Indian, South-Asian groups congratulate Biden, Harris; say opportunity for progressive policies
Washington: Indian and South Asian groups on Monday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris on their historic win, saying they look forward to the opportunity to push for progressive and inclusive policies for the community.
Following a tense week of vote tallying, Democratic presidential candidate Biden, 77, on Saturday won the state of Pennsylvania and vaulted ahead in the race to become the next president of the United States.
Biden's win in the key battleground state put him over the threshold of 270 electoral votes, cutting off all avenues for his opponent, incumbent Republican President Donald Trump.
As Biden's vice president, Harris, 56, will make history in myriad ways, becoming the first woman - and the first woman of color - to occupy the office.
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) said that it looks forward to the opportunity to push for progressive and inclusive policies for South Asian Americans across the US with the new administration.
This election opens up greater potential for pushing the policies that matter to our communities. We will rely on the same vigilance that propelled historic voter turnout and accurate vote counts to hold this administration accountable to our communities, Lakshmi Sridaran, the executive director of SAALT, said.
She said the mandate means a complete overhaul of the immigration system that ensures a pathway to citizenship for all, COVID-19 relief packages that include immigrants of all status, increased language access resources, an end to detention and the militarization of US borders, and the transformation of policing as we know it.
The Indian-American community was elated when Biden selected Senator Harris as his running mate and it was a great honour and prestige for the Indian-American community, Dr. Thomas Abraham, the chairman of Global Organisation of People of Indian-origin or GOPIO, said.
In spite of the close Trump-Modi relations, a very high percentage of the community went with the Biden-Harris ticket. In fact, in this close election, community votes have helped Biden to win the election, he added.
Rishi Bhutada, a member of the Hindu-American Political Action Committee, said they congratulate President-elect Joe Biden for his imminent victory and look forward to working with him and his administration.
Hindu issues are American issues, and Mr. Biden has laid out a strong Hindu and Indian-American agenda that we look forward to fulfilling together, he said.
In a statement, Hindu American Foundation (HAF) congratulated Biden and Harris on their election victory.
HAF looks forward to working with the Biden-Harris administration to address issues of mutual concern and interest to the Hindu American community, it said.
There is a long list of Hindu American legislative priorities and core issues that we believe are of fundamental interest not just to Hindu Americans but to all Americans, said HAF executive director Suhag Shukla.
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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.
