Vol. 65 No. 224 | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 19, 2022 | 1 4 P a g e s | HC spares sisters death rap Excessive delay in execution of sentence LARGE NUMBER OF INDIANS CONSIDERING JOB CHANGE F or 25 years, the siblings were on death row for kidnapping 13 children and killing nine of them between 1990 and October 1996. However, the court refused to release them forthwith, saying the “crime committed by them is heinous” and “the brutality with which the children were murdered is beyond words to condemn” URVI MAHAJANI / Mumbai EDIT VACCINATION MANDATE: MUST FOR PUBLIC GOOD? The Bombay high court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of two sisters, Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit – awarded capital punishment in 2001 for kidnapping 13 children and killing nine of them between 1990 and October 1996 – to life imprisonment due to inordinate delay in the execution of their sentence. A division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal has however refused to release them forthwith, as prayed by them since they had already spent 25 years behind bars, observing that the “crime committed by them is heinous” and “the brutality with which the children were murdered is be- OTT HAS DEFINITELY CHANGED THE GAME FOR THE INDUSTRY: RAVEENA TANDON yond words to condemn”. The HC has clarified that their life imprisonment will be for the remainder of their lives. The sessions court had awarded them the death sentence in 2001, which was confirmed by the HC in 2004 and later upheld by the Supreme Court in 2006. Due to the inordinate delay in the execution of their death sentence, the sisters filed a petition in the HC in 2014 through advocate Aniket Vagal. The HC had admitted the petition then and stayed their execution till final order. Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai, appearing for the government, had argued: “Considering the gravity of the offence and the fact that they are beyond reformation, we support the judgment (of death sentence).” State government rapped Although the government argued that the death sentence should prevail, “its officers have created a condition to defeat the arguments. The officers, more particularly of the state government, have laid the foundation for the law declared by the Supreme Court to apply”. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE One year since launch of mass immunisation drive One year since the mass immunisation drive was launched, more than one crore people across Maharashtra are yet to get their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. As per the data provided by the State Health Department, 99.78 lakh have missed their second dose of Covishield, while 17.75 lakh have yet to take their second shot of Covaxin. So far, 63.52 per cent of people in the state are fully vaccinated. Health- care officials attribute this to negligence by the public and the several misconceptions related to the vaccines. State immunisation officials say they have taken considerable efforts to create awareness about the vaccines and have reached homes in every district to draw out the populace for the second dose but the results have not been satisfactory A list of those who are still to . get their second dose has been circulated in every district. District health officers and collectors have cited several reasons for this gap, such as hesitancy among people with the flattening of the pandemic curve, the 84-day gap between two doses of Covishield and the initial unavailability of stock. “When the mass immunisation programme started in January all the fo, cus was on cities while rural districts lagged. Now, cases have fallen and people residing in the tribal and rural areas of the state aren’t coming forward for vaccination. It is a daily struggle for us,” said a district health officer. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE CCTVs in 50% NEW TO THE ZOO of police thanas across state SEE MUMBAI FOR TIMELINE, COURT'S OBSERVATIONS SOMENDRA SHARMA Mumbai CCTVs have been installed in 547 of 1,089 of police stations across the state, according to a report submitted by the district-level committees to the Director General of Police (DGP) office. The committees were formed to ensure the implementation of the project – the installation of closed-circuit camera television (CCTV) systems inside all police stations in the state. “Of 1,089 police stations in the state, 547 police stations have CCTV cameras installed. The district-level committees which were set up to ensure the implemen- TAILPIECE THOUSANDS IN GUJ FLOUT RULES B DARSHAN DESAI Ahmedabad reaking all records, Gujarat reported a whopping 17,119 Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths in 24 hours on Tuesday evening, even as, oblivious to the scary numbers, thousands thronged and danced at a local BJP leader’s wedding party in Tapi district. This is also the highest single day rise of more than 4,000 cases over Monday; with that, the number of active cases in Gujarat has crossed 79,600, from a few hundred at the beginning of 2022. The State has seen 46 deaths in 18 days of January. Ahmedabad city continued to log the highest 5,998 cases and reported three deaths; there are 105 designated micro-containment zones in the city; areas in the outskirts but falling within the district registered 80 fresh cases. The next on radar is Surat with 3,986 cases -- 3,563 in the city and the rest in the district; there have been five deaths in the district and two in the city. One death each was reported from Bhavnagar and Valsad. 39,207 COVID METER 6,149 New cases in MUMBAI in 24 hours, 7 deaths tation of the installation of the CCTV project within the police stations have submitted their report to the DGP office in this regard,” said an officer from the DGP office. After the alleged custodial death of Leonard Valdaris’s CONTD. ON NATION PAGE MALLYA TOLD TO EVICT UK HOME E mbattled businessman Vijay Mallya on Tuesday lost a legal battle to hold on to his plush London home after a British court refused to grant him a stay of enforcement in a long-running dispute with Swiss bank UBS. The 18/19 Cornwall Terrace luxury apartment overlooking Regent’s Park in London, described in court as an “extraordinarily valuable property worth many tens of millions of pounds”, is currently being occupied by Mallya’s 95year-old mother Lalitha. Delivering his judgment virtually for the Chancery Division of the High Court, Deputy Master Matthew Marsh concluded there were no grounds for him to grant further time for the Mallya family to repay a GBP 20.4-million loan to UBS – the claimant in the case. “The claimant’s position was a reasonable one… further time is not likely to make any material difference,” Deputy Master Marsh ruled. The judge also declined permission to appeal against his order or to grant a temporary stay of enforcement, which means UBS can proceed with the possession process to realise its unpaid dues. Mallya’s barrister, Daniel Margolin QC, indicated that the 65-year-old businessman plans to pursue an appeal before a High Court Chancery Division Judge as it has “serious consequences” for his clients, including Mallya’s elderly mother who currently resides at the address. DESHMUKH BAIL PLEA REJECTED A CONTD. ON NATION PAGE himself to his Dalit constituency by getting the Punjab Assembly elections deferred, which will enable them to travel to Varanasi to join the Guru Ravidas Jayanti celebrations. All other political parties took a cue and followed suit after Channi wrote the letter to the Election Commission. Besides, the CM has loosened the purse strings and enhanced the grants to various "deras" (sects) in the state, which have a large following among Dalits. Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu (58) had been lobbying for chief ministership, but political observers say he does not have the kind of political base Channi has; in fact, his influence barely extends outside Amritsar district. The stork had made two significant visits to the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo (Byculla Zoo) or Ranibaug, as it is popularly known, last year. However, authorities introduced the new female tiger cub – ‘Veera’ born to Shakti and Karishma, the popular feline pair only on Tuesday It was also the day that . the second Humboldt penguin chick was given a name – Oscar – with Mayor Kishori Pednekar being present on the occasion along with Dr Sanjay Tripathi, Director, Byculla Zoo and other civic officials. BETWEEN THE LINES Mumbai court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of former Maharashtra Home Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh in the money-laundering case against him. Deshmukh’s counsel had stated that since no cognisance was taken by the Special Court of the chargesheet within the statutory period of 60 days as prescribed under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), he was entitled to statutory bail. SWAPNIL MISHRA Mumbai In the ongoing third wave of Covid, a 70-year-old has been detected with black fungus or mucormycosis at Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai Central. However, doctors said the patient was stable and currently on intravenous antifungal treatment but would still have to undergo multiple debridements and require longterm antifungal treatment. According to the hospital, the patient was admitted to Wockhardt Hospital on January 12 after having tested Covid-positive on January 5, having complained of weakness and with elevated blood sugar levels (532) and the presence of urine ketones. “We immediately started treatment for diabetic ketoacidosis and did the necessary investigations. The patient was not on steroids. However, on the third day of admission the patient complained about cheek pain, which was unusual and there was swelling that was absent at the time of admission. An MRI showed chronic sinusitis but no bony erosions,” said a doctor. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE DIPTI SINGH Mumbai CHANNI IS CONGRESS CHOICE OUR BUREAU New Delhi The Congress party has indicated in a tweet that Charanjit Singh Channi will be the first Dalit Sikh to be projected as the party’s chief minister nominee. Not many are aware that Dalits constitute 30% of the state’s population and tend to vote en masse. Channi (58) has endeared 3 DEAD IN BLAST ON INS RANVIR New cases in MAHARASHTRA, 26% higher than previous day with 53 fatalities Black fungus patient at Meet tiger cub Veera & Oscar, the penguin Wockhardt After the alleged custodial death of Leonard Valdaris’s son Agnelo at Wadala railway police station in 2014, the high court had ordered the state government to ensure that CCTV cameras were installed in all rooms of police stations, all corridors and lock-up rooms, in order to prevent custodial deaths inside police stations Sunrise: 07:15 am Sunset : 06:24 pm Advocate Sandesh Patil, appearing for the Central government, had said that as soon as they received the papers from the Maharashtra government, it was forwarded to the President. “Within 10 months, the President had rejected the mercy petition. Hence, there has been no delay on their part,” argued Patil. 1cr+ in state skipped 2nd dose SWAPNIL MISHRA Mumbai 310c. 190c. FPJ NEWS SERVICE Mumbai/New Delhi Three Navy personnel were killed and 11 injured in an explosion on board the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Ranvir at the Naval dockyard in Mumbai on Tuesday officials said. , The incident took place at 4.30 pm, they added. In an unfortunate incident at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, three naval personnel succumbed to injuries caused by an explosion in an internal compartment on board INS Ranvir, the statement by the Indian Navy said. Eleven persons were injured. The ship's crew responded immediately and brought the situation quickly under control, the statement added. "The names (of the victims) will be made public after in- forming the families about the incident," an official said. As per the Navy's statement, no major "material damage" was reported. It is understood that the mishap had nothing to do with weapons or ammunition explosion. INS Ranvir was on crosscoast operational deployment since November 2021 and was due to return to the base port shortly A Board of . Inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the incident. INS Ranvir, the first of the Ranvir class destroyers, was commissioned on April 21, 1986. The ships were built in the former Soviet Union. The role of Ranvir class ships involves providing protection to the carrier task force from submarines, low-flying aircraft, and cruise missiles. Court orders son to vacate mom’s flat in 15 days NARSI BENWAL Mumbai In a significant order, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered a man to vacate a flat owned by his widow mother within 15 days. The HC noted that the son had fraudulently entered into a rent agreement with his mother and then claimed to have an entitlement to the flat located in Prabhadevi. A bench of Justice Girish Kulkarni was hearing a plea filed by one Suryakant Pawar challenging the orders passed by the Parents and Senior Citizens Maintenance Tribunal, asking him to vacate the premises expeditiously . The tribunal had asked him to vacate the 300 sqft flat on the ground that Pawar had fraudulently entered into a rent agreement and had ousted his old mother from there. As per the original com- plaint filed by Pawar’s mother Kusum, the flat in question was originally in the name of her husband but after his death, the house was transferred in Kusum’s name. She had two daughters and two sons all married and settled. However, Pawar sought to live on rent in the flat in question and even agreed to pay a rent of Rs 5,000 to his mother as this was the only source of her livelihood. But this remained only on paper as he never made any such payment and instead, forced his mother to take shelter in her daughter’s village. Based on this rent agreement, Pawar claimed entitlement to the flat. “Pawar, as a son, certainly could not have asserted any legal right of occupation or possession of the tenement when CONTD. ON NATION Comedian Mann has the last laugh LAST WORD T RAJESH MOUDGIL Chandigarh he Aam Aadmi Party keen to shrug , off the ‘outsider’ tag, has nominated a son of the soil, Bhagwant Singh Mann, as the party’s chief ministerial face in Punjab. A twice sitting MP from Sangrur, Mann is a satirist, poet and Punjabi TV film co, median; his onscreen witticisms and rustic appeal have endeared him to the public, but owing to his lack of administrative experience, the AAP was a trifle reluctant to name him the chief ministerial face. To ward off criticism, an ingenious dial-a-phone opinion poll was conducted under the tagline ‘Janata Chunegi CM.’ Speaking at a press conference, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said that unlike other parties, which pick their nominee behind closed doors from among pre-determined official choices, AAP had, in an unprecedented move, ascertained the people’s preference by opening telephone lines to the public. ``We received over 21 lakh responses of which 93% favoured Mann as CM’s face’’, Kerjriwal said, making it out to be a far more democratic exercise than detractors would concede. The AAP has pinned its hopes on Mann as he represents the Malwa region, which has the maximum -- 69 assembly seats and where the party won 18 seats in the 2017 polls. (For political greenhorns, the state of Punjab, with 117 assembly seats, comprises three regions -- Majha and Doaba being the other two.) Unlike in 2017, which was AAP’s first election in Punjab, the party this time has not only the Delhi governance model to showcase, but it has also worked hard in Majha and Doaba. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE