Unnao (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 26 (ANI): The water given to the three Unnao girls was laced with a herbicide named Sulfosulfuron, leading to the death of two of them, Uttar Pradesh Police said on Thursday.
“The Forensic Science laboratory (FSL) report revealed that a herbicide named Sulfosulfuron was mixed in the water given to the three girls, after consuming which two of them died and the third was admitted to the hospital in critical condition,” said Anand Kulkarni, Superintendent of Police (SP), Unnao.
The SP added that police have applied for remand of the two accused arrested in the case.
On February 19, UP police arrested two persons, including a minor, in connection with the case where three girls were found unconscious in an agricultural field in Unnao’s Asoha, out of which two have died and the third girl is battling for her life in a Kanpur hospital.
Uttar Pradesh Police had said that one of the arrested identified as Vinay alias Lambu in his confession said that he had fallen in love with one of the girls and offered her water laced with pesticides after she rejected his advances.
“We got a tip-off on Friday morning by an informant from the village that two persons were seen running away from the agricultural field around the time of the incident. On the basis of that information, we have arrested both of them. Vinay confessed he offered ‘namkeen’ to the girl when she came to the field. When she asked for water, he handed her a bottle of water that was laced with pesticides,” police had said.
“The other two girls also drank from the same water bottle that had pesticides mixed in it. Vinay said he tried to stop the other two from drinking the water but could not do so. When the girls fainted and started frothing from their mouths, he panicked and fled the spot along with his companion,” police had added.
The three girls, all related to each other, were found lying by villagers in a field in Asoha on February 17 when they did not return after they left home to collect fodder for the cattle. (ANI)

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 26 (ANI): Allaying concerns of people over the upward spiralling of fuel price, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said the price will decrease as winter season ends.
“Increase in petroleum price in international market has affected consumers too. Prices will come down a little as winter goes away. It is an international matter, price is high due to increase in demand, it happens in winter. It will come down as the season ends,” Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in an exclusive interview with ANI, explained why the North-eastern Region (NER) which includes Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim are important for oil and gas sector of the country.
“The first oil deposits in the country were discovered near the town of Digboi and Duliajan areas of Assam and around 18 per cent of the country’s oil resources are located in the northeast east region (NER). Assam, Arunachal, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura are the areas that are full of oil and gas fields. When the Modi government came in power in 2014 we decided to create an infrastructure of the crude pipeline, gas pipeline, increase our exploration, refining and gas production capacity,” he said earlier.
Prices of LPG, petrol and diesel have been repeatedly hiked in the country. Opposition parties held protests in different parts of the country over the rise of prices of diesel and petrol. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], February 26 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on a petition seeking to frame the necessary guidelines and to constitute a committee for handling fake-news on various social handles and said that the matter will be heard by a new bench.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh said that a new bench will be designated for hearing the petitions.
The Court was hearing two petitions filed by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Manjit Singh GK.
Earlier the Delhi High Court issued notice to a leading media organisation, News Broadcasters Association, Press Council of India and Union of India on a petition seeking direction to restrain the fake-news by setting the accountability and responsibility of the concerned authorities, to frame the necessary guidelines and to constitute a committee for handling the fake-news on various social handles.
The petition was filed by Manjit Singh GK through advocate Parminder Singh Goindi challenging the vicious, unmitigated, concocted and reprehensible actions of certain media houses, claimed that certain media houses had unleashed an offensive and potentially fatal communal attack on the Sikh community by continuous circulation and constant transmission of unverified videos through different platforms including their respective news channels, YouTube, and other such digital and online platforms, pursuant to the events that unfolded New Delhi on the 72nd Republic Day on January 26.
“Such vicious campaign directed against a particular community especially at a time when public sentiments are flared up could result in disastrous consequences for the community including endangering the lives, property and liberty of people belonging to the Sikh community,” the petition said.
The petition also sought direction in the nature of mandamus for organising press-conference or uploading/ circulating/ broadcasting the authentic news on the official website of the concerned authorities/ department to counter fake news.
It also sought to issue a direction to restrain the respondent media house from circulating, transmitting and showcasing videos or news content that is directed towards vilifying a particular community and inciting hatred. (ANI)

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], February 26 (ANI): Congress leaders led by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Uttam Kumar Reddy met Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Friday and demanded a fair probe into the murders of advocates Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani, who were killed in broad daylight in Telangana’s Peddapalli district last week.
TPCC President Uttam Kumar Reddy, speaking to ANI said, “The recent incident where two High Court advocates were hacked to death on a highway in broad daylight by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party activists in Manthani Assembly Constituency has shaken the Telangana state.”
According to Congress, the sand mafia, TRS leaders and the police collaborated in the murders.
Reddy said, “We believe that the local police have colluded in this murder and if the investigation is done by local police, this will yield nothing. We are also shocked that the Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao has neither condemned the murder nor ordered any speedy justice for the family of the deceased.”
The Congress leader further said, “We have come to the Governor of Telangana Tamilisai Soundararajan, to request her to order a ‘court monitored CBI probe’ into this issue.” (ANI)

Shillong (Meghalaya) [India], February 26 (ANI): Local self-government is a symbol of both democracy and development Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday stated that it provides a framework for decentralisation of democracy.
The Lok Sabha Speaker’s comments came at the inauguration of outreach and familiarisation programme for local bodies of North-Eastern States in Shillong.
“Local Self Government is a symbol of both democracy and development. It provides a framework for the decentralisation of democracy. It strengthens the democracy at the grass-root level through which citizens get an opportunity to become a stakeholder in the local self-government of their area,” the speaker said.
“There are several provisions in our Constitution providing optimal opportunities for the development of all the areas in the country. North East India is quite distinct from the geographical and socio-cultural point of view, therefore keeping it in view; a special provision for three Autonomous District Council for these States has been made in the Sixth Schedule of our Constitution,” Birla said.
The prime objective of setting up these Councils is to protect the rights of the tribal communities of the North East, provide them equal rights in the decision-making process and to ensure that their administration is carried out in accordance with their traditions and conventions, he said.
“Mahatma Gandhi believed that the soul of India lives in villages. He believed in rural self-government and the development of the nation (Rashtrodaya) through the development of the villages (Gramodaya). He believed that every village should be self-reliant. The Government is formulating policies and schemes to make this very self-reliance a nationwide phenomenon. But, a self-reliant India can only be possible when we are Vocal for Local,” he said.
Highlighting the digital penetration in governance, he said that e-Panchyat has been introduced which has brought revolutionary changes in the working of local self-government.
It is our responsibility to make a collective effort to make democracy strong, transparent and accountable, he added.
Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma, Speaker of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Metbah Lyngdoh, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Food Processing & Industries, Rameshwar Teli and a range of MPs from across the North Eastern region also took part in the event.
The programme was organised by Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE), of the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The theme of the programme was ‘Panchayati Raj System/Autonomous District Council- Strengthening Decentralised democracy’. (ANI)

Surat (Gujarat) [India], February 26 (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that BJP and Congress are afraid of the people who voted for the AAP in the local body polls in Gujarat.
“I have been listening to statements of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, over the past few days after the results. They are perturbed and a little scared. We have to understand that they are not scared of you or AAP. They are scared of people who voted for you,” Kejriwal said addressing the newly elected corporators in Surat.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met newly elected corporators of the party and its volunteers here, after getting a rise in the local body elections in the state.
Addressing the event, Arvind Kejriwal asked the reason of being BJP always the ruling party in the state for the last 25 years.
“Why has BJP been governing here for the last 25 years? It is not because of they are doing great but because there is no opposition. People of the state are facing a lot of issues but when they saw option (AAP) against the BJP, they applauded you (by making AAP win),” he said.
The BJP on February 23 put up a spectacular performance in the Gujarat municipal corporation elections improving its numbers over the 2016 polls and nearly decimating the Congress. The party has retained power in all municipal corporations, which went to the polls. The performance appears all the more credible as BJP has been in power in the state for the last 25 years.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) put up a fight in Surat where it won 27 seats in its first outing. The BJP secured 93 out of the 120 seats in Surat, while the AAP secured 27. Congress and other parties did not win any seats. (ANI)