MCC honours Sachin Tendulkar with club membership
Melbourne, Dec 27: The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) on Friday said Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar has accepted its invitation to become an honourary member of the prestigious institution.
Founded in 1838, the MCC is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia and is responsible for the management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), one of the game's premier venues.
"An icon honoured. The MCC is pleased to announce that former Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar has accepted an Honorary Cricket Membership, acknowledging his outstanding contribution to the game," the MCC posted on 'X'.
The legendary Tendulkar currently holds the record of most runs at MCG with 449 from five Tests at an average of 44.90 and a strike-rate of 58.69 with a hundred and three fifties.
Earlier in 2012, Tendulkar was awarded the Order of Australia, one of the country's highest honours.
The MCG is currently hosting the vital fourth and penultimate Test match between India and Australia with the rubber evenly poised at 1-1.
An icon honoured.
— Melbourne Cricket Club (@MCC_Members) December 27, 2024
The MCC is pleased to announce that former Indian captain @sachin_rt has accepted an Honorary Cricket Membership, acknowledging his outstanding contribution to the game. pic.twitter.com/0JXE46Z8T6
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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.
