''Has India outsourced its foreign policy to US?'' asks Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge
Bengaluru/Kalaburagi, May 13 (PTI): Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation as ‘yet another monologue’, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Tuesday sought to know why the US President Donald Trump announced the "ceasefire" and not the Indian Prime Minister.
Kharge, the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, wondered whether India has outsourced its foreign policy to the United States.
"Prime Minister has given yet another monologue," the Minister told PTI in Kalaburagi.
He was referring to Modi’s address to the nation on Monday night.
Kharge said the Congress and all the opposition parties have clearly stated that they were with the government for any decisive decision that they are taking in the interest of the country.
“We are asking the PM for an all-party meeting, brief us on what has happened, what the ceasefire is for, what the conditions of the ceasefire were, and why the American President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire and not the Prime Minister of India,” the Minister said.
He said the Congress has asked the BJP-led Centre to convene a parliament session to inform the nation what has happened during the ‘Operation Sindoor’.
"But unfortunately, as usual, the PM chooses to go in for a monologue rather than the dialogue with the people of the country,” the Minister said.
Kharge said the Congress and other opposition parties had made it clear that they were with the government and the Indian army “but things need to come clear”.
“Has the government of India, has the Prime Minister, or the External Affairs Minister outsourced the foreign policy of the country to the United States of America?” the Minister said.
He added, “Why is the US President tweeting not once but thrice saying that he is the mediator for the ceasefire and he is saying, he has gone to the extent of saying that he spoke to both the Prime Ministers and it is more of an economic ceasefire, rather than a military ceasefire.”
Priyank Kharge underlined that it was the Prime Minister of India whom the Indians look up to and not the president of another country.
He also sought to know why a bilateral issue is becoming an international issue when Modi is at the helm of affairs.
Congress MLC B K Hariprasad said Modi did not even show 0.1 per cent of the courage and determination of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
He recalled that in 1971, Indira Gandhi faced several impediments and adversaries in the international forum, but she divided Pakistan into two.
“It is obvious to remember Indira Gandhi on this occasion, who had earned the fame of the Iron Lady in the entire world,” Hariprasad told reporters in Bengaluru.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
