Supreme Court issues contempt notice to BJP leader Manoj Tiwari
New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the presence of BJP MP Manoj Tiwari before it for breaking the lock of a sealed premises in Delhi's Gokulpur village.
"It's important that elected members should not defy the order of this court," a bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Abdul S. Nazeer and Justice Deepak Gupta said while issuing a contempt notice to Tiwari and asked him to appear before it on September 25.
Terming the action of Tiwari "unfortunate", the bench said it shows a "disturbed affair where a member of Parliament is alleged to have broken the seal of some premises" despite sealing operation in terms of orders passed by the apex court.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, assisting the court in the sealing issue, requested the court to take stringent action against Tiwari for breaking the lock of a sealed premises.
The monitoring committee said members of political parties and others were intentionally and deliberately violating the court's order not to interfere in the sealing drive against illegal and unauthorised construction in the city.
It said the court should act tough against such persons to ensure that its orders were not violated.
Tiwari, meanwhile, again visited the village on Tuesday and protested against the sealing drive initiated by municipal authorities, Kumar told the bench.
He contended that the police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Manoj Tiwari for illegally breaking the lock.
He has been booked under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 461 and 465 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act.
"The monitoring committee requests this court to pass stringent directions, including initiation of contempt proceedings against Manoj Tiwari, MP, for seal-tampering so that sealing operations may continue uninterrupted as per the direction of this court," the report said.
The top court has time and again warned political leaders not to politicise the issue of sealing and had earlier issued contempt notice to BJP MLA O.P. Sharma and Municipal Councillor Gunjan Gupta for preventing the committee for taking action against unauthorised constructions in Delhi but the two were let off after they tendered an unconditional apology.
A video footage of Tiwari breaking a sealed lock of a house in an unauthorised colony went viral on social media.
The sealing drive in Delhi is being carried out by a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee against business establishments using residential properties for commercial purposes. It is being implemented by three BJP-led Municipal Corporations of Delhi.
The committee was set up by the Supreme Court in 2006. In 2012, the apex court asked the committee to stop the drive. But in December 2017 it ordered resumption of the drive.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Trump pauses Project Freedom, claims great progress for final agreement with Iran
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump has suspended “Project Freedom,” to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming progress in negotiations with Iran toward an agreement to end the war.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said, “Great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”
“Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump said.
Project Freedom was launched on Monday to escort ships, stranded due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, out to safety. Trump had announced the operation on Sunday and the US Central Command began implementing it the next day.
However, the Project led to friction in the vicinity of the narrow seaway, a key route for transporting one-fifth of the global oil supplies, with the UAE claiming that its ships were attacked by Iran. The US also claimed to have destroyed several Iranian small boats.
Trump’s statement on Truth Social came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Operation Epic Fury, launched on February 28, had concluded as its objectives have been achieved.
"Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What @POTUS would prefer is a deal... that is, so far, not the route that Iran has chosen," Rubio told a press conference at the White House on Tuesday.
On Project Freedom, Rubio said the goal was to rescue almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries who were trapped inside the Persian Gulf and left for dead by the Iranian regime.
"This is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation, and what that means is very simple: there’s no shooting unless we're shot at first. We’re not attacking them, but if they're attacking us or they’re attacking a ship, you need to respond to that," Rubio said.
