SC grants bail to Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair in all UP FIRs, disbands SIT
New Delhi(PTI):The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Alt News Co-founder Mohammad Zubair in all FIRs lodged in Uttar Pradesh against him concerning his alleged derogatory tweets.
The apex court also ordered that he will be released on bail if any other FIR is lodged against him for the same cause of action.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and AS Bopanna said that Zubair will be enlarged on bail in all the FIRs lodged in UP after depositing a bail bond of Rs 20,000 with Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House Court, New Delhi.
The top court also transferred all the FIRs lodged in UP against Zubair for allegedly outraging religious sentiments to be investigated by the Delhi Police and clubbed them along with the existing FIR lodged by a special cell of Delhi Police.
The bench also disbanded a UP police Special Investigation Team formed by the state government to investigate the FIRs against Zubair.
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298 persons killed in Wayanad landslides: Govt tells Parliament
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 298 people were killed during the landslides that hit Kerala's Wayanad district last year, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.
Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said that while the Centre does not maintain a central data of deaths/missing persons due to disasters, including landslides, the Kerala government informed it that the total number of deaths due to the landslide in Wayanad was 298.
Out of these, 32 missing persons have been declared as deceased, the minister told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
Asked about the compensation provided by the Centre to the state, Rai said that based on a report of the inter-ministerial central team (IMCT), the central government approved an amount of Rs 153.47 crore, subject to the adjustment of 50 per cent of balance available in the state disaster response fund account, for the landslides, flash flood of 2024.
The amount also includes assistance for the air bills for utilising the services of the Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters for rescue and relief, as per actual, and actual expenditure for the clearance of debris, he said.
Besides, an amount of Rs 388 crore (Rs 291.20 crore central share plus Rs 96.80 crore state share) has been allocated to the Government of Kerala for the financial year 2024-25 in SDRF, he said.
The instalment of Rs 145.60 crore of the central share was released on July 31, 2024.
The second instalment of Rs 145.60 crore of the central share was also released on October 1, 2024 in advance to the state, the minister said.
He added that the Kerala Accountant General reported a balance of Rs 394.99 crore in its SDRF account as on April 1, 2024.
Thus, "sufficient fund" is available in the SDRF account of the state for relief operations, he said.
Rai said Kerala conducted a Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA) estimating a total requirement of Rs 2,219 crore for recovery and reconstruction plan.
The landslides destroyed large tracts of three Wayanad villages--Punchirimattom, Chooralmala and Mundakkai--apart from some in Attamala when the disaster struck on July 30 last year.
