One dead, 2 critical after knife attack over dispute on social media posts; minor among 2 held
Beed (PTI): A 23-year-old man was killed and two others suffered grievous injuries after being attacked with a sharp knife over a dispute linked to social media posts in Beed district of Maharashtra, police said on Tuesday.
The incident took place at Ruinalkol in Ashti tehsil on Monday night, the police said, adding that two accused, including a minor, have been held.
Deepak Nalkol died in the incident, while Balu Khodke and Shashikant Lambade are currently battling for their lives at a private hospital in Ahilyanagar district, according to the police.
"When a palanquin procession of Lord Mahadev was underway on Monday night on the occasion of Mahashivratri, accused Nilesh Gujar (25) and a minor confronted the victims in front of a school. The confrontation was triggered by a long-standing grudge over provocative stories and status updates posted by them against each other on Instagram and WhatsApp," an official said.
During the heated argument, Gujar stabbed Nalkol in the back with a sharp knife. Simultaneously, the minor launched a brutal attack on Khodke and Lambade. While Nalkol succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital, the other two victims are in a critical condition, he said.
Following a complaint lodged by the deceased's brother, the Ashti police registered a case of murder and attempted murder.
The two accused have been taken into custody, inspector Sharad Bhutekar of Ashti police station said.
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Union government assumes full control over TV ratings, TRAI role curtailed: Report
New Delhi: The Union government has assumed full control over television audience measurement, removing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from oversight of the ratings system that underpins the country’s ₹36,000 crore television advertising market, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report in Mint said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) now has exclusive authority over the framework governing how television ratings are measured and regulated. TRAI had been entrusted with oversight of TV ratings in 2012 during the UPA government’s tenure. TRAI is no longer mentioned in the relevant policy document, effectively vesting sole authority in the MIB.
The report said TRAI will continue to regulate other aspects of broadcasting, including channel pricing, advertising caps, interconnection and distribution norms, service quality and compliance standards. Its role in determining how ratings agencies track viewing behaviour has been withdrawn.
Television Rating Points (TRPs), which reflect viewership patterns, guide advertisers in deciding where to allocate spending across channels and time slots.
A government source quoted in the report said the ministry could modify TRAI’s decisions even when the regulator oversaw broadcasting.
A former CEO of Prasar Bharati told the newspaper that the MIB has historically regulated rating agencies through licensing and guidelines, and by holding them accountable under existing norms.
During its tenure overseeing ratings, TRAI had taken decisions affecting the broadcast sector, which included capping advertising time at 12 minutes per hour following complaints about excessive commercial breaks and it now remains unclear how these matters will be addressed under the revised arrangement.
Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at TRAI, was quoted as saying that merging regulatory functions with policy oversight and removing an independent regulator from the process was a retrograde step.
TRAI’s involvement in broadcasting had earlier attracted criticism as well. In 2012, its consultation paper on quantitative limits on television advertising was viewed by some as overlapping with the Advertising Standards Council of India’s code. Subsequent recommendations covering television audience measurement, ownership of news channels and issues such as paid news had also raised concerns among sections of the industry.
Television ratings have faced scrutiny in recent years, including during the controversy involving the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), where officials of the ratings body were prosecuted over allegations of manipulation of viewership data.
