01-10-2022 The Asian Independent

12 01-10-2022 to 15-10-2022 NEWS
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
TN man sentenced to 40
years jail for sexual
exploitation of minor girl
Chennai : A
court in Tamil
Nadu's Dindigul
convicted a man for
sexually assaulting
a minor girl in 2016
and sentenced him
to 40 years rigorous
imprisonment.
It also handed
down a 10 year jail
sentence to his
woman accomplice.
The woman
police station in
Dindigul had registered
a case against
Vinoth, 32, and
Savitha, 37, on November 28, 2016, for sexually assaulting
a minor girl in his neighbourhood.
The Dindigul woman court also fined Vinoth Rs 40,000
and Savitha Rs 10,000. The duo was charged under Sections
366 (kidnapping, abducting, or inducing woman to compel
her marriage) and 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in
confinement, kidnapped or abducted) of the Indian Penal
Code and Section 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative
sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.
Punjab Assembly passes
Bill to empower
Vigilance Commission
Chandigarh : Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann
on Friday moved the Punjab State Vigilance Commission
(Repeal) Bill, 2022, that was passed unanimously.
Moving a resolution to this regard, Mann said that the
main function of the Punjab State Vigilance Commission
is to enquire or cause enquires into complaints alleging
commission of offences by a public servant under the
Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, Prevention of
Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
He said the commission is also empowered to exercise
superintendence and control over the functioning of the
Vigilance Bureau and police establishment in so far it
relates to corruption cases
Mann said the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Act
2020, which was supposed to be enacted on the lines of
the Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003, suffers from
serious deviations.
The Chief Minister said the Vigilance Commission
constituted under this Act is, therefore, not serving any
useful objectives except being a burden on the state
exchequer. He said as there are multiple agencies in the
state to deal with same set stakeholders, including fullfledged
Vigilance Department.
Therefore, Mann said to avoid overlapping, contradictory
findings, resultant delays and gaps in communication,
it has become necessary to repeal the Punjab State
Vigilance Commission Act 2020.
Victory shines over Sharifs as
court overturns Maryam Nawaz's
conviction in corruption case
Islamabad : In a massive shift of
tides in Pakistan's political turmoil, the
Islamabad High Court (IHC) has overturned
the June 2018 decision of the
Accountability Court against former
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter
Maryam Nawaz and her husband
Capt (retd) Safdar Awan in the
Avenfield Apartments corruption case.
After almost five years, the Sharif
family is celebrating victory against
what they term as their legal battle
against Imran Khan and his influenced
accountability process, that started targeting
them in the Panama Gate case.
As per the latest order of the
Islamabad High Court (IHC), Maryam
and her husband stands clear of all
allegations and convictions in the case.
The decision came after the National
Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor
failed to satisfy the court with the
presented evidence, which led to the
conviction of the Sharif family.
It was the same case that led to sentencing
of Nawaz Sharif to at least 10
years in jail, nine years for Maryam
Nawaz and one year for Safdar on
charges of being found guilty in corruption
charges, concealing evidence
and non-cooperation with NAB in
establishing or countering its claims.
NAB has contested that Avenfield
apartments were bought in 1993, for
which, Nawaz Sharif paid the property's
payment and Maryam Nawaz was
the beneficial owner of the property.
The Bureau maintained that the former
Prime Minister did not declare
these properties that he had bought
New Delhi : Aiming to bolster its
international footprint, Air India on
Friday announced 20 additional flights
every week to Birmingham and
London in the UK and San Francisco in
the US.
This is part of the flag carrier's ongoing
endeavour to reclaim its position as
a leader on the international aviation
map.
The additional flights will be introduced
in a phased manner from
October to December.
With five additional flights a week
to Birmingham, nine to London and six
to San Francisco, Air India will be able
to offer over 5,000 additional seats
every week to customers and ensure
ample choice in terms of connectivity,
convenience, and cabin space.
Air India's current schedule of 34
flights every week to the UK will now
go up to 48 flights. Birmingham will
receive an extra five flights per week,
three from Delhi and two additional
from Amritsar. London will receive
while he held office.
However, PML-N supremo maintained
that he had no connection to the
apartments buying process as the companies
owned by his son Hassan
Nawaz bought them in 2006.
The case was filed in the Supreme
Court by former premier Imran Khan
during October 2016, in which he
sought disqualification of Nawaz
Sharif, claiming that the London properties
were owned by the latter but
were not declared in his assets.
The case was later investigated by a
Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in 2018
after Khan won the general elections
and took power.
The JIT team probed into the matter
and shared its opinion that the properties
were owned by Nawaz Sharif and
Maryam Nawaz. The matter revealed
many concerns with a trust deed under
the famous Calibri font, which Khan
claimed was used to write a fake deed,
back-dated of February 2006, when the
nine additional weekly flights, of
which, five are from Mumbai, three
from Delhi and one from Ahmedabad.
Altogether, seven Indian cities will
now have non-stop Air India flights to
the UK's capital.
Flights from India to the US will
increase from 34 to 40 per week.
Air India will now connect Mumbai
with San Francisco with a thrice weekly
service, and reinstate a three-timesweekly
Bengaluru operation. This
takes Air India's San Francisco offering
from 10 to 16 weekly, with non-stop
service from Delhi, Mumbai and
font was not open for commercial use.
However, this claim was refuted by
Lucas De Groot, the founder of the
Calibri font, who clarified that it was
not available commercially but its
downloadable version was available,
which was used by most "tech geeks".
While many such pointers were
raised during the course of time of the
investigation and authenticity of various
documents were being verified.
One big twist into the case was related
to the political maneuvering during the
2018 elections, when a sitting judge of
the IHC claimed that he was directed
by the military establishment to make
sure that Nawaz Sharif and his daughter
are kept behind bars till the elections
are over.
Justice Shaukat Aziz revealed these
details during a session of the bar council
where he claimed that he was pressurized
to give a verdict into the case
negating the merits of the case.
A similar leak was also released of a
telephonic conversation between the
then sitting Chief Justice of Pakistan
(CJP) saying clearly that he has been
asked to make sure that Sharif family is
kept behind bars despite not meriting to
any conviction. The reason he gave in
the leaked conversation that he has
been told that Khan has to be brought
into power.
But with the latest development, the
PML-N is making a big comeback into
the political completion in Pakistan
and it seems that, the same path will be
used to ensure the victorious return of
Nawaz Sharif also.
Air India announces 20
additional flights to UK, US
Bengaluru.
Commenting on the development,
Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air
India, said: "As Air India reinvents
itself under the Vihaan.AI transformation
programme, adding frequency and
improving connectivity from major
Indian cities to more international destinations
is a significant focus.
"This sizeable frequency increase to
the US and the UK, as well as the addition
of new city pairs and improved aircraft
cabin interiors, comes just 10
months after Air India's acquisition by
the Tata Group. It is a clear signal of
our intent, and an early step towards a
much bigger aspiration."
In addition to leasing new aircraft,
Air India has been working to restore
existing narrow-body and wide-body
aircraft to the operating fleet.
Prior to the expansion described
above, the airline has already enabled
frequency increases between Delhi and
Vancouver, as well as the addition of
numerous domestic services.