The Bar Council of India (BCI) yesterday formed a seven-member team to meet all judges of the Supreme Court, barring the five senior most judges, to discuss the present crisis in the apex court.

According to media reports, the team from the Bar Council of India is also slated to meet Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra at 7:30 today.

BCI passed a resolution saying no political party or leaders should take undue advantage of the situation arising out of the press conference by four senior Supreme Court judges. BCI chairperson Manan Kumar Misra said that the apex bar body has formed the seven-member team to meet all judges of the Supreme Court barring the five senior most judges to discuss the present crisis.

The top lawyers’ body also resolved that it will take the opinion of other judges and expressed the view that such issues of judges should not be made public.

On Friday, justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph had mounted a virtual revolt against the chief justice, listing a litany of problems including the assigning of cases.

(With PTI inputs)

Israeli aircraft has attacked a target in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said, and also closed the goods crossing between the Palestinian enclave and the Jewish state.

Israel “targeted a terror infrastructure using fighter jets in the southern Rafah region, adjacent to the Egypt-Gaza Strip border,” an army statement said on Saturday.

“The Hamas terror organisation is accountable for all activity in and from the Gaza Strip,” it said.

Palestinian security sources in Gaza said nobody was wounded in the Israeli strike.

Earlier in the day, Israel’s defence ministry said the Kerem Shalom goods crossing between Gaza and Israel near Rafah would be closed from Sunday “until further notice”.

A defence ministry spokeswoman would say only that the rare move came following “security assessments”.

Cross-border violence between Israel and Gaza has increased since US President Donald Trump’s December 6 decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move that has angered Palestinians who see the city as the capital of their future state.

Dozens of projectiles from Gaza have since targeted southern Israel, and 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, 14 in clashes and two in a retaliatory air strike on Gaza.

Nearly 20 lakh devotees from across the country as well as from neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh on Sunday took a holy dip at the confluence of the River Ganga and the Bay of Bengal on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.

With prayers on their lips, the devotees jostled for space since early hours to take a dip in the holy water at Ganga Sagar, also known as ‘Sagardwip’.

Every year, on Makar Sankranti day, an ocean of pilgrims gather here to take a dip at the confluence of the River Ganga and the Bay of Bengal and offer prayers in the Kapil Muni Temple.

Shankaracharya of Puri Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, who is here for Makar Sankranti, has backed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s demand that the annual Ganga Sagar Mela should be treated on par with the famous Kumbh Mela.

“I thank and welcome the demand of West Bengal chief minister that Ganga Sagar Mela should be treated on par with Kumbh Mela,” Saraswati said.

Banerjee has said recently that the Ganga Sagar Mela is being held for ages and pilgrims throng the place in large number for many years, so it should be given the status of the Kumbh Mela.

“Last year, around 15 lakh pilgrims had visited the Ganga Sagar. This year already we have crossed that mark and nearly 20 lakh people are here. We have made all arrangements for them so that they can have a memorable outing here,” South 24 Parganas district magistrate Y Ratnakara Rao told PTI.

A thick blanket of security cover has been thrown in at the famous spot. The state government has deployed around 3,000 policemen and also pressed into service seven drones to keep a tab on security for safety of pilgrims.

For the first time, the state government has equipped its officials with satellite phones to ensure uninterrupted connectivity during the Mela.

“These satellite phones will ensure that communication is not hampered even if there is an earthquake or a tsunami, among other things,” another senior official of the state government told PTI, adding that 16 satellite phones have been given to officers on duty at critical locations.

The state government has come up with an innovative Sagar Sanjog Scheme, for providing real-time information regarding the movement of transport facilities for people and vehicles too.

The state government has installed 500 CCTV cameras along the over 100 km route from Babughat in Kolkata to the Sagar Island as part of its security coverage for the grand fair.

The state disaster management department has made arrangements to get live feed from the mela area to help effectively monitor the proceedings there.

As a part of security arrangements, the state has also introduced a real-time monitoring system the Tirtha Sathi.

“Using the Tirtha Sathi, senior administrative and police officers will be able to watch live footages of all transit and other crucial points, relayed via CCTV cameras, on their mobile phones,” Rao said.

Besides, 60 giant LED screens have been placed at different points through which pilgrims would be updated about the timings and tariffs of trains, buses and ferries, tide timings as well as safety precautions.

“This information will be provided in three languages — Bengali, Hindi and English — to facilitate the largest number of pilgrims,” he said.

Elaborating on the arrangements, Rao said the carrying capacity of barges plying from Lot 8 on the mainland to Kachuberia at the Sagar Island has been doubled this year.

Two battalions of the NDRF has been deployed in Ganga Sagar to mitigate any eventuality during the Mela.

“This year, a total of 85 personnel of 2 BN NDRF are deployed at three different places. One team is deployed at Lot 8, one deployed at Kachuberia and one at Sagar. Each team is well equipped with inflatable boats, deep diving sets, deep divers and flood rescue equipment,” battalion commandant Nishith Upadhyay said in a statement.

NDRF boats and deep divers are patrolling round-the-clock at all three places and keeping a close watch on pilgrims who are passing through and taking holy dip at the Sagar.

In addition, the Coast Guard and the marine police and several security personnel have been deployed in the Sagar Island to manage the security of the several hundred thousands of pilgrims.

State-run mints have resumed minting of coins from Friday after a three-day stoppage following an order of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL) to halt operations, an official said here on Saturday.

The government-owned SPMCIL, had issued an order to all its four mints, located at Kolkata, Noida, Hyderabad and Mumbai, to halt productions of coins. Later workers’ union launched a protest and sought intervention of the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

“All the four mints have started operations from Friday but now we are working only in one shift,” Calcutta Mint Employees’ Union Vice President Bijan Dey told IANS.

According to him, the production of coins is expected to be ramped up soon as minting of coins is done in two shifts — day and night and there is demand for it.

“Apparently, it seems that there is a over-supply situation but this may be true for urban areas. Our estimates suggest, there is a substantial demand in rural areas,” he said.

Dey said the Reserve Bank of India indented about 771.2 crore pieces of coins of different denominations for this fiscal and the four mints together have so far produced about 590 crore pieces.

About 253 crore coins are yet to be taken by the apex bank, which manages circulation of coins and bank notes.

At least eight persons have been killed and over 50 injured in a fire that broke out at a two-storey building in Portugal, the media reported.

The fire broke out on Saturday night in a building in Vila Nova da Rainha, 250 km from Lisbon, after a heating-boiler exploded, Xinhua news agency reported.

The National Civil Protection Authority sent 148 firefighters and 67 vehicles to the scene and the blaze was contained within an hour.

Some of the injured, suffering from serious burns, were taken to hospitals by rescue helicopters.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP and Supreme Court lawyer Pinaki Mishra on Saturday said the entral government is trying to choke the judiciary to ensure it ceased to function.

“In last three years, there is a systematic interference by the union government in the judicial system. They are trying to choke it,” said Mishra at the Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Literary Meet (TSBLM) here.

The BJD MP was responding to the recent development where four judges of the Supreme Court come out in open against the Chief Justice of India.

He said much taller people have manned these institutions.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said it’s a matter of national concern and it should be resolved.

“If there is controversy, strife and differences within the institution, it’s a matter of national concern. What happened is unfortunate and unprecedented. Therefore, it is in the interest of the integrity of the institution that the matter should be resolved,” said Tiwari.

He said nobody is trying to score a political brownie point over the issue.

The last day of the literary festival began with conversation between senior journalists Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Barkha Dutt. Malavika Bannerjee filled in with a conversation with the two guests on the integrity of television media nowadays.

Another session of the day saw a conversation between eminent actress and director Nandita Das and renowned actress Rasika Dugal with Tanaya Patnaik as the moderator. They talked about their upcoming Indian biographical historical period drama film, Manto.

Besides, the presence of short stories in Odia literature and the never-ending joy it provides the reader with were discussed among the Odia writers.

 Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang on Saturday said that solution to the seven-decade-old Naga insurgency must be finalised at the earliest.

“Solution to the protracted Naga political issue must be finalised at the earliest time possible for the sake of peace and harmony of all the Nagas,” he told a gathering here in Zunheboto district.

“Solution is a must for all the Nagas and it must arrive for the sake of permanent peace in the land. And that is why Solution first and then election,” he reiterated.

Inviting all Naga rebel groups to come together in unison for a final settlement, Zeliang believed that the land of the Nagas would be among the best in the world once underground movement was resolved.

“We are second to none and given the opportunity, Nagas have the capability to compete at the global level,” he added.

On August 3, 2015, the central government and the separatist group, the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah signed the Framework Agreement to end the insurgency.

Last year, the government had also signed an agreement with a Working Committee comprising six Naga National Political Groups.

The NSCN-IM has been in talks with the government since 1997 after the signing of a ceasefire agreement.

A day after four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court went public with their differences with Chief Justice Dipak Misra, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said it is “our bounden duty to take note of what the judges have said and raise our voice for corrective action”.

Sinha, who finds himself at variance with his party’s stand and policies, chose to speak on the matter and said it is fear that is stopping people from speaking out.

“If four senior judges have gone public then how is it a Supreme Court matter? It is a serious matter. If they say anything to the people of the country, it is our bounded duty to take note of that,” Sinha said.

He urged “not only to listen to what the judges said to the people but also to take corrective action and raise our voice in regard to their issues”.

“All those who care for the future of the country and democracy should raise their voice. People are not speaking out of fear.”

The BJP, though, has refrained from speaking on the issue calling it an “internal matter of the apex court” and hit out at the Congress for using it to gain “political mileage”.

Sinha alleged that senior cabinet ministers are quiet because they fear they might lose their post.

“I am not saying the government should step in, it should be left to the Supreme Court. But what I am saying is the government should play its part in protecting the democracy.”

If democracy is being threatened then it’s the government’s responsibility to stand up against those (threatening it), Sinha said.

It was an argument early on Friday which convinced the four most senior judges in the Supreme Court to go to the people’s court.

The four judges — Justice J. Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph — addressed the media on the controversy over allocation of cases, saying the administration of the top court is “not in order” and that efforts to convince CJI Dipak Misra had “failed”.

Justice Kurian Joseph, one of the four Supreme Court judges who revolted against Chief Justice Dipak Misra, on Saturday said there was no constitutional crisis in the apex court and there are only problems in procedure they had objected to.

“There will be no constitutional crisis and there are only problems in procedures and that will be corrected,” Justice Kurian told reporters, a day after he and three other senior Supreme Court judges, in an unprecedented event, called a press conference to say the administration in the top court was not in order.

Also read: Chief Justice Dipak Misra to meet revolting judges on Sunday to resolve judicial crisis

He said the judges had “written everything in the letter” they released on Friday and which they had sent to Justice Misra a couple of months ago.

Asked whether he felt that the judges should not have come out in the open with their grievances against the Chief Justice, Joseph said: “Any problem, everyone can see two sides. Whatever we have to say we have written in the letter.”

Rahul Gandhi will launch the first leg of his election campaign in Karnataka from February 10-12, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday claiming that there was no anti-incumbency feeling against his government and the Congress will win a comfortable majority in the assembly polls due in a few months.

“He (Gandhi) will be addressing meetings and interacting with various groups of intellectuals, farmers, women and students during his visit to Karnataka,” state Congress chief G. Parameshwara said.

Gandhi decided on the campaign after meeting with party leaders from his state, including Siddaramaiah, state party unit president G. Parameshwara, working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leaders Veerappa Moily, K.H. Muniappa, Oscar Fernandes and party in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal.

“We, senior leaders including the KPCC President and General Secretary in charge and secretaries, are confident that the Congress party will come back to power on its own with a comfortable majority,” Siddaramaiah told reporters after the meeting here.

“Rahul Gandhi is very happy with the functioning of the government. He is very happy that our our government has no anti-incumbency. He is very happy to know that all promises made to the people in the (last election) manifesto have been fulfilled,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

The Chief Minister refused to apologize for his alleged attack on the BJP calling them terrorists. He also trashed the BJP campaign and its President Amit Shah’s description of his government as anti-Hindu, saying they had nothing to talk about “and are raising irrelevant issues”.

Asked about the BJP’s attack on him on Hindutva issues, Siddaramaiah said: “The BJP has no issues. They are raising irrelevant issues. (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister) Yogi Adityanath is also raising the same issue. Amit Shah is also raising the same issue. (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi may also raise the same issue because they have no issues there.”

To a question about his alleged attack on the BJP and its leaders as terrorists, he said: “I did not say terrorists. I have only said they spread hatred in the name of Hindutva. I said I am also a Hindu but a humane Hindu. Hindu dharma means humane Hindu and not hatred. That is Hindutva.”

Asked if he would apologise for his remarks as demanded by the BJP, he asked “why”.

Venugopal said the leaders gave an assurance that they would all work united for the success of the party in the Assembly elections.

The meeting came in the wake of a verbal duel between Siddaramaiah and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah. Karnataka is likely to witness election in April-May.

Siddaramaiah had called the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) “Hindutva extremists”, while Shah had termed his government in Karnataka “anti-Hindu”.

Gandhi had earlier warned his party leaders from making remarks which are unwarranted and personal.

As the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted raids on senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram’s son Karti’s properties, the party said “Raid Raj” has become the “DNA” of Modi government and it exposes its vendetta politics by using probe agencies as “captive puppets”.

It said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was ruffled by a series of political, administrative and judicial reversals and was, therefore, using these raids to divert the attention of the country from its abject failures.

The party said Congress leaders would not be “cowed down or bow in face of such malicious and wilful attempts to browbeat, bulldoze or overawe”.

Also read: Chidambaram slams ED for raids at son Karti’s premises

“Hurriedly conducted ED raids at the Delhi and Chennai residences of former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram have once again exposed the continuing vicious vendetta unleashed by Modi government against Congress and other opposition leaders,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a statement.

“Stark truth is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government are using agencies like ED and CBI as captive puppets to settle political scores and intimidate political opponents. In fact, ‘Raid Raj’ has become the ‘DNA’ of Modi government,” he added.

With such “spiteful and hostile onslaught” to suppress the voice of opposition, the party’s resolve to raise people’s issues and hold the government and the Prime Minister accountable on policy and promises only became stronger, Surjewala said.

The Directorate on Saturday conducted raids on Karti Chidambaram’s properties in Delhi and Chennai in connection with the INX Media money laundering case.

The raids were conducted at one location in Delhi and four in Chennai.

A 17-year-old girl in West Bengal’s East Midnapore has appealed to the district authorities to allow her to kill herself as she has become pregnant after allegedly being raped by a man on the promise of marriage, police said on Saturday.

“We got intimation from District Magistrate’s public grievance cell that a girl has sought permission to kill herself after being raped by a man of same village on the promise of marriage,” Sutahata Police Station’s Officer-in-charge Jaleswar Tewary told IANS.

She felt that it would be difficult for her to stay alive as an unwed mother, Tewary added.

Victim’s mother alleged that while the accused was absconding, the accused’s parents, who had earlier agreed to their marriage, were opposing the proposal now.

“A case was registered and accused’s father has been arrested,” the police officer said.

Earlier in the day, a West Bengal Human Rights Commission team also visited the victim’s home at Sutahata and spoke to her and her family.

The United States President on Saturday accused Democrats of squandering a chance to work out a legislative solution for hundreds of thousands of young undocumented migrants.

In remarks on Twitter, Donald Trump said he did not believe the opposition party truly wanted to negotiate a new arrangement for so-called Dreamers (undocumented migrants brought to the US illegally when they were children), 690,000 of whom are currently shielded from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, Efe reported.

Then-President Barack Obama created DACA by executive order in 2012, but Trump announced last year that he was discontinuing it and gave lawmakers until March 5 (when the program is set to expire) to come up with a permanent legislative solution for these young migrants, who otherwise could face deportation even though for many of them the US is the only country they have ever called home.

“The Democrats are all talk and no action. They are doing nothing to fix DACA. Great opportunity missed. Too bad!” the Republican wrote on Twitter.

He made the remarks two days after meeting at the White House with a bipartisan group of Democratic and Republican senators who said they had reached an agreement in principle that would offer a path to citizenship for more than a million Dreamers.

The proposed bill also would provide $1.6 billion in funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border and eliminate the diversity visa lottery program (two key demands of Trump).

That latter program distributes 50,000 visas annually to individuals from countries that traditionally have not emigrated in large numbers to the US.

The senators proposed that 25,000 of those visas go to individuals – including people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan – whose temporary protected status is set to expire in the near future following recent moves by the Trump administration.

Those undocumented migrants initially were granted TPS, nearly 20 years ago in the case of Nicaraguans and Salvadorans, due to war or natural disaster in their homelands.

An international firestorm erupted this week when the Washington Post reported that Trump, when told about the proposed visa provision for TPS beneficiaries during the meeting, asked why the US should accept migrants from “shithole countries.”

Trump, who met on Wednesday with the Norwegian prime minister, said the US instead should bring in more immigrants from countries like that highly developed Scandinavian nation.

The president on Friday said he used “tough” language during the meeting to refer to immigrants from impoverished, violence-plagued countries but denies using the crude slur attributed to him.

One of the Democratic senators at the meeting, Dick Durbin of Illinois, confirmed on Twitter that Trump used the term “shithole.”

“In the course of his comments (Mr. Trump) said things that were hate-filled, vile and racist. I use those words advisedly,” he said. “I cannot believe in the history of the White House, in that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday.”

Trump, whose administration has said it is seeking $18 billion for the first phase of wall construction, also slammed the DACA fix presented to him at the meeting with Democratic and GOP senators.

“The so-called bipartisan DACA deal presented yesterday to myself and a group of Republican Senators and Congressmen was a big step backwards. Wall was not properly funded, Chain (migration) & (Diversity Visa) Lottery were made worse and USA would be forced to take large numbers of people from high crime countries which are doing badly,” he wrote Friday on Twitter.

“I want a merit based system of immigration and people who will help take our country to the next level. I want safety and security for our people. I want to stop the massive inflow of drugs,” he added.

A Delhi University student has been arrested after he mowed down a man with his speeding BMW car here, police said on Saturday.

Police said the accident happened on January 10 and the accused was arrested the next day but later released on bail. The hit-and-run incident was captured on CCTV cameras.

“The accused student, Abhinav Sahni was behind the wheels. He was accompanied by his friends on the day of accident,” a senior police officer said.

“The speeding red-coloured BMW was coming from Kamla Nagar market, when it hit Shiv Nath, 50, who was crossing the road. Shiv Nath was flung several metres into the air,” he said, adding that Sahni fled the spot in his car.

Some passerbye later informed police and Shiv Nath was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead, he added.

“On the basis of the CCTV footage, the accused was later identified as Sahni, a student of Khalsa college, and he was arrested on January 11,” the police officer added.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Saturday called for proper implementation of the rules related to fire safety in the national capital, especially in the city’s hospitals.

“Fire safety is the most crucial aspect after patient treatment and all stakeholders must strictly abide by the norms, quality and specifications,” Jain said addressing a Fire and Security Association of India (FSAI) meet here.

The meet was attended by a number of stakeholders, including Chief Fire Safety Advisor of the central government D.K. Shami, who called for world-class norms.

“National capital erects the largest number of makeshift structures (pandals) in the world for organising marriage functions, cultural events and religious functions throughout the year.

“Although our success rate is very good, we need to ensure safety further using latest technologies… This would further reduce the chances of any such accidents,” said Shami.

An engineer working in a private construction company in Bengaluru was on Saturday shot dead by unidentified criminals in Bihar’s Saran district, police said.

According to a district police official, Krishnmohan Tiwari, 40, a resident of Kolhua village in Saran, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne criminals near Devri village under Taraiya Police Station on Saturday evening.

“Tiwari was shot dead following heated exchanges with the criminals,” the police official added.

Seven people, including two women were killed and about 30 injured on Saturday, when a speeding state roadways Volvo bus fell into a dry culvert in Karnataka’s Hassan district, said police.

“The incident occurred around 3.30 a.m. when the luxury bus fell into the culvert after crashing into the railings of a small bridge on the state highway 75 and plunged,” Hassan district Deputy Superintendent of Police Shashidhar told IANS on phone.

The victims included the driver and conductor of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus and five passengers as it was going from Bengaluru to Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district on the west coast, about 320km away.

Of the 44 passengers, the 30 injured passengers were rushed to a state-run hospital at Hassan for treatment after they were extricated from the mangled bus.

“Though the cause of the accident is under investigation, a few passengers onboard the bus said the bus hit the railings after the driver lost its control when he dozed off at the wheel,” said Shashidar.

The deceased were identified as T.D. Diana, 22, from Mangaluru and Sonia, 28 from Dharmasthala.

The five male victims were conductor Shivappa Chalavadi, 45, driver Laxman, 50, Biju from Belthangdi, Rajesh Prabhu, 26 from Dharmasthala and Gangadhar, 55, from Bengaluru.

“A case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the KSRTC and the bus company,” added Shashidhar.

State Transport Minister H.M. Revanna expressed shock over the accident and announced Rs 3 lakh compensation to the kin of all the deceased.