Congress to have massive organisational reshuffle: KC Venugopal
Ahmedabad, Apr 8 (PTI): The Congress is going to have a "massive organisational reshuffle", AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said on Tuesday as the party's top leaders met here and vowed to embark on the "path of social justice" espoused by Sardar Patel.
Briefing reporters after the extended Congress Working Committee meeting at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial here, Venugopal noted that the Congress has dedicated this year to a complete restructuring of the party organisation and the issue was discussed at length at the meeting.
"We are going to have a massive organisational reshuffle, and there will be guidelines for the same. Our general secretaries and in-charges are on it," he said.
Venugopal also stressed that measures to empower the party's district unit chiefs will be rolled out soon.
"We have already decided on that issue, empowering the DCC presidents and duties and powers of the DCCs has been discussed in various forums, already general secretaries and in-charges have approved the proposals and we are going to roll out that proposal in the near future," he said while replying to queries.
Venugopal said the Extended CWC passed a resolution that "our party will walk on the path showed to us by Sardar Patel ji".
"He stood up against the oppression of the British, fighting for the rights of workers and farmers. He rejected communal forces after Bapu’s assassination. He fought for an India where everyone had fundamental rights and freedoms.
"Today, as we embark on the path of social justice, our Nyay Path follows the same principles laid down by Sardar Patel," he said.
In his opening address at the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also asserted the party's claim to Sardar Patel's legacy and accused the BJP and RSS of trying to usurp it under a "well-planned conspiracy" against national heroes.
Kharge stressed that the Congress is taking forward the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Patel.
"Sardar Patel Saheb lives in our hearts, lives in our thoughts. We are taking his legacy forward. We have organised this CWC meeting in Ahmedabad at Sardar Patel Museum with this thought in mind. We pay our heartfelt tributes to him," he said.
Earlier in the day, AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot told reporters that the Congress intends to create more empowered district units with their presidents having enhanced accountability, responsibility and political strength.
He said that the Congress would fight the upcoming elections with strength and expressed confidence that the Congress and its supporting ideologies would come together to give the BJP and the NDA a tough challenge.
Briefing reporters outside the venue, Pilot said, "The intention of the Congress president and the Leader of Opposition is to create a more empowered district unit."
"The accountability, the responsibility and the political strength that we have thus given to the district presidents is set to be enhanced," he stressed.
The final outcome will be decided after the convention on Wednesday but the intention of the Congress is to make the District Pradesh Congress (DCC) presidents more empowered than before, the former Union minister said, adding the move is aimed at expanding the party's reach in villages, divisions and booths.
"The year 2025 is the year of the organisation to strengthen our workers, expand our party ideology and to make sure that the Congress reaches out in a mass contact programme through padyatras and door-to-door programmes," he said.
The party wants to send a clear message not just to its opponents but to its supporters and workers that the Congress will not step back and fight aggressively both within Parliament and outside, and make sure it wins the next political challenge, Pilot said.
"Elections are fought to be won, the next few elections we will fight with strength and I am supremely confident that the Congress and its supporting ideologies will come together to give the BJP and the NDA a tough challenge," Pilot said.
He said the resolution passed at the end of the session on April 9 will be named 'Nyay Path'.
"Tomorrow' session will write a new chapter in history," he said
The grand old party has announced that the Ahmedabad Session will be themed "Nyaypath: Sankalp, Samarpan aur Sangharsh", with more than 1,700 elected and co-opted AICC members attending the main conclave on April 9 on the banks of the Sabarmati river between the Sabarmati Ashram and Kochrab Ashram.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
