Top stories on 26 September in a capsule
Supreme Court Verdict on Aadhaar: BJP-Cong claim equal success
As the Supreme Court on Wednesday dissolved various powers of the unique identification number, Aadhaar but upheld its validity in a 4:1 verdict in the five-judge bench, political parties jumped to action. Holding a press conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, along with IT and Law Minister RS Prasad hailed the judgment calling it a ‘historic’ one and that it complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-poor governance. Meanwhile, the Congress called the order a ‘slap on the face of BJP’ with party President Rahul Gandhi and senior leaders such as Kapil Sibal terming it a ‘success’ for them. Thanking the top court, Gandhi took to micro blogging site and said ‘for Congress, Aadhaar was an instrument of empowerment while for the BJP, it is a tool of oppression and surveillance.’
____________________Five killed after three-storey building collapses in Delhi
In an unfortunate incident in the national capital, at least five were dead after a three storey building crashed at Delhi’s Ashok Vihar area during the morning hours on Wednesday. Among the deceased were a woman, identified as Munni and two brothers aged around ten years along with a boy and his sister aged below five years old. Speaking to media agencies, North Delhi Municipal Corporation official said, “the building was about 20 years old and its structure foundation was weak and in a deteriorating condition.” The National Disaster Relief Force (NRDF) and disaster relief teams conducted evacuations and rescued around 10 people.
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In a new controversy for Congress party, the Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday lodged an FIR against the party’s IT department head Divya Spandana for mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi on microblogging site Twitter. The actress turned politician was booked on sedition charges under section 124-A of the IPC and Section-67 of the IT Act. On September 24, Spandana uploaded a digitally tweaked photo of the Prime Minister showing him painting the word Chor on his own wax statue in relation to the Rafale deal controversy. The complaint against the Congress leader was filed by Lucknow based activist and lawyer Syed Rizwan Ahmad claiming that the 'tweet insults the Prime Minister.'
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed live streaming of court processions for better accountability and transparency in judicial system. Giving the outstanding statement, that "Sunlight is the best disinfectant", the top court observed that being a ‘pilot project’ they want to see how it goes. “We are not ruling out anything and will improve with time. We cannot have everything together,” the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said. The order was passed after the plea of a National Law University student, Swapnil Tripathi. Senior advocate, Indira Jaising who had also filed a petition over the same, welcomed the judgment calling it the ‘biggest judicial reform of the century.’
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UP Police books Spandana for derogatory tweet on PM Modi
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Supreme Court permits live streaming in court proceedings
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West Bengal takes a toll as BJP observes statewide bandh
Public life was hit in the state of West Bengal as a 10-hour statewide bandh was observed by the BJP over the killing of two students in the September 20 incident during a clash with police forces. While shops remained shut, trains and bus services were affected as members of the BJP and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) blocked significant routes. The BJP, however, called off the bandh two hours before the scheduled 12-hour observation, calling it the most peaceful protest in the history of the state. "As the bandh has been successful, so we have decided to call it off two hours ahead of the scheduled time,” BJP state chief Dilip Gosh told media agencies.
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