a Gujarati family that had moved to the US six decades ago.

--IANS
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Mumbai/Sonipat, Oct 12 (IANS) Leading law firm, Khaitan & Co. has established an Endowment Fund worth Rs one crore at O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) for the benefit of Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) as an extraordinary act of philanthropy and corporate responsibility.

The endowment will support a Chair in corporate law, a special centre for business law and research, two medals for outstanding students' academic performances, an annual lecture series and a negotiation competition jointly organised by Jindal Global Law School and Khaitan & Co.

Khaitan & Co. is one of the oldest (over 100 years old) and largest (over 850 professionals) Limited Liability Partnership firms in India. Khaitan & Co was established as early as 1911 with the efforts of Debi Prasad Khaitan and J.N. Mazumdar when the first office was set up in Kolkata. Remarkably, Khaitan served as a distinguished member of the Drafting Committee of India's Constituent Assembly.

The firm has regularly featured in several international rankings and has been bestowed with many distinguished awards for its remarkable contribution made for the advancement of the legal profession. The Endowment aims to support JGU's educational and research activities by helping the latter fulfill its intellectual and social commitments.

The Endowment comprise of five key initiatives:

1. Khaitan & Co. Chair in Corporate Law

The Chair will promote teaching and research in international and comparative business law through publications. The Chair will become an "intellectual site" for building knowledge on corporate law and strategic inputs for corporate legal practice. It will also aim to inspire and prepare students for corporate legal careers and instill relevant institutional values and ethics while contributing to the legal profession.

2. Khaitan and Co. Centre for Business Law and Research

The Centre will work in association with Khaitan & Co. Corporate Law Chair by streamlining and optimizing the latter's activities. The Centre will also aim to produce knowledge and strategic research materials e.g., policy and position papers, publications in peer-reviewed journals, periodicals, monographs, and reports. The Centre's focus will be on the intersectional spaces of business laws, public policy, and technology.

3. Khaitan & Co. Outstanding Academic Performance Medals

Two outstanding academic performance medals will be awarded to students who secure top grades in "Corporate Law". The medals will be a recognition of the students' depth and rigour of engagement with the knowledge of corporate law and their intellectual commitment to the subject.

4. JGLS-Khaitan & Co. Annual Lecture Series on Comparative and International Business Law

This annual lecture series will aim to relay the outcomes of research on international business law. It will also focus on the comparative aspects of business law and practice so that the transnational needs of business are served and addressed. The lectures for this distinguished series will be delivered by eminent academicians, jurists and national and international practitioners.

5. JGLS-Khaitan & Co. Negotiation Competition

The competition will aim to provide a platform for young talent to test their knowledge of law and business transactions and skills in negotiating deals. It will also help in building a competitive spirit as it is experienced in the global market amongst the students and impart the essential ethics of international business.

Commenting on Khaitan's & Co.'s act of philanthropy, Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University & Founding Dean, Jindal Global Law School observed, "By the act of instituting 'Khaitan & Co, Endowment Fund', the Firm has demonstrated its deep commitment to promoting excellence in legal education and the legal profession. A law firm establishing an endowment in a law school is also a congruence of shared goals and aspirations.

"I am delighted that Khaitan & Co. has found such compatibility between their professional goals and JGU's mission and have chosen us for instituting this endowment. I also see the vision of Khaitan & Co. of 'leveraging insight to script legal discourse' reflecting in the aims and objectives of the Endowment. Where else, if not in the intellectual spaces of a law school, can such a noble objective be fulfilled? I am deeply grateful to Khaitan & Co. and the inspiring leadership of Mr. Haigreve Khaitan for this initiative on behalf of, not only Jindal Global Law School, but also on behalf of the community of law schools, which I also humbly represent."

Announcing the Endowment, Haigreve Khaitan, Senior Partner, Khaitan & Co.stated, "I have witnessed the evolution of Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University as a premier institution in India and internationally. I also cherish my own association with JGU and take pride in my participation in its growth. Hence, I am delighted to announce the establishment of Khaitan & Co. Endowment Fund at O.P. Jindal Global University. This endowment is an opportunity for Khaitan & Co. to fulfill its founding objectives and to meet our responsibilities as an institution towards legal education and the legal profession. I sincerely hope that the ideas this endowment aims to implement will help in improving the professional landscape by nurturing talent through enhanced ways of teaching and research".

Professor Peter H. Schuck, Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law Emeritus, Yale Law School, USA & Chair, International Board of Advisors, JGUhas observed on this development that, "Establishment of this endowment is a meeting of minds of JGU and Khaitan & Co. Their shared vision, goals and ideas that resulted in the establishment of this endowment make it an extraordinary example of the essential interaction between legal education and the legal profession. Law schools and law firms should interact with each other not only in professional platforms for idea-sharing, but they should also share the social benefits in the mutual interest of legal education and the legal profession. I wish JGU and Khaitan & Co. all the best of success".

Professor (Dr.) Jayanth K. Krishnan, Milt and Judi Stewart Professor of Law, Indiana University, USA & Co-Chair, International Board of Advisors, JGU observed, "Establishment of this endowment is a case of an eminent law firm collaborating with a leading institution, both trailblazers in their respective domains of function. I am sure that this collaboration will lead to outstanding outcomes in teaching, research, and institution building, which in turn will produce an extraordinary generation of legal professionals. I applaud Khaitan & Co. for this initiative and congratulate JGU for this achievement."

--IANS
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Kolkata, Oct 12 (IANS) A fresh amount of Rs 32 crore has been seized from various bank accounts used by prime accused Amir Khan in the E-Nuggets multi-crore mobile gaming fraud scam, Kolkata Police said on Wednesday.

The fresh seizure has been made from 1,195 bank accounts that were hired by the prime accused against a commission for deposits of the scam proceeds.

City police sources said that on being tipped off by their informers, the police raided a flat at Saila Tower complex at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata. There from a particular office they came across many bank accounts with deposits worth Rs 32 crore.

With this fresh recovery, the total recovery by the Kolkata Police and Enforcement Directorate has increased to Rs 132.87 crore, out of which the recovery by ED had been Rs 36.95 crore.

The prime accused, Amir Khan, is currently in police custody and will be produced again at a lower court in Kolkata on October 21.

Meanwhile, the ED sleuths are waiting for the court to remand Khan to judicial custody so that they can make an application to the court to take Khan into their custody to question him on the money trail and the beneficiaries of the scam.

Kolkata Police arrested Khan on September 24 from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. The city police also arrested five of his close associates. Another close associate of Khan, Subhojeet Srimani is absconding and the city police have issued a look out notice against him. Srimani is believed to have taken shelter in Dubai recently.

The ED initiated the investigation in the E-Nuggets scam with a cash recovery of Rs 17.32 crore on September 10 from the residence of Amir Khan's father, Naser Khan at Shahi Astabal Lane in the Garden Reach area of Kolkata.

Amir Khan had launched a mobile gaming application named E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding the public. During the initial period, the users were rewarded with commission and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn in a hassle-free manner. This provided initial confidence to the users, who started investing bigger amounts for greater percentage of commission and a greater number of purchase orders.

After collecting handsome amounts from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said app was stopped on one pretext or the other. Thereafter, all data, including profile information, was wiped out from the said app server.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Union Budget for 2023-24 would be 'carefully structured' where the focus would be on maintaining growth momentum.

Speaking at an event organised by the Brookings Institute in Washington, during the course of her five-day US visit, the Finance Minister in a conversation with Cornell University's Eswar Prasad, said on Tuesday that the focus of the forthcoming Union Budget would be on growth priority.

She said that inflation concerns were also there and managing growth would be the main focus.

On being asked about rising public debt and fiscal deficit, Sitharaman said that in the budgets of 2021-22 and 2022-23, the government focussed on increased capital expenditure to revive the economy in the post-pandemic era.

"We understood the virtue of asset creation. We hiked infrastructure spending in the last two budgets but at the same time managed to maintain fiscal prudence," the Finance Minister said.

Speaking about the immediate risks being faced by India, the Finance Minister said that energy and fertiliser requirements were one of the most immediate challenges the country faced.

She said that there was a limit to which renewable energy infrastructure can be ramped up, but it can't meet all the energy requirements.

Due to the energy crisis, India has for the time being gone back to thermal energy.

Similarly, while India was capable of producing fertilisers and it was doing so, as well as meeting requirements with the government footing the bill, the demand was rising, she said.

Sitharaman said due to the rising international prices of fertilisers there was a crisis and this was an immediate challenge along with energy requirements.

Elaborating on managing the economy during the pandemic days, Sitharaman said that due to the digitalisation of the economy, which had started in 2014 itself, India managed to provide foodgrains to the needy during lockdowns.

Immediate relief was provided to the people due to financial inclusion infrastructure, which the government had already created, she said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Washington D.C., during which she invited the latter to visit India next month.

During their meeting on Tuesday, Sitharaman and Yellen discussed current global macroeconomic situation among other issues of mutual interest, the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

"The two Ministers also discussed various issues of significance with a view towards India's upcoming G20 Presidency," it said.

After the meeting, Sitharaman invited Yellen to India in November to attend the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting, the Ministry added.

This will be Yellen's first visit to India as Treasury Secretary.

Also taking to Twitter, the Treasury Secretary said: "I was pleased to welcome Minister Sitharaman back to US Treasury today to discuss deepening economic bonds between the U.S. and India, avoiding costly supply chain disruptions, and addressing global shocks."

Sitharaman is currently on a five-day visit to the US.

--IANS
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Prayagraj, Oct 12 (IANS) The Allahabad High Court has observed that a Muslim man, who marries for the second time against the wishes of his first wife, cannot seek a decree from any civil court to compel the first wife to live with him.

The bench comprising Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Justice Rajendra Kumar, made this observation while dealing with an appeal filed by a Muslim man, challenging a family court's order dismissing his case for restitution of conjugal rights.

The bench, while dismissing the plea, said as per the mandate of the Holy Quran, a man can marry up to four women but if he fears that he will not be able to deal with them justly then can marry only one.

"If a Muslim man is not capable of fostering his wife and children, then as per the mandate of the Holy Quran, he cannot marry another woman," the court observed.

The court also opined that a Muslim husband has the legal right to take a second wife even while the first marriage subsists.

"But if he does so, and then seeks the assistance of a civil court to compel the first wife to live with him against her wishes, she is entitled to raise the question of whether the court, as a court of equity, ought to compel her to submit to co-habitation with such a husband," the judges said.

The bench also observed that when the appellant has contracted the second marriage suppressing this fact from his first wife, then such conduct of the plaintiff-appellant amounts to cruelty to his first wife.

"Under the circumstances, if the first wife does not wish to live with her husband, then she cannot be compelled to go with him in a suit filed by him for restitution of conjugal rights. If the contention of the husband for grant of decree of conjugal rights is accepted, then from the point of view of the wife, it would amount to breach of her fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India," it added.

--IANS
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By Arul Louis
United Nations, Oct 11 (IANS) Even though the International Monetary Fund has cut India's growth projection for this financial year to 6.8 per cent, it remains the fastest-growing major economy in a world facing a massive slowdown.


The IMF's World Economic Outlook report released in Washington on Tuesday cut India's growth rate by 0.6 per cent from the projection of 7.2 per cent made in July, but it kept the slower growth projection for next year at 6.1 per cent, which would still be the highest for major economies.

The report said the downgrade reflects "a weaker-than-expected outturn in the second quarter and more subdued external demand".

Coming off the Covid shock last year, India's growth rate was 8.7 per cent, the report said.

The IMF growth projection for India this year was slightly higher than the World Bank's 6.5 per cent released last week.

The IMF said the global economy would grow by only 3.2 per cent this year and slow down to 2.7 per cent next year buffeted by inflation, the fallout of the Ukraine war, and the lingering effects of the Covid pandemic.

The report warned that global inflation was projected to rise to 8.8 per cent and said that "monetary policy could miscalculate the right stance to reduce inflation" and present "unusually large and to the downside".

Among the other major economies, the US economy was projected to grow by 1.6 per cent this year, China by 3.2 per cent, Germany by 1.5 per cent, the Euro Zone by 3.1 per cent, and the UK by 3.6 per cent.

Next year, the report projected global growth to slow down to 2.7 per cent, and presenting a bleak prognosis it said advanced economies are projected to grow by only 1.1 per cent and the US by 1 per cent while Germany would contract by 0.3 per cent.

China's economy is expected to grow by 4.4 per cent next year.

In South Asia, Bangladesh had a higher growth projection than India at 7.2 per cent for this year, but with a gross domestic product of only $416 billion, it doesn't rank with major economies, while India with a GDP of 3.17 trillion is the world's fifth largest.

Bangladesh's growth is projected to be 6 per cent next year.

Pakistan's economy is projected to grow by 6 per cent this year and 4.4 per cent next year; Nepal by 4.2 per cent this year and 5 per cent next year; Bhutan by 4.9 per cent this year and 4.3 next, and the Maldives by 4.3 per cent this year and 4.4 per cent the next.

Sri Lanka's economy was projected to shrink by 8.7 per cent and by 3 per cent next year.A

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

--IANS
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Bhopal, Oct 11 (IANS) A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Madhya Pradesh to unveil the newly developed corridor "Mahakal Lok" in the premises of Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar temple, state Congress president Kamal Nath said what he did for Mahakal corridor "is on the record".

The former Chief Minister said the BJP government has finally accepted that loans of farmers were waived off during the 15-month rule of the Congress government, and "they (BJP) will also accept the initiative taken for Mahakal corridor later".

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Nath denied claiming credit on Mahakal corridor, saying: "This is a subject of faith and I am maintaining dignity on it."

However, the race of seeking credit between the ruling BJP and Congress has been doing the rounds since the day Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that PM Modi would inaugurate the corridor on October 11.

With just some hours left for inaugural of "Mahakal Lok", scheduled at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the Congress on Monday released detailed notes of decision taken on development of the Mahakal corridor by the then Kamal Nath-led Congress government in 2019.

The Congress also released the photographs of the cabinet meeting, in which Kamal Nath passed the proposal for Mahakal corridor and Rs 300 crore was allocated for the first phase of work.

"Congress government has not only allocated funds for Mahakal corridor, but a proposal to increase monthly wages of priests of all temples was also passed. The project was started by the Congress government... BJP taking credit out of it," Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly Govind Singh said.

The expanded and newly constructed Mahakal Corridor in Ujjain, which has been designed on the basis of 'Shiv Leela' (108 murals and 93 statues depicting stories related to Lord Shiva), will be providing a glimpse of Shiva Leela.

--IANS
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