A local court here has issued an arrest warrant against Bollywood actress Rakhi Sawant for allegedly making objectionable remarks against sage Valmiki, who wrote the mythological Hindu epic 'Ramayana'.

The warrant was issued on March 9 on the basis of a complaint filed against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Valmiki community with her comments on a programme on a private television channel last year, police said on Sunday.

"By doing so she has hurt the religious sentiments of a large number of his followers," the complaint said.

"A two-member team of the Ludhiana police has left for Mumbai with the arrest warrant," a police official said.

Sawant had failed to appear before the court during the last hearing held on March 9 despite the court issuing her repeated summons.

The next hearing of the case is scheduled for April 10.

A local court here has issued an arrest warrant against Bollywood actress Rakhi Sawant for allegedly making objectionable remarks against sage Valmiki, who wrote the mythological Hindu epic 'Ramayana'.

The warrant was issued on March 9 on the basis of a complaint filed against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Valmiki community with her comments on a programme on a private television channel last year, police said on Sunday.

"By doing so she has hurt the religious sentiments of a large number of his followers," the complaint said.

"A two-member team of the Ludhiana police has left for Mumbai with the arrest warrant," a police official said.

Sawant had failed to appear before the court during the last hearing held on March 9 despite the court issuing her repeated summons.

The next hearing of the case is scheduled for April 10.

"Put down the map and get wonderfully lost…"

The mellow evening sun sets its magical hues upon the cool simmering sea water. Seagulls flying high… there's hardly a soul on the beach now. The sound of the summer breeze and rushing waves against the sandy shore fills the quiet against the soft moonshine. From atop the cliff, the view is breathtakingly beautiful. And, the road ahead winds into the inner realm of the wild and free.

You have it all set. Soon, you will be there. You are busy packing your bags and cramping up your mind with all the last-minute things to do before you finally set out. You sure don't want to make any silly mistakes.

Yes, you have heard it too often. The top mistakes. The dos and don'ts of travelling. The best travel guidelines and rules. All that… plan in advance. Carry a map. Book a stay in advance. Read about the place before you set out to travel and avoid the mistakes and have a perfect holiday.

Well, take it easy. Take a deep breath. Chuck the map. Crush the dos and don'ts. How about, no rules?

Have the courage. Take the leap. Be fearless. Travel differently this time. Or, do nothing.

Stop reading. Ease your mind. Trash the travelling rules. Let peace be your journey.

Spike the list. Plan nothing in advance. Just carry an empty mind to bring back new memories. Remember, a road trip is all you need.

Put on your shoes. Tighten your belt. Steer your travelling wheel and hit the road.

Don't hold back. You have nothing to lose. Go completely footloose.

Set free the wanderlust in you. The thrill is on. Go happy free wheeling.

And, get wonderfully lost in the wild, in the wilderness, in the crowd.

Soak up the beauty of the new. Eat, pray, play, laugh, dance, sing and sleep. Live a true story along the way.

Don't think twice. Take the untrodden road. Be a true footloose traveller. Travel through the unknown.

Listen to your heart and go where the river runs through. For all you know, you may find a more enchanting destination.

Don't forget to pick some wild berries and flowers on the way. And, fill your life with new colours and the wonder of being wonderfully lost.

Do not arrive yet. The road is made for the journey. Keep on travelling. If there's a heaven, there could be a heaven on earth! You may find it!

"Put down the map and get wonderfully lost…"

The mellow evening sun sets its magical hues upon the cool simmering sea water. Seagulls flying high… there's hardly a soul on the beach now. The sound of the summer breeze and rushing waves against the sandy shore fills the quiet against the soft moonshine. From atop the cliff, the view is breathtakingly beautiful. And, the road ahead winds into the inner realm of the wild and free.

You have it all set. Soon, you will be there. You are busy packing your bags and cramping up your mind with all the last-minute things to do before you finally set out. You sure don't want to make any silly mistakes.

Yes, you have heard it too often. The top mistakes. The dos and don'ts of travelling. The best travel guidelines and rules. All that… plan in advance. Carry a map. Book a stay in advance. Read about the place before you set out to travel and avoid the mistakes and have a perfect holiday.

Well, take it easy. Take a deep breath. Chuck the map. Crush the dos and don'ts. How about, no rules?

Have the courage. Take the leap. Be fearless. Travel differently this time. Or, do nothing.

Stop reading. Ease your mind. Trash the travelling rules. Let peace be your journey.

Spike the list. Plan nothing in advance. Just carry an empty mind to bring back new memories. Remember, a road trip is all you need.

Put on your shoes. Tighten your belt. Steer your travelling wheel and hit the road.

Don't hold back. You have nothing to lose. Go completely footloose.

Set free the wanderlust in you. The thrill is on. Go happy free wheeling.

And, get wonderfully lost in the wild, in the wilderness, in the crowd.

Soak up the beauty of the new. Eat, pray, play, laugh, dance, sing and sleep. Live a true story along the way.

Don't think twice. Take the untrodden road. Be a true footloose traveller. Travel through the unknown.

Listen to your heart and go where the river runs through. For all you know, you may find a more enchanting destination.

Don't forget to pick some wild berries and flowers on the way. And, fill your life with new colours and the wonder of being wonderfully lost.

Do not arrive yet. The road is made for the journey. Keep on travelling. If there's a heaven, there could be a heaven on earth! You may find it!

President Donald Trump brought Sen. Rand Paul to his Virginia golf course today, where the two planned to discuss health care as they hit the fairways.

The outing to Trump National Golf Club came hours after Trump tweeted that: "Talks on Repealing and Replacing ObamaCare are, and have been, going on, and will continue until such time as a deal is hopefully struck." 

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said Trump would be golfing and talking policy, including health care, with Paul and budget director Mick Mulvaney.

Paul, whom Trump vanquished in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, was a critic of the House GOP plan to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health care law. The collapse of that effort humiliated Trump in the early days of his administration.

Party leaders now hope to produce a new health care bill, but it remains unclear how that will happen, with deep divides among Republicans and little interest in cooperation from Democrats.

Since the health care bill went down, Trump has repeatedly lashed out at members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who contributed to the defeat.

But speaking on CNN's State of the Union Sunday, a member of the caucus, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, refuted the attacks, saying "tweets and statements and blame don't change facts.

And the facts remain the same. When you look at the document, when you look at the legislation, it doesn't repeal Obamacare." 

The Sunday golf outing was not unusual for Trump, who has visited his golf courses in Virginia and Florida repeatedly since taking office. Sometimes these rounds incorporate official business, like when he played with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida.

For years, Trump railed against Obama when he was in office for golfing. Candidate Trump said if he won the election he'd probably be too busy to golf and would only play with people with whom he was looking to make deals.

President Donald Trump brought Sen. Rand Paul to his Virginia golf course today, where the two planned to discuss health care as they hit the fairways.

The outing to Trump National Golf Club came hours after Trump tweeted that: "Talks on Repealing and Replacing ObamaCare are, and have been, going on, and will continue until such time as a deal is hopefully struck." 

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said Trump would be golfing and talking policy, including health care, with Paul and budget director Mick Mulvaney.

Paul, whom Trump vanquished in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, was a critic of the House GOP plan to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health care law. The collapse of that effort humiliated Trump in the early days of his administration.

Party leaders now hope to produce a new health care bill, but it remains unclear how that will happen, with deep divides among Republicans and little interest in cooperation from Democrats.

Since the health care bill went down, Trump has repeatedly lashed out at members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who contributed to the defeat.

But speaking on CNN's State of the Union Sunday, a member of the caucus, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, refuted the attacks, saying "tweets and statements and blame don't change facts.

And the facts remain the same. When you look at the document, when you look at the legislation, it doesn't repeal Obamacare." 

The Sunday golf outing was not unusual for Trump, who has visited his golf courses in Virginia and Florida repeatedly since taking office. Sometimes these rounds incorporate official business, like when he played with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida.

For years, Trump railed against Obama when he was in office for golfing. Candidate Trump said if he won the election he'd probably be too busy to golf and would only play with people with whom he was looking to make deals.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Delhi unit on Sunday released its first list of 160 candidates for the upcoming civic polls.

The BJP declared 58 candidates for the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, 67 candidates for the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and 35 candidates for the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari had earlier announced that the party would not give tickets to any sitting councillors, apparently in a bid to beat anti-incumbency.

The election for 272 seats of the three civic bodies is scheduled for April 23 and the results declared on April 26.

Banda in Uttar Pradesh was the hottest place in the country on Sunday, recording a maximum of 44.8 degrees Celsius, while many other cities too registered 40-plus temperatures as the heat wave onslaught continued in several parts of the country.

The minimum temperature in national capital Delhi settled at 23.9 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest morning of the season. The maximum temperature was recorded at 38 degrees Celsius.

However relief seemed to be in the offing for Delhiites as the weatherman has predicted a dip in temperatures after April 4.

Chandrapur in Maharashtra recorded a maximum of 43.8 degrees Celsius and was the second hottest place in India while Bankura in West Bengal was the third hottest with 43.4 degrees Celsius, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.

In Rajasthan, blistering heat continued to affect normal life in parts of the state as the mercury soared to 42.4 degrees Celsius in Barmer followed by 42.3 degrees in Jaisalmer.

Churu and Bikaner recorded maximum of 41.5 and 41.4 degrees respectively while Kota, Jodhpur, Sriganganagar and Pilani recorded day temperature of 40.9, 40.8, 40.7 and 40.3 degrees respectively, according to the Met department.

Maximum temperature in Jaipur and Ajmer was 39.8 degrees.

In Uttar Pradesh, apart from Banda, high temperatures were experienced in cities like Gorakhpur, Faizabad, Varanasi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Moradabad, Jhansi, Agra, Meerut, Kanpur and Bareilly.

The lowest minimum temperature in the state was 18.3 degrees Celsius recorded in Rae Bareli.

Narnaul in Haryana continued to remain the hottest place in the State recording a maximum temperature of 41 degrees Celsius today, seven notches against normal, according to MeT Department officials.

Hisar also experienced a hot day at 39.1 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal.

In Punjab, Patiala registered a maximum temperature of 37.6 degrees Celsius, seven notches more than normal limits while Ludhiana recorded five degrees above normal high at 36.6 degrees Celsius.

Chandigarh, the common capital of Punjab and Haryana recorded a high of 35.5 degrees Celsius, three notches more than normal.

Mahabubnagar district in Telangana today recorded the highest maximum temperature of 41.7 degrees Celsius in the state. Adilabad recorded 41.5 degree Celsius followed by Nizamabad 40.8, Medak 40.7, Nalgonda 40.2, while Hyderabad, Khammam, Bhadrachalam and Ramagundam recorded 40 degree Celsius, the IMD said.

Kolkata witnessed a fall in day temperature today and was pleasant at 33.4 degrees Celsius, which is two notches below average, the weatherman said.

Most parts of Odisha on Sunday experienced slight respite from the searing heat as the mercury dropped marginally though the temperature stood above 40 degrees Celsius in around a dozen places.

Official results from Myanmar's election committee show that Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy party has retained voters' loyalty in its Yangon strongholds, but has weakened in ethnic minority areas that helped boost her party's 2015 landslide general election victory.

The results released for Saturday's by-elections show the NLD taking eight of 12 seats for the combined upper houses of the national parliament. It won only one of seven seats at stake in state assembles, where ethnic-focused parties performed strongly.

The NLD won its 2015 election majority with the support of ethnic minorities anxious to end five decades of military rule, but Suu Kyi's failure so far to meet their political demands for greater autonomy has fractured their united front.

South India was the most affected as the indefinite strike called by truck owners to protest mainly against the proposed 50 per cent hike in the third party insurance premium entered the second day on Sunday.

"Lorries are not going to southern states from other parts of the country. Trucks which have national permit have been diverted.. .All south India bound trucks and lorries have stopped. And there is no movement from south India also," All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) President SK Mittal said.

AIMTC is the apex body of truck operators in the country.

He said the response from other parts of the country was also "good".

Mittal claimed the situation could turn for the worse as LPG gas carriers and tankers are set to join the strike from Monday.

All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners' Association (ACOGOA) president Channa Reddy said apart from south India, the strike has evoked a "great response" from the eastern states as well.

"The strike is continuing. There is virtually no truck movement to and from south India. In North India also truck movement is paralysed because of this," Reddy said.

The South India Motor Transport Association and South Zone Motor Transporters' Welfare Association (SZMTWA) had gone for the indefinite strike from Thursday and All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners' Association (ACOGOA) joined the protests from Saturday.

In Maharashtra, the effect was "partial".

In a bid to resolve the stand-off, the strikers will meet Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Chairman on Monday, and take a decision on whether to continue with the agitation based on the discussions with the regulator.

"Officials of the Ministries of Road Transport, Highways and Finance will also be present at the Hyderabad meeting on Monday," said Mittal.

The third party premium for automobiles is decided by IRDAI while all other premium rates are decided by the insurers – private and government-owned. Fleet owners normally go only for third party policies and take care of the damages to vehicles on their own.

Truck owners are also demanding reinstatement of tariff advisory committee and protesteing against fines proposed in the Motor Vehicles Act amendment.

Mittal said truckers have been demanding category wise real time data from the insurance regulator but this has not been provided so far.

"Lorries whose insurance premium is due, are noo renewing it, as they are opposed to the sharp and arbitrary increase in the premium," he said.

In West Bengal, rows of trucks were stranded at various points, across the state. There was no loading and unloading of goods. There were fears that the strike could lead to severe shortage of fish, vegetables and fruits, triggering a price increase.

According to Mittal, the total number of trucks in India is around 94 lakhs.

Hotel and restaurant owners on Sunday said they will not file any review petition against the Supreme Court order prohibiting sale of liquor within 500 metres on either side of national and state highways.

In an urgent meeting here, stakeholders of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry decided to take the matter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma instead to seek a way out.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of various stakeholding associations of the industry including Hotel Association of India (HAI), Hotel & Restaurant Association of Haryana (HRAH), National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI).

HRAH President Manbir Chaudhary said over 200 pubs and bars along the national highway in Gurugram have been shut down following the ban.

President of the Oberoi Group Kapil Chopra said they completely honour the decision of the Supreme Court but it has not only led to business loss but also rendered many people working in the industry jobless.

He said the ban has also dealt a negative impact on tourism as well as planned investments in the country.

The Supreme Court, which in December last year banned liquor shops within 500 metres on either side of national and state highways, on Friday also banned hotels and restaurants along the highways from serving liquor.

Speakers in the meeting said the Supreme Court's decision has left countless employees in the hospitality industry shocked and dismayed.

"If you go back to the beginning, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways gave its recommendation for highway safety, but never spoke of bars and restaurants serving liquor," said a participant.

"It was only about truck drivers buying liquor from liquor vends and leading to accidents. The new ban comes as a big shock to us," said another participant.

In Delhi, hotels in the Aerocity complex near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, and in Gurugram, five-star hotels such as the Leela, Trident, Westin and the Oberoi, and restaurants and bars situated along the NH8 will have to stop serving liquor. 

Former Nepal Prime Minister — and Chairman of Naya Shakti Nepal party — Baburam Bhattarai was arrested from outside the Election Commission (EC) Office here on Sunday, the media reported.

Bhattarai, his wife Hisila Yami, and Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) Maoist Revolutionary leader CP Gajurel, among others, were picked up by police while they were staging a sit-in outside the EC office to protest denial of election symbol to the party, The Kathmandu Post reported. 

According to Bhattarai's aide Bishwodeep Pandey, police personnel badly treated the leaders by hauling them into a truck after their arrest.

Five political parties registered with the EC, including Naya Shakti Nepal, staged a sit-in outside the poll panel's office in protest against "the election holding body's refusal to grant election symbol". 

Prior to this, the agitating parties had submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav.

While submitting a memorandum in this regard to Dahal on Thursday, Naya Shaki Nepal had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to him demanding allocation of an election symbol for their party. 

Naya Shakti, among others parties, staged a two-hour sit-in on Sunday outside the EC offices across the nation to press their demand.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh was on Sunday attacked by a woman party worker during a road show here.

Singh was campaigning for the upcoming civic polls along with several other party leaders and workers in Rajouri Garden area of west Delhi when the incident happened.

The woman, who identified herself as Simranjeet Kaur, accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of demanding money for giving tickets for the civic polls.

She also claimed to have audio recordings of some AAP leaders demanding money in exchange for the tickets.

Simranjet Kaur claimed when her husband shared the clips with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, he dismissed them as fake without any inquiry.

The AAP blamed the opposition parties for the assault, alleging they were rattled as the campaign of the AAP candidate for Rajouri Garden assembly seat, Harjeet Singh, got a major boost with a roadshow by AAP leaders H.S. Phoolka and Sanjay Singh.

"Opposition parties and forces opposed to Aam Aadmi Party knew that stature and popularity of the leaders made this roadshow a big event and to mar that, our leader and spokesperson, Sanjay Singh, was assaulted," AAP leader Dilip Pandey said in a statement.

"This was a shameful incident which we strongly condemn and reiterate that no amount of verbal or physical assaults shall stop the AAP's road to victory in Rajouri Garden by-election."

The by-election to the Rajouri Garden assembly seat, which fell vacant after sitting member Jarnail Singh resigned to contest the Punjab assembly elections, would take place on April 9.

Amid the raging row over alleged tampering of electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Election Commission of India today again asserted that its EVMs are "not tamperable" and that it is "fully satisfied with the tamper-proof functioning" of its EVMs.

In a hard-hitting response to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s 25 March petition regarding the alleged tamperability of EVMs in the context of recent Punjab assembly elections, the Election Commission (EC) maintained that given a multi-layered "effective technical and administrative safeguards"   EVMs could not be tampered and that "the integrity of electoral process is fully preserved".

In its reply to the AAP today, the EC said, "The Commission has put in place an eleborate technical and administrative system of safeguards to ensure error-free functioning of EVMs in elections. It is for your party to introspect as to why your party could not perform as per your expectations and it is unfair on the part of your party to attribute unsatisfactory poll performance of your party to the alleged tamperability of EVMs".

Rejecting the AAP's demand for verification of votes cast in EVMs with voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) in Punjab assembly polls, the EC made it clear that the AAP is free to file an election petition in the High Court concerned in this regard.

The country's apex poll body quoted rules to state that "after the declaration of result only alternative avilable to verify the data of votes cast is to file an Election Petition before the competent court i.e. High Court concerned".

Following the results of  recent assembly elections in five states, the BSP chief Mayawati, the AAP's Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress party have questioned the credibility and reliability of EVMs.

On Saturday, seizing on alleged malfunctioning of an EVM-VVPAT in favour of the BJP during demonstration in presence of the top poll officials in Madhya Pardesh's Bhind ahead of 9 April bypolls there, Mr Kejriwal and a Congress delegation had separately met the EC, demanding a thorough probe and a return to conduct of elections through the old system of ballot papers instead of EVMs.

The ruling BJP has also rejected such allegations of EVM tampering, asserting that it has full faith in the EC.

A policeman was killed and 11 other security personnel injured in a grenade attack here on Sunday evening, police said.

Police said militants lobbed a grenade at a security force party in old city's Nowhatta area at around 6.30 pm as they were withdrawing from the area after the day's deployment.

"A police constable identified as Shamim Ahmed was killed in the grenade explosion. Eleven other security personnel including eight policemen and three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were injured," said a police officer here.

Earlier reports had said 10 CRPF troopers had been injured in the blast.

"The injured security personnel have been shifted to hospital for treatment. The area has been cordoned off for searches," the officer said.

The attack came on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state to inaugurate the Nashri-Chenani tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

Separatists had called for a shutdown to protest Modi's visit.

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre as to what measures, including framing of a national policy, have been taken to save endangered wildlife species like Great Indian Bustards and snow leopards.

A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud granted four weeks' time to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to respond to the PIL filed by ecologist Vidya Athreya and others.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioners, said that wildlife species like Great Indian Bustards, snow leopards and wolves are on the verge of extinction and they needed to be conserved.

He also referred to unnatural deaths of elephants on highways and railway tracks and said that the area earmarked for the largest mammals was not sufficient enough.

The PIL said that the railways and highway authorities should evolve mechanisms like constructing underpass and fencing roads to ensure that elephants do not get killed.

The plea referred to the issue of climate change and said that there should be safe corridors for allowing wildlife animals like elephants in moving from one place to another to beat extreme weather conditions.

Divan also submitted that there should be a comprehensive policy to avoid man-animal conflict. He also told the court that there is a need to enhance genetic pool of particular species.

“There is a need for positive policy and not general policy and to protect endangered species,” Divan said.

The matter will come up for hearing after four weeks.

Three Constitution benches will sit during the summer vacation of the Supreme Court to help reduce the number of pending cases, according to Chief Justice J S Khehar.

The CJI has  also requested the judges to consider sitting in courts for five days during the vacation to clear at least 10 cases each day and bring down the pendency.

"This way thousands of small matters like matrimonial disputes and mediation cases can be settled and arrears of cases brought down," Justice Khehar said in his address at the sesquicentennial celebrations of the Allahabad High Court, sources said here.

"At the Supreme Court, we will set up three five-judge benches for hearing important matters like triple talaq during vacation," he said.

A Constitution bench will hear petitions challenging Muslim practices of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy from May 11.

Along with the triple talaq matter, the Supreme Court will also hear cases related to Aadhaar and WhatsApp during the nearly 50-day summer vacation.

This will be the first time at the court's 67-year-old history that three Constitution benches will sit during the summer break.

"The situation (with regard to huge backlogs and paucity of judges), is what it is. The question is whether we, judges and advocates, can do something. I have been working during vacations ever since I became a Supreme Court judge.

"We in the legal profession are at a turning point, a defining moment. We ought to make some sacrifices," he said.

The CJI recalled, "An issue like the NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission) was heard by us during vacations. If such a complex issue can be heard during vacations, why not other smaller matters. I would request judges and lawyers to rise to the occasion and take similar initiatives."