I see no politics in it: Tharoor on being invited to lead delegation on Operation Sindoor
Thiruvananthapuram, May 17 (PTI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday stood by his decision to accept the Centre's invite to lead a multi-party delegation abroad to put across India's stand against Pakistan on terrorism, saying "I see no politics in it".
At the same time, he denied any knowledge about any names being suggested by the Congress for the delegation, saying that it was between the party and the central government.
Tharoor, speaking to reporters here, said that Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju recently officially invited him to lead the delegation in view of his past experience in handling foreign affairs and "I immediately agreed".
"I see no politics in it. According to me, politics become important when we have a nation. We all are Indians. When the nation is in crisis and the central government seeks the help of a citizen, what other answer would you give," the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.
He further said that everyone saw the 88 hours long battle with Pakistan and therefore, "we all need to have a role in what the world is saying about us".
"It is in that spirit I agreed to it," Tharoor added.
On being asked by reporters whether the Congress was unhappy with his decision and why it released the names of the people it had suggested for the delegation, Tharoor said the media should pose these queries to the grand old party.
"You will have to ask them (Congress)," he said when asked whether the party has any reservations about him leading the delegation.
He also said that when he initially received a call from Rijiju inviting him to lead the delegation, he had informed the party about it.
On reporters' queries whether the party was trying to insult him by releasing the names suggested by it for the delegation, Tharoor said that he cannot be insulted so easily. "I know my worth," he asserted.
He said the Centre sought his service for the nation and he was always ready for it.
"National service is the duty of every citizen," he added.
The Congress MP further said that when the country is attacked, "all of us speaking in one voice and standing united is good for the nation, according to me".
The central government has named Tharoor as leader of one of the seven multi-party delegations to project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations and carry to the world the country's message of zero tolerance against terrorism.
Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said earlier in the day that there was a difference between "being in the Congress and of the Congress".
He also said that in a democratic system, when individual MPs are sent as part of an official delegation, MPs must seek the concurrence of the party.
Ramesh also said that the party nominated former Union Minister Anand Sharma, the party's Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain and Lok Sabha MP Raja Brar after the government asked for the names of four MPs for the delegations.
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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.
