The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a plea from Sanji Ram, the mastermind behind the 2018 rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua, refusing to suspend his life sentence.
Several individuals were detained for questioning as a massive search operation to flush out terrorists entered the third day in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district on Tuesday, officials said.
The officials identified the deceased as Ashwani Sharma (24), his brother Dwarka Nath (55), niece Virta Devi (26) and their guest Om Raj (38), a resident of Banshara in Rajgarh. The rescuers are searching for Sharma's sister-in-law, Bidya Devi (55).
Villagers living near the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu are on high alert following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, preparing underground bunkers and accelerating crop harvesting. The incident has heightened security concerns despite a renewed ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan in 2021. Residents are demanding swift action against the perpetrators and their handlers.
'Diplomatic and economic responses are first announced and then implemented. A military response is announced only after it is done.'
Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir resumed an anti-terrorist operation in Kathua district, a day after a deadly encounter killed three terrorists and three policemen. Seven others were injured in the gunbattle. The operation began on Thursday morning after a group of suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists infiltrated from across the International Border. While the bodies of three terrorists were found, the fate of two others remains unknown. The operation, centered near Jakhole village, saw intense clashes involving police, army, and CRPF forces.
The anti-terror operation was part of Indian security forces' counter-offensive Operation Asan, launched after terrorists attacked an Army convoy in the Battal area on October 28.
Security forces on Tuesday morning gunned down two terrorists holed up in a forest area near a village in the Akhnoor sector in Jammu and Kashmir, taking the number of militants killed in the 27-hour-long gunfight near the Line of Control (LoC) to three, officials said.
The Yatri Niwas Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu serves as the main base camp for the pilgrims from across the country.
Singh was under investigation by the federal agency as part of the case lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against an educational trust run by his wife and former legislator Kanta Andotra, they said.
They said a massive search operation has been launched to trace any weapon or explosive that it might have dropped.
Over 100 border dwellers have been evacuated and put in safe shelters
The Special Investigation Team of the Jammu and Kashmir police on Monday arrested three police officers, including a former district police chief, on the charges of tampering with evidence in a sensational murder case in Jammu last month.
All the market places and shops reopened and traffic has resumed as normal in all these districts bringing much relief to the people.
Odisha minister Yogendra Behara couldn't buckle his own sandals at an Independence Day event in Kendujhar on Monday, so he made his personal security officer bend down and do it for him.
In Uttar Pradesh, the death toll due to lightning strikes rose to 42.
Security agencies have alerted the Delhi Police about possibility of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad carrying out a fidayeen attack in the city, similar to the one carried out at an army camp in Samba in Jammu and Kashmir.
Each of these families will get around Rs 5.5 lakh as aid, a senior official said.
The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) swept the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls by winning 110 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party by getting 75 seats after securing the largest vote share in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday.
Prominent names such as Kamal Hassan, Supriya Sule and Omar Abdullah condemned the Kathua rape and asked the PM to speak up.
Shelling and firing by Pakistani troops was "very heavy" in 2018, virtually making the 2003 India-Pakistan border truce "redundant", said officials.
Officials said the government has made necessary arrangements for opening of 190 primary schools in Srinagar city as security forces remained deployed in most of the Valley.
The brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakerwal girl has polarised the normally peaceful town of Jammu, with the local Bar association calling for a bandh against what it termed the "targeting of minority Dogras" while the state police had lodged a case against lawyers who allegedly tried to prevent it from filing a chargesheet against the accused.
Facing difficulty in guarding riverine sections of Indo-Pak border, the Border Security Force has started installing laser walls to fill the gaps which saw several breach by militants from across the border.
The first batch of Amarnath yatris from outside the state was welcomed on Wednesday by the police and civil administration amid tight security arrangements at Lakhanpur, the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir.
As per reports, Pakistan has fired 3000-4000 mortar shells targeting Indian villages and border towns in which 12 people have been killed.
In an attempt to thwart infiltration attempts along the border with Pakistan, the Border Security Force has decided to acquire ground sensors to pick up movement along the Line of Control and the International Border.
The shelling was so intense that the deafening sound of mortar shell explosions was even heard in the Jammu city, residents said.
The businessman son of Jammu and Kashmir DIG has created a row by sharing some photographs on a social networking site, in which the youth purportedly brags about the perks and privileges given by the government to his father.
BSF troops guarding over 180 km of IB with Pakistan have strengthened their observation posts and 'listening posts' to keep a close watch against any intrusion by drones.
Over one lakh people have migrated from their hamlets and border towns in the wake of firing by Pakistan.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has already identified 36,348 families for distribution of the package under which each family will get around Rs 5.5 lakh.
After nine days of heavy firing and mortar shelling from across the border, firing de-escalated along the 192-km long border in Jammu frontier overnight with Pakistan opening fire on four border out posts in Kathua district.
This is the second major ceasefire violation along the IB this month and came despite Director General Military Operations of the two countries agreeing, on May 29, to implement the ceasefire pact of 2003 in "letter and spirit".
The manner in which assembly seats were distirbuted among Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh so far, has ensured that residents of the Valley rule the state forever, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
West Pakistan refugees say they are willing to give Prime Minister Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah time to come good on their promise.
Firing mortar shells and using automatic weapons, Pakistani troops targeted civilian areas and forward security posts along the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Situation in Jammu was "tense" on Friday as Sikh youth defied prohibitory orders and held protests in various areas as part of a three-day old agitation which is spreading and saw one more policeman being stabbed and his AK rifle taken away.
'She was just a little girl. She didn't understand religion. Who is Hindu, who is Muslim.' 'She was just 8! Why punish her?' The family of the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu's Kathua district say everything has changed since that horrific crime.
The terrorists opened fired and lobbed grenades at the Army camp in Meshwara area of Samba around 5:50 am, security officials said.
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