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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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
