Politics

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh+ was found guilty of rape by a special CBI court in Panchkula, Haryana, on Friday. He was immediately taken into judicial custody; he will be sentenced on Monday. The Dera head+ was present in court when the judgment was read out. A rape conviction carries a minimum sentence of seven years and ...

With Muharram scheduled a day after Dussera this year, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked the people to cooperate with each other and not to fall prey to provocation leading to communal problems. “Some quarters may try to instigate people to flare up communal tension and there are people who may try to take political advantage of ...

Taking “full moral responsibility” for the recent train accidents, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu today indicated he had offered to resign in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The minister met the prime minister after a meeting of the Cabinet and left the city soon after, his staff told PTI. “I met the Hon’ble Prime Minister @narendramodi taking full moral ...

The Centre is tackling the Kashmir issue with all seriousness and “good results” have been visible in the last two-three months, BJP president Amit Shah said today. On the border standoff with China in Dokalam, he said the government has already made its position clear. “The BJP government is effectively tackling the Kashmir issue and good results have come in ...

The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government locked horns with the Centre over how to celebrate Independence Day on August 15 in schools across the state. The state government instructed schools to ignore a directive issued earlier by the human resources development ministry asking education institutions to follow a centre- prescribed format for I-D celebration. The state government took the stand ...

Cracking down on dissidents in Gujarat, the Congress today expelled for six years eight of its MLAs who cross-voted in yesterday’s Rajya Sabha elections. AICC general secretary incharge of Gujarat unit Ashok Gehlot said he has also recommended the expulsion of six of its legislators who had earlier resigned as MLAs. Three of them had later joined BJP. Asserting that ...

In a fresh turn of events, the Shia Central Waqf Board of Uttar Pradesh today told the Supreme Court that a mosque could be built in a Muslim- dominated area at a reasonable distance from the disputed site in Ayodhya. The Board also told the apex court in an affidavit that the Babri Masjid site was its property and only ...

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy today accused the Chandigarh Police of doing a “somersault” on a case involving the Haryana BJP chief’s son, accused of stalking a woman, and said he would file a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for a court-monitored CBI probe into the incident. “With my associate lawyer AP Jagga on attempted abduction of an ...

NDA nominee M Venkaiah Naidu was today elected as the next Vice President of India by securing over two-thirds of votes leaving opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi far behind. Naidu got 516 votes out of total 771 votes cast while Gandhi could only manage 244 votes. Of the total 771 votes polled, 11 were found to be invalid. Although 785 MPs ...

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s car was pelted with stones today during his visit to this flood-affected town but he escaped unhurt, police said. Banaskantha Superintendent of Police Neeraj Badgujar said a man threw stones at Gandhi’s car, breaking its rear glass when he on his way from Lal Chowk to the helipad in Dhanera. Gandhi escaped unhurt, he added. ...