Youth Congress chief Srinivas appears before Guwahati Police over sexual harassment case
Guwahati (PTI): Youth Congress president Srinivas B V on Monday appeared before the police in Guwahati for questioning into a sexual and mental harassment case filed by now-expelled leader Angkita Dutta.
He reached the Panbazar Women police station at 11 am after landing at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport earlier in the day.
Srinivas was accompanied by his lawyer and Assam Congress leaders, including MLAs Rakibul Hussain and Rekibuddin Ahmed.
After spending nearly one-and-a-half hours at the police station, he left for the office of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the city.
While coming out of the office an hour later, he told waiting reporters, "The matter is before the court." The CID had also issued a separate notice to Srinivas in the same case.
Dutta had filed a complaint at the Dispur police station on April 20 alleging that Srinivas was 'persistently harassing and torturing her for the last six months by making sexist comments, using swear words and also threatening her of dire consequences if she keeps complaining against him to the senior party office bearers'.
She had also mentioned in the complaint that during the party's recent plenary session at Raipur, the accused had physically heckled her and threatened of ruining her career if she complained against him.
Dutta had made the allegations against the IYC president in a series of tweets on April 18.
After the FIR was registered on April 20, a five-member team of Guwahati Police went to Bengaluru on April 23 and pasted a notice at Srinivas' residence directing him to appear at Dispur police station by May 2.
The Congress issued a show cause notice to Dutta and later expelled her from the primary membership of the party for six years for anti-party activities.
Srinivas had also served a legal notice on Dutta, demanding an apology, failing which he threatened to initiate legal proceedings.
He had approached the Gauhati High Court for anticipatory bail and when it was rejected, he had appealed for it before the Supreme Court.
The apex court on May 17 granted him interim protection from arrest in the case. It directed Srinivas to cooperate in the investigation and appear before the police in Guwahati on May 22.
It also directed him to cooperate in the inquiry being carried out by the National Commission for Women.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders claimed that its youth wing workers were prevented by the police in different districts from coming to Guwahati to extend solidarity with their national president.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Debabrata Saikia said, "We are members of the party which is known for following the ideology of non-violence. We respect the law of the land. Srinivas is appearing before the police here as ordered by the Supreme Court."
He claimed that Youth Congress members from different districts of Assam wanted to show their support to Srinivas in Guwahati but they were prevented by the local police, which threatened them with arrest or other actions under different provisions of law.
Hussian, who has been with Srinivas since he reached Guwahati, said, "We are abiding by every laid down rule. If the government is so confident, we fail to understand why is it putting restrictions on the people?"
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Iran offers to reopen Strait of Hormuz if US lifts its blockade and the war ends: officials
Cairo (AP): Iran has offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the US lifting its blockade on the country and an end to the war, while proposing that discussions on the larger question of its nuclear programme would come in a later phase, two regional officials said Monday.
US President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, which was passed to the Americans by Pakistan and would leave unresolved the disagreements that led the US and Israel to go to war on February 28.
With a fragile ceasefire in place, the US and Iran are locked in a standoff over the strait, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas passes in peacetime. The US blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while also potentially creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off production because it has nowhere to store the oil.
The strait's closure, meanwhile, has put pressure on Trump, as oil and gasoline prices have skyrocketed ahead of crucial midterm elections, and it has pressured his Gulf allies, which use the waterway to export their oil and gas.
The closure has also had far-reaching effects throughout the world economy, raising the price of fertilizer, food and other basic goods.
The proposal would push off negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme to a later date. Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
The two officials, who had knowledge of the proposal, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations between Iranian and Pakistani officials this weekend. The Axios news outlet first reported Iran's proposal.
It came as Iran's foreign minister visited Russia, which has long been a key backer of Tehran. It's unclear what, if any, assistance Moscow might offer now.
Strait of Hormuz remains blocked
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Iran's ability to choke off traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has proved one of its biggest strategic advantages in a war that has often boiled down to which side can take more pain.
Oil prices have risen steadily since the war began and tankers full of crude became stranded in the Persian Gulf, unable to safely transit through the strait and reach global distribution points.
On Monday, the spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at around $108 per barrel, nearly 50 per cent higher than when the war began.
Iranian foreign minister holds talks as negotiations with US stall
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Trump last week indefinitely extended the ceasefire the US and Iran agreed to on April 7 that has largely halted fighting. But a permanent settlement remains elusive in the war that has killed thousands of people.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in St. Petersburg on Monday morning ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It is a good opportunity for us to consult with our Russian friends about the developments that have occurred in relation to the war during this period and what is happening now,” Araghchi said in a video interview posted by IRNA.
It comes as Pakistan has been seeking to revive stalled talks between Iran and the US, and negotiations had been expected in Islamabad over the weekend. Instead, Trump called off a trip by his envoys and suggested the talks could take place by phone instead.
Over the weekend, Araghchi made two stops in Pakistan and a visit to Oman, which shares the strait with Iran. He also spoke by phone with counterparts in Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Iran wants to persuade Oman to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter.
Oman's response wasn't immediately clear.
The official, who is involved in mediation efforts, also said Iran insisted on ending the US blockade before new talks and that Pakistan-led mediators are trying to bridge significant gaps between the countries.
Trump says Iran has offered a much better proposal
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Trump told journalists Saturday that after he called off a trip by his envoys to Pakistan, Iran sent a “much better” proposal.
He did not elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon”.
Iran insists its programme is peaceful, but the US wants to remove Tehran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build a bomb, should Tehran choose to pursue one.
Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 people in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group resumed two days after the Iran war started. Another 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 US service members in the region and six UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been extended by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.
