Indian Sub-continent

Thane, Mar 20 (PTI) A 24-year-old man has been sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a court in Thane district of Maharashtra for kidnapping and molesting a girl.

Special POCSO court Judge P P Jadhav, in his order issued last week, also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Sandeep Vitthal Umap.

According to the prosecution, on January 13, 2017, the girl, then aged 17 years, left her home in Lokmanya Nagar here for her classes but did not return.

New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of jobs, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that his policies destroyed one crore jobs last year and said "India's PM is a joke".

Gandhi's criticism of Modi came over a media report which claimed that the actual size of India's male workforce, or men who are working, has shrunk for the first time since 1993-94.

Silchar (Assam), Mar 20 (PTI) A BJP panchayat president in Assam has been shot dead and another party worker critically injured by unidentified gunmen in Cachar district ahead of the three-phase Lok Sabha polls in the state next month, police said on Wednesday.

Unidentifed gunmen opened fire on Sukhendu Das, the president of Borkhola Hatichora panchayat, in front of his residence in the village on Tuesday night in which he and another person was grievously injured.

Aizawl, Mar 20 (PTI) The Mizoram assembly Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution asking the Centre not to reintroduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in any form in future.

The civil societies, churches, political parties and the people of the state are against the bill, Home Minister Lalchamliana said after moving the resolution.

Lucknow, Mar 20 (PTI) Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati Wednesday announced that she will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, but kept open the option of fighting a parliamentary by-election later.

"In view of the present circumstances and the need of the country and the interests of the party, the movement and the public, it is the need of the hour that I do not contest the Lok Sabha polls. And this is the reason that I have decided not to contest the Lok Sabha polls," Mayawati said here.

New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) Two years, three acquittals and Aseemanand, the self-confessed monk with many aliases and one saffron identity, is now a free man after a special court in Panchkula on Wednesday let him off in the 2007 Samjhauta train bombing case.

Wearing multiple identities of religious preacher, science student and terror accused, the saffron robed Aseemanand, once known as the most wanted man in India, was the alleged link between the series of three bombings that ripped through India in 2007.

New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) On a day fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was arrested in London, the Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of snoozing when he escaped from the country.

In a tweet, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Nirav Modi, who he referred to as "Chhota Modi", was arrested after the Opposition party questioned "Bada Modi", a term he has been using to target the PM.

Varanasi/Mirzapur, Mar 20 (PTI) Wrapping up her three-day tour of Uttar Pradesh in Prime minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi constituency, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called the coming Lok Sabha elections a new freedom struggle .

In a blistering attack on Modi on the last day of the trip, by boat on the Ganga, she asked him not to treat people as fools.

In Varanasi, party workers from the Congress and the BJP confronted each other with slogans, with some of them scuffling with each other.

Jamnagar, Mar 20 (PTI) An Army jawan allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself to death with his service rifle at the Infantry Brigade camp here while on duty, police said.

Vishal Kumar P (25), from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district, allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday night, police said.

The deceased hailed from Pangode village in Nedumangad taluka of Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district, an official of Jamnagar A division police station said.

New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) The BJP Wednesday described as "historic" the acquittal of Samjhauta Express blast accused, saying it is an indication of how the previous Congress-led government played politics with terror.

Twelve years after a blast on Samjhauta Express killed 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, a special court Wednesday acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the case.