From The Newsroom: CM Ashok Gehlot government wins vote of confidence in Rajasthan Assembly

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, Supreme Court holds Prashant Bhushan guilty in criminal contempt case; Ashok Gehlot government wins confidence vote in Rajasthan Assembly and Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said “political differences within the Congress” and “the larger conspiracy of the Social Democratic Party of India” had a role to play in the rioting

Here are the top news of today, Friday: August 14, 2020:

The Supreme Court on Friday held activist-advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty in Suo Motu criminal contempt case initiated against him for his tweets.

Holding that his tweets tend to shake public confidence in the judiciary, a three-judge bench, presided over by Justice Arun Mishra fixed August 20 as the date of hearing him on the quantum of sentence, which may go up to maximum jail term of six months.

The bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai and Krishna Murari, said if an attack is made to shake the confidence that the public at large has in the institution of the judiciary, such an attack has to be dealt with firmly. "An attempt to shake the very foundation of constitutional democracy has to be dealt with an iron hand. The tweet has the effect of destabilising the very foundation of this important pillar of the Indian democracy," the bench said, in 108 judgement authored by Justice Mishra.

The advocate, who was issued the notice on July 22 for his two tweets on June 27 and 29 against the judiciary, had tried to explain that the tweets reflected his anguish and were bonafide criticism of the court.

The bench, however, said making scurrilous allegations, which are malicious in nature and have the tendency to scandalise the court was not expected from a person, who is a lawyer of 30 years standing.

"He has made such a false, scandalous and malicious statement having himself availed the right of access to justice during the said period, not only as a lawyer but also as a litigant," the bench said.

The court reminded Bhushan that he himself was granted protection from arrest in a criminal case lodged in Rajkot during the period of lockdown on May 1.

Since March 23 till August 4, various benches had 879 sittings to hear the matters through video conferencing. It heard 12748 matters and dealt with 686 writ petitions during the period of lockdown.

After the cognisance of the matter was taken, micro-blogging site Twitter had disabled the tweets, which the court said, reached millions of people.

Mahek Maheshwari, a Gwalior-based lawyer, had filed a contempt petition against Bhushan which was converted into Suo Motu criminal contempt.

The preliminary results of Phase I clinical trials of indigenously developed Covaxin suggest that it safe, Economic Times reported, quoting principal investigators conducting the trials.

The human trial of BBV152 Covid-19 vaccine or Covaxin is being tested on 375 volunteers enrolled at 12 different sites across the country. Two doses of the vaccine are being administered to each volunteer, according to the report.

Principal investigator, Savita Verma, who is leading the trial at PGI, Rohtak, told the publication, “The vaccine is safe. We have not observed any adverse events in any of the volunteers at our site.”

Ashok Gehlot government wins confidence vote in Rajasthan Assembly.

Hitting out at the Opposition over its criticism of the recent political developments in Rajasthan, former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Friday described himself as the strongest warrior of the Congress and said he would protect his party at all costs.

Pilot, who has returned to the Congress fold after a month-long rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, made the remarks during the debate on a motion of confidence moved by the ruling party in the Rajasthan Assembly.

During the debate, Deputy Leader of the Opposition Rajendra Rathore mentioned Pilot's name in various matters, including the recent political developments in the state and a Special Operations Group (SOG) notice issued to him.

The notice was sent to Pilot after the Rajasthan Police claimed to have stumbled upon a plot to topple the Congress government.

"They are taking my name repeatedly. Prior to my seat being changed, I was safe and part of the government. Then I thought why our Speaker and chief whip have given me a seat here? I thought for two minutes and then saw that this is a border.

Over 4,000 people including diplomats, officials and media personnel have been invited for the Independence Day ceremony at the Red Fort and it is being organised maintaining a balance between the dignity of the event and factoring in Covid-19 protocols, the defence ministry said on Friday.

It said the seating arrangement has been made under the guiding principle of “Do Gaz ki Doori” (maintaining distance of two yards) between any two guests.

It said members of the guard of honour have been under quarantine.

"With an eye on safety, NCC (National Cadet Corps) cadets have been invited to witness the event (instead of young school children) and they will be seated at Gyanpath," it noted.

All invitees have been requested to wear masks, it said, adding that an adequate number of masks are being kept handy for distribution at various points of venue.

"Similarly, the availability of hand sanitizers at pre-defined locations has been done. Display boards are placed discreetly to attract the attention of invitees," the ministry said.

In order to facilitate people's seamless movement and to avoid crowding, seating enclosures and walkways have been laid with wooden flooring and carpeting, it said.

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said, “political differences within the Congress” and “the larger conspiracy of the Social Democratic Party of India” had a role to play in the rioting that took place in east Bengaluru earlier this week.

Bommai was speaking to reporters after briefing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on the latest in the police investigation into the riots in KG Halli, DJ Halli and Kaval Byrasandra.

“What we’ve learnt so far is that political differences within the Congress, its differences with the SDPI, the SDPI’s own larger conspiracy to disrupt law and order, whatever transpired during the previous election (2018) and the upcoming elections ...

A total of 206 people have been arrested in connection with the riots, the minister said.

During the violence, Congress’ Pulakeshinagar MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy’s house was attacked. Murthy was with the JD(S) until he switched to the Congress just before the 2018 assembly election. He won from the Congress’ ticket.

A team of sleuths from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) and East division police have arrested 60 more persons in the DJ Halli and KG Halli riot case in the wee hours of Friday. The officials nabbed the culprits in a midnight operation, according to the police.

Khaleem Pasha, husband of BBMP Corporator from Nagavara (Ward#23) Irshaad Begum, is one among the accused. Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) said, "We have arrested 60 more till now. The total arrests in the riots has gone up to 206. The interrogation of the accused is on."

According to the police, Khaleem Pasha had come near the police station on Tuesday evening even before the violence started. He is accused of instigating people to resort to violence. When the mob started pelting stones at the police station, Pasha left the spot. Pasha later returned to the police station in the midnight and acted innocent. “He also tried to help the police in identifying few people involved in the riot,” said a senior police officer. He is also close to Congress party leaders and was taking part in events attended by a few of the Congress MLAs.

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