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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Court can reject anticipatory bail but cannot direct accused to surrender: SC
New Delhi (PTI): A court can reject anticipatory bail of an accused but it has no jurisdiction to direct him to surrender before the trial court, the Supreme Court has said.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan made the observation while hearing a plea filed by a man accused of cheating and forgery.
"If the court wants to reject the anticipatory bail, it may do so, but the court has no jurisdiction to say that the petitioner should now surrender," the bench said.
The Jharkhand High Court had rejected anticipatory bail plea of the accused and asked him to surrender and seek regular bail.
In this case, a complaint had been filed before a magistrate alleging offences under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document) and 120B read with 34 of the IPC, in connection with a land dispute.
The high court had dismissed the second anticipatory bail application of the accused on the ground that no new circumstances were shown.
It had relied on its earlier order rejecting his first anticipatory bail plea, in which the court directed the petitioner to surrender before the trial court and seek regular bail in terms of the decision in Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI.
The top court said such a direction was wholly without jurisdiction and said that if a court chooses to reject anticipatory bail, it may do so, but it cannot compel the accused to surrender.
