India

New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) The Supreme Court Friday refused to entertain a plea challenging the imposition of National Security Act (NSA) in few states as also in the national capital amid anti-CAA protests.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee said that it cannot pass a blanket order with regard to the imposition of NSA and asked lawyer M L Sharma to withdraw the plea.

New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) The EC told the Supreme Court Friday that the direction asking poll candidates to declare their criminal antecedents in the media has not helped curb criminalisation of politics, and said political parties should be asked not to give tickets to those with criminal background.

Despite the apex court's direction in 2018, the criminalisation of politics is going on and some alternate mechanism has to be found, the Election Commission (EC) said.

Jaipur, Jan 23 (PTI) The Rajasthan government will introduce a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the assembly session beginning Friday, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said.

He said the Centre should listen to people protesting against the act across the country and asserted that democracy weakens if there is no dialogue.

Ahmedabad, Jan 23 (PTI) Congress leader Hardik Patel, who walked out of the Sabarmati Central Jail here on Thursday a day after he was granted bail in a sedition case, was immediately arrested by Gandhinagar district police in a 2017 case of addressing a rally without police permission, an official said.

A local court in Ahmedabad had on Wednesday granted bail to Patel, four days after he was arrested for failing to appear before the trial court in a 2015 sedition case.

Lucknow, Jan 23 (PTI) The opposition parties on Thursday slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for warning anti-CAA protesters that "azadi" slogans raised by them will be treated as sedition.

While the Samajwadi Party drew an analogy with the British rule, the Congress termed it "a language of dictators".

Bengaluru, Jan 23 (PTI) JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Thursday called on secular regional parties and Congress to fight against the "divisive policies" of the central government like the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens with a Common Minimum Programme.

The former Prime Minister also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of fulfilling the "long standing anti-Muslim agenda" of Jana Sangh and Hindu Mahasabha, and leading the country to the margins of danger.

Kolkata, Jan 24 (PTI) Kolkata Metro is planning to rollout a Chinese rake, trials of which are currently being conducted, an official said here on Friday, insisting that the move is aimed at phasing out its old fleet.

Five new rakes made by the Integral Coach Factory, Perumbur, were made operational last year by the Metro Railway -- which on an average runs 22 to 24 trains daily on the 27.2 -km-long Noapara-Kavi Subhash route -- she said.

New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) Under attack for doling out subsidies, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said freebies in limited dose are good for the economy as they make more money available to the poor and boosts demand.

Opposition parties have been attacking the AAP-led Delhi government for giving "freebies" ahead of polls after it announced schemes like free bus rides for women and 200 units of free electricity.

Bhadohi (UP), Jan 24 (PTI) An 18 year-old married woman was allegedly kept hostage and raped for five days by a man in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi district, police said on Friday.

The accused has been identified as Vishal Saroj, who hails from the same village as that of the woman. The woman got married three months back.

Kolkata, Jan 24 (PTI) Several persons including two policemen were injured when rival groups clashed in the southern part of the city's Jodhpur Park area over a discussion on the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, police said on Friday.

The clash broke out on Thursday night when a group of men allegedly owing allegiance to the BJP, attacked a group of Trinamool Congress activists with knives and sticks when they were denied to participate in a CAA discussion, a police officer said.