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Delhi PWD minister Parvesh Verma on Thursday said that a probe will be conducted into why CCTV cameras were not installed in eight constituencies represented by BJP MLAs during the previous AAP government. Speaking in the Delhi Assembly, Verma said CCTV cameras will be installed on priority in the eight constituencies. BJP had eight seats and the AAP had 62 seats in the last assembly. Raising the issue in the House, BJP's Vishwas Nagar MLA OP Sharma said not even one CCTV camera was installed in his constituency during previous AAP government. He demanded a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) probe in the matter. Some other BJP MLAs who were in the opposition in previous assembly also raised the matter, alleging "stepmotherly" treatment by then AAP government. Laxmi Nagar MLA Abhay Verma said BJP MLAs even approached the high court on the matter. Despite a court order and recommendation by the chief secretary, nothing happened, he said. Speaker of the Assembly Vijender Gupta said t
Delhi Police Sunday launched an investigation into the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station that killed at least 18 people, saying it will analyse CCTV footage to determine what transpired before the chaos erupted, sources said. "Our main target is to investigate the main cause which caused the stampede. We will collect all data of CCTV footage and announcements done during that time," a police source said. The source said a wrong announcement about change of platforms may have caused a confusion and led to the stampede. The stampede was preceded by a swell in crowd of passengers waiting to board trains for Prayagraj -- where the Maha Kumbh is underway -- on platform number 14 and 15 of the station. Acting Delhi Chief Minister Atishi earlier told reporters that 15 people had been brought dead at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital of central Delhi. There were 14 women among the deceased. Five of the total casualties were minors -- two of them below 10. Almost 15 people are injure
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday defended the recent amendment to election rules restricting CCTV footage of polling booths from public inspection, saying it is meant to protect voters' privacy and prevent use of data for creating fake narratives. Based on Election Commission's recommendation, the government had last month tweaked an election rule to prevent public inspection of certain electronic documents such as CCTV camera footage of polling stations to prevent misuse. In his first remarks on tweak of Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, Kumar said only sharing of CCTV footage from inside and outside polling booths have been restricted. Addressing a press conference here to announce the schedule for Delhi Assembly polls, he said such data or footage was banned for public inspection through EC's instructions in 2024. He said certain other documents which are allowed under Rule 93 of the Conduct of Election Rules will continue to be available. Some documents which
The Bombay High Court has granted bail to 14 Muslim men arrested for their alleged involvement in the communal violence in Mira Road on the eve of the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, noting that their further detention appeared "tenuous". A single bench of Justice N J Jamadar on Monday noted that prima facie, it cannot be inferred that there was a premeditated conspiracy to assault people part of the convoy taken out to celebrate the temple consecration ceremony in January this year. The bench also highlighted that no CCTV footage showed the accused persons assaulting the complainant or anyone else. The court said the probe in the case was complete, and since the accused have roots in the society, the possibility of fleeing from justice was remote. The bench also took note of the fact that the accused have been in custody since January, and it appears extremely unlikely that the trial will be concluded soon. Hence, further detention would be unwarranted. The accused, bo
China starting next year will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world's major economies. The extension was considered long overdue in a country facing a shrinking population and an aging work force. The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and 55 and 58 years for women depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men, and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women in white-collar jobs. The policy will be implemented starting in January next year, according to the announcement from China's legislature reported by state broadcaster CCTV. We have more people coming into the retirement age, and so the pension fund is (facing) high pressure, that's why I think it's now time to act seriously, said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia who studies China's population and its ties to the economy. The change will take effect
The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to respond to a plea filed by an education officer from Thane district seeking a stay on his suspension following the alleged sexual abuse of two girls at a school in Badlapur. The officer, Balasaheb Rakshe, urged the high court to stay the suspension order pending a final hearing of his petition before the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT), which refused him interim relief on August 26. He requested the high court to restrain the state government from appointing any other officer in the post. Rakshe moved the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on his suspension order, claiming the government order was "politically motivated" and he had been made a "scapegoat". A division bench of Justices A S Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil directed the government to file an affidavit by September 6 when it would hear the plea. Rakshe's advocate, S B Talekar, sought the court to order a status quo until then, but the court said
After seven hours of rescue efforts, the NDRF has ended its search at the coaching centre in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area where three civil services aspirants died last night when the basement of the building was flooded following heavy rains, officials said on Sunday. Students held a protest and raised slogans against authorities outside the coaching centre over the deaths in the basement, which according to preliminary probe houses a library. Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) M Harsha Vardhan said, "NDRF's search operation has ended and three bodies have been recovered. NDRF's rescue operation went on for around seven hours." Police is looking at CCTV footage to understand the sequence of events, the DCP said. The bodies of two female students and a male student were retrieved from the site during the rescue operation by the NDRF, local police and fire department. Police is yet to reveal the names of the victims. According to the Delhi Fire Department (DFS), a call ab
Maharashtra Minister Shambhuraj Desai on Tuesday said the government will seek a report from the Jalna police regarding claims that Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange's village was under drone surveillance. If needed, the activist's security will be upgraded, the minister said in the assembly while responding to the concerns raised by the Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar. Wadettiwar alleged that Jarange's Antarwali Sarati was under drone surveillance and the government must provide security to him. Raising the issue in the assembly, Waddetiwar claimed that the activist's life may be in danger. Antarwali Sarati has become the epicentre for protests for reservations for the Maratha community in government jobs and education. "Everyone has a right to protest, and if the village is under drone surveillance, it is not good. Villagers are scared," the Congress leader claimed. Desai said the government will seek a report from the Jalna superintendent of
Amid the raging controversies involving alleged irregularities in NEET, NET exams, the country's premier recruitment body UPSC has decided to use facial recognition and Artificial Intelligence-based CCTV surveillance system to prevent cheating and impersonation in its various tests. It has recently floated a tender to invite bids from experienced public sector undertakings to devise two tech solutions -- "Aadhaar based fingerprint authentication (else digital fingerprint capturing) & facial recognition of candidates and QR code scanning of e-admit cards" and "Live AI-based CCTV surveillance service"-- to be used during the examination process. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), a Constitutional body, conducts 14 major exams -- including the prestigious civil services examination to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS) -- besides a number of recruitment tests, interviews every year for ...
For the first time in Telangana, all 24 liquor production points have been brought under CCTV surveillance to keep a check on the illegal flow of alcohol in the run-up to the May 13 Lok Sabha elections. Chief Electoral Office Vikas Raj said to prevent unwarranted liquor distribution during the elections, the state Excise Department is monitoring the sale of alcohol and will inform the Election Commission if there is a spike of more than 20 per cent in its production. The official said all the belt shops (unauthorised satellite shops) of liquor were shut down and the illegal network of distribution was stopped to a large extent. For the first time in Telangana state, 24 production points (for liquor--distilleries and breweries) all of them were brought under CCTV. And that was centrally monitored by the Commissioner's office and I (CEO) also have access to that. The outlets were brought under CCTV surveillance in September 2023 (ahead of state assembly polls). From then onwards we .
A local court has directed to preserve CCTV camera footage on a plea filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, seeking the removal of a Delhi Police officer deployed for security in the court for alleged misconduct. "Application has been filed on behalf of the accused (Kejriwal) stating that the security staff/in-charge responsible for bringing him for production before the court, namely ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) AK Singh, is unnecessarily harsh and mishandled the people around the courtroom," Special Judge Kaveri Baweja noted. The application was filed by Kejriwal on Friday, along with his submissions opposing the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea for his custody. The court, however, remanded him in ED custody till March 28 in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. It further noted that, according to the plea, while producing co-accused Manish Sisodia in the case, a written complaint was filed against the officer. Kejriwal sought the court's directions to remov