Silchar Daily丨 News 丨28 December
1.Triple talaq Bill gets LS nod,faces RS hurdle
NEW DELHI;
The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the revised Bill making
the Muslim practice of instant triple talaq illegal and a punitive offence
after a heated debate as Opposition members, who expressed their reservation against the
proposed law and
demanded it be sent to a joint Select committee walked out.In his reply
to the debate, Law Minister Ran Shankar Prasad who introduced the Muslim Women
(Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill. 2018 in the House earlier in the day,
rejected the: Opposition's demand. for referring it to 3 select committee. "Opposition's demand for joint
select committee has possibly only one reason,‘why it is criminalised?’ When Parliament
has passed Bills calling for harsh punishment for other crimes, then why no one
said what will happen to families of culprits' he said, adding that the Supreme
court had termed the practice both Unislamic and unconstitutional Stressing
the Bill was not aimed at victimising any community he said that it had enough
safeguards to prevent its misuse.
As the House
took up the Bill for passage, most of the Opposition members, including the
Congress and the AIADMK, walked out. The Bill was passed after amendments moved by N.K. Pnimachandran
of the Revolutionary Socialist Party,the All
India Majlis-lttehad MusIimeen’s Asaduddin
Owaisi and
the Biju Janata Dal's Bhartruhari Mahtab were rejected.
Earlier,
Prasad had said that the law was not against any community or religion, but for
“the rights of woman and. about justice". He said the government works
with “an open mind", does not have any bias and has addressed many of the
concerns raised earlier with regard to the new Bill,Citing how 20 Islamic nations
had banned the practice of instant triple divorce, he asked why a secular nation like India could not follow
suit and appealed the Issue not be seen through the “prism of politics”.
Congress
leader Mallikarjun had earlier expressed his party's willingness to debate the
Issue but demanded that the Bill be sent to a select committee of the both the
houses for greater scrutiny as several provisions were “unconstitutional".
The AIADMK, the Trinamool Congress, the Majiis-e-Iltehad Muslimeen and the
Nationalist Congress
Party also made similar demands.Speaker
Sumitra Mahajan. however, said an earlier Bill on triple taflaq was discussed
and passed, by the house and members could flag Issues during the debate. She
said all of a sudden a demand cannot be made to sent it to a committee.
2. Action taken against foster parents: Maneka.
NEW DELHI:
Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has asked Assam Chief
Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to immediately take action against foster parents involved in the alleged sexual
abuse of a girl under their care.
A
13-year-old girl was given for foster care to a couple in Silchar in Cachar
district of Assam on May 9 by child care institution Nivedita Nari Sangstha
(NNS). During the follow-up visit of the NNS officials, the girl complained of not being comfortable with her foster
parents.
Gandhi said.After three
months, the child was surrendered back into the child care institution and when
medical examination on the girl was conducted it was found that she was
sexually abused over a period of three months by the male parent, she said.The
NNS lodged a police complaint in September but no action has been taken so far.
Gandhi said in a letter to Sonowal.“Under the provisions of the Juvenile
Justice Act, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as
well as the IPC. the foster parents, the members of the child welfare committee
and the officers of the district child protection unit, who have handled this case, are
criminally liable,” she
said. Gandhi urged Sonowal to ensure that necessary action Is taken against the persons responsible for sexual abuse
of the child and they are brought to justice.
“In the WCD
Ministry, we follow the principle of zero tolerance to cases of child abuse and expect strictest possible action against
the perpetrators,” she added.
3.Burning Metro stuck in tunnel, 16 hospitalised PANIC SPREADS Railway authorities blamed for delayed rescue operations.
KOLKATA: A
fire reaching up from under the first coach of a Dum Dum-bound Metro train threw
passengers into panic on Thursday afternoon just after leaving the Maidan
station. At least 16 of them fell ill during the mad scramble to get out of the
burning train. All of them had to be taken to SSKM Hospital for primary care.
Passengers said calls to the police, fire department and Metro help lines went unanswered and assistance took at
least 45 minutes to arrive.Several desperate passengers smashed open the
windows and with guidance from the authorities groped and ambled their way out of the dark tunnel to reach
the platform. Many were seen gasping for breath after the while others wept and
thanked God for being still alive. All of them accused the Metro authorities for ‘callous
handling of the situation.
Sreyashi Ghosh. 42. was on board. “We suddenly saw smoke emanating from under
the rakes and railing on to other compartments as the train sped along. Everyone kept shouting, ‘run, run,
train is on fire’ as passengers from the first coach rushed to reach the rear coaches and get away from the fire. The
front compartments were filled up
with so much
smoke that people found
it difficult to breathe.”
The train
had just left Rabindra Sudan and was still 50 feet from Maidan station when the
train shuddered, screamed and came to a grinding halt. Passengers said there
was neither any public announcement nor any help for at least 15 minutes.
People wriggled out of the broken windows of the train, which by then was completely
dark, because the fire had damaged power supply unit They were led to the
platform by Metro, fire department and disaster management officials. Fire
minister Sujit Bose and Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar visited the spot. Metro spokes person Indrani Banerjee
said, “We took 16 people to hospital. Fourteen of whom were let off after
primary treatment. One passenger suffered a fracture. Another, with asthma was treated for three hours
and allowed to go home. We will look into the cause of the fire. We are happy
that everyone came out safely. We will also check
why there were no public announcements and why the authorities reacted
late."Director-General of Fire .JugMohan, said, "Metro officials along
with us took the situation under control. We suspect the mechanical box under
the first rake that supplies power had developed snags"
