The Gujarat state Legal Department on June 8 announced the names of Special Public Prosecutors (SPPs) for seven of the nine 2002 riot cases being investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). The department also named eight advocates who will be acting as assistant public prosecutors of the seven SPPs. Two more SPPs for the Gulberg Society massacre and Malav Bhagol riot cases of Ode village are likely to be appointed soon. Out of the 15 names announced, only ...

The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has established a Witness Protection Cell (WPC) to protect witnesses of all the nine 2002 riot cases being investigated by it. The cell is being led by an IPS officer. The team to man the cell has already been appointed. The WPC consists of Superintendent of Police M V Damor, Deputy Superintendent of Police N S Joshi and Sub-Inspectors Mini Joseph and Ashutosh Parmar. Damor, who is at present posted as commandant of Group 12 of th...

A few witnesses who deposed before Justice B K Somasekhara Commission of Inquiry in Mangalore on June 8 squarely blamed the Bajrang Dal for the attacks on prayers halls reported from across Dakshina Kannada. The state government set up the commission headed by Banavar Krishnamurthy Somasekhara, former judge of Karnataka and AP high courts to inquire into these attacks and submit its report. Anthony Rodrigues, pastor of Mahima Prarthanalaya, Belthangady deposing before Hemalatha Ma...

In a press statement, Solidarity State President P Mujeeb Rahman demanded the State Government to prosecute the culprits in Beema Pally Police firing that led to death of six youths, for murder. He told that the steps taken by the home department are insufficient. Suspending four Police officers is only a token move. More Police have role in the incident. The delay in reaching the spot and failure in arresting the goonda elements are unpardonable mistakes from the part of Police. The firing...

The Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed on June 9 said reservation was not a foolproof solution to remove the backwardness of Muslims. “What they need more is affirmative action to catch up with other developed sections of the society,” he said in an interview to UNI In fact, the Constitution does not provide quota for Muslims beyond what they have got under the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, he sought to point out. “I fail to understand why this ...

A Rajya Sabha panel on June 10 suggested that sex education was unnecessary in schools as human instincts such as hunger, fear, greed and sex were inborn and there was no need to “stimulate” them out of turn. Rather, the need was to groom schoolchildren on how to control the instincts and teach them the importance of restraint. “Basic human instincts like food, fear, greed, coitus etc need not be taught; rather, control of these instincts should be the subject of education...

P Mujeeb Rahman has been re-elected State President of Solidarity Youth Movement. While KA Shafeeq has been appointed Vice President, M Sajid is the General Secretary, and PI Nowshad and NK Abdussalam are State Secretaries. Mujeeb Rahman, native of Nilambur of Malappuram district had been acting as State President and General Secretary of the organisation in different terms. A post graduate in Arabic, Mujeeb Rahman has been working as a school teacher. Earlier he was State Secretary of Stud...