Kerala court denies bail to expelled Cong MLA Mamkootathil in sexual assault case
Pathanamthitta(Kerala) (PTI): A Kerala court on Saturday declined to grant bail to expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in the third sexual assault case against him in which he was arrested last week.
The detailed order of the Thiruvalla Judicial First Class Magistrate court is awaited.
The Kerala High Court and a sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram have earlier protected the MLA from arrest in the first two cases of sexual assault booked based on complaints of two different women.
The third sexual assault case was recently booked against the Palakkad MLA under sections 376 (rape) and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) following a complaint lodged by a native of Kottayam district on January 8. He was arrested in the case on January 11 in Palakkad.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
