KATHUA
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is the trial court for the sensational Kathua rape of an 8-year old nomad girl, has suspended the remaining sentence of Anand Dutta, a Police officer who was convicted for destruction of evidence. He was one of the six accused in the January 2018 rape and murder case that also led to the resignation of two cabinet ministers. Dutta, was a Sub Inspector and in charge of the police station when the crime was reported. Court sent him for rigorous imprisonment for five years. “Prayer made in the instant application is accepted and the remaining sentence of the applicant/appellant-AnandDutta is suspended during the pendency of the appeal. The applicant/appellant-AnandDutta is ordered to be released on bail on his furnishing personal/surety bonds to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty Magistrate concerned,” the court order said.
The counsel appearing on behalf of the accused contended that he was falsely implicated in the case and that the allegations levelled by the prosecution were not corroborated by any material particulars. The case was investigated by a group of senior officers of the JKP’s Crime Branch. His counsel had pleaded that the accused has undergone more than half of the substantive sentence awarded to him (2 years 7 months and three days) and that sentence of the co-accused Tilak Raj was earlier suspended by the High Court on December 16, 2021. Before being bailed out, Dutta had availed of parole for 11 months and 14 days.
photo by bilal bahadur
Hangul population is improving but the animal has a skewed male-female and fawn-female ratio. The April census showed the animal numbers growing from 237 in 2019 to 261 in 2021. It also said the animal’s sex ratio (males per 100 females) was 12.6 in 2021 down from 15.3 in 2019. The number of fawns per 100 females, however, has increased to 13.4 in 2021 from 9 in 2019.
JAMMU
The world-famous American sci-fi drama series Person of Interest is becoming relevant to Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP), according to a Media Nama exclusive has reportedly issued tenders for a project aimed at installing 200 facial recognition-enabled CCTV cameras. The idea is to install 1000 such surveillance cameras across Jammu and Kashmir. Reports suggest that the “tender documents reveal that the facial recognition project also seeks the appointment of a system integrator for the entire surveillance network, and solutions from vendors whose products have been tested by the United States National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)”. The systems are required to be hugely intelligent because they have to count the people in the crowd, decide their gender; estimate crowd density; detect a person falling down suddenly; recognize a person with a beard or with glasses; match a suspected criminal face from pre-recorded feeds; issue alerts if suspects or blacklisted people are captured in a frame composing multiple people; and create a dataset of white-listed individuals and enable a feature that can raise the severity of an alert. In all this, the accuracy must be 90 per cent.
In the last two years, there were 5,601 ceasefire violations by Pakistan
GENEVA
Currently, in judicial custody, the arrest of human rights activist, Khurram Parvez is being debated within the civil liberty community. The latest is the statement issued by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders (HRD) Mary Lawlor. “We are concerned that 1 month after Mr. Parvez’s arrest, he is still deprived of liberty in what appears to be a new incident of retaliation for his legitimate activities as a Human Rights Defender.” The statement she tweeted said: “In his search for accountability, Mr. Parvez has been the victim of a number of incidents of reprisals reportedly for sharing this information with the United Nations, as documented in various reports of the Secretary-General and communications from UN special procedures mandate holders.” Arrested on November 22, 2021, under UAPA, Parvez is presently detained at the Rohini Jail Complex.
In order to enforce the Covid19 protocol, the government has revived the penalty system – Rs 200 for the first violation and Rs 500 for the second. The harsh measure is aimed at preventing the new variant Omicron that has three established cases in Jammu – two women and KV student with neither of the trio any travel history. Recently 29 women in LD Hospital tested positive for Covid19.
MUMBAI
One of tinsel town’s real love stories involving Kashmir has ended. The 1994 Ms Universe and actor, Sushmita Sen, 46, has confirmed that she has separated from her boyfriend Rohman Shawl, 30, after three years of relationship. In relationship with the Kashmir model since 2018, Sen was living with him along with her two adopted daughters. They had met through Instagram. The split revealed itself when they unfollowed each other and was finally confirmed by Sen. “We began as friends, we remain friends!!,” she wrote. “The relationship was long over…the love remains!!” Reports suggest that Shawl has moved out of Sen’s apartment and is staying “at a close friend’s home”.
In the last five years ending 2020-21, Jammu and Kashmir government has collected a whopping Rs 6791 crore as taxes on fuels.
BILLAWAR
It took 29 years for Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Chinji Makwal village to get freed from a Pakistani jail and return home. His wife Urmila waited for her husband for almost three decades. Singh told reporters in Punjab after he crossed over that he was a spy and the systems forgot him after he was arrested in Pakistan.
Nearly 8500 out of total 9905 bunkers ready for use by border dwellers
RAJOURI
You will hardly see Police officer getting love like this. Meet SHO Rajouri Inspector Sameer Jeelani of @JmuKmrPolice. Thousand gathered to accord farewell on his transfer from Rajouri. @mukesh_ips_jk @ManhasYougal @bhatray @mansha_beig @hussain_imtiyaz @BDUTT #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/617UvIVI7s
— Guftar Ahmed (@GuftarAhmedCh) December 21, 2021
It was sort of history in making when the residents in Rajouri took an outgoing Station House Officer (SHO), inspector Sameer Jeelani in a procession like a groom after his transfer. A video shows the police officer being carried on shoulders amid drum beating by people. In recent history, it is being seen as an unprecedented send-off. Before his 30-months tenure ended in Rajouri, he was invited to a series of special functions organised in his honour by diverse sections of the society. The warm send-off was in recognition of his “tremendous work” during his tenure that included arresting a gang of cow vigilantes who killed a young man, being beaten while crossing Mughal Road and deciding to fight back and becoming a sort of social worker during the Covid19 lockdown. He was even accused of preventing entry of DC into a police station recently.
In areas closer to the border (IB and LoC), the government has started building 9905 bunkers (8444 for individual and 1461 for community use) in the Jammu region. By now, almost 8500 are ready for use.
JAMMU
Nawab Bazar resident Mumin Khan, 23, created a new record in Deadlift by lifting 262.5 kg. The previous record of 260 kg was created by powerlifter Amandeep Singh. The record in the Jammu and Kashmir powerlifting and Deadlift championship 2021-22, in which 200 powerlifters participated, fetched him the nomination for nationals to be played at Kerala in February 2022. Khan’s last record was 285 kg (September 2021). Son of a power-lifter, Khan is currently pursuing an engineering degree from SSM College Pattan. In November 2020, Khan was crowned as Power Man of Kashmir. In the championship, Kashmir bagged 10 Golds and four Silvers.
KULGAM
In an interesting idea, the managers of JK Yateem Foundation tied up with Science Teachers Association (STA) and brought three powerful telescopes to the Al-Hilal Residential Educational Institute at Chawalgam to help the inmates in star-gazing. Interesting, some local kids not living with the facility also joined the event. “The participants evinced great interest and were fascinated to watch the four moons of the planet Jupiter, rings of the planet Saturn and beautiful Venus planet of the solar system besides craters on the moon,” a Foundation spokesperson said. “A Planetarium Show was also held for the students to explore various constellations of stars.”
DUBAI
The Tengpora (Srinagar) based farmer produce organisation (FPO) implemented by NABARD has 192 members. Some of its organic produce was recently flown to Sharjah (UAE) through Lulu Group. The consignment included kale, turnip, carrot, white radish, cauliflower, broccoli, lotus roots, rice, dried mushrooms, and saffron. Srinagar is connected with Sharjah and a flight goes many times a week.
