Ranchi Apr 26 PTI Research papers of a Jharkhand forest officer have been accepted for presentation at the World Forestry Congress which is held every six years The event will take place in Seoul from May 2 to May 6 Sanjeev Kumar additional principal chief conservator of forests CAMPA Jharkhand will present the two papers at the congress The first paper deals with the use of traditional knowledge in sustainable forest management and provisioning of ecosystems in Jharkhand while the second one discusses non-timber forest produce NTFP as a source of livelihood and climate change mitigation and adaptation Kumar told PTI that villagers and tribals living in and around the forests have acquired traditional knowledge over time It is also transferred from one generation to the next through folk art folk tales and folk music This traditional knowledge he said is all about the enhancement and sustainable use of forests A study was carried out in this regard to know the trajectories of sustainable forest management SFM development and the role of the traditional knowledge for SFM in Jharkhand The study reflects that this traditional knowledge is associated with practices like conservation through planting groves celebrating festivals based on nature taboos social beliefs and various other practices which have been helpful in SFM During globalisation and commercialisation there is a risk of erosion of such traditional knowledge Hence their documentation is necessary he said Kumars second paper deals with non-timber forest produce NTEP as a source of livelihood and climate change mitigation and adaptation There is an inextricable link between forest resources and livelihood of rural people Rural people including tribals such as Oraon Munda Ho Savar Santhal and Birhor living around forest areas use NTFP as their primary source of income food nutrition and medicine Medicinal plants tendu silk lac and bamboo are prominent among them NTFP may be used for subsistence or sale providing cash income and function as an economic buffer in times of hardships the forest officer said The paper also discusses how NTEP is used by the villagers and how it can be increased by using traditional knowledge Its role and possibility in the context of climate change have also been discussed PTI SAN SAN MM MM

Kochi Apr 19 PTI The Kerala High Court on Tuesday declined to quash an FIR against actor Dileep and others accusing them of conspiring to intimidate and kill the officials probing the 2017 actress assault case saying the offence of criminal conspiracy was attracted based on director Balachandra Kumars statement that the accused had decided to harm the police officers The high court said that while Kumars statement does not specifically mention the commission of any murder but the agreement among the accused is apparently for causing physical harm to the police officers Justice Ziyad Rahman A A also declined to transfer the case to the CBI saying that there was not sufficient force in the allegations by the actor that proper and fair investigation was not possible in the matter The high court said that apart from mere allegations there are no materials substantiating the same It further said that while traces of overzealousness on the part of the authorities concerned can be found it could not find any materials revealing any ulterior motive or malafide on the part of the investigating agency In such circumstances I do not find any reason to allow the prayer sought for the transfer of investigation in this case the judge said and dismissed Dileeps plea seeking quashing of the FIR or transferring the case to CBI Regarding the offences of abetment intimidation and criminal conspiracy mentioned in the FIR the court said that there were no materials or information in the FIR to indicate that the first two offences were attracted However the court said that the offence of criminal conspiracy was attracted not because of the utterances allegedly made by the actor against the police officers at his residence but because of the statement of Balachandra Kumar -- which was also recorded in the complaint of Baiju Paulose -- that the accused have decided to cause harm to five police officers The court further said that formation of such an agreement was revealed from the contents of the FIR and the complaint and the reading the allegations therein as a whole prima facie suggests an intention to cause physical injuries to the police officers including chopping off hands of one of them In this case it is true that annexure-9 FIR does not contain any substantiating materials indicating the nature of the agreement and the stage of execution of such agreement However it contains information as to the existence of an agreement to commit an offence punishable with more than two years In such circumstances no discrepancies or any legal infirmity can be attributed to the registration of the said FIR the court said and added that lack of a preliminary enquiry before lodging of the FIR cannot be reason to quash the proceedings The court further substantiating its decision said that when invoking its powers under the Criminal Procedure Code to quash or interfere with an FIR the relevant consideration can only be the allegation contained in the FIR and not the materials placed in support of the same The materials substantiating the allegations have to be collected through the process of investigation which has to commence based on the registration of the FIR it added The court further said that even if the allegations only reveal a doubtful case for making out the offences at the stage of FIR the benefit of the doubt should go to the investigation as any interference at this stage would foreclose all opportunities for the police to collect materials in support of the allegations In my view the duty of the court is not confined to seeing that no innocent person is punished but also to ensuring that proper punishment is granted to the real culprits Therefore a balance has to be struck and I find that a proper balancing can be made in this case by allowing the investigation to continue the judge said in his 81-page long decision The court said that the actor has not made out a case warranting interference in the FIR by it Dileep in his plea filed through advocate Philip T Varghese had claimed that there was absence of any material in the murder conspiracy FIR to indicate commission of any of the offences attributed to the accused and the entire case was based on something allegedly wished by him The Crime Branch represented by Director General of Prosecutions DGP T A Shaji and Additional Public Prosecutor P Narayanan on the other hand had contended before the court that the allegations in the FIR make out offences which warrant setting in motion of the investigation machinery The actor and five others were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code including Sections 116 abetment 118 concealing design to commit offence 120B criminal conspiracy 506 criminal intimidation and 34 criminal act done by several people and later Section 302 was also added to it for allegedly conspiring to murder the officials probing the 2017 actress assault case The actress-victim who has worked in Tamil Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17 2017 and later escaped in a busy area The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail PTI HMP SS SS

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI Riled by the excessive barking of his octogenarian neighbours pet a 17-year-old boy allegedly killed the 85-year-old man while he tried to rescue the animal police said on Thursday According to the wife of the deceased the boy barged into their house and hit the man on his head with an iron road The police said the teenager wanted to kill the dog but as the old man came to its rescue the boy ended up killing him The police identified the deceased as Ashok Kumar a resident of Najafagarh area here Around 530 pm on Friday Kumars son called up the local police station and complained to them about the incident They arrived at the Rao Tula Ram Memorial Hospital and recorded the statement of Meena 65 the victims wife The police said based on the complaint they apprehended the 17-year-old but was later released by the juvenile justice board Kumar died in the hospital a couple of days later on Sunday Following this the statement of his wife was recorded again A case under Section 302 murder of the Indian Penal Code was registered Deputy Commissioner of Police Dwarka Shankar Choudhary said On Wednesday the police filed an application before the juvenile justice board to re-apprehend the boy the police said PTI NIT NIT CJ CJ

Patna Feb 21 PTI Unfazed by prison sentence in yet another fodder scam case RJD president Lalu Prasad on Monday declared that he will continue to fight against those who make people fight with each other - an oblique reference to the BJP and its alleged politics of communal polarization Prasad in judicial custody at Ranchi since he was convicted last week made the declamation on his official Twitter handle which people close to him manage on his behalf soon after a special CBI court sentenced him to five years in jail besides imposing a Rs 60 lakh fine In Patna his younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav said people will respond with vote ki chot electoral backlash in poll-bound neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and again the Lok Sabha elections scheduled in 2024 Prasad who got bail last summer after spending nearly three years behind bars avoided taking any names in his couple of tweets both in Hindi His son though minced no words in charging agencies like CBI and ED with having become a prakoshth wing of the BJP which has been ruling the Centre for seven years Yadav alleged that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had been lured by BJP with a promise of reprieve in corruption cases but was being hounded upon return to the NCP headed by uncle Sharad Pawar Claiming that his father was innocent Yadav pointed out that as the then Bihar chief minister Prasad had himself initiated action in the fodder scam and hoped justice will be done when their appeal was decided by the High Court But fodder scam involved only a thousand crores Under the NDA government headed by Nitish Kumar Bihar has witnessed siphoning off of two lakh crores But there has been no action alleged Yadav who had served as Kumars deputy for two years until the JDU leader snapped ties with RJD Nonetheless the leader of the opposition claimed that his father enjoyed unflinching support of the people of Bihar as evident from RJD emerging as the single largest party in assembly polls in 2015 and again five years later PTI NAC MM MM

New Delhi Feb 19 PTI Poll strategist Prashant Kishor met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar here on Saturday triggering speculation about their reunion after Kishor was expelled from the JDU in 2020 Kumar however played down the meeting saying their ties are old and not much should be read into the meeting Once a close associate of Kumar Kishor had joined the JDU and was appointed its vice president by the Bihar chief minister Their ties however soured and he publicly criticised Kumars support to the ally BJP on the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and frequently took jibes at him He was then expelled While Kumar remains a BJP ally Kishor has been a strong critic of the party and has often worked for its rivals in a number of states most recently in West Bengal where he worked with Trinamool Congress president and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee PTI KR SMN SMN

Bengaluru Feb 18 PTI The Karnataka government on Friday contended before the Karnataka High Court that the hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam and preventing its use did not violate Article 25 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees religious freedom The states Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi told the full bench of the High Court comprising Justice Awasthi Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna M Dixit that the practice of wearing hijab should also pass the test of constitutional morality as interpreted in various Supreme Court judgments including the Sabrimala case We have taken a stand that wearing Hijab is not an essential religious part of Islam Navadgi told the HC bench AG Navadgi also rejected the charge of the girls who challenged the Karnataka governments order on February 5 which restricted students from wearing hijab or saffron scarves saying that it violated Article 25 of the Constitution Article 25 gives freedom of conscience and free profession practice and propagation of religion to the citizens of India If somebody wishes to exercise the right to freedom of religion it has to be seen if this exercise affects public order health and morality Navadgi contended To buttress his point he said during the COVID-19 pandemic all the religious places were shut and the purpose for keeping the places closed was public health In terms of Hijab it has to be tested in terms of morality health and public order The government order also does not violate 191A Navadgi argued Article 191a of the Constitution guarantees to all its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression The Advocate General also contended that the February 5 order of the state government was in accordance with the law and there was nothing to object In view of the hijab-versus-saffron scarves row the bench had passed an interim order earlier restraining students from wearing them on the campus till the final order was passed According to the AG the practice of hijab should pass the test of constitutional morality and individual dignity as expounded by the Supreme Court in the Sabrimala and Shayara Bano cases Navadgi told the court that the uniform was in place in Udupi government pre-university college for girls since 2018 However the difficulty began in December last year when some students approached the principal and insisted that they should be allowed to attend classes with hijab Accordingly the parents were called and told that the uniform norm was there since 1985 which the students need to follow but the girls did not agree and decided to protest The AG also stated that when the government learnt about the incident it said it will constitute a high-level committee with a request not to escalate the problem further However till then the issue had spread to other compelling government to pass an order on February 5 restricting the use of any cloth that could disturb peace harmony and law and order Navadgi told the court that the order was innocuous in nature which did not affect the petitioners rights but said the students should wear uniform prescribed by the College Development Committee which has got autonomy by the government Referring to the government order he said the uniform should be in accordance with unity and equality The AG underlined that the governments conscious stand is that it did not want to intervene in religious matters and that was the reason that it did not use the word hijab in its order He also said the petitioners calling the innocuous order communal was wrong Responding to Prof Ravi Varma Kumars argument that the College Development Committee under an MLA who is a politician was illegal as it has extra-statutory authority Navadgi said none of the colleges have ever challenged before the court against the CDCs because it is of a representative character On January 1 six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by Campus Front of India CFI in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom by wearing Hijab This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijabs in classes which was not allowed Till then students used to wear hijab to the campus and entered the classroom after removing the scarves the college principal Rudre Gowda had said The institution did not have any rule on hijab-wearing as such and since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces Gowda had said PTI GMS GMS HDA HDA

Patna Jan 23 PTI Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumars JDU on Sunday made a fresh pitch for grant of special category status to the state and vowed to hit the streets besides making itself heard in Parliament to press for the demandThe partys national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan came out with a series of tweets wherein he sought to assert that the state was not seeking charity from the Centre but wanted its rightful dueBy demanding special category status the people of Bihar are neither begging nor are they asking for a loan Lalan said in a strongly-worded tweet in HindiThe people of Bihar want from the Centre what is their rightful due We will keep lending our voice to them and raising the matter from the streets to the House sansad se sadak tak said the JDU chief who is also Lok Sabha MP from MungerHe also attached to his tweets a poster and a video enumerating the benefits that grant of special status is likely to bring in its wake and lamenting the non-fulfilment of the long-standing demandThe aggressive stance by the party comes close on the heels of a cold shoulder on the issue from the BJP its ally which also rules the CentreState BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal had last week virtually rubbished the demand for special category status by claiming that the central aid Bihar received was greater than what a more populous province like Maharashtra was gettingHe had also underscored that with the provision for grant of special status having been scrapped by the 14th Finance Commission and no recommendation for its restoration coming from the 15th the state must bide its time until needful approval comesThe demand for special category status to Bihar has followed its truncation in 2000 when the creation of Jharkhand deprived the parent state of its mineral reserves and industriesThe demand grew stronger when in 2009 Kumar held out an olive branch to the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre with a cryptic offer of support to any government that granted special status to BiharThe longest-serving chief minister of the state has been of the view that Bihar is saddled with numerous hurdles that come in the way of rapid economic growthThese include a very high density of population absence of coast line along its borders and vicissitudes of nature like floods and droughts hitting different parts of the state every yearIt has been Kumars view that special category status will provide the resource-starved state with a buffer and enable it to dole out incentives which attract investment PTI NAC RBT RBT

Shimla Jan 21 PTI A 54-year-old sub-inspector allegedly killed himself on Friday at the Bharari Police Lines here officials saidShashi Kumars body has been found hanging at the police lines this evening they saidA resident of Chail Koti in Shimla district Kumar was posted with the 6th Indian Reserve Battalion IRB Kolar and attached to the State Disaster Response Force SDRFLegal proceedings under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been initiated in the presence of executive magistrate they addedShimla Superintendent of Police SP Monika Bhutunguru SDRF SP additional SP headquarters Shimla and SHO Sadar have visited the spot with a teamThe spot has also been examined by a forensic team and further probe is underway PTI DJI TIR TIR

New Delhi Dec 17 PTI The BJP on Friday slammed the Congress for its Karnataka MLAs comments on rape on the floor of the state assembly and questioned its leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadras silence over the issue alleging that its leaders have a history of making such insulting comments about womenThe BJP was however also left embarrassed when its spokesperson Aparajita Sarangi also criticised Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri who is from the ruling party for not objecting to Congress MLA K R Ramesh Kumars rape remarksWhat is sad that the Speaker said nothing after such objectionable comments were made and even laughed she saidUnion minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and another BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore however defended the Speaker Rathore said Kageri made no statement and things should not be impliedChandrasekhar accused Kumar of trivialising crime against womenSarangi who was also at the dais with them for a party press conference later clarified that she meant to refer to Kumar as he is also a former speaker Even as speaker he had made such remarks by equating himself with a rape victim for being dragged to court over various issues she notedShe said Congress leaders have a history of making humiliating and shameful comments about women and referred to remarks made by the likes of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay SinghNoting that the Gandhi siblings had rushed to Hathras where a Dalit girl was allegedly raped and murdered Sarangi questioned their silence over the issueBJP chief spokesperson said Kumars comments were very painful and shameful and alleged that the Congress has a history of making such remarks against womenKumar who had courted controversy by saying when rape is inevitable lie down and enjoy it apologised for his remarks on FridayAs the proceedings of the Assembly began Kumar stood up and said he made a statement in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday which people found outrageous However my intention was never to demean the prestige of this House or behave in an inferior way I will not defend myself I tender my sincere apology for my utterance during the proceedings of the House if it has hurt people from any part of the country Kumar said PTI KR DV DV

New Delhi Nov 30 PTI Four members of a family including two children were found dead on Tuesday morning at a house in Delhis Samaypur Badli area police said According to police Amit Kumar 30 his 25-year-old wife and their six-year-old daughter and three-year-old son were found dead The cause of deaths is yet to be ascertained however prima facie it appears that Kumar gave poison to his wife and kids and later hanged himself The post-mortem report will ascertain the cause of deaths police said Teams of the crime branch and the forensic unit were rushed to the spot A senior police officer said the case is being investigated from all angles It is suspected that the woman was strangled to death However things will be clear in the report Even if it is a case of suicide the circumstances that prompted them to take the extreme step will be probed the officer said The family of Kumar and his brother had been living in the house for more than 15 years The officer said there was a matrimonial dispute between Kumar who worked in a clip factory and his wife The couple used to fight often and Kumars wife had left him a couple of months ago police said When she came back the family members of Kumar asked him to accept his wife and live with her happily Everything was going well they said adding it was a happy joint family A case under relevant sections including murder is being filed at Samaypur Badli police station and further investigation is underway they said Nempal the elder brother of Kumar said There was a matrimonial dispute between Kumar and his wife We thought that things were sorted out between them Kumars daughter and son used to come to the kitchen every morning around 8 am However when they did not come till around 830 am Kumars nephew went to their room and found him hanging One of the kids was found on the couch and the wife and the other child was lying dead on the bed Nempal said Kumars mother-in-law said she got a call in the morning about the incident I was shocked when I heard about the deaths in the morning Initially I could not believe it but when I rushed here I saw that the house was swamped with neighbours and police were also inside My fear turned into reality I feel shattered she said She said there were some differences between her daughter and son-in-law and she helped them to sort out the issues They both were ready for a new beginning Nobody ever thought that this kind of thing would happen she said Kumars sister-in-law said everything appeared alright after the woman returned home We have no idea what happened between them last night They had dinner and then they went to bed Till then everything was fine as usual Nobody expected that the news of the deaths would come in the morning When we got to know about the incident we informed police and the relatives she said Locals described Kumar as a gentleman and said it was hard to believe that he could have done this to his own family In 2018 11 members of a family were found hanging inside their house in north Delhis Burari area PTI NIT CK