US visa applicants to provide their social media details
Washington: Nearly all applicants of US visas will have to provide information on their use of social media under the new rules adopted to enhance vetting of foreign nationals seeking entry into America.
The State Department adopted a new policy on Saturday under which most visa applicants, including temporary visitors, will be required to list their social media identifiers in a drop down menu along with other personal information.
Applicants will have the option to say that they do not use social media if that is the case.
If a visa applicant lies about social media use, they could face "serious immigration consequences" as a result, a US Department of State official told Hill.TV.
For now, the drop down menu only includes major social media websites, but the applicants soon will be able to list all sites that they use.
This is a critical step forward in establishing enhanced vetting of foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States," the official told Hill.TV.
"As we've seen around the world in recent years, social media can be a major forum for terrorist sentiment and activity. This will be a vital tool to screen out terrorists, public safety threats, and other dangerous individuals from gaining immigration benefits and setting foot on US soil."
The social media identifiers will be incorporated into a background check review against watchlists generated by the US government. Applicants will also be required in the future to turn more extensive information on their travel history.
The policy stems from a March 2017 executive order issued by President Donald Trump intended to put "extreme vetting" into place. The State Department published its intent to implement the policy in March 2018.
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Broken relationships don't automatically amount to abetment of suicide: SC
New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.
"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.
Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.
While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.
According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.
Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.
The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.
"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.
The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”
The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.
