BCCI refuses to print 'Pakistan' on Team India's jerseys for ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sparked controversy by refusing to print 'Pakistan,' the official host nation of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, on Team India's jerseys. While the tournament will be held in Pakistan and Dubai, India's matches are scheduled exclusively in Dubai due to the BCCI's earlier refusal to travel to Pakistan, citing security concerns.
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official criticised the BCCI, accusing it of mixing politics with sports. "BCCI is bringing politics into cricket, which is detrimental to the game. We hope the International Cricket Council (ICC) will intervene and ensure fairness," the official said, as reported by IANS.
India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket matches for years due to political tensions, facing each other only in ICC tournaments and the Asia Cup. The ICC adopted a hybrid model for the Champions Trophy after the BCCI declined to play in Pakistan.
Additionally, the PCB claimed that Indian captain Rohit Sharma would not attend the traditional captains' press conference in Pakistan before the tournament. While earlier reports suggested he might attend, the PCB stated that the BCCI remains firm in its stance.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
