Journalist booked for recording video of salt-roti midday meal
Lucknow: A case has been registered against a journalist, village-head representative and others for allegedly doing "despicable work" of maligning the image of the Uttar Pradesh government by recording a video of school children being served salt and roti in midday meal.
Journalist Pawan Kumar Jaiswal, village-head representative Rajkumar Pal and unidentified people have been booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharging duty), 193 (false evidence) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, a senior officer said.
The FIR was lodged on Saturday on the complaint of Mirzapur block education officer Prem Shankar Ram at Ahiraura police station.
According to the complaint, Jaiswal and Pal conspired and deliberately made the video in a well-planned manner and did "despicable work" of maligning the image of the state government.
The FIR states that Pal was aware that only rotis were cooked and vegetable was not cooked in the school, but "instead of arranging it", he called the journalist, who works in print media and "pressed him to run it" in electronic media. "The journalist shot the video on his mobile and shared it to a electronic media agency," it said.
The video of students of the Siyur Primary School in Jamalpur block of Mirzapur district being served salt and roti in their midday meal had gone viral on the social media on August 22, triggering outrage and leading to the suspension of two teachers. As per norms under the flagship nutrition scheme, pulses, rice, rotis, vegetables, with fruits and milk on certain days, are to be served to school-going children to ensure necessary nutrition to them.
The midday meal scheme is designed to provide a minimum of 450 calories per child per day, which should include at least 12 grams of protein too each day. These meals should be served to each child at least 200 days a year.
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Cash discovery row: Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma resigns
New Delhi (PTI): Embattled Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma, who was facing heat after wads of burnt currency notes were recovered from his residence here last year, has submitted his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu, rendering the impeachment proceedings against him as infructuous.
The purported discovery of a huge stash of cash took place after a fire broke out at Lutyens' Delhi residence of Justice Varma, then a Delhi High Court judge, at around 11:35 pm on the night of Holi on March 14, 2025, prompting the fire department personnel to rush to the spot and douse the flames.
In a letter sent to the President on April 9, the 57-year-old Justice Varma said he was tendering his resignation with "deep anguish" and it was an honour to serve the office.
"Your Excellency, While I do not propose to burden your august office with the reasons which have constrained me to submit this missive, it is with deep anguish that I hereby tender my resignation from the office of Judge of the Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, with immediate effect. It has been an honour to serve in this office," the resignation letter sent to the President on April 9 said.
The pending impeachment proceedings, intended to remove Varma from his office, becomes infructuous due to his resignation.
Consequently, a three-member inquiry committee comprising Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and senior advocate B V Acharya was conducting an inquiry, a condition precedent, before an impeachment motion.
Justice Varma's case saw many twists and turns after he refused to heed to the advice of then CJI Sanjiv Khanna to resign following two damning reports of judges.
Left with no option, Justice Khanna wrote to the President to proceed further to impeach Justice Varma.
He was later repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High.
The top court on January 16 had dismissed Varma's plea challenging the Lok Sabha Speaker's decision to admit an impeachment motion and the validity of a panel set up to inquire corruption charges against him, saying a provision in law cannot be used as a weapon to scuttle parliamentary proceedings.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla admitted a multi-party motion for Justice Varma's removal on August 12 last year.
In an unprecedented move, the apex court on March 22 last year had uploaded on its website an in-house inquiry report, including photos and videos, into alleged discovery of a huge stash of cash at the residence of Justice Varma.
On March 22, 2025 then CJI Khanna had constituted a three-member committee to conduct an inquiry.
Justice Varma had "unequivocally" stated that no cash was ever placed in the storeroom "either by me or any of my family members and (I) strongly denounce the suggestion that the alleged cash belonged to us".
Justice Varma was enrolled as an advocate on August 8, 1992. He was appointed as an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court on October 13, 2014. High Court judges retire at the age of 62.
He took oath as a permanent judge of the Allahabad High Court on February 1, 2016, before being appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court on October 11, 2021.
A judge of a constitutional court can only be removed from office through an impeachment motion passed by Parliament.
