Only partial suspension on Rohith, 3 others imposed, HCU tells High Court

The Asian Age

Jan 27, 2016 |

• S A ISHAQUI

• Hyderabad

|

Rohith Vemula was found hanging in the varsity's hostel room. (Photo: Facebook)

HCU contended that even if it is assumed that there was no physical violence, the students broke rules.
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Central University has submitted before the Hyderabad High Court the proctorial board recommendation for the suspension of four research scholars including Rohith Vemula for their involvement in the alleged assault on another research scholar and ABVP leader N. Susheel Kumar.
In a counter-affidavit filed before the High Court in the case of suspended students, the in-charge registrar of the University of Hyderabad admitted that the four research students belonging to the Ambedkar Students Association were suspended due to unavoidable circumstances. However, their suspension was revoked by the executive council after taking a lenient view in the interests of their academic pursuits and also considering their economic background.
Narrating the sequence of events that led to the attack on Susheel Kumar on August 4, 2015, the registrar said that the very act of “a mob” (suspended students) going to a hostel room and forcibly making the “ward” (ABVP activist) come out at 1 am is itself illegal. In its affidavit, the UoH contended that even if it is assumed that there was no physical violence, to say that the act of the students was “democratic and peaceful” is nothing but a mockery of democracy.

MIM has clear winning track

DECCAN CHRONICLE | S A ISHAQUI

Published Jan 19, 2016, 2:45 am IST

Updated Jan 19, 2016, 2:45 am IST

The party contests more than 60 seats with 13 where it has never lost.

 MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: The MIM has always won 35 or more wards in the GHMC elections, while the fortunes of other parties ebbed and rose in the three civic elections from 1986. The MIM has always remained unassailable in 13 wards. The party generally contests about 60 wards, mostly in the old city. It has ventured out to new city areas this time. The MIM has so far failed to open its account in the north zone. Its strongholds are in the south and west zones, though the Assembly constituencies that these divisions lie in are represented by the Congress or the BJP.
The MIM has never lost Mallepally, from where former party cief, the late Sultan Salauddin Owaisi, started his political career in 1960. According to party leaders, the MIM won a majority of wards in the Karwan and Malakpet Assembly constituencies in 1986, from where the BJP’s Baddam Balreddy and Indrasena Reddy respectively had been elected MLAs.
In 2002, the MIM won a majority of wards from the erstwhile Asifnagar constituency though the Assembly seat was held by a Congress MLA. MIM leaders say that the Congress, the TD and the BJP do not have strong candidates in about 35 divisions in the old city.
Charminar MLA and MIM general secretary Ahmad Pasha Quadri, associated with the party for four decades, said the MIM first entered the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation by winning two wards in byelections held for the Gandhi Bhavan and Kacheguda wards in 1959. At that time, Hyderabad and Secunderabad had separate 50-seat corporations.
The two corporations were merged in 1960 after the civic elections, and MIM emerged the single largest party in the MCH. “The ruling Congress tried to scuttle the MIM’s chance to hold the Mayor’s post by merging both the corporations by issuing an order at midnight."
MIM’s Nampally MLA Meraj Hussain said daily sittings of elected representatives since 1972 at the Darussalam party headquarters helped build the party at the grassroots level. Mr Quadri said that before 1972 the party’s elected representatives used to sit at Begum Manzil at Himayatnagar, adjacent to the then house of Abdul Wahed Owaisi, grandfather of MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
Equally, there was the failure on part of the major political parties like the Congress, the BJP and the TD to reach out to the areas which are dominated by Muslims. The TD and BJP leaders admit in private that they found it difficult to pick strong candidates in certain wards where the MIM held out. Party tickets are given to those who offer to contest from these wards.

Photos displayed were not original: Acharya

DECCAN CHRONICLE | S A ISHAQUI

Published Jan 12, 2016, 1:37 am IST

Updated Jan 12, 2016, 1:37 am IST

Legal notice sent claiming rights over the photos, resorting to fraud.

 Princess Niloufer

Hyderabad: The title refers to the death of “her beloved servant” Rafatunnisa who died during childbirth. According to Mr Acharya, the photographs that were displayed were not original images.
He alleged that Mr Yajnik had taken photographs of 200 items which Mr Acharya had legally procured from Ms Evelyn Pope, the second wife of Edward Pope; Edward Pope was married to Princess Niloufer from 1963 to 1989.
He said, “Mr Yajnik visited me in New York City on Dec. 8 and 9 last year. He came over to my place and took photographs of 200 items.”
Mr Acharya stated that he first met Mr Yagnik when he came with Mr B.V. Papa Rao, adviser to the Telangana government, who met Mr Acharya in New York. “Mr Papa Rao evinced interest and put me in touch with Yajnik,” Mr Acharya said.
He said he and Mr Yagnik, of Visual Quest India, signed a memorandum of understanding temporarily assigning rights to Mr Yagnik to display and exhibit the photographs, books, papers and articles on the Princess, for which he had rights from Niloufer’s legal heirs.
He said “Other than that, he has no rights to anything but Mr Yajnik released two photographs to an English newspaper. When we enquired with the newspaper, they said they had received the pictures from Mr Yajnik.”
Even with regard to the title of the exhibition, Mr Acharya said Mr Yajnik had come to know of it “only after I shared the documents” with him.

“When I questioned Mr Yajnik on e-mail, he replied that he had the rights to do it. Then I sent an e-mail informing him that it amounted to breach of contract and the MoU is no more in existence. A legal notice was sent on Jan. 7,” Mr Acharya said.
Mr Acharya, a graduate of Yale University, has been living in the US for 22 years, where he works as a consultant in New York. He said he was a family friend of the Princess, and flies down to the city every year to mark her birth anniversary.
Responding to the e-mail, Mr Yagnik sent a legal notice claiming rights over the photographs, Mr Acharya said and alleged that he was resorting to a “fraud” with him and the legal heirs of the Princess.
When this was communicated to the legal heirs of the Princess, they granted Mr Acharya power of attorney to take legal recourse against Mr Yagnik.
Denying any dispute, Mr Yagnik said he being a curator had collected rare images from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and the Department of Archives of the Telangana government and displayed them in Hyderabad.
He said Mr Acharya had been credited as collector for the exhibition.
Referring to the legal notices, he said he had not sent any legal notice nor had he received any from Mr Acharya.
He said he only had an e-mail from Mr Acharya which was being looked into by his lawyers. They have to decide the legality of the e-mail and jurisdiction of the issue as the MoU was signed in New York.
He claimed that Mr Acharya had no right to terminate the contract as the MoU does not allow it. According to New York laws, Mr Yajnik said, the photographer who had taken the photographs had the rights over it and not the family of the Princess. They had rights only to the photographs that were taken by Edward Pope.
Mr Papa Rao said there was no dispute on the issue and the government has only facilitated the meeting of the collector and the curator on a common dais to place the rare images for public display.

Battle of rights on Princess Niloufer's pictures

DECCAN CHRONICLE | S A ISHAQUI

Published Jan 12, 2016, 5:02 am IST

Updated Jan 12, 2016, 3:57 pm IST

The controversy is between a passionate fan of the Princess and curator of the Mahatma Gandhi Digital Museum in Langer Houz in the city.

 Princess Niloufer

Hyderabad: The rights to a rare collection of photographs of Princess Niloufer have become contentious on her 100th birth anniversary.
The controversy is between Mr Arvind Acharya, a passionate fan of the Princess, and Mr Birad Rajaram Yajnik, curator of the Mahatma Gandhi Digital Museum in Langer Houz in the city.
Mr Acharya and Mr Yajnik have slapped legal notices on each other, claiming rights over the images.
Read: Photos displayed were not original: Acharya
An exhibition of Princess Niloufer’s photographs was inaugurated at Hotel ITC Kakatiya in the city on January 3 to mark her 100th birth anniversary, with the title, ‘No more Rafats will die’. The exhibition shifted to Salarjung Museum on Monday.

Andhra Pradesh cops’ ability to control cockfights still doubtful

DECCAN CHRONICLE | S.A. ISHAQUI

Published Jan 10, 2016, 2:22 am IST

Updated Jan 11, 2016, 7:16 am IST

AP police assured HC that they will make stringent efforts to check cockfights.

 Organisers carried on with the game last year, claiming that by the time the SC ordered the status quo cockfights had already begun. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: A big question mark looms over how successful the AP police will be in controlling cockfights during Sankranti in the backdrop of organisers being firm on going ahead despite HC and Supreme Court rulings.
The AP police has assured the High Court that they will make stringent efforts to check cockfights with betting, sale of illicit liquor, gambling and subjecting animals and birds to cruelty during Sankranti.
Last year Eluru resident Narahari Jagdish Kumar moved the HC seeking a direction to the police to implement the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960 and AP Gaming Act against organisers of cockfights.
The court disposed of the petition following an undertaking from the district SP that he had instructed the force to take action.
Later, BJP leader K. Raghu Rama Krishna Raju preferred an appeal in the SC against the HC order contending that cockfighting is a traditional game and it is part of local culture. While sending the case back to the HC on January 12, 2015, it directed the authorities to maintain status quo. Organisers carried on with the game last year, claiming that by the time the SC ordered the status quo cockfights had already begun and so they could go on.
Following this interpretation, the police in many places remained mute spectators and betting on cockfights touched Rs 200 crore according to unofficial estimates.
In the recent round of litigation, the High Court did not pass any fresh order while recording the assurance of the police that steps would be taken to prohibit the blood sport.
High Court advocate N. Sreedhar Reddy said the Supreme Court had ordered the Animal Welfare Board of India and state governments to protect the “five freedoms” of animals — from hunger and thirst; from discomfort; from pain, injury and disease; from fear and distress and to express normal behaviour.

Asaduddin Owaisi slams ISIS after two threats from rebel outfit

DECCAN CHRONICLE | S.A. ISHAQUI

Published Jan 7, 2016, 1:21 am IST

Updated Feb 23, 2016, 2:43 pm IST

Tweets came from the Twitter handle @abotalout on the wall of Owaisi.

 MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi (Photo: PTI/File)

Hyderabad: AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi was cautioned on Twitter on Wednesday stating, “It’s better for you to shut your mouth on Islamic State if you don’t know the truth, Islamic State will invade India soon.”

Two Tweets including the above came from the Twitter handle @abotalout on the wall of Mr Owaisi. 

 

Owaisi dubs ISIS ‘Takfiri’

The second suspected ISIS tweet aimed at MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi read: “Your Disgrace for Muslims of India. Opposing Islamic state will lead you to hell only repent before end.”

 

Replying to the tweets, Mr Owaisi wrote: “Sir you are a bloody Takfiri, if you want to debate on Evil ISIS I am ready you will not be able to counter my Theological Points.”

 

“You can dream so keep dreaming Takfiri read book on ISIS will bring y out of Darkness of ISIS Allah give Taufeeq,” he tweeted.

 

“Takfiri” is a Sunni Muslim who accuses another Muslim (or an adherent of another Abrahamic faith) of apostasy.

 

When contacted, Mr Owaisi said, “It is for the Almighty to decide who goes to heaven or hell. These IS murderers have no right to decide my final destination.”

 

He said Muslim scholars had declared ISIS as “Khawrij” (rebels of Islam) and they had no right to speak about Islam.

 

He added that there was no need to lodge a police complaint as the Tweets seemed to purely ideological and he perceived no cautions or warnings in them.

 

When asked about the tweets, a Telangana state intelligence official told this newspaper said that they had not received any complaint from Mr Owaisi.

 

He added that the tweet could be a reaction to Mr Owaisi strident anti-ISIS stand. “We were expecting threats to Mr Owaisi from ISIS,” the intelligence officer said.

 

Hyderabad HC ruling allows Roja’s return to AP Assembly

Old rules may block ban on highway liquor shops in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

DECCAN CHRONICLE | S.A. ISHAQUI

Published Jan 3, 2016, 8:07 am IST

Updated Jan 10, 2016, 8:38 am IST

AP and Telangana, came forward to implement the ban of liquor.

 Representational Image

Hyderabad: The prevailing rules of Excise in AP and Telangana will become an obstacle to ban sale of liquor on national or state highways that pass within the limits of a municipal corporation, municipality or the gouthan in any village or panchayat area.

While announcing the Telangana New Excise Policy 2015-2017 in September 2015, the Telangana government had declared that licences would be issued in accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Excise (Lease of Right of Selling by Shop and Conditions of Licence) Rules 2012.

The erstwhile AP government had allowed national and state highways which pass within the limits of a municipal corporation, municipality or the gouthan of any village or panchayat area to have liquor outlets and bars. The same rules were adopted by the newly formed state of Telangana.

A three-member committee headed by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, former judge of the Supreme Court, had recommended a ban on sale of liquor on highways and the apex court had asked all states to follow the recommendations. Several states across the country, including AP and Telangana, also came forward to implement the ban of liquor sale on highways.

The committee recommended a “ban on sale of alcohol on state and national highways and removal of hoardings and objects that obstruct driving”.

Rule change must for ban

Legal experts and even the Hyderabad High Court have categorically stated that ban on sale of liquor on highways cannot be enforced without amending the rules.

The Hyderabad High Court in a recent case had orally pointed out that as long as the rules that allowed sale of liquor on national and state highways that pass through settlements were not changed, the authorities could not enforce the ban on sale of liquor on highways. Mr Krishnam Raju, a resident of Gadwal town, had moved the High Court challenging an order passed by the Excise superintendent refusing his application to grant licence for a bar on grounds  it was located within 100m from the state highway.

He had brought to the notice of the court that as per the existing rules, the authorities cannot refuse his application. Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, while accepting the petitioner’s contention, asked  authorities “to consider his application”.The Telangana excise commissioner   effected a liquor ban on 100-metres off highways.