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Death penalty to two for rape and murder

     Guwahati: The district and sessions court of Kamrup today awarded death sentence to two persons found guilty of raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl. The rape case dates back to July 13, 2002, when Bishnu Prasad Sinha (60) and Putul Bora (28) had raped and murdered eight-year- old Barnali Deb from Tripura. The rape took place when the victim along with her parents was travelling from Agartala of Dimapur in Nagaland. The incident sparked widespread public protests all over the state. Later, police had arrested four persons in connection with the incident. Two of those arrested, Roma Hazarika and Krishna Hazarika, were later released due to lack of evidence. After examining a total of 28 witnesses during 18 hearings since March 26, 2003, the district and sessions judge of Kamrup D K Debroy today read out a 46-page judgement in a packed courtroom here awarding death sentence to both the accused.

Parliament starts working, sans protests (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Parliament resumed functioning on Wednesday after almost a week's recess. Both Houses functioned normally as the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) opted not to protest or troop into the Well of the House over the political impasse in the states of Goa and Jharkhand. The opposition move followed an NDA decision that Parliament should debate the motion of thanks to the President's address. The NDA session this morning was chaired by Leader of Opposition LK Advani. Economic and Budget issues concerning people of the country should be debated in Parliament, BJP Parliamentary Party Spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters after the meeting. Malhotra said an NDA delegation led by its convenor, George Fernandes, would call on President A P J Abdul Kalam later in the day to express their concern over the ruling UPA's ''intention to twist'' the popular mandate in Jharkhand and Bihar. They will also seek protection to the MLAs attending the six-day Jharkhand Assembly session starting tomorrow. The NDA has demanded that former Speaker Inderjit Namdhari be made the Protem Speaker since he was the seniormost elected MLA in the present House, to oversee the trial of strength of the Shibu Soren Government.

Jharkhand Assembly to convene on March 11, not March 15 (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the floor test in the Jharkhand Assembly be held on March 11 instead of March 15 as scheduled. A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice R C Lahoti said the agenda in the Assembly on March 11 would be to have a floor test between the contesting political groups to see which of the two claimants - Shibu Soren and Arjun Munda - command majority in the House. It also warned that proceedings in the assembly should be peaceful and without disturbance. The Court said no Anglo-Indian member would be nominated till the floor test takes place. It also directed the protem speaker to report the outcome of the floor test faithfully to the court. It may be recalled that last week, President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam summoned the Governor of Jharkhand, Syed Sibte Razi to the Indian capital following his controversial decision to appoint JMM chief Shibu Soren as the state's chief minister. That decision led to vociferous protests by the opposition in Parliament and in the state, forcing the governor to prepone the floor test from March 23 to March 15. Meanwhile, the UPa on Tuesday night, tacitly admitted that it was keen to avoid a showdown in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly over the issue of who would be the speaker. The election of the speaker is slated for March 11.

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