SC scraps plea against Khandu in alleged gang rape case
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a petition by a woman alleging gang rape by four persons in 2008, including Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, questioning the delay in filing the complaint. However, a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna granted liberty to the woman to approach the high court concerned for redressal of her grievances. The apex court also granted her liberty to approach appropriate authority for police protection. During the brief hearing in which senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Krishnan Venugopal appeared for the woman, the bench noted that though the alleged incident happened in 2008, there was no complaint filed till 2015. The woman submitted that she was approaching the apex court as the police and the trial court declined to entertain pleas to register a criminal complaint against the alleged perpetrators. In the petition, the woman claimed said she was 15 years old at the time of the incident and was working in a public call office in Arunachal Pradesh and was allegedly lured by a man on the pretext of providing a government job. She further claimed that she was given soft drinks laced with drugs and after she fell unconscious, she was gang raped. She also claimed she came to know about the identity of these persons after some years. (PTI)
Illegal Bangladeshi entrants set up 16 villages in Mizoram
Aizawl: Infiltrators from neighbouring Bangladesh have set up 16 villages in South Mizoram’s Lunglei district, the Assembly was informed on Friday. There were nine more such villages set up illegally by people who had entered the state without valid documents, Local Administration Minister K Lalrinliana said. Of the nine villages, four were set up in Aizawl district, followed by three in Champhai bordering Myanmar and two in Mamit bordering Tripura, he said while replying to a query from C Lalsawivunga of the Zoram People’s Movement. Besides people from Bangladesh, illegal immigrants from Myanmar, Manipur and Tripura also reside in these nine villages, officials said. Officials as well as student leaders, who had earlier conducted study of the border areas, claimed that those who entered the state from Bangladesh belonged to the Chakma tribe. (PTI)
CISF detects 45 kg Agarwood worth Rs 2.25 cr at IGI Airport
New Delhi: The Central Industrial Security Force on Thursday detected 45 kg Agarwood which is prohibited for export under Wild Life Act, on profiling basis by a CISF surveillance and intelligence unit at Indira Gandhi International airport here. Around 2:55 am on March 14, a CISF intelligence unit selected a passenger for thorough check up at terminal 3 and asked the passenger to re-screen his baggage on a profiling basis. During x-ray screening, some suspicious images were noticed inside his bags and bags were diverted for physical checking. On physical checking, the bags were found filled with wood. The passenger later identified as Mohammad Hafizul Rehman, a Assam resident, was bound to travel to Bahrain by a schedule flight. On enquiry, he could not answer the possession of that wood and the matter was handed over to the Custom officials. The Customs officials informed that the said wood was known as Agarwood (used for making perfume) is prohibited for export under the Wildlife Act. The approximate value of recovered Agarwood is Rs 2.25 crore. Later, the passenger along with the recovered Agarwood was handed over to Customs officials for further legal action in the matter. (UNI)