Indian Sub-continent

Varanasi (UP), Jun 22 (PTI) Newly elected Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Atul Rai, who has been accused of rape, surrendered in a court here on Saturday.

The judicial magistrate (first) remanded Rai in 14-day judicial custody.

An FIR was registered against Rai on May 1 on a complaint by a college student who had alleged that he took her home on the pretext of meeting his wife but sexually assaulted her.

Indore, Jun 22 (PTI) A 21-year old woman who married a man from a different caste was Saturday shot dead allegedly by her teenage brother in a village in Indore, police said.

Bulbul had an inter-caste marriage with Kuldeep, both residents of Rawad village here, some six months back and it had enraged her family, Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Ramkumar Rai told PTI.

Thane, Jun 22 (PT) A case of rape has been registered against a man for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh in Murbad in Maharashtra after offering her a job, police said Saturday.

According to police, the accused Nirmal Verma became acquainted with the girl after he foiled her bid to commit suicide by jumping onto the railway tracks in her village in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh some time back and brought her to Murbad in Thane district.

Hyderabad, June 22 (PTI) Two minor girls were allegedly sexually assaulted, one of them by her father, in separate incidents in the city, police said Saturday.

A 40-year-old man, an auto-rickshaw driver, allegedly sexually assaulted his daughter at Neredmet in the city on June 17 and was arrested on Thursday on a complaint by his wife, police said.

A case under Indian Penal Code offence rape and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act had been registered against him.

Srinagar, Jun 22 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik said on Saturday the situation in the valley had vastly improved over the past year and the Hurriyat Conference was willing to enter into a dialogue with the government.

"The Hurriyat Conference was not willing to talk. Ram Vilas Paswan was standing at their door (in 2016), but they were not ready to talk, Malik said at a funtion here. "Today, they are ready for talks and want to hold dialogue. There is a change in everyone."

Shillong, Jun 22 (PTI) An American aid worker was arrested for allegedly molesting a judicial magistrate at her home, police said on Saturday.

"We have arrested the American national, Theodore M Moallem, on charges of molestation," Superintendent of Police (City) Steve Rynjah told PTI.

Moallem and his organisation, Blind Lead Trust, have also filed a counter complaint against the magistrate for assaulting him inside the premises the family had rented out to the trust.

Raipur, Jun 22 (PTI) The BJP Saturday staged a protest at all the district headquarters in Chhattisgarh, accusing the Congress government of failing to deliver on promises made during the Assembly polls last year.

Former chief minister Raman Singh, former ministers Brijmohan Agrawal and Rajesh Munat and a large number of party workers took part in a demonstration at Budhapara here.

Singh said the Congress government's performance in the last six months was "shameful".

Bijapur, Jun 23 (PTI) A policeman was killed by Naxals at a weekly market in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Sunday, a police official said.

The incident took place around 2 pm when assistant constable Chaitu Kadti went to the market in Mirtur village along with his family members, he said.

A 'small action team' of Naxals (typically comprising four to five cadres) suddenly stabbed Kadti with knives, killing him on the spot, and fled, the official said.

The rebels did not harm the family members of Kadti, who was posted at Mirtur police station, he said.

Lucknow, Jun 23 (PTI) BSP chief Mayawati Sunday appointed her brother Anand Kumar as the party's national vice president and her nephew Akash Anand as its national coordinator, a senior leader said.

She also appointed BSP leader Ramji Gautam as the party's national coordinator. The decision was taken at a meeting here which was attended by top functionaries of the party.

Amroha MP Danish Ali has been made the leader of the party in Lok Sabha and its Nagina MP Girish Chandra has been appointed the chief whip, he said.

New Delhi, Jun 23 (PTI) India Sunday rejected a US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

In its annual 2018 International Religious Freedom Report, the State Department alleged Friday that mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities, particularly Muslims, continued in India in 2018, amid rumours that victims had traded or killed cows for beef.