India

Deoria (UP), Feb 6 (PTI) A class 8 student was allegedly abducted and raped by three youths in Deoria district, police said Wednesday.

The minor was abducted from her home on Monday night when she was sleeping with her siblings and later taken to a nearby agriculture field and raped by the youths, Superintendent of Police (SP) N Kolanchi said.

Based on a complaint lodged by the girl's mother, an FIR was registered against the three youths, the SP said, adding that two of the three accused were taken into custody.

Mumbai, Feb 6 (PTI) The Maharashtra government will soon make forcing a woman to undergo virginity test a punishable offence, it said Wednesday.

Certain communities in the state follow a custom whereby a newly-wed woman has to prove that she was virgin prior to the marriage.

New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Wednesday took charge as AICC general secretary and will helm the party's affairs in Uttar Pradesh East.

She arrived at the party headquarters at Akbar Road after dropping her husband at the office of the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a money laundering case. She also met some party workers and leaders from the Hindi heartland state.

Ahmedabad, Feb 6 (PTI) Firebrand Patidar community leader Hardik Patel announced on Wednesday that he would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Although Patel did not specify whether he would join any political party or contest as an Independent, sources in the Congress claimed that he is likely to join the party to fight the polls.

New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) The tenures of two senior IPS officers -- Anish Prasad and Abhay Singh -- at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have been curtailed, according to a Personnel Ministry order issued Wednesday.

Prasad, a 2003 batch IPS officer of Tripura cadre, was reportedly at the centre of controversy involving the CBI's two former top officers -- ex-chief Alok Kumar Verma and the then Special Director Rakesh Asthana.

New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) The Union Cabinet Wednesday approved setting up of a commission to frame policy for protection and development of cows and help boost income of small farmers.

The announcement in this regard was made in the interim Budget for 2019-20.

The Cabinet has approved the proposal for establishment of 'Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog' for conservation, protection and development of cows and their progeny, Union Law & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after the Cabinet meet.

Chennai, Feb 6 (PTI) Vexed with the filing of numerous anticipatory bail pleas, the Madras High Court on Wednesday observed that the accused need not be arrested in all criminal cases at the stage of investigation and the probe can be carried out effectively without custodial interrogation.

Justice Anand Venkatesh made the observation while granting anticipatory bail to an accused in a matrimonial dispute case and asked the police to pull up their socks and show more quality and maturity in investigations.

Ahmedabad, Feb 6 (PTI) A BJP corporator in Surat was Wednesday caught allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a shop owner, the Gujarat Anti-Corruption Burea (ACB) said.

Apart from being the BJP corporator, the accused, Jayantilal Bhanderi, is also the vice chairman of drainage committee of the BJP-ruled Surat Municipal Corporation, the ACB said in a release.

New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra Wednesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering probe case relating to alleged possession of illegal foreign assets.

Vadra's wife Priyanka Gandhi accompanied him, in a white Toyota Land Cruiser along with SPG personnel in tow, and dropped him outside the agency's office in Jamnagar House in central Delhi. She soon left in her convoy of vehicles.

KANPUR: A young girl was strangulated to death in Panki area. Her dead body was found in a field existing about 200-meters away from the house on Wednesday morning.