A health workers collects swabs for Covid-19 tests in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)Delhi News Highlights: Delhi records 556 new Covid-19 cases, 6 deaths with a positivity rate of 1.10 per cent on Thursday. The national capital also saw 618 recoveries and currently has 2,276 active cases. Most of the Covid related curbs, including night curfew and 50 per cent seating capacity in restaurants and bars, are likely to be lifted by the DDMA which is scheduled to meet on Friday, officials said. According to an official notice, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal at 12.30 pm on Friday.
Meanwhile, principals of various schools on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss a plea seeking the cancellation of offline board examinations. They said not holding exams cannot become a norm even as a section of parents rued it will add to the stress of students already affected by the pandemic.
In other news, the New Delhi Municipal Council will redevelop roads into ‘smart’ ones that are aesthetically evolved and designed to ensure user convenience and experience without compromising with safety, officials said on Wednesday.
The national capital saw a three per cent dip in the murder cases in 2021 with filing of 472 cases as compared to the previous year's 459, official data said on Friday. The police said 1,050 people were arrested in 2021 for murder and the number was 1,015 in 2020.
According to the data, only nine per cent of all cases were related to criminal motives, while 30 per cent were related to ‘sudden provocation/trivial' issue.
Thirty-six per cent of all cases were related to enmity or dispute, 12 per cent were filed under crimes of ‘passion', three per cent were registered when unidentified bodies were recovered, and 10 per cent were related to matters not categorised, it said. A total of 521 murder cases were registered in 2019, the police said. (PTI)
Delhi records 556 new Covid-19 cases, 6 deaths with a positivity rate of 1.10 per cent on Thursday. The national capital also saw 618 recoveries and currently has 2,276 active cases.
Most of the Covid related curbs, including night curfew and 50 per cent seating capacity in restaurants and bars, are likely to be lifted by the DDMA which is scheduled to meet on Friday, officials said. According to an official notice, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal at 12.30 pm on Friday.
"Except for gatherings related to political, social, cultural and such other activities, the remaining restrictions are expected to be lifted as the Covid situation has improved significantly," a senior Delhi government official said.
The DDMA in its meeting earlier this month, allowed several relaxations, including the opening of schools and colleges and extended imposition of night curfew from 11 pm instead of 10 pm. With the fresh Covid cases and positivity rate declining sharply, demands have been raised from several quarters, including the traders and political parties, for lifting the remaining curbs. (PTI)
A 19-year-old class 12 student in Sector 3 Ballabhgarh allegedly killed herself consuming some poisonous substance tired of being harassed by a man, police here on Thursday said. The incident took place Wednesday, and the girl was declared brought dead at a hospital, police said.
An FIR has been registered against a man identified as Anand at Sector 8 Faridabad Police Station for harassing and stalking the girl. In her complaint, the mother of the deceased said Anand was the sole reason behind her daughter's suicide.
“My daughter was a class 12 student. She had earlier told me that a man Anand stalked and threatened her and pressurised her to become friends with him,” the mother wrote in her complaint, according to police.
“When I returned home on Wednesday I got to know that Anand had come to my house asking about my daughter. Around 8.00 PM, he came again, this time along with his brother Aakash, and asked why my daughter would not talk to him even when he was in love with her,” she said. (PTI)
Acting on an application filed by VD Savarkar’s biographer Vikram Sampath, the Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered Twitter to take down within 48 hours certain tweets of American historian Audrey Truschke, days after she and some other academics were barred by the court from publishing a letter accusing Sampath of plagiarism.
The court’s February 18 order that restrained Truschke, Ananya Chakrabarti and Rohit Chopra from further publication of their letter alleging plagiarism in Sampath’s two-volume biography of Savarkar had also barred them from posting anything defamatory against the Indian author on any platform, online or offline. (Read more)
The Delhi government Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it is in the process of appointing a Lokayukta in the national capital. The position has remained vacant since December 2020.
“On 10th February a meeting was convened with all statutory authorities and a name has been recommended,” the Delhi government’s standing counsel Santosh Tripathi submitted before the division bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh. (Read more)
In the wake of a recent building collapse, the authorities here have issued an order for structural audits of five more residential societies.
The order was issued by the Town and Country Planning Director of the state taking cognisance of the building collapse in Chintal Paradiso society, Sector 109, Gurugram, earlier in the month. The five societies up for audit are located in Sector 107, 108, 109, and 110-A.
The order was issued to Raheja Vedanta, Sector 108, Raheja Atharwa, Sector 109, Brisk Lumbini, Sector 109, M3M Woodshire, Sector 107, and Mahindra Aura, Sector 110-A.
“Keeping in view … the threat to the life of the residents, it has been decide to get the audit of structural stability, quality of construction, which includes use of materials in required ratio, quality of steel used and quality of other material used etc of the tower mentioned in the above colonies from IIT, Roorkee on urgent basis,” the order read. (PTI)
The Indian ambassador to Ukraine on Thursday called on Indians in that country to face the current situation with calm and fortitude. In a message to the Indians in Ukraine, Partha Satpathy said the situation is "highly tense and very uncertain" and it is causing a lot of anxiety.
The envoy said the Ministry of External Affairs and the embassy are working on a "mission mode" to find a "solution to this difficult situation". Currently 20,000 Indians, mostly students, are in Ukraine.
"I am reaching out to you from Kyiv. Today early morning, we all woke up with the news that Ukraine is under attack. The situation is highly tense and very uncertain and this of course is causing a lot of anxiety," he said.
"The air space is closed, railway schedules are in flux and roads are crammed. I would request everyone to stay calm and face the situation with fortitude," the envoy said. He said the Indian embassy in Kyiv continues to remain open and operate. (PTI)
For more LIVE updates from the conflict follow: Russia-Ukraine crisis Live
A day after a Delhi government school student alleged that she was asked to remove hijab by her teacher, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said no such restrictions have been imposed and the issue is being politicised by some people.
Addressing a press conference, Sisodia, who also holds the Education portfolio, said the AAP dispensation respects all traditions and students from all religions and castes are treated with dignity at its schools.
The comments by Sisodia came after a minor girl from a Delhi government school in Mustafabad alleged that she was asked to remove her headscarf at school. The girl made the allegation in a video which went viral on social media.
"Delhi schools have an excellent arrangement to teach students. Regarding this incident..attempts are being made to politicise the issue. In our schools, students of all religions and caste are treated with dignity. There are no restrictions from our side and their traditions are respected," Sisodia said in response to a question. (PTI)
The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that 4,850 cases have been taken up for investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the last 17 years and proceeds of crime of Rs 98,368 crore were identified and attached under the provision of the law.
The government told a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar that investigation in these offences was carried out under the PMLA, including 2,883 searches. The apex court is hearing arguments on a batch of pleas concerning the interpretation of certain provisions of the PMLA.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that investigation in 57 cases of terror and Naxal financing has resulted in the identification of proceeds of crime of Rs 1,249 crore and attachment of proceeds of crime of Rs 982 crore, that is 256 properties, and filing of 37 prosecution complaints and conviction of two terrorists under the PMLA. He said that out of the Rs 98,368 crore which were identified and attached, proceeds of crime of Rs 55,899 crore have been confirmed by the adjudicating authority.
“In addition to this, proceeds of crime of Rs 853.16 crore has already been confiscated to the Central government under the orders of the competent court,” Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar. (PTI)
Delhi witnessed 13 per cent rise in crime in 2021 as compared to the previous year, city police commissioner Rakesh Asthana said on Thursday, adding that the increase in the crime rate is because of less number of cases recorded during the pandemic in 2020.
Citing data, police said 3,06,389 crime cases were reported in 2021 as compared to 2,66,070 cases the previous year.
According to the data, 5,740 heinous crime cases were reported in 2021 as compared to 5,413 last year. In 2021, a total of 2,87,563 crime cases under 'other IPC sections' (theft, robbery, burglary), 2,93,303 cases under 'total IPC' (heinous and theft) and 13,086 cases under 'Local and Special Laws' (arms-related crime, NDPS) were registered. Nearly 70 per cent of crimes in 2021 were of burglary, robbery and theft, police said. (PTI)
The Delhi High Court Thursday refused to entertain an application challenging the maintainability of a petition which sought investigation against certain political leaders for allegedly delivering hate speeches which led to violence in February 2020 in the backdrop of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The court said it was not allowing the intervention application and also refused to keep it pending for future.
“We are telling you our decision, it is dismissed. You are not a necessary or a proper party. We do not propose to allow you to intervene. Don't try to turn it into a circus. We are not keeping it pending. Your client is a gate crasher,” a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani said.
The court was hearing an intervention application filed on behalf of a lawyer in a pending petition filed by Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq, seeking registration of FIR and investigation against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma and Abhay Verma.
Advocate Pavan Narang, representing the lawyer who filed the application, claimed that petitioner Farooq has no locus standi to file the petition as according to a Supreme Court judgement, PILs where the petitioners have not even gone to police should not be entertained, The counsel alleged that it was not a public interest litigation but a publicity infused litigation. (PTI)
Arvind Kejriwal knows that even those loudly cheering his promises on education, health, and free power at his rallies in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh must have one question playing on their minds.
So while winding up his speeches, the Delhi chief minister flashes a knowing smile, and spells it out: “Now, many people tell me that you make all big promises, but will you be able to form government in Uttar Pradesh?” (Read the full report by Sourav Roy Barman)
The National Progressive Schools' Conference (NPSC), which has over 120 private schools in Delhi as its members, has written to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal saying hybrid learning in schools is a hindrance in delivering quality education and sought unconditional reopening of schools at the earliest.
"The Covid contagion has drastically impacted students' skills and competencies in writing due to long period of school closure. Reading and writing are foundational skills in primary years of learning which sadly our students are being deprived of for the last two years. The need of the hour is to provide maximum opportunities for holistic development and school is the ideal place to forge this," Sudha Acharya, NPSC Chairperson, said in the letter.
"The choice of catering to both online mode and normal school is not only a hindrance in delivering quality education but has also overburdened the teaching fraternity. This is somehow compromising with our vision of making education inclusive, leaving no one behind," she added. (PTI)
The Kejriwal government on Thursday approved Delhi Film Policy, 2022 to promote the city as a hub of shooting and other production activities through subsidy up to Rs 3 crore and hosting of an international film festival.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said in a press conference that a Delhi Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also approved setting up of an e-waste management park in Delhi, the first in the country, on 20-acre land.
The new film policy will be inclusive in nature focussing on the development of the tourism sector, growth of the economy and job creation, he said.
Under the policy, a single-window e-film clearance portal will be readied bringing over 25 agencies on it for various permissions related to film production, within 15 days, Sisodia said. (PTI)
Delhi police has sent a proposal to LG's office, asking them to withdraw 17 cases, registered against the farmers last year on Republic day.
According to recently released crime data, the motive of murder cases was 36% due to enmity/dispute, 30% sudden provocation over trivial issue, 12% passion, 9% criminal motive, Delhi police commissioner Rakesh Asthana said on Thursday.
In 2021, a total of 3,06,389 cases were registered by the police. Nearly 70% of the cases were of burglary, theft and robbery. Over 5,740 heinous cases were registered last year. The arrests have gone up by 17%.
Talking about cybercrimes during Covid-19 second wave, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana said they registered 596 FIRs in two months and arrested more than 291 persons involved in cybercrimes,fraud, and harassment.
Asthana also said there's a 9% increase in crimes against senior citizens with a total of 41,113 such cases registered in 2021.