India

Ayodhya, Jan 3 (PTI) Ahead of a Supreme Court hearing on Friday in the Ayodhya dispute, a mahant who says he is a party to the case has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking impeachment proceedings against Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

In a letter that is also addressed to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and BJP president Amit Shah, Mahant Dharam Das has accused the Chief Justice of India of showing disinterest in the title suite.

Mumbai, Jan 3 (PTI) There is no place for hatred and violence in democracy, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said Thursday.

The Congress was opposed to BJP's ideology, but it did not want the saffron party to cease to exist, he said.

Gehlot, sworn in as chief minister last month, was in Nanded in central Maharashtra to inaugurate statues of the 19th century social reformer couple Savitribai Phule and Jyotirao Phule on Savitribai's birth anniversary.

Jamshedpur, Jan 3 (PTI) The Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP), tribal outfit, on Thursday said it would support the BJP in five tribal-dominated Eastern region states if the Narendra Modi government grant recognition to Sarna dharma of the adivasis before the approaching Lok Sabha polls.

Sarna Dharma is centred around the worship of nature.

The JDP made the decision at a meeting of its central committee leaders, party president Salkhan Murmu, a former MP, said in a statement.

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) A 15-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by her classmate, who also got two of his friends to record the alleged act, police said Thursday.

The incident took place inside the washroom of a government school in Chanakyapuri in the last week of December, they said.

The victim's classmate allegedly kissed her inside the washroom of the school and asked two of his friends to record the act, a senior police officer said.

Mumbai, Jan 3 (PTI) Police inspector Anand Bhoir, who was arrested by the ACB for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 22 lakh, was suspended Thursday, police said.

Bhoir, attached to the Crime Branch, and his driver were caught while allegedly accepting Rs 22 lakh in cash from a liquor shop owner Tuesday, an official said.

After the arrest, he was suspended from service and orders were issued by the office of the Commissioner of Police, he said.

New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken Friday resigned as the party's Delhi unit chief citing health reasons, a few months before the Lok Sabha elections, sources said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Congress party affairs in-charge P C Chacko and Maken held a meeting Thursday evening. Gandhi has accepted his resignation, they said.

The 54-year-old leader had taken over as the Congress's Delhi unit chief four years ago, after the party lost the 2015 assembly elections.

03 Jan 2019; AFP: One person was killed and at least 15 injured in violence across southern India's Kerala state which broke out after two women defied traditionalists to enter one of Hinduism's holiest temples, police said Thursday.

Clashes were reported across the state after the two women activists, escorted by police, entered the Sabarimala temple in a surprise pre-dawn operation on Wednesday.

02 Jan 2019; DW: Indian police used tear gas and stun grenades in clashes against Hindu worshipers in the state of Kerala. The protesters are enraged that two women of child-bearing age had entered a temple of the celibate god Ayyappa.

Religiously fueled protests escalated in the Indian state of Kerala on Wednesday, with police charging Hindu worshipers with batons and using tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades to disperse rioters in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram.

New Delhi, January 2; INN: All India KisanSabha (AIKS) condemns the attack on Saghir Khan and 2 others by Gaurakshaks in Alwar District of Rajasthan. It is in continuation of similar attacks on farmers or cattle rearers transporting cattle that have been going on in this region in the last few years.

AIKS demands that the newly elected Congress Government in Rajasthan should immediately act against the culprits. It is shocking that the police have arrested the victim on the charge of “cow smuggling” while not taking any strong deterrent action against the culprits.

New Delhi, January 2: The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared in an interview that after the judicial process the government will be ready to make all efforts for the Ram temple.

This stance of the Prime Minister, welcomed by the RSS as a “positive step”, is deplorable. It is a move to pressurize the Supreme Court by indicating that the government will take steps to facilitate the building of the temple irrespective of the verdict of the court.