Delhi-NCR gasps as AQI plunges to season's worst at 391
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New Delhi (PTI): The air quality in Delhi touched the season's worst level on Sunday morning with the AQI climbing to 391 before dipping slightly.
A blanket of smog shrouded the national capital as temperature dropped to 11.7 degrees Celsius, significantly below the normal range.
At 4 pm the Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 370 on Sunday, placing the city in the “red zone”, data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed.
In the morning, around 8 am, the AQI was recorded at 391 – the season's highest so far – slightly declining two hours later, it added.
Most monitoring stations in Delhi logged pollution levels in the “severe” category, with Punjabi Bagh recording the highest at 425, followed by Bawana at 410, Jahangipuri at 401 and Nehru Nagar and Wazirpur at 400, according to data from the CPCB's Sameer app.
The app compiles readings from 38 monitoring stations across the national capital.
In the NCR region, Noida recorded the highest AQI of 354, followed by Ghaziabad at 345 and Greater Noida at 340 – all falling in the “very poor” category, the data further showed.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good", 51 to 100 "satisfactory", 101 to 200 "moderate", 201 to 300 "poor", 301 to 400 "very poor" and 401 to 500 "severe", according to CPCB.
On Sunday PM2.5 remained the key pollutant in the city.
According to the Decision Support System (DSS) for air quality forecasting, stubble burning contributed around five per cent to Delhi's pollution, while the transport sector emerged as the highest contributor at 20 per cent on Sunday.
Satellite data showed 238 stubble-burning incidents in Punjab, 42 in Haryana, and 158 in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
The Air Quality Early Warning System for the city has predicted that Delhi's air quality will remain in the “very poor” category over the next few days.
Since Diwali, the national capital's air quality has consistently remained in the “poor” or “very poor” category, occasionally slipping into the “severe” zone.
Delhi registered a minimum temperature of 11.7 degree Celsius while the maximum settled at 28.1 degree Celsius, 1.4 notches below normal.
On Saturday, the city recorded its lowest minimum temperature of the season so far at 11 degree Celsius.
The weather department has predicted shallow fog for Monday morning, with the maximum temperature likely to settle around 28 and the minimum temperature predicted to be around 12 degree Celsius.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
