US House impeaches President Donald Trump for 'incitement of insurrection' at Capitol
Washington: The US House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump by 232 to 197 votes for his role in last week's Capitol Hill riot, making him the first president in American history to be impeached twice.
Ten Republican Congressmen voted in favour of an article of impeachment on Wednesday that charged Trump with a count of "incitement of insurrection" for his actions on January 6, when he delivered a speech inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol, an action that temporarily halted the counting of Electoral College votes and resulted in the deaths of five individuals, including an officer of the US Capitol Police.
Four Congressmen did not vote. All four Indian-American House members Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Pramila Jayapal voted in favour of the impeachment.
The impeachment now moves to the Senate, which will conduct a trial and a voting to remove the president from office. The Senate is adjourned till January 19, a day before the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States.
"We know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, participating in the impeachment debate.
"He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love. Since the presidential election in November an election the President lost he has repeatedly held about lied about the outcome, sowed self-serving doubt about democracy and unconstitutionally sought to influence state officials to repeal reality. And then, came that day of fire we all experienced," she said.
Pelosi asserted that the President must be impeached. "I believe, the President must be convicted by the Senate, a constitutional remedy that will ensure that the republic will be safe from this man who is so resolutely determined to tear down the things that we hold dear and that hold us together," she added.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the actions of the President of the United States demanded an urgent and clear action by the Congress.
"He ought to be removed. And we have that opportunity to do so. Is there little time left? Yes. But it is never too late to do the right thing," Hoyer said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not yet announced the dates for the trial. In a statement, he said a trial is unlikely before Biden becomes the president of the country.
Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow said he would vote to remove the president. The Democrats need 17 Republican votes to impeach Trump in the Senate.
"Last week, our nation experienced a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol inspired and encouraged by the current President of the United States. Our country cannot heal and move forward without accountability and justice. When the article of impeachment comes before the Senate, I intend to support removing Donald Trump from office," Stabenow said.
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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.
