Odisha govt issues show cause notice to cricket association over power disruption during 2nd ODI
Bhubaneswar, Feb 10 (PTI): Embarrassed over floodlight failure leading to disruption of the second ODI between India and England at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, the state government on Monday issued a show cause notice to Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), seeking a reply within 10 days.
The Sunday match was disrupted for around 30 minutes as floodlights in one of the towers were not functioning.
The opposition BJD held the state government equally responsible for the fiasco and demanded resignation of Sports Minister Suryabanshi Suraj.
In a letter to OCA secretary Sanjay Behera, Odisha's Sports Director Siddhartha Das said, "The OCA is hereby directed to submit a detailed explanation for the cause of disruption and identify the persons/agencies that were responsible for such lapses and outline the measures taken to prevent similar incidents in the future."
The findings must be submitted within 10 days upon receipt of this letter, the sports department said.
Speaking to reporters, Sports Minister Suryabanshi Suraj said stringent action would be taken against the persons responsible for the incident and even suggested the arrest of those found guilty.
"This (match disruption due to floodlight failure) is a serious matter and has hurt the sports lovers across the state and pained us. Therefore, the sports department has issued a show cause notice to the OCA. They have sub-committees to look after different aspects.
"Earlier, we had also reviewed the preparations twice to streamline the system. Still, it is yet to be found out as to which committee was in charge of the floodlight and why the backup generator could not reach the place at the appropriate time," the minister said.
Stating that power disruption is not unusual in such matches, the minister said it is important to know as to why electricity was not restored immediately by activating the backup generator.
The minister, however, thanked the OCA for proper crowd management.
OCA secretary Sanjay Behera had told reporters on Sunday that the backup generators could not reach the floodlight tower immediately because the players' bus was parked near it.
"The driver was not in the bus and he was called up and asked to remove the vehicle after which the generators could reach the tower and the power was restored," Behera had said.
Opposition parties of Odisha slammed the organisers for the incident.
The BJD said in a statement that the Bababati power disruption has caused embarrassment for Odisha in front of the global sports community.
“After a gap of nearly six years, Odisha hosted an international cricket match. The failure in organising this prestigious event falls under the responsibility of the OCA and the state government, who were entrusted with the task,” the party said in a statement.
“We demand the resignation of Sports Minister Suryabanshi Suraj for bringing a bad name for Odisha,” BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said.
Condemning the incident, senior Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati said his party will raise the matter in the upcoming budget session of the Assembly.
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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.
