Afghanistan hires Younis Khan as team mentor for Champions Trophy
Islamabad, Jan 8: Afghanistan has hired former Pakistan captain Younis Khan as a mentor for its men's cricket team at next month's Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said in a statement on Wednesday that the 47-year-old batting great will join the team in Pakistan ahead of the Champions Trophy and will stay with Afghanistan at the tournament.
Younis, who played 118 Tests, 265 ODIs and 25 T20s for Pakistan, retired from international cricket in 2017 and briefly worked with the national team as batting coach in 2021 before quitting after differences with the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Afghanistan is in Group B with England, Australia and South Africa. It will play its first match against South Africa at Karachi on Feb. 21.
More than 160 U.K. politicians have urged England to refuse to play against Afghanistan. The politicians wrote asking the England and Wales Cricket Board to take a stand against the Taliban regime's assault on women's rights.
It will be a second stint for Younis with Afghanistan, having previously worked with the team at a training camp in Abu Dhabi in 2022.
It will be the third straight major ICC tournament where Afghanistan has utilized local expertise by appointing a mentor, after former India international Ajay Jadeja for the 2023 World Cup in India, and Dwayne Bravo as bowling consultant at the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and U.S.
“Since the Champions Trophy is being held in Pakistan, it was required to assign a talented and experienced player as mentor from the hosting country,” ACB chief executive Naseeb Khan said.
Afghanistan finished sixth at the World Cup in India after beating England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to seal its Champions Trophy place. At the T20 World Cup, Afghanistan advanced to the semifinals.
The Champions Trophy will begin Feb. 19 at Karachi.
India, which is in Group A with Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh, will play all its games in Dubai.
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 orders release of prisoner after 25 years, recognises him as a minor at time of offence
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 8) ordered the release of a prisoner who had been incarcerated for nearly 25 years after determining he was a juvenile at the time of the offence in 1994.
A bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Aravind Kumar found that the appellant, Om Prakash, was only 14 years old when the offence occurred.
Om Prakash, initially sentenced to death for murder, had raised the plea of juvenility during the sentencing stage. However, the trial court dismissed his claim, citing his statement under s. 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the fact that he held a bank account. The High Court upheld this judgment, and the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal, affirming the death sentence.
Later, Om Prakash filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court, presenting a school certificate indicating his minor status at the time of the offence. The State of Uttarakhand also certified his age as 14 years at the time. Despite this, the curative petition was dismissed.
In 2012, his mercy petition to the President resulted in the commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment, with a condition that he would remain incarcerated until he turned 60. Subsequently, an ossification test confirmed his age as 14 at the time of the crime. He also obtained information under the RTI Act showing that minors could open bank accounts. In 2019, he challenged the Presidential order in the High Court of Uttarakhand, which dismissed his plea, citing the limited scope of judicial review over Presidential orders. He then appealed this judgment in the Supreme Court.
During the proceedings, the Supreme Court sought updated instructions from the State regarding its earlier admission in the curative petition about his juvenility. The State reaffirmed that he was a minor at the time of the offence.
The Court observed that injustice had been inflicted at every stage due to the failure of the judiciary to address the appellant's juvenility plea. Justice Sundresh, authoring the judgment, stated that the reliance on Om Prakash's statement under s. 313 of CrPC was erroneous, particularly when the statement itself suggested he was only 14 years old at the time of the crime.
The Court criticised the High Court for ignoring s. 9(2) of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015, which permits juvenility claims to be raised at any stage. It also noted that the appellant had suffered prolonged incarceration due to judicial errors, depriving him of the opportunity to reintegrate into society.
Ordering his immediate release, the Court clarified that its judgment was not a review of the 2012 Presidential order but the application of the 2015 Act to a deserving individual. It directed the Uttarakhand State Legal Services Authority to facilitate his rehabilitation and reintegration, including access to welfare schemes for livelihood, shelter, and sustenance under Article 21 of the Constitution. The State was also instructed to assist him in availing these schemes.
Senior Advocate Dr S. Muralidhar represented the appellant, with legal assistance provided by Project 39A of National Law University Delhi. ASG KM Nataraj appeared for the State.
