New Delhi: Traders' body CAIT on Thursday appealed to celebrities to stop endorsing products of Chinese brands as a mark of respect for Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the Galway Valley attack in Ladakh.

In an open letter, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has appealed Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Virat Kohli, and others to stop endorsing Chinese products.

It has also invited Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, Madhuri Dixit, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, and others to join the campaign to boycott Chinese products under its flagship national movement 'Bharatiya Saaman-Hamara Abhiman'.

CAIT Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal in the letter to Indian celebrities said that at a time when "China's army in the most clandestine manner has committed a barbaric attack on the Indian army at Ladakh border, the heart of every Indian is filled with deep anguish, resentment, and abhorrence against the atrocities of the Chinese and their persistent attitude of antagonism towards India".

The Confederation also said it will help the government reduce imports from China by USD 13 billion (about Rs 1 lakh crore) by December 2021 with the cooperation of traders and citizens of India. Currently, the annual import from China in India stands at USD 70 billion or around Rs 5.25 lakh crore.

The open letter of CAIT further stated that from the information available in the public domain, traders of the country particularly request Aamir Khan, Sara Ali Khan, Virat Kohli for Vivo, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Badshah, Siddharth Malhotra and Ranbir Kapoor for Oppo, Ranveer Singh for Xiaomi, Salman Khan, Ayushman Khurana & Shradha Kapoor for Realme and all others who are endorsing any Chinese products to stop endorsing these Chinese brands as a mark of respect for Indian soldiers.

At least 20 Indian Army soldiers, including a Colonel, died in a violent clash with Chinese troops at the Galway Valley in the Ladakh sector on Monday night.

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Lucknow/Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Police have apprehended a 16-year-old boy for his alleged involvement in the rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman whose body was found hanging from a tree in a village here, officials said on Monday.

Additional Superintendent of Police (West), Brijnandan Rai, said that the body of a 19-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in an orchard in the Manikpur police station area on Sunday morning. A post-mortem examination subsequently confirmed that she had been raped.

Police registered a case against unidentified persons under sections 103(1) (punishment for murder) and 70(1) (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and initiated an investigation.

During the course of the investigation, the police found that the deceased was in contact with a juvenile who was also her relative.

Acting on this information, during a joint checking operation, sub-inspector Amit Kumar Singh of Manikpur police station and SOG In-charge Amit Kumar Chaurasia, along with their team, apprehended the 16-year-old near the Lehdari Ganga River bridge.

The search for other accused persons is ongoing, police said.

According to the police, the woman had gone to sleep after dinner on Saturday night but was found hanging in an orchard nearly 400 metres away from her home the following morning.

Additional Superintendent of Police (West), Brijnandan Rai, had earlier said that the circumstances suggest foul play.

"The victim's slippers and undergarments were recovered 50 metres away from the spot where the body was found. There are visible injury marks on her body," Rai said.

While locals have alleged that the woman was murdered after being raped, the ASP said that it is "prima facie a case of murder."

"Based on the complaint filed by the victim's brother, a case of murder has been registered against unidentified persons," the officer added.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a post on X in Hindi on Monday, said, "The news of the heinous murder of a Dalit daughter in Pratapgarh is deeply tragic and condemnable."

"The question remains: why does the spate of murders of 'PDA daughters' continue unabated in Uttar Pradesh? Are the BJP government's claims regarding women's safety merely hollow rhetoric, or is there, in fact, discrimination even in the provision of security for women?" he said.

"Whenever the 'wandering Honourable (ghumantu maananiye)' finds a moment of respite from election campaigning, he should cast a glance at the plight of the daughters of his own Uttar Pradesh. In any case, apart from injustice and oppression, no sister, daughter, or mother of this state holds any hope from you," Yadav added.