Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to frame appropriate guidelines for registration of FIR for marital rape and frame laws for making it a ground of divorce.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and B R Gavai asked the petitioner advocate Anuja Kapur to approach the high court for the relief. Kapur then withdrew her plea.

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) Supreme Court judge Justice Indu Malhotra Monday recused herself from hearing a batch of appeals and cross-appeals challenging a Bombay High Court verdict which held that mere possession of beef of animals slaughtered outside the state cannot invite criminal action.

A bench headed by Justice A M Sapre said that Justice Malhotra was recusing herself from the hearing as she had earlier appeared as a lawyer in the case.

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has discovered over 230 million tonnes of in-place oil reserves in the last three years, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Monday.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said India's top oil and gas producer ONGC as on April 1, 2019, has in place oil reserves of 459.84 million tonnes.

These reserves are spread over 16 assets it currently extracts oil from, he said.

"ONGC has established 230.29 million tones of oil initial-in-place during the last three years," he added.

Coimbatore, July 2 (PTI) A fuel tank fell off from a Tejas aircraft, which was on a sortie, into an agricultural field in the city's outskirts early Tuesday, police said.

Defence sources in Chennai confirmed that a fuel tank from Tejas aircraft fell and said "all (was) safe", indicating that there were no injuries.

Agriculture labourers in Irugur village were shocked to see the 1200-litre petrol tank fall from the sky. It caused a three-foot deep crater and a minor fire, the police added.

Mumbai, Jul 2 (PTI) As many as 52 flights were cancelled and another 55 diverted to nearby airports due to the inclement weather and skidding of a SpiceJet aircraft at Mumbai airport Monday night, an official said Tuesday.

Efforts are underway to remove the Boeing 737 aircraft from the runway and restore operations as early as possible, the official said.

Jaipur, Jul 2 (PTI) A seven-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and raped by an unknown person in Shastri nagar area here, police said on Tuesday.

The girl was found near the her house on Monday night and was taken to a local hospital where the doctors referred her to J K Lone hospital. Her condition is stated to be stable, they said.

"The girl was abducted by a motorcycle-borne man and taken to a nearby place where she was raped," police said.

Malda(WB), Jul 1 (PTI) A man who was allegedly beaten by locals for stealing a bike has died, triggering a protest when his body reached here from a Kolkata hospital on Sunday.

Two persons have been arrested in connection with the lynching of 20-year-old Sanaul Sheikh, Malda Superintendent of Police Aloke Rajoria said.

Sheikh was assaulted allegedly by some locals at Baishnabnagar Bazar on Wednesday, after he was allegedly found stealing the bike, the SP said.

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) All private and special category schools are mandated to admit in Class 1 or below at least 25 per cent students belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Pokhriyal said the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act came into effect from April 1, 2010 and the Act makes elementary education a fundamental right of all children in the age group of 6-14 years.

Mumbai, Jul 1 (PTI) A demand for a separate law to punish those involved in mob lynching was raised Monday in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Raising the issue, Congress MLA Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan cited recent incidents of violence against Dalits and Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh over various issues.

"Maharashtra is a progressive state and such incidents shouldn't be allowed to happen here. Hence, a separate law to curb this menace must be enacted," Khan said.

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) India and Pakistan Monday exchanged lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in their respective custody as per provision of a 2008 agreement.

The lists of prisoners were exchanged through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the External Affairs Ministry said.

"India handed over lists of 256 Pakistan civilian prisoners and 99 fishermen in India's custody to Pakistan. Pakistan has shared lists of 209 fishermen and 52 prisoners in its custody, who are Indians or believed-to-be Indians," the MEA said.