Kochi Sep 29 PTI A 21-year-old trans woman was found hanging in her house in Edappally here on Wednesday police saidSradha a student hailing from Kollam district was staying along with some of her fellow community members at a rented house She was found hanging when they returned home this morningThe victim was said to be upset over some personal issuesThe state Youth Commission registered a case on its own into the incident and asked the state police chief to submit a comprehensive report into the incidentCommission Chairperson Chintha Jerome assured all necessary support to Sradhas familyThe recent death of transgender activist Anannyah Kumari Alex who was also found hanging in an apartment here some months ago had triggered a controversy in the stateThe complications of the sex reassignment surgery she underwent recently was reportedly forced her to take the extreme step her fellow transgenders had alleged PTI LGK ROH ROH

Kochi Sep 28 PTI Incursion of wild elephants into human settlements in Palakkad district including at an under construction IIT campus there has been taken note of the Kerala High Court which has sought a report from the state government on steps proposed to be taken for preventing such incidents in futureThe direction was issued by a bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and P Gopinath during hearing of a PIL initiated by it on its own in the wake of the gruesome killing of a dog named Bruno which was tied up and beaten to death by some people on the Adimalathura beach on the outskirts of ThiruvananthapuramThe court said that the amici curiae appointed by it in the matter gave a report pointing out an incident of a herd of elephants entering the under construction IIT campus at PalakkadThe bench said the governments response to the report shall indicate the steps that are proposed to be taken by the State and its agencies for preventing such incidents in futureAs part of the PIL the court was also examining other incidents of cruelty to animals including the killing of hundreds of stray dogs by poisoning in Thrikkakara municipality area of Ernakulam districtIn the dog poisoning matter the bench directed the local body to indicate the steps taken by it to put in place the necessary infrastructure for carrying out Animal Birth Control Programmes for animals in their areaDuring the hearing of the matter the bench was informed by the Kerala government that the State Animal Welfare Board has already commenced functioning and its website has become operational and ready for access by the citizenryThe government had also told the bench that the Animal Welfare Board of India however was yet to communicate its nominees to the state board and on receiving information from them those nominees will also be inductedTaking note of the above we direct the Animal Welfare Board of India to immediately nominate two members to the State Animal Welfare Board The nomination shall be effected within two weeks from today September 24 the high court said and listed the PIL for further hearing on October 1 PTI HMP ROH ROH

Kochi Sep 27 PTI Online rummy played with or without stakes is a game of skill the Kerala High Court held on Monday while setting aside a state government notification prohibiting online playing of the game for money The ruling which comes as a relief for many companies engaged in the business of developing and offering online games of skill was pronounced by Justice T R Ravi who said that the Kerala governments February 23 notification was arbitrary illegal and violative of the fundamental rights of such companies The high court said that the Supreme Court has already held that rummy was a game of mere skill and playing for stakes or playing not for stakes can never be a criterion to find out whether a game is a game of skill Therefore for the same reasons that rummy was held to be a game of skill online rummy was also a game of skill the high court said Online rummy played either with stakes or without stakes remains to be a game of skill it said and added that even without a notification the game will come within the purview of the Kerala Gaming Act and will enjoy the exemptions provided under it for games of skill and since the game does not come within the meaning of gambling or gaming providing a platform for playing the game which is in the nature of business cannot be curtailed the high court said It further said that the state government notification was a prohibition on playing of online rummy for stakes and was not a reasonable restriction under the Constitution In the result the notification is declared as arbitrary illegal and violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed to the petitioners under Articles 14 and 191g of the Constitution of India and hence not enforceable the high court said The order came on a batch of petitions moved by various companies engaged in the business of developing and offering online games of skill in India challenging the notification Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for one of the petitioner companies argued before the high court that the notification was without any rationale and arbitrary as offline rummy played for stakes was valid but online rummy when played for stakes was being prohibited The high courts decision was welcomed by the online skill gaming industry Former Supreme Court judge Justice Vikramjit Sen who is a Member of the Skill Games Council in a statement said In the last few years the interest in online skill gaming has been growing exponentially in the country The Supreme Court and multiple high courts have reiterated numerous times that online games of skill are protected under Article 191g of the Constitution We see the Kerala High Courts judgement as a positive move for the online gaming sector Dinker Vashisht Corporate Affairs Vice President of Games24x7 in a statement welcomed the verdict and said The judgement by Kerala High Court is yet another addition to the jurisprudence that has consistently held that games of skill are not akin to gambling and protected under Article 191g of the constitution The decision comes shortly after the Madras High Court judgement is a shot in the arm for the sunrise sector of gaming in India Roland Landers CEO of the All India Gaming Federation also welcomed the verdict and said that it was reassuring for this sunrise sector in India We believe that this development will give a major fillip to the industry by encouraging investments leading to technological advancements as well as generation of revenue and employment he said in a statement PTI CORR HMP BN BN

Kochi Sep 27 PTI The state governments decision to ban online rummy was on Monday set aside by the Kerala High Court which said the game would not amount to gambling as claimed by the LDF government Justice T R Ravi set aside the Kerala governments decision saying it was arbitrary and unconstitutional The order came on the petitions by several online gaming companies against the state governments notification banning online rummy The state government was of the view that online rummy played for stakes amounts to gambling and thus was prohibited The gaming companies opined that banning online playing of rummy was arbitrary when the physical format of the card game was permitted PTI COR HMP APR APR

Kochi Sep 27 PTI The Kerala High Court on Monday said it will hear after three days the Centres appeal against a single judge order allowing the second Covishield dose after four weeks from the first for those who want to take it earlier than the present suggested gap of 84 days A bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly did not pass any interim order in the matter and listed it for hearing on September 30 The Centre has challenged the September 3 decision by Justice P B Suresh Kumar which had come on a plea by Kitex Garments Ltd seeking permission to administer the second dose of the vaccine to its workers without having to wait for 84 days Kitex in its plea had said it has vaccinated more than 5000 of its workers with the first dose and has arranged for the second dose at a cost of nearly Rs 93 lakh but was unable to administer the same due to the prevailing restrictions The bench on Monday directed Kitex to in the meantime furnish the vaccination details of its employees advocate Blaze K Jose appearing for the company said He also said that the Centre had sought an interim stay of the September 3 order but the bench refused to grant the same However Assistant Solicitor General P Vijayakumar appearing for the Centre said that since the company has not yet filed a contempt plea for non-compliance of the September 3 directio a stay was not pressed for The central government in its appeal has contended that if the single judges decision is not set aside it could derail the vaccination policy of the country and would result in disorder in the implementation of the strategy of the Union government to fight COVID-19 The Centre has also claimed that the September 3 judgement was an attempt to evaluate the issue on the basis of the right to equality provided in the Constitution instead of viewing it from a scientific angle and if allowed would result in social disaster which should not be allowed to happen It had also said The Single Judge ought to have seen that if the government is forced to honour the claims of other groups or industrial units like the petitioners Kitex Garments the same would have a cascading adverse effects on the organised and regulated pattern of vaccine administration The Centres petition has contended that the national vaccine policy is formulated based on the opinion and advice of experts in the field and also based on clinical trials and hence any change in the policy can only be carried out based on the necessary approvals and clinical trials The Single Judge on September 3 had said that if the Central and State governments can permit persons travelling abroad to choose between early and better protection from COVID-19 there is no reason why the same privilege cannot be extended to those here who want early protection in connection with their employment or education On this the Centre in its appeal has said it had offered relaxations in favour of certain persons who were a separate class by themselves and for valid reasons and Kitex cannot claim parity with them PTI HMP APR APR

Kochi Sep 25 PTI The Spices Board will organise a mammoth cardamom special e-auction drive on September 26 to commemorate the 75th year of countrys independenceThe Board expects the e-auction to bring together the spice community enabling the spice growers to connect with the spice traders in the country to participate in this largest e-auction of cardamomThis is a special drive that would facilitate e-auction of 75000 kgs of small cardamom to commemorate the 75 glorious years of independence D Sathiyan IFS Secretary of Spices Board saidHe said the auction will help the spice farming community by giving them an extra opportunity to sell their produce besides it will increase the competitiveness leading to an increase in the price for their produceThe e-auction is scheduled to take place at the Boards e-auction center at Puttady in IdukkiThe e-auction is organised in unison with Vanijya Saptah a series of events focusing on economic growth and promotion of exports by the Department of Commerce of the Government of India and the Spices BoardThe e-auction will start in the morning and end on the same day PTI RRT LGK ROH ROH

Kochi Sep 24 PTI Kerala police has registered a case against former MLA P C George and an online web portal owner for allegedly making derogatory remarks against state Health Minister Veena George Police said a complaint in this regard was made at the station a few days ago and a case was registered two days ago A case has been registered against George and the owner of the portal under section 120 of Kerala Police Act and section 509 of the Indian Penal Code police told PTI on Friday A web portal had allegedly aired a telephonic interview of the former MLA in which he reportedly made derogatory and disparaging statements against the health minister The police have registered the case against the portal owner for spreading such conversations through social media PTI RRT SS SS

Kochi Sep 20 PTI A day after the Onam bumper lottery results were announced the lucky winner was identified on Monday as Jayapalan P R an autodriver from Maradu near here The lottery carries a prize money of Rs 12 crore The result was announced on Sunday and the ticket bearing serial number TE 645465 was declared as the winner I bought the ticket on September 10 from Tripunithura I found this number as a fancy number Jayapalan an autorickshaw driver told reporters The winner would receive over Rs 7 crore after deduction of tax PTI RRT NVG NVG

Kochi Sep 20 PTI Three inmates escaped from the government-run Mahila Mandiram here on Monday police said The three were found missing at 3 AM police said We have received a complaint from the mandiram officials The probe is on police said Widows divorced deserted and destitute women above 18 years who have nobody to look after them are admitted in the institution PTI RRT BN BN

Kochi Sep 19 PTI The Kerala High Court has set aside the conviction of two of the five people accused of killing a taxi driver in 2012 saying the investigation was clumsy prosecution was inept and the trial court was overzealous to convict them in the absence of evidence This is a classic case in which the clumsy investigation and inept prosecution conspired together to derail the case against the accused The impugned judgment is the product also of an overzealous Court who went on to convict even in the absence of any evidence the high court said According to the prosecution the unsuspecting driver took a trip for his taxi little knowing that it would be his last one and his body was found on the next day beaten strangulated and incinerated It had claimed that the murder was part of a conspiracy to rob the taxi car - a crime for gain The high court however said that the case was set up on solely circumstantial evidence with no ocular evidence We fail to understand how such a charge was made out with narration of the role of each of the accused Well one could imagine the accused speaking to the investigator when in custody But if the prosecution is shaped on that and the evidence collected only on that then of course the result would be disastrous as in this case When a confession made by the accused cannot be relied upon by courts of law the investigators should tread carefully in shaping the case and collecting evidence the high court said The court said that what the prosecution managed to establish was that the main accused had hired the taxi of the deceased for a trip to Pooppara a village in Idukki district and on the next day the latter was found dead and his vehicle was missing The mere fact that accused 1 was seen travelling in the taxi car on the previous day cannot be an incriminating circumstance to accuse him of the murder and theft of the car which obviously happened on the early morning of the next day We have found that the recoveries have not been proved and despite various witnesses turning hostile the Sessions Judge relied on the evidence of the Investigating Officer IO The evidence of the IO itself is shaky and lacking in details the high court said It said that whether the recovered car was that of the deceased was not established which lays bare the incompetence of the prosecution It also said that there was also no scientific evidence to connect the accused with the crime As we noted at the outset the incompetence of the investigation and the prosecution resulted in no circumstance being established against the appellants herein The trial court too was a silent spectator anxious to convict even when there was a complete lack of evidence it said The high court also noted that according to the medical evidence while the deceased was bludgeoned to death he was set ablaze before he breathed his last a brutal homicide without doubt the investigation of which murder should have been carried out with a little more care and caution and of course more skillfully and a lot more intelligently the high court said while allowing the appeals of the two accused Of the remaining three accused one had died another was facing trial before a juvenile justice board and the last one accused no 4 has not preferred an appeal yet The high court directed that the acquitted accused be released forthwith if not wanted in any other case and if they are out on bail then their bail bonds shall stand cancelled A certified copy of the judgment shall be issued to the Member Secretary Kerala State Legal Services Authority KeLSA who shall instruct the concerned Secretary District Legal Services Authority to consider the payment of compensation to the family of the deceased as per the Kerala Victim Compensation Scheme 2017 it said It also directed the Member Secretary KeLSA to conduct enquiries as to the prison in which the 4th accused is incarcerated and enable an appeal if he so desires PTI HMP APR APR