Tribals break jail, burn two accused

In a bizarre act of vengeance, more than 5,000 tribals recently attacked a sub-jail and burnt alive two accused persons at G. Udaygiri in Orissa’s southern district of Gajapati.The tribals had been sitting on a dharna outside the jail demanding that the jail authorities hand over the two accused persons to them. The accused person had allegedly looted some tribals when they were travelling in a train.

However, when the authorities did not relent, they became violent and broke the main gate of the jail. They pulled out the alleged dacoits and set them on fire. Before that they had blocked all routes and snapped the telephone connections.

Johny Lever jailed

Noted film comedian Johny Lever has been awarded a seven-day jail term by a sessions court in Mumbai for showing disrespect to the national flag.

$ 400,000 raised by Nargis Foundation

The North-West Chapter of the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation recently hosted a fund-raising dinner in New York. The $ 100-a-plate dinner was attended by 500 leading NRIs, including the Indian consul general at Chicago, Mr. J.C. Sharma.The sources from New York further informed that the foundation could amassed about $ 400,000 in cash, pledges and medicines through the fund-raising dinner.

The single largest donation in the form of medicines worth $ 2,50,000 was promised by a non-resident Indian. A part of donation came in Indian currency of Rs. 40 lakh.

EC suggestion on RP Act

Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh has recently come up with a naive suggestion which calls for amendments in the Representation of People’s Act.In his opinion, this is required simply to put a check on the entry of criminal elements into legislatures.There were many loopholes in the present act through which criminals and convicts could enter legislatures, Mr. Lyngdoh said.

Under the present act, a person, even if he was convicted for 10 years for a major offence like rape, could contest an election from jail, as he was barred from contesting elections only for six years, Mr. Lyngdoh added this while talking to the press at Coimbatore.This has led to criminalisation of politics, which can be checked only through "drastic amendments" to the Act, he said. On the voters’ I-cards, he said, work was still in progress and the commission wanted to finish it at the earliest. He said if voting machines were used in all the polling stations and elections held on a single day, enormous amounts spent on stationery could be saved.

Asked whether the commission was ready to face an immediate mid-term poll to the Lok Sabha, the EC said "the machinery is always ready, but it should be given at least three months".