Barpeta (Assam) [India], June 10 (ANI): In a bizarre incident in Assam's Barpeta district, three years after a hospital switched her newborn, a woman was finally able to unite with her son following a court directive.

Kolkata Jan 26 PTI Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday claimed that he was not invited to the Republic Day parade here as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government was yet to reconcile to her election defeat against him in Nandigram Talking to reporters on the sidelines of another programme Adhikari said Banerjee tried to avenge her humiliating assembly poll defeat by dropping his name from the list of invitees for the Red Road parade She is yet to reconcile to her defeat against me There could be a remedy to cancer but not to revengeful mindset and jealousy The CM must have forgotten that not inviting the leader of opposition was against the protocol the Nandigram MLA who was once a part of the Mamata Banerjee cabinet said Adhikari pointed out that last year months ahead of the assembly polls then leader of opposition Abdul Mannan was an invitee to the Republic Day parade Transport Minister and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Firhad Hakim when approached said he had no information about the matter Hakim however noted that Adhikari had failed to turn up at the Independence Day programme on Red Road last year I am not aware about the reasons Veteran Congress MP of Rajya Sabha Pradip Bhattacharya said he wont be able to speak on behalf of the Nandigram MLA as the two dont share the same ideology but if what he has claimed is true it was unfortunate The leader of opposition should always be invited to such events The CM Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar cabinet ministers were among those who attended the Red Road programme on Wednesday held with COVID-19 restrictions in place PTI SUS RMS RMS

Jodhpur Dec 15 PTI Amid the Centre readying itself to pilot a bill in Parliament to raise the marriageable age of girls from 18 to 21 years the Rajasthan High Court has been awaiting its stand on enacting such a law for over a year and a half A Jodhpur bench of the high court had issued notices to the Centre the Law Commission and the state government in February 2020 to enact a law to bridge the three-year gap between the marriageable ages of boys and girls A bench of then Chief Justice Indrajit Mohanthy and Justice P S Bhati had issued the notices on a plea for it by Rajasthan resident Abdul Mannan In his petition Mannan had sought the enactment of a law to raise the marriageable age of girls contending that a lower marriageable age of brides reeks of gender bias and discrimination emanating from the bias in favour of the patriarchal society Mannan had also contended that the difference between the marriageable ages of grooms and brides violate the right to equality and equal protection of the law under articles 14 and 15 and the right to life and liberty under article 21 of the Constitution My petition was based on various aspects of the constitutional violation contravention of scientific researches and the observation of WHO and social inequality said Mannan In his petition the first ground was that women have the fundamental right to be free to pursue education or any profession of their choice after finishing school which ends approximately at the age of 18 years But the ground reality is that after their marriage at such a young age they are immediately expected to bear children after the marriage and forced to take up household chores in their families Mannan said in his petition This harms her academic as well as economic pursuits and infringes upon their reproductive autonomy he further said adding that a girl at this age of marriage at 18 is not even a graduate and hence not able to foresee her future Citing various reports of WHO he said it has been established that pregnancy before the age of 20 brings a higher risk of low birth rate and weight premature delivery and severe neo-natal conditions besides several health hazards to newborns in coming years Quoting from the deliberations of a national conference on child marriage held by the National Human Rights Commission he also submitted before the court that 125 countries of the world have the same legal age of marriage for both the bride and the groom A recommendation from this conference had also been sent to bring parity in the marriageable age of both the bride and groom he added Satisfied with his arguments and fact the bench in its notices had sought reply from the state as well as central governments along with that of the Law Commission The petition is still pending awaiting replies The Centre earlier had only told the court that a task force has been set up by the government to examine the issue Mannan said The Centre is likely to pilot its bill in Parliament later this week to enact a law to raise the marriageable age of girls to 21 making it equal to that of boys The Centre however is likely to allow the bill to be referred to a parliamentary panel for a deeper examination of the social issue PTI CORR RAX RAX