AAP complains against alleged sexual harrassment by Dr. Manoj Patel at Nanavati Hospital, Vile Parle
Writes letters to the Dean of Nanavati Hospital and Santacruz Police Station demanding immediate inquiry and action
The Aam Aadmi Party today submitted letters of complaint to the Dean of Nanavati hospital, Vile Parle, and the Santacruz Police Station, in response to reports of alleged sexual harassment by a doctor of Nanavati Hospital on 31st March 2022. Dr. Manoj Patel, a practitioner under General Medicine has allegedly molested a girl during what was a routine health check-up. What makes this incident even more appalling, is that when the victim rushed out of Dr. Manoj Patel’s ward and publically called out the doctor’s misbehaviour; the hospital staff acted as mere bystanders, and did nothing to support the victim.
“This is a condemnable offence of an extremely grave nature, and must be met with the strictest action against the perpetrator, if the allegations of misbehaviour are found to be true. We demand that the authorities take immediate cognizance of this incident, and initiate an inquiry. It is extremely important that the sanctity of the medical profession is maintained, and no such act is ever repeated.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
The Kerala High Court on Tuesday denied bail to the prime accused in the 2017 actress assault case in which actor Dileep is also an accused.
Justice P V Kunhikrishnan denied the relief to Sunil N S also known as ‘Pulsar Suni’, who is the main accused in the case.
The court dismissed his plea for regular bail, saying it cannot be granted at this stage.
The detailed order is not yet available.
The actress-victim, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress.
There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail.
Petrol prices in the national capital as well as most state capitals crossed Rs 100 a litre mark as its rates on Tuesday were hiked by 80 paise a litre and that of diesel by 70 paise, taking the total increase since last week to Rs 4.80 per litre.
Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 100.21 per litre against Rs 99.41 previously, while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 90.77 per litre to Rs 91.47, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state, depending upon the incidence of local taxation.
Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata already had petrol prices of over Rs 100 per litre, and most state capitals now have rates higher than that.
Petrol price in the national capital had last crossed Rs 100 a litre mark on July 7, 2021, and went on to touch an all-time high of Rs 110.04 before the Modi government on November 4 reduced excise duty on auto fuels. Most states matched that cut with a reduction in local sales tax or VAT.
Post that daily rate revisions were put on hold as elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, approached.
But, the cost of raw materials during this period climbed from USD 82 per barrel to close to USD 140 before retracting. It is around USD 112 per barrel on Tuesday.
This is the seventh increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22. On the first four occasions, prices were increased by 80 paise a litre – the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision was introduced in June 2017. On the following days, petrol price went up by 50 paise and 30 paise a litre, while diesel rose by 55 paise and 35 paise a litre.
In all, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by Rs 4.80 per litre – the steepest increase in any eight days since the daily price revision was implemented in June 2017.
In Mumbai, petrol comes for Rs 115.04 a litre, while in Chennai, it is priced at Rs 105.94 and in Kolkata at Rs 109.68.
Diesel is priced at Rs 99.25 a litre in Mumbai, Rs 96 in Chennai and Rs 94.62 in Kolkata.
Rajasthan’s Ganganagar district on the border with Pakistan has the costliest fuel in the country at Rs 117.14 per litre for petrol and Rs 99.96 for diesel.
Besides local taxes, rates are also dependent on freight.
Moody’s Investors Services last week stated that state retailers together lost around USD 2.25 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) in revenue for keeping petrol and diesel prices on hold during the election period.
Oil companies “will need to raise diesel prices by Rs 13.1-24.9 per litre and Rs 10.6-22.3 a litre on gasoline (petrol) at an underlying crude price of USD 100-120 per barrel,” according to Kotak Institutional Equities.
CRISIL Research said a Rs 9-12 per litre increase in retail price will be required for a full pass-through of an average USD 100 per barrel crude oil and Rs 15-20 a litre hike if the average crude oil price rises to USD 110-120.
India is 85 per cent dependent on imports for meeting its oil needs and so retail rates adjust accordingly to the global movement.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday embarked on a visit to China to attend a regional meeting on war-torn Afghanistan.
The third meeting of ‘Foreign Ministers of Neighbouring Countries of Afghanistan’ is being held on March 29 to 31, according to the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO). The meeting will be held in Tunxi, central China’s Anhui province.
“Besides attending the Neighbouring Countries Ministerial meeting, the Foreign Minister will interact with counterparts from participating countries,” said the FO.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to host a dialogue between the foreign ministers and the acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s interim government, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on the sidelines of the meeting.
Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Qatar have been invited to the meeting as “guests”.
Pakistan had initiated the ‘Neighbouring Countries’ format in September 2021 with a view to evolving a regional approach on the situation in Afghanistan after the hardline Taliban seized power in Kabul in August last year.
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has not been recognised by the international community amidst severe economic and humanitarian problems faced by the country.
Pakistan hosted the first meeting on September 8, 2021.
The FO said Pakistan fully supports a regional approach on Afghanistan for promoting durable peace and stability in the region.
Pakistan will continue to support the international community’s efforts to advance the shared objectives of a peaceful, stable, sovereign, prosperous and connected Afghanistan, said the FO.
Qureshi has been invited by State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang.
AAP Leader Preeti Sharma Menon wrote to the Honourable Chief Justice of India to draw his attention to the remarks made by Honourable Chief Justice of Bombay in PIL 401 of 2022.
The Aam Aadmi Party has been at the forefront of exposing blatant corruption amongst politicians, bureaucrats and senior police officers in the state of Maharashtra. With many scandals involving senior most police officials rocking the state, all concerned citizens have followed with interest PIL No 401 of 2022 filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the appointment of the highest police officer in the state, the Director General of Police (DGP), Maharashtra.
The AAP feels that this PIL is blatantly politically motivated and it is disturbing that the Bombay High Court has not only allowed an untenable case but has passed unwarranted remarks in the same.
Preeti Sharma Menon pointed out in her letter that the Honourable Courts of India have maintained that PILs in service matters are not maintainable, then how was this case allowed to progress? The Telangana High Court judgement has passed an explicit order to this effect, yet Bombay High Court has allowed this case to progress.
In fact it was surprising that the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court seemed to be in an inordinate rush to pass orders in this case within two days of hearing, without allowing the affected party, acting DGP Shri Sanjay Pandey to be heard or intervene until Mr. Pandey’s lawyer pressed for the same.
We are in a state of shock to read the remarks attributed to the Chief Justice in the last hearing. The media has reported that the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court said that Sanjay Pandey happens to be the blue-eyed officer of the State Government. He declared that ‘Once he is appointed as the DGP, he will not be in a position to discharge his duty… There would be a give and take. The state has gone out of its way to change his ratings… such an officer should never be appointed as DGP.”
We are truly appalled by these unprecedented, highly personal and seemingly unwarranted statements that seem to suggest that the Chief Justice is approaching the case with prejudice.
Firstly the remarks are erroneous because the state government has not shown any bias in favour of Shri Sanjay Pandey. On the contrary they were trying to bypass him and he had to publicly fight for the post which was rightfully his. The AAP too had made a statement on how that state government was being unfair to Sanjay Pandey by superseding him.
Secondly IPS Sanjay Pandey has a track record of being upright and unbiased and the Honourable Chief Justice has no proof to allege that there is any evidence of “give and take” in his entire career.
Preeti Sharma Menon wrote, “As a citizen of this country who has fought corruption and political nexuses, I urge you to please take cognizance of this strange case that is attacking the very foundations of bi-partisan standards upheld by all the courts of India. One cannot even begin to measure the impact it must have on the morale of our police force which has become a pawn of political interests.”
We hope that CJI takes cognizance of this unacceptable conduct and prevents Bombay High Court from becoming an arena for political rivalry at the cost of the safety and security of our state
As far as Ansal brothers are concerned, I am rejecting their application, said Justice Subramonium Prasad.
Last year, Ansals and former court staff Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others — P P Batra and Anoop Singh Karayat – were awarded seven-year jail term by a trial court and the sessions court had refused to suspend the sentence and release them on bail.
While dismissing the Ansals’ plea for suspension of sentence till the appeal against the conviction by magisterial court is decided, the sessions court had said that the case was one of the gravest of its kind and the offence appeared to be the outcome of a calculated design on the part of the convicts to interfere with the course of justice.
Before the high court, the Ansal brother had sought suspension of sentence on several grounds including their old age.
The plea was opposed by the Delhi Police and Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).
The tampering was detected for the first time on July 20, 2002, and when it was unearthed, a departmental enquiry was initiated against Sharma and he was suspended.
Later an inquiry was conducted and he was terminated from services on June 25, 2004.
The magisterial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 2.25 crore each on the Ansals apart from imposing a seven-year-term in the case.
The case was lodged on the direction of the Delhi High Court while hearing a petition by AVUT chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy.
AAP Calls BMC Commissioner’s claims of proposed polyclinics with Mohalla clinics as comparison of apples and organges; points out that Shiv Sena couldnt even get the basics right in 30 years.
The Aam Aadmi Party today asked BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal to fix Mumbai’s healthcare system beginning with primary healthcare and offerred to help BMC with the technical expertise, through the Delhi Govt. The party was reacting to Iqbal Chahal’s statement where he allegedly claimed to have studied the Delhi Model and had claimed that BMC polyclinics will be better than Delhi’s Mohalla clinics.
BMC has 187 public dispensaries, which are supposed to function as primary health centres. A vast majority of them are disfunctional due to poor infrastructure and flawed operations. The BMC hasn’t been able to fix something as basic as prmary health care, over the last 30 odd years.
Mumbai’s BMC hospital’s bed capacity has remained stagnant, despite a steep rise in population. For anything and everything, the poor are compelled to go to peripheral and tertiary hospitals, which leads to their capacity being overwhelmed and quality of service deteriorating.
“For the record, Delhi has a three tier public health system. Primary healthcare or Mohalla Clinics, Polyclinics or Secondary Healthcare and Tertiary Hospitals. Mohalla clinic. Delhi has Universal Free and Quality Healthcare for all it’s citizens. A mohalla clinic is at an avg distnce of 1km from the community that it was built to serve. Diagnostic tests are free, patient records are digitized, doctors are remunerated handsomely and should it take more than 30 days for a government facility to action a prescibed operation, the same can be availed free of cost, in a pvt facility of the patient’s cost.
Iqbal Chahal’s comparison is one of apples with organges and that of wilful obfuscation. The fact is that healthcare has never been BMC’s priority. They have actually turned it, into a money making racket, like everyother department, by outsourcing big ticket items.
Delhi’s Healthcare Model has won global acclaim and UN accolades. Why can’t it be implemented in Mumbai in toto? We will be more than happy to share Delhi Govt’s expertise with the BMC for the same.”, said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
An appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the direction of the Karnataka High Court that has asked students not to insist on wearing any cloth on campuses of educational institutions which can instigate people, till the matter is resolved.
The plea filed by a student has sought a stay on the direction of the high court, which is hearing the hijab issue, as well as the proceedings going on before the three judge bench.
The appeal contended that the high court has sought to curtail the fundamental right of Muslim student women by not allowing them to wear the hijab.
The high court has posted the matter for Monday and also said educational institutions can resume classes for students.
The three-judge full bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna S Dixit, which was formed on Wednesday, also said it wants the matter to be resolved at the earliest but till that time peace and tranquillity is to be maintained.
“Till the disposal of the matter, you people should not insist on wearing all these religious things,” Awasthi had said.
“We will pass an order. Let the schools-colleges start. But till the matter is resolved, no student should insist on wearing religious dress”, he had said.
On Wednesday, Justice Dixit, who was hearing the case, referred the case to Justice Awasthi’s consideration with a view that a larger bench may look into the case.
The Hijab row started in December end when a few students started coming to a government pre-university college in Udupi wearing Hijab. To protest against it, some Hindu students turned up wearing saffron scarves.
The row spread to other educational institutions in different parts of the State, and the protests took a violent turn at some place earlier this week, prompting the government on Tuesday to declare three days holiday for the institutions. PTI.
The National Green Tribunal has slapped a penalty of Rs 25 crore on Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd for violation of environmental norms in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district.
The green panel said environmental law violations cannot be taken lightly when the violators are entities like the present project proponent (PP) and victims are poor villagers.
The NGT said the victims of damage are unspecified number of persons spread over in more than six panchayats — Bherukhera, Agucha, Parasrampura, Kalyanpura, Kothiya, Balapura and others — in Hurda block.
A case is made out for requiring the PP to provide for compensation for the past violations and bear the cost of remediation, apart from complying with recommendations of the Committee.
Having regard to the violations/damage by the project proponent and overall estimated cost of ecological rehabilitation and restoration and financial capacity of the PP, we require the PP to deposit a sum of Rs 25 crore with the District Magistrate, Bhilwara within three months to meet the cost of remediation measures, a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A K Goel said.
The NGT also directed that a joint committee of the Central Pollution Control Board, state pollution control board and District Magistrate, Bhilwara with the assistance of any other experts may prepare a restoration plan for remediating the soil and quality of ground water in the area, apart from undertaking health improvement programme for the inhabitants and the cattle.
The action taken may be placed on the website of the District Magistrate, Bhilwara and its execution duly monitored.
The remediation works may be got executed by an appropriate agency utilising the amount deposited by the PP and the PP itself will have liberty to get the such work executed of restoration/rehabilitation on its own or through any other agency, if found proper by the joint committee in the circumstances, the bench said .
The NGT said that a public awareness group may be setup jointly by the DM and the PP to list out the issues requiring further action.
The amount deposited will be utilised for executing the plan within one year, associating all stake holders, including the PP and civil society in a suitable manner, subject to overall supervision of the Committee, the bench said.
The joint committee may have a report of status of compliance as on March 31, 2023 filed before the Registrar General of this Tribunal by e-mail.
The tribunal was hearing a batch of pleas alleging violation of environmental norms by Hindustan Zinc Ltd in executing mining lease of lead, zinc and associated minerals in the villages covering nearly an area about 1,200 hectares of mining land.
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