UP: 'Pushpa' inspired smugglers held on tip off from Mathura
Lucknow, Dec 20: Seven people who formed a red sandalwood smuggling gang taking inspiration from Allu Arjun movie 'Pushpa' were arrested from Mathura, sources from the Special Task Force (STF) said here on Tuesday.
Deepak alias Dalveer, Ajit Kumar Yadav, Sumit alias Ram, Chandra Pratap alias Babbu, Sumit Das, Jitendra, and Ranjit were arrested on a tip off from Highway Police Station on Monday, an STF release issued here said.
In the operation conducted jointly with a Forest department team, 563 kg red sandalwood worth about Rs 2 crore was recovered from them, they said.
The accused were in Mathura to sell the sandalwood, it said.
According to the STF, the accused confessed they took inspiration from 'Pushpa: The rise' and decided on making a quick buck stealing the expensive wood.
The gang kept the wood with one Rana, a resident of Delhi, who has a timber chamber licence.
They brought the red sandalwood illegally from Andhra Pradesh and sold it at religious places and nearby areas of Mathura, STF said.
An FIR has been registered against the seven men at Highway Police Station under relevant sections of IPC and other acts.
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.
SC seeks Samay Raina, other social media influencers’ presence in court for 'ridiculing' disabled
New Delhi, May 5 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday sought the presence of five social media influencers, including "India's Got Latent" host Samay Raina, on a plea of an NGO which alleged that they ridiculed persons with a rare disorder Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) on their show.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked the Mumbai Commissioner of Police to serve notice on the five influencers to ensure their presence in the court, failing which coercive action will be taken.
The bench also sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani on the PIL of NGO 'Cure SMA Foundation of India' for direction on regulating social media content concerning disabled people and persons with rare disorders.
The bench termed the influencers ridiculing such people as "damaging" and "demoralising" and said some serious remedial and punitive action was needed so that these things don't happen again.
"This is very, very damaging and demoralising. There are statutes which try to bring these people into the mainstream, and with one incident, the entire effort goes. You should think of some remedial and punitive action within the law," the bench told senior advocate Aprajita Singh, appearing for the NGO.
Observing that the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression is not absolute, the bench said no one can be allowed to demean anybody under the garb of the right and mulled framing guidelines on social media content concerning the disabled and people with rare disorders.
The NGO had referred to the deficiencies in the existing legal framework and urged the bench to formulate guidelines on online content.
