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Chitradurga, Sep 1 (IANS) Six days after a FIR was lodged under the POCSO Act and the SC, ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, the Karnataka police finally swung into action on Thursday in connection with the sex scandal involving the Lingayat seer in Chitradurga district of Karnataka.

Chitradurga Superintendent of Police Parashuram on Thursday stated that accused number 2, women's hostel warden Rashmi is being questioned in the case of sexual assault on minor girls. "We have started investigating the accused persons in the case one after the other," he said.

There is no rule as such that the accused should be arrested, if it is necessary the accused seer will be questioned, he maintained. The NCPCR has sought a report from Parashuram on the incident.

Meanwhile, a local court in Chitradurga has granted bail to former MLA S K Basavarajan and his wife Soubhagya in connection with the attempt to rape case and the sexual harassment case filed by the women's hostel warden Rashmi in the Chitradurga Rural police station.

Rashmi, who is an accused in the POCSO case, has alleged kidnapping of two minor girls, sexual assault on her. She lodged her complaint after the FIR against the Lingayat seer.

S K Basavarajan stated after obtaining bail that he is not conspiring against the mutt. "I only protected children. After coming to know that the minor girls are in Bengaluru I, my wife and son went to Bengaluru and tried to bring back the girls to Chitradurga Mutt. But they refused to stay and later they were sent with their family members," he said.

"The minor victims were in a bad condition and I gave them shelter. If the minor girls are truthful they will get justice, if they are not, they will be exposed," Basavarajan stated.

Meanwhile, Dalit organizations laid siege to the vehicle of the district commissioner of Chitradurga and demanded the arrest of the seer. They warned that if the seer is not arrested, they would give a call to their workers from all over the state to come to Chitradurga and protest against the accused seer.

The court has adjourned the bail petition of the seer to Friday.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 1 (IANS) Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, whose latest release 'Laal Singh Chaddha' tanked at the box-office, is currently holidaying in San Francisco.

Earlier media reports claimed that the superstar is on a two-month break and is holidaying in the US. He will start his next film after he is back in Mumbai following his break.

A picture of Aamir doing the rounds on social media shows that the actor is currently not in the country.

The photograph has been shared by a fan named Natasha on Twitter, where the two are seen posing for a selfie.

She captioned the image: "Yesterday in unexpected unbelievable i'm still unwell twists."

In the image, Aamir is seen flaunting a salt and pepper look. He looks dapper dressed in a navy blue full sleeved T-shirt. He has a sweater tied around his waist and is seen carrying a beige coloured cross bag. He kept it casual and completed his look with spectacles.

'Laal Singh Chaddha', which also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, is a remake of the Hollywood film 'Forest Gump' starring Tom Hanks.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has declared a Rs 25 lakh reward on underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The probe agency said that whosoever will provide information to it about Dawood shall be rewarded.

The NIA has also declared a reward of Rs 20 lakh on Chhota Shakeel and Rs 15 lakh reward on Anis Abrahim, aides of Dawood.

"NIA has declared reward of Rs 15 lakh each on Dawood's other aides Javed Chikna and Tiger Memon, wanted accused in Mumbai serial blasts," said an official.

The NIA has said that Dawood is funding terror outfits to carry out terror-related activities across India.

The probe agency said that Dawood is working with LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed, the international terrorist organisations.

In February, the NIA had lodged a fresh case against Dawood.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) Bharti Airtel on Thursday launched a new Cloud portfolio to offer specialised products for multiple business segments, as the company plnas to roll out 5G services in the country.

The new cloud offerings will fall under Edge Cloud Portfolio and will include Edge content delivery network (CDN).

Airtel Cloud's Edge CDN accelerates web and video content delivery by using its edge network to bring content as close to users as possible.

This reduces latency, costs and load on servers making it easier for enterprises to focus on app performance for OTT, ed-tech, gaming and healthcare sectors.

"Airtel has three key strengths to offer a differentiated set of cloud offerings – we have 12 large data centres and 120+ edge locations. We also have a network with comprehensive coverage across the country and to most locations across the globe," said Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business.

Airtel is currently working with two of the largest OTT companies in India and others on this platform.

"With 5G around the corner, businesses will leverage the low latency, high bandwidth and high device density of the 5G spectrum to solve critical problems using edge computing," said Chitkara.

Airtel said it will utilise Edge Cloud applicationd eveloper Qwilt's 'Open Edge Cloud' solution for deployment.

"Our edge architecture provides a new economic model for streaming delivery, in which Airtel Cloud's Edge CDN plays a central role in the end-to-end value chain," said Alon Maor, CEO, Qwilt.

Airtel recently became the first company to test a captive private network at the Bosch facility in Bengaluru. Airtel is also rolling out its Edge compute service to customers.

The company said there will be many targeted cloud solutions coming in for specific industry requrements soon.

--IANS
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Dakshina Kannada (Karnataka), Sep 1 (IANS) Karnataka police have arrested nine students in connection with thrashing of a Muslim student for developing friendship with a Hindu girl in Sullia Police station limits in Dakshina Kannada district, police said on Thursday.

Mohammad Sanif, 19-year-old B.com student of First Grade College at Sullia, was beaten up by a group of Hindu students on August 30 for being friends with a Hindu girl student.

Sanif, a resident of Jalsoor Village, was talking to his Hindu friend. The accused did not like Sanif talking to Hindu girl and took him to the college playground. The accused had pulled the shirt of the victim and assaulted him with a wooden log.

The accused questioned him why he was talking to Hindu girl and threatened him that he won't be spared if he continued to talk to her. He was also pushed to the ground and kicked.

The victim had informed the matter to his family members who lodged a police complaint in this regard. Sanif is being treated at the Sullia Government hospital, police said.

The police have arrested five students for assaulting Sanif and four students for supporting the assault. The photos of the assault have gone viral on social media and created public outrage. Police have taken up further investigations.

--IANS
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Prayagraj, Sep 1 (IANS) In a major development, the Allahabad high court has cancelled three government orders issued between 2016 and 2019 through which 18 sub-castes from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) were notified as Schedule Caste (SC) in Uttar Pradesh.

The Allahabad high court ruled that the Central government alone has the power to include a caste in the list of SC.

Allowing a PIL filed by B.R. Ambedker Granthalaya Evam Jan Kalyan, Gorakhpur and others, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice J.J. Munir quashed the three notifications dated December 21, 2016, December 22, 2016, and June 24, 2019.

The first two notifications were issued by the Samajwadi Party (SP) government while the BJP government issued the third one during its previous tenure.

By these notifications, 18 OBCs were placed in the category of SC. High court had already intervened to stop both the governments from action on these notifications.

The two notifications issued by the SP government were challenged through the above-mentioned PIL on the ground that they were without authority as provided under Article 341 of the Constitution.

Article 341 empowers the President to specify castes, races or tribes that will be classified as 'SC' under the Constitution.

While hearing the PIL, the court had passed an interim order in favour of the petitioner and directed the state government not to issue any caste certificate on the basis of these notifications.

However, during the pendency of the PIL, another notification to the same effect was issued on June 24, 2019, by the Yogi Adityanath government. This notification was also challenged and, in this case, too, an interim order directing the state government not to issue any caste certificate on the basis of the notification was passed.

On Wednesday, after hearing the counsel for the parties, the court was of the view that "it is the Central government which is empowered to bring a caste in the ambit of SC and the state government has no power in this regard".

The detailed verdict is awaited.

The sub-castes which the SP and BJP governments intended to include in the SC category were Majhwar, Kahar, Kashyap, Kevat, Mallah, Nishad, Kumhar, Prajapati, Dheevar, Bind, Bhar, Rajbhar, Dhiman, Batham, Turha, Godia, Manjhi and Machhua.

Among these, sub-castes like Kevat, Mallah, Bind, Nishad and Manjhi broadly come under the Nishad community, which has been demanding SC status for a long time.

Nishad Party, which claims to be representing the community, is part of the NDA alliance since 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, it was an ally of the SP.

Similarly, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, claiming to have the support of Rajbhars, was an ally of SP in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections and prior to this, it was part of the NDA and its leader O.P. Rajbhar was also a Minister in the Yogi government.

The issue of inclusion of certain OBC sub-castes in the SC list has been lingering for the past 18 years. It was in 2004 that the Mulayam Singh Yadav government amended the Uttar Pradesh Public Services Act, 1994, to include as many as 17 OBC sub-castes in the SC category.

The Allahabad high court, however, quashed the decision declaring the move unconstitutional and void as it was taken without the consent of the Central government.

The issue was revived when the SP came to power again in 2012.

"In their OBC outreach bid, both SP and BJP have been trying to take certain sub-castes out of the backward bracket, where the competition for the quota pie is much stiffer, and put them in the SC category where fewer strong sub-castes like Jatavs and Pasi vie for the reservation," says a political analyst.

Attacking the BJP on the HC decision, SP said that the reservation to the 18 most backward communities got cancelled due to ineffective action in court by the BJP government.

--IANS
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Damascus, Sep 1 (IANS) An Israeli missile strike hit the international airport of Syria's northern city of Aleppo, causing material damage, a Syrian military statement said.

Local news websites on Wednesday said the missiles came from over the Mediterranean, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said Israel fired four missiles against the airport and surrounding warehouses, causing explosions to "what is believed to be a shipment of Iranian missiles".

The Israeli attack on Wednesday is the 22nd against Syrian sites this year, following a deadly strike earlier last week in the city of Masyaf.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) The Indian and Chinese armies have once again held talks on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). It is being told that this conversation has taken place at the Division Commander level.

According to defence sources, an Indian Army and Chinese Army Division Commander level meeting was held on Wednesday to discuss routine matters related to maintaining peace along the Line of Actuality in the Ladakh sector.

Sources familiar with the matter said such meetings are held regularly after every three months at various levels to discuss the issues of maintaining peace and border management.

The meeting comes at a time when it is being claimed that the Chinese PLA is continuing heavy construction activities along the LAC to further upgrade its military infrastructure and connectivity in the region.

During the talks, the Indian and Chinese sides under the leadership of the division commanders discussed issues related to peace in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector and other areas.

Earlier, India and China held talks in the Chushul sector in the wake of recent airspace violations by the Chinese Air Force, where India warned China against any misadventure.

--IANS
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By Brij Khandelwal
Agra, Aug 31 (IANS) Another attempt to force change the name of the Taj Mahal to "Tejo Mahal" fell flat, after noisy scenes and frayed tempers in a special session of the Agra Municipal Corporation on Wednesday.



A corporator had moved a resolution demanding the name change, on the basis of claimed "historical evidence" that the Taj Mahal was originally a Hindu temple.

But due to the din, and groups of corporators shouting slogans, the matter could not be taken up. Mayor Navin Jain adjourned the house indefinitely, after failing to bring the session to order.

While the Hindutva group was adamant to move the resolution, the BSP and Congress corporators opposed the initiative, claiming that the High Court and the Supreme Court, had already dismissed the plea.

Outside the house, various Hindutva groups continued to shout slogans, as corporation officials tried hard to pacify the agitated members of the house.

Senior BJP corporator Anurag Chaturvedi told IANS that the initiative was legally flawed and could not be pursued. The property belongs to the ASI, therefore only the Union government could take a decision.

The term of the Agra Municipal Corporation ends in November. Ahead of the elections, the parties are trying to raise the pitch.

Meanwhile, the Agra tourism industry has suggested to maintain the status quo. A new tourist season begins from September 27. "Therefore, efforts should be made to maintain peace and harmony," a tourism stakeholder said.

--IANS
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Srinagar, Aug 31 (IANS) Over a dozen senior Congress leaders and party workers in Jammu and Kashmir resigned on Wednesday to support Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Leading the group, former J&K Congress president and minister, Peerzada Sayeed said that he was feeling sad to leave the party with which he was associated for more than 35 years.

"The party has shrunken due to the wrong policies of the Congress high command. We have decided to join Azad sahib to strengthen democracy in J&K and to help the people who have suffered a lot," Sayeed said.

Prominent among those who resigned are Muhammad Muzaffar Parray, a former legislative and Vice President of J&K Congress; and Haji Abdul Gani Khan, the Congress district president Srinagar.

--IANS
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