Ahmedabad Apr 26 PTI Gujarat on Tuesday reported 19 new cases of coronavirus that raised the tally of infections to 1224276 an official from the state health department said As many as 13 patients were discharged from hospitals taking the count of recoveries to 1213234 while the toll stood at 10943 as no casualties were reported during the day he said The state is now left with 99 active cases the official said Of the fresh cases 12 were reported from Ahmedabad five were from Vadodara and one each from Anand and Gandhinagar he said With the addition of 123 lakh people getting vaccinated against the disease the total number of doses administered so far has reached 1074 crore it was stated No new infection was reported in the neighbouring Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu which does not have a single active case officials said Gujarats COVID-19 figures are as follows Positive cases 1224276 new cases 19 death toll 10943 discharged 1213234 active cases 99 people tested so far - figures not released PTI KA ARU ARU

Ahmedabad Apr 26 PTI Two men from Rajasthan were arrested on Tuesday for alleged possession of mephedrone worth over Rs 23 lakh in Gujarats Ahmedabad city an official said A team of the special operations group SOG arrested the duo from Odhav locality of the city with 2384 gm of mephedrone worth Rs 238 lakh he said Mahesh and Lalshankar both natives of Dungarpur in Rajasthan were arrested while they were trying to deliver the contraband the official said The man who supplied the banned drug for delivery has been named as a wanted accused in the case he said The accused are primarily farmers who were drawn into it for money The primary investigation has revealed that the duo was promised Rs 2 lakh to deliver the contraband the official said A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS Act has been registered and further investigation was underway to identify the receiver he added The seizure comes a day after the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad ATS and the Indian Coast Guard in a joint operation caught a boat from Pakistan with a consignment of heroin worth Rs 280 crore PTI KA ARU ARU

Ahmedabad Mar 21 PTI Gujarat reported 13 new COVID-19 cases on Monday pushing its overall tally to 1223780 while two more patients succumbed to the infection in the state the health department saidThe fresh COVID-19 deaths -- one each in Gandhinagar and Navsari -- took the toll in the state to 10941 it saidAt the same time 36 patients were discharged increasing the tally of recovered cases to 1212513 said the department in a releaseWith this the number of active cases in the state dipped further to 326 out of which five patients are on ventilator support the release saidAs many as 183 lakh more people were vaccinated against COVID-19 on Monday taking the number of doses administered so far in Gujarat to 1048 crore the department saidThe Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu has no active case as on dateThe UTs tally of confirmed infections and recovered cases remained unchanged at 11410 and 11406 respectively on Monday officials saidThe UT has reported four coronavirus-linked deaths so farGujarats COVID-19 figures are as follows Positive cases 1223780 new cases 13 death toll 10941 discharged 1212513 active cases 326 people tested so far - figures not released PTI KA RSY RSY

Ahmedabad Feb 27 PTI Gujarat reported 162 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths due to the infection on Sunday increasing its tally to 1222511 and the toll to 10928 a state health department official said With 386 patients getting discharged during the day the recovery count rose to 1209534 leaving Gujarat with 2049 active cases including 23 patients on ventilator support he said Ahmedabad reported the maximum 79 cases followed by 35 in Vadodara nine in Surat seven in Rajkot among other districts The two COVID-19 fatalities occurred in Vadodara he said A state government release said 28118 people received their COVID-19 vaccination jabs during the day increasing the total number of doses administered so far in Gujarat to 1029 crore The COVID-19 tally in adjoining Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu stands at 11408 including four deaths so far and the number of people discharged until now is 11403 leaving the Union Territory with an active caseload of one a local official informed Gujarats COVID-19 figures are as follows Positive cases 1222511 new cases 162 death toll 10928 discharged 1209534 active cases 2049 people tested so far - figures not released PTI KA BNM NSK NSK

Ahmedabad Feb 23 PTI The Gujarat High Court has sought the director general of polices DGP response on the compliance of the Supreme Courts direction for police stations to keep a list of advocates to provide legal assistance to the victims of sexual assault In its order last week the division bench of Justices Sonia Gokani and Aniruddha Mayee observed that the Apex courts order regarding legal representation for complainants of sexual assault cases at the police station is often observed in breach As per the Supreme Courts order the victim should be provided with legal assistance at the police station where an advocate would explain to her the nature of the proceedings prepare her for the case and assist her at the police station and in court A list of advocates willing to act in these cases should be kept at police stations for victims who do not have a particular lawyer in mind or whose own lawyer is unavailable The advocate would also provide the victim with guidance on obtaining help about mind counselling or medical assistance etc the 1995 order of the Supreme Court stated The High Court said that while hearing the present case of the victim of sexual violence it found that even the investigating officer pleaded her ignorance about the said order of the Apex court There is no list of empanelled advocates noticed in the police stations the court observed in its order The bench directed the DGP to file an affidavit for the purpose of issuing necessary circular direction or notification for every police station of the state to maintain for effective implementation of the directions issued in 1995 without further loss of time it said The minor daughter of the petitioner had gone missing on June 10 2021 after which she approached Visnagar police station in the states Mehsana district with the request to lodge an FIR The victim was found to be have been kept in illegal custody and sexually abused and her medical report revealed that she was 10-weeks pregnant The victim and her parents then urged that the foetus be terminated which was allowed under the provisions of the Termination of Pregnancy Act The court allowed the corpus to join her parents as per her wishes and directed the authorities to provide her legal aid PTI KA ARU ARU

Ahmedabad Jan 18 PTI The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday directed the states chief secretary to issue necessary instructions for compliance of the courts orders for which contempt petitions have been filed against the government State Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar was present before the division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh Shastri in connection with a contempt plea moved by employees of grant-in-aid schools over non-compliance of the courts 2019 order Please first and foremost take stock of all contempt petitions where implementation is required Please see to it that necessary instructions are given Chief Justice Kumar said during the virtual hearingThe court is dealing with several contempt proceedings in which the state government has not complied with its orders passed years ago he said Of course some of them are debatable issues But please ensure that you take stock of all contempt proceedings Sit with your GP government pleader and AGPs assistant government pleaders take a call on this wherever this is to be required Short-term immediate long-term whatever it is you decide and please tell us he told the chief secretary The court was hearing a petition filed by around 400 employees of grant-in-aid schools who had secured a court order in 2019 for the benefit of a higher pay scale The court had then directed the government to grant the petitioners a higher pay scale with interest As the government did not comply with the order the employees moved a contempt petition through their lawyer Sharvil Majmudar We had moved a contempt plea after the government failed to comply with the courts order for nearly 25 years The matter came up for hearing and the Chief Secretary was asked to remain present personally before the court Majmudar said The government has granted a higher pay scale to the petitioners and has assured to pay interest in one week he added PTI KA ARU ARU

Ahmedabad Nov 22 PTI A four-day multi-agency exercise of armed forces and other security organisations that involved comprehensive coordination and sharing of operational data among them to overcome emerging threats concluded in Gujarat on MondayThe Indian Army Indian Navy Indian Air Force Indian Coast Guard Border Security Force and Gujarat security apparatus took part in the drill held in the creek sector of Kutch peninsula in Gujarat an official release saidThe multi-agency manoeuvre named Sagar Shakti was organised between November 19 and 22 as part of the Dakshin Shakti exercise underway in training areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat it statedGujarat agencies including the police marine police and the fisheries department participated in the exercise said the release issued by the Press Information BureauThe exercise involved insertion of troops and manoeuvres by forces in all three dimensions simultaneously in an integrated manner it statedThe participants practised comprehensive coordination involving the latest technology including response mechanism real time communication and sharing of operational data to overcome emerging multi-dimensional threats said the releaseThe exercise was witnessed by senior officials of participating agencies it statedThis was the first time that an effective punch of a Field Training Exercise has been packed in the response mechanism which functions under a robust Central Operation Room COR comprising troops of multiple forcesThe integration and coordination achieved was apparent and applauded by senior officials said the release PTI KA RSY RSY

Ahmedabad Sep 20 PTI The coronavirus tally in Gujarat rose to 825737 with the addition of 14 new cases on Monday while no fresh death due to the infection was reported in the state the health department saidThe number of COVID-19 fatalities remained unchanged at 10082 said the department in a releaseWith 17 coronavirus patients getting discharged from hospitals during the day the number of recovered cases went up to 815522 it saidThere are now 133 patients under treatment in the state and the condition of four of them is critical it saidAs many as 372334 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in Gujarat on Monday raising the number of doses administered so far in the state to 57059874 the department saidIn a separate release the state government said Gujarat has crossed the milestone of administering the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to over 4 crore people A total of 439 crore people have received their first dose so far it saidDistrict-wise Ahmedabad reported the highest number of five new cases followed by Surat and Vadodara four each and Porbandar one the health department saidThe Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu became free of COVID-19 with the recovery of the lone patient under treatment on Monday officials saidNo fresh coronavirus case was reported in the UT in the last 24 hoursThere are no active cases of coronavirus at present in the adjoining UT they saidThe UT has reported a total of 10642 COVID-19 cases and 10638 recoveries so far while four patients have died the officials saidGujarats COVID-19 figures are as follows Positive cases 825737 new cases 14 death toll 10082 discharged 815522 active cases 133 people tested so far figures not released PTI KA RSY RSY

Rajkot Aug 25 PTI A bitter dispute has broken out in the Rajkot royal family of Gujarat over the ancestral property worth hundreds of crores with one of the members moving court Ambalika Devi the sister of Mandhatasinh Jadeja who is the 17th king of the over 400-year-old erstwhile princely state of Rajkot in Gujarat has filed a suit in the city civil court against the release deed and the will of her father Manoharsinh Jadeja her lawyer Ketan Sindhava said on Wednesday She has challenged the release deed which construed that she had relinquished her right on inheritance property Ambalika Devi who lives in Jhansi has claimed she was made to sign a release deed by her brother Mandhatasinh Jadeja in 2019 when she visited Rajkot following her fathers death by keeping her in the dark and ill-informed he said She has challenged the 2013 will of her father that her brother produced before deputy collector in 2019 to allegedly mutate the entry in revenue records and has sought a direction from the court to declare the release deed as null and void Sindhava said Based on the will and the release deed which are under challenge the petitioners brother had allegedly initiated mutation entry in the revenue department to make him the sole owner of the property the lawyer said The will of her father Manoharsinh Jadeja the former finance minister of Gujarat is unregistered The opposing party even tried to tamper with the will he claimed A year after Manoharsinh passed away in 2018 his son duped my client by making her sign a release deed in the name of an ancestral temple We have challenged this as well the lawyer said On Tuesday Rajkot Deputy Collector Charansinh Gohil rejected the mutation entry on the basis of the objection raised by Ambalika Devi As per her lawyer the deputy collector said the order of the civil court will be binding on both the parties However Mandhatasinh Jadejas advocate Nirav Doshi claimed his clients sister was paid Rs 15 crore as per the will which she had accepted in the presence of her husband and two sons She had signed a registered release deed that she will have no right on the ancestral property which was duly signed by her Doshi said Her husband and two sons are also witnesses to the deed that she signed in 2019 he claimed We have produced all the documentary evidence in the court and the matter is next likely to come up for hearing in the court of additional senior civil judge L D Wagh on August 31 he said Mandhatasinh Jadeja was last year crowned as the 17th king of the erstwhile princely state of Rajkot He runs a chain of heritage hotels Manoharsinh Jadeja the previous king was a five-time Congress MLA and had served as Gujarat finance minister PTI KA PD GK GK

Ahmedabad Aug 23 PTI The Gujarat High Court has sought to know whether a woman is under any obligation to disclose the name of the father of her child that she conceived out of wedlockJustice Paresh Upadhyay also asked whether one should look for criminal angle into the case of a woman who does not want to disclose the identify of the father of the child she has given birth to without marriage even when she has not complained of rapeThe court made the observations on August 19 while hearing an appeal by a convict against a lower court order sentencing him to ten years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor under section 376 of the IPC and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act POCSOThe victim a resident of Junagadh had given birth to two children of the convict with whom she lived without marriage and neither she nor their father had disowned them or denied their paternityThe victim had said she left her family on her own will and started living with the convict after which she gave birth to two children first of whom was born when she was 16She is a poor rural daughter If some lady conceives a child and she is not married and if she goes to hospital whether the doctor would ask that you have conceived from whom I dont want to reply Is it required Whether a lady is under obligation to disclose to the hospital whose child this is the court askedIf one goes to Ahmedabad Delhi or some other metro to give birth to a child would the doctor ask the name of her father If she says Sorry to say I dont know If she says that I dont want to give that name She is not complaining that she has been raped Shall we be able to read criminality Upadhyay observed while hearing the appealThe judge wondered which legal provisions would be violated in such casesThe pure question of law would be if some lady conceives and it is her call that I want to have a child but I dont want to marry Then which provisions would be violated if she takes this call the court askedWithout marriage if somebody gives birth with whom she is staying does not make a difference the court further said adding such an action is called modern in urban and large metros while in rural areas several sections may be slapped for those opting for thisThe judge noted there are several tribal communities where marriage is not a condition to give birth to a child He said there is no illegality in giving birth to a child before 18 The appellant was awarded rigorous imprisonment for 10 years by a court in Junagadh which the HC had suspended during a previous hearing pendency outcome of the appealThe court had observed that the victim told the lower court that she had on her own walked out of home and started living with the appellant and with that relation gave birth to two children - the first baby was born on June 29 2019 and the second on January 22 2021She turned 18 on March 24 2020 She was scheduled to marry the convict on March 25 but the marriage could not take place due to the coronavirus-induced lockdownHer father lodged a police complaint when she gave birth to her second child Based on the complaint the police had registered a case under under IPC section 376 rape and provisions of POCSO PTI KA RSY RSY