4 of family die of asphyxiation inside septic tank in Bihar
Muzaffarpur: Four persons of a family died of asphyxiation inside a newly-constructed septic tank at a village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district on Tuesday, an official said.
The incident occurred at Madhuban Kanti village under Bara Bharti panchayat of Minapur block this morning when a man, who went to remove the scaffolding of the newly-built septic tank, fell into it accidentally, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (East) Kundan Kumar said.
He died of suffocation after inhaling toxic gas, Kumar said. Another three persons of the family, who rushed to save the first one, entered the tank and also died of asphyxiation, he said.
The deceased were identified as Madhusudan Sahni, Kaushal Kumar, Dharmendra Sahni and Veer Kumar Sahni, he said adding that all of them could be in the age-group of 30-35.
The bodies were sent to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital here for post-mortem.
Minapur Circle Officer Gyan Prasad Srivastava annouced that an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh would be paid to the next of kin of those died in the incident.
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Madras HC strikes down TN order limiting maternity leave for third child
Chennai: The Madras High Court has set aside a Tamil Nadu government order restricting maternity leave for a third pregnancy to 12 weeks, holding the move to be contrary to established legal principles.
A division bench comprising Justices R Suresh Kumar and N Senthil Kumar ruled that there was no justification to treat third pregnancies differently from the first two, observing that the physical and medical requirements of childbirth remain the same irrespective of the number of pregnancies, as reported by The News Minute.
According to a report published by Live Law, the court was hearing a petition filed by Shayee Nisha, a staff member of the district judiciary in Villupuram, whose request for maternity leave from February 2026 to February 2027 had been curtailed to three months by authorities citing the March 13, 2026 government order.
Quashing the decision of the Principal District Judge and related directions asking her to resume duty, the bench directed that she be granted maternity leave on par with that provided for earlier pregnancies, allowing up to 365 days.
The court noted that both the Supreme Court of India and earlier rulings of the High Court had consistently held that maternity benefits cannot be denied for a third child. Holding the restriction to be unsustainable, the court directed authorities to process maternity leave applications without discrimination based on the number of pregnancies.
It also pointed out that a similar issue had been addressed by a division bench earlier this year, which had disapproved denial of maternity leave in such cases and directed that its ruling be circulated among judicial officers. Despite this, the state issued the impugned order, the bench observed.
