From the Newsroom: Parliament passes J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill

In your evening news brief, Supreme Court says custodial violence is abhorrent and not acceptable in the civilised society; Rescue teams begin widening a hole drilled into an approach tunnel inside a choked tunnel of the NTPC's Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project and A bill to merge the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) cadre of all-India services officers passed.

Here is the top news of February 13, 2021:

A bill to merge the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) cadre of all-India services officers with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre was passed by Lok Sabha on Saturday by a voice vote.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has already been passed by Rajya Sabha.

The statutory resolution, opposing the ordinance which the bill has replaced, was rejected by the House. An amendment too was defeated by a voice vote.

The Supreme Court has said custodial violence is abhorrent and not acceptable in the civilised society, as the beating of a person in the police station is the concern for all and causes a sense of fear in the entire society.

"People go to the police station with the hope that their person and property will be protected by the police and injustice and offence committed on them shall be redressed and the guilty be punished," a bench presided over by Justice Ashok Bhushan and comprising Justice Ajay Rastogi said

Rescue teams on Saturday began widening a hole drilled into an approach tunnel on the way to the possible location of over 30 people trapped inside a sludge-choked tunnel of the NTPC's Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project after a flash flood ravaged the area on Sunday.

General Manager of the NTPC project, R P Ahirwal, told PTI. A hole with a diameter of one feet will help send in a camera to ascertain their location and a pipe to flush out accumulated water from the tunnel, Ahirwal said.