Bombay HC grants 28-day furlough to gangster Arun Gawli
Nagpur (PTI): The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted a 28-day furlough to gangster Arun Gawli, who is serving a life sentence in the Central jail here.
Furlough is a set period of time when a prisoner is allowed to leave a prison.
A division bench of Justice Nitin Sambre and Valmiki Menezes directed the release of Gawli on furlough for 28 days after the gangster approached the HC through his counsel Mir Nagman Ali upon the rejection of his application for relief by DIG Prisons (Nagpur).
Gawli is undergoing life imprisonment in the central jail here in the 2007 murder case of Mumbai Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar.
Ali told the bench that the DIG (Prisons) had rejected Gawli's application on the ground that since many offences were registered against the gangster-turned-politician, his release may create a law and order situation.
He said it was cited that when Gawali was released on earlier occasions, an offence was registered against his wife. Another ground cited was that Gawli's release would affect future elections in the Mumbai civic body.
The division bench of Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Valmiki Menezes was told that whenever Gawli was released on either parole or furlough in the past, there was no law and order issue and on every occasion he had surrendered on the due date, Ali said.
It was further submitted before the division bench that the prayer for furlough cannot be rejected merely based on an adverse police report.
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Azim Premji Foundation to help up to 2.5 lakh girls across 18 states pursue higher education
Bengaluru, May 15 (PTI): Azim Premji Foundation announced Azim Premji Scholarship on Thursday to support girls pursuing higher education after school.
Speaking to PTI, Anurag Behar, Chief Executive Officer, Azim Premji Foundation, said they have decided on 18 states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
"These states were chosen because we have more partners and more ground presence in these states. Our intention is to expand it to the whole country by next academic year or the year after at most," said Behar.
According to him, they have really simple eligibility criteria. "Girls who have done their class 10 and 12 schooling in government schools with admission in a bona-fide higher education institution in a degree or diploma programme," added Behar.
Selected students will receive Rs 30,000 per year, payable in two instalments.
"After the completion of the year, and once it is verified that they are continuing their education, the next cycle will begin. This will continue until they complete their course," said Behar.
Behar said they are likely to sponsor nearly 2.5 lakh students.
"We did a pilot round in the academic year 2024-25, containing ourselves to Madhya Pradesh, and certain districts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand. We received nearly 1.10 lakh applications. Out of which only 25,000 were eligible," he added.
The Foundation, said Behar, is making a significant commitment to support girls to pursue higher education.
"This will help them gain greater control over their life's trajectory," he added.
The application process for the 2025-26 cycle will start in September 2025.
