Kamala Harris seeks ends to shutdown, reopening of federal government
Washington, Jan 25 : First Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris, who recently announced her presidential bid for 2020, has sought an end to the unprecedented government shutdown and asked for earliest reopening of the federal government.
The Democratic Party leader from California said that the senate will vote on a clean bill to fund the government.
"It's been 34 days since the government shutdown. The Senate will vote on a clean bill today (Thursday) to fund the government that we unanimously approved one month ago. Let's get this done. 800,000 federal workers are counting on us," Harris said in a tweet.
Trump wants to build a US-Mexico border wall and is seeking a whopping USD 5.7 billion in funding for the physical barrier which according to him is a must to prevent flow of illegal immigrants into the US.
The Democrats assert that such a move is a "waste" of taxpayers money.
The partial shutdown has impacted the country hard with more than 800,000 federal government workers out of work across the key departments.
Three days after announcing her presidential bid, Harris, 54, said that there are FBI employees currently furloughed.
"There are DHS employees working unpaid & stretching their hours. It's the height of hypocrisy to suggest that a border wall is about securing our nation. If you want our nation secure, you'd pay the folks whose job it is to do that," she asserted.
Harris officially launched her campaign for the US presidential election in 2020 to take on President Donald Trump on Monday, saying she was "honoured" to announce her bid on a day when Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr who sought inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi.
The first of the straw poll that that came after she announced her candidature, Harris has emerged on top of the list of nearly 10 current or prospective Democratic presidential candidates.
According to a report in the Washington Post published Thursday, she was the most searched candidate on the internet after she went public with her bid.
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'Godman' Kharat held in 8th sexual exploitation case; court denies police remand, sends him to jail
Nashik (PTI): Police took custody of self-proclaimed godman-cum-astrologer Ashok Kharat in an eighth case related to sexual exploitation of women and produced him before a Nashik district court which sent him to jail till May 12 after rejecting the plea for his police remand on Thursday.
On April 29, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik police in north Maharashtra filed a request application in the court demanding Kharat's custody in the eighth case.
After the court granted them the necessary permission, the SIT took custody of Kharat, who was in jail in connection with the seventh case of sexual exploitation registered against him.
The 'godman', named in a dozen FIRs related to rape and financial fraud, was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate B N Ichpurani in the eighth case through video conferencing due to security reasons.
The eighth case related to Kharat allegedly sexually exploiting a woman who had approached him in search of solutions to her family problems, according to police.
During the hearing, the prosecution demanded police custody of the accused in the latest case.
However, the defence strongly opposed the demand and argued that the SIT was giving same reasons for police custody every time and there was no strong reason for accepting their plea.
The court accepted the argument put forth by the defence and remanded Kharat to judicial custody till May 12 in the eighth case.
The SIT will produce Kharat in the court on Friday again and seek his police custody in the ninth case. As the self-styled godman has been granted judicial custody in the eighth case, he will be sent to Nashik Road Central Jail and the SIT will take his custody from there.
Meanwhile, Kharat's judicial custody in the fourth case ended on Thursday. On April 18, the accused was remanded to judicial custody till April 30 in the fourth case of sexual exploitation of women.
In a related development, the SIT conducted a search at Kharat's office in the 'Canada Corner' area of Nashik city on Wednesday. A 'panchnama' (record of search and seizure proceedings) was conducted and the office was locked and sealed again.
Kharat, a well-heeled man with political connections, was arrested for the first time on March 18 after a woman alleged he had repeatedly raped her for three years.
He is accused of sexually exploiting several women by claiming to have divine powers and knowledge of black magic, and also committing large-scale financial fraud.
The SIT is conducting a probe into 12 cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against the astrologer in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts.
