- A shameful incident which happened on Monday has come to light as footage of about a dozen people molesting and stripping a girl in Guwahati was released. A total of four persons have been arrested in connection with the incident in front of a bar on the Guwahati-Shillong Road while 12 others involved have been identified.
Narrating the sequence of events, Assam Director General of Police Jayanta Narayan Chowdhury said that four girls and two boys, apparently known to each other, entered the bar on Monday night, where they subsequently had a brawl and were forced outside by the establishment’s security. One of the girls was then pulled into the mob and molested.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has termed the incident unfortunate and said it should not have been allowed to occur. Here’s Home Minister P Chidambaram appealing to the Gogoi govt. to act.
- A Delhi court has given permission to sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi to travel to London for the Olympics! This is in spite of the MP accused of being part of the Commonwealth Games scam and is currently out on bail. Kalmadi’s plea said that he was required to attend certain meetings and conferences because he was a member of the International Association of Athletics Federation Council.
Scenes from the Guwahati molestation case.
Sports Minister Ajay Maken has reacted to the news by saying that Kalmadi should not go to the Games until he was cleared of charges. He has also confirmed that he was not going to London as part of the official delegation to the Olympics.
- Big news in Sport today as Brett Lee announced his retirement from international cricket. The Aussie paceman, who had a unique connection with India was expected to play until the Twenty20 World Cup in September, but it seems that being sent back home from the tour of England after a calf-strain forced him to call it quits. He managed 310 wickets in 76 Test matches with a batting average of 20. He also has 380 wickets in 221 one-day internationals. We have images, a video of his finest moments and features on our sports page.
- A village panchayat in Baghpat, UP, has banned loved marriages and issued a fatwa against women below the age of 40 using mobile phones and shopping. Young boys meanwhile, cannot wear headphones. The new rules also specify that the women of the village cannot leave home without their heads covered. In the only positive diktat the panchayat has also said that it will make the practice of dowry a punishable offence.But UP Cabinet Minister Azam Khan says that the government cannot interfere in this matter at the moment.
- HDFC Bank today beat analyst estimates and reported a 31 percent rise in net profit at Rs 1,417 crore for the first quarter of financial year 2013 against Rs 1085 crore in the year-ago period, driven by a robust net interest income. The stock is trading 1.61 percent higher at Rs 583.65 post the announcement, while the BSE Sensex is down 17 points at 17214.
- Syrian activists have posted videos they say show at least 17 of the dozens of people reportedly killed in heavy government shelling of a farming village in central Syria. If confirmed, the massacre in the village of Tremseh would be the latest in a string of deadly assaults by President Bashar Assad’s regime as it tries to crush dissent since a nationwide uprising erupted over a year ago. According to activists’ estimates, the conflict is believed to have killed more than 17,000 people, most of them civilians.
- Over to some more sport and Irfan Pathan will replace Vinay Kumar on the tour to Sri Lanka. Kumar suffered a hamstring injury in training and will be out for three weeks. And Sunil Chhetri has reached Portugal for his stint at Sporting Lisbon. The striker has gone for a bald mean look. We hope it gets him some goals.
- And finally, our reviewer has recommended watching latest release Cocktail. She has given it a four-star rating. Wonder whether you’ll fancy a trip to the theatre over the weekend.
