India News
Removing innerwear of minor girls forcefully is equivalent to rape, says Calcutta High Court
A single judge bench of Justice Ananya Bandopadhyay ruled this out while hearing a 2007 minor case.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday held that forceful removal of the innerwear of minor girls is equivalent to rape.
A single judge bench of Justice Ananya Bandopadhyay ruled this out while hearing a 2007 minor case. Justice Bandhopadhyay held that removing the undergarment of the minor victim and forcing her to lie down on the ground cannot be for any other reason than to sexually ravish her.
She also observed that the minor child cannot be pampered or mollycoddled by asking to remove her pants and reclining her against her wish.
The High Court was hearing a case of Robi Roy who was accused of luring a minor girl to a secluded place with ice cream and asking her to remove her innerwear. When the minor victim refused, he forcefully removed her undergarment.
Roy was declared guilty by a lower court in West Dinajpur in 2008. Reports said the incident came to light after the minor victim started screaming when Roy forcefully removed her innerwear.
The nearby locals rushed to the spot following her scream and handed over the accused to the police.
Reports further said the lower court declared Roy guilty in November 2008 and slapped him with five and a half years of jail and also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 for the crime.
Roy challenged the order of West Dinajpur and moved to the High Court and claimed that he was falsely implicated. The accused, in his petition, claimed that he had no bad intentions towards the victim and expressed his fatherly affection towards the girl.
Reports also said the medical tests conducted on the minor victim proved that no sexual assault was carried out on her. However, the Calcutta High Court on February 7 ruled out that the incident is similar to the rape of sexual offence under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code.
India News
Padma Awards 2023: From Raveena Tandon to Suman Kalyanpur to Mulayam Singh Yadav, check full list here
This year, President Droupadi Murmu will honour 106 Padma Award recipients out of which 9 are Padma Bhushan awardees, 6 are Padma Vibhushan, and 91 are Padma Shri.

Padma Awards 2023 is being conferred at a Civil Investiture Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. This year, President Droupadi Murmu will honour 106 Padma Award recipients out of which 9 are Padma Bhushan awardees, 6 are Padma Vibhushan, and 91 are Padma Shri.
Out of 106, seven are posthumous awardees and nine of the awardees are women.
Padma Awards 2023: Check the full list here
Padma Shri awardees
Name | Field | State/Country |
Dr. Sukama Acharya | Others- Spiritualism | Haryana |
2. Ms. Jodhaiyabai Baiga | Art | Madhya Pradesh |
3. Shri Premjit Baria | Art | Dadra and Nagar Haveli |
4. Ms Usha Barle | Art | Chhatisgarh |
5. Shri Munishwar Chanddawar | Medicine | Madhya Pradesh |
6. Shri Hemant Chauhan | Art | Gujarat |
7. Shri Bhanubhai Chitara | Art | Gujarat |
8. Ms Hemoprova Chutia | Art | Assam |
9. Shri Narendra Chandra Debbarma | Public Affairs | Tripura |
10. Ms Subhadra Devi | Art | Bihar |
11. Shri Khadar Valli Dudekula | Science & Engineering | Karnataka |
12. Shri Hem Chandra Goswami | Art | Assam |
13. Ms. Pritikana Goswami | Art | West Bengal |
14. Shri Radha Charan Gupta | Literature & Education | Uttar Pradesh |
15. Shri Modadugu Vijay Gupta | Science & Engineering | Telangana |
16. Shri Ahmed Hussain & Shri Mohd Hussain | Art | Rajasthan |
17. Shri Dilshad Hussain | Art | Uttar Pradesh |
18. Shri Bhiku Ramji Idate | Social Work | Maharashtra |
19. Shri C I Issac | Literature & Education | Kerala |
20. Shri Rattan Singh Jaggi | Literature & Education | Punjab |
21. Shri Bikram Bahadur Jamatia | Social Work | Tripura |
22. Shri Ramkuiwangbe Jene | Social Work | Assam |
23. Shri Rakesh Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala (Posthumous) | Trade & Industry | Maharashtra |
24. Shri Mahipat Kavi | Art | Gujarat |
25. Shri Ratan Chandra Kar | Medicine | Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
26. Shri Mahipat Kavi | Art | Gujarat |
27. Shri M M Keeravaani | Art | Andhra Pradesh |
28. Shri Areez Khambatta (Posthumous) | Trade & Industry | Gujarat |
29. Shri Parshuram Komaji Khune | Art | Maharashtra |
30. Shri Ganesh Nagappa Krishnarajanagara | Science & Engineering | Andhra Pradesh |
31. Shri Maguni Charan Kuanr | Art | Odisha |
32. Shri Anand Kumar | Literature & Education | Bihar |
33. Shri Arvind Kumar | Science & Engineering | Uttar Pradesh |
34. Shri Domar Singh Kunvar | Art | Chhatisgarh |
35. Shri Risingbor Kurkaland | Art | Meghalaya |
36. Ms Hirabai Lobi | Social Work | Gujarat |
37. Shri Moolchand Lodha | Social Work | Rajasthan |
38. MS Rani Machaiah | Art | Karnataka |
39. Shri Ajay Kumar Mandavi | Art | Chhatisgarh |
40. Shri Prabhakar Bhanudas Mande | Literature | Maharashtra |
41. Shri Gajanan Jagannath Mane | Social Work | Maharashtra |
42. Shri Antaryami Mishra | Literature & Education | Odisha |
43. Shri Nadoja Pindipapanahalli Munivenkatappa | Art | Karnataka |
44. Prof(Dr.) Mahendra Pal | Science & Engineering | Gujarat |
45. Shri Uma Shankar Pandey | Science & Engineering | Gujarat |
46. Shri Ramesh Parmar & Ms. Shanti Parmar | Art | Madhya Pradesh |
47. Dr. Nalini Parthasarathi | Medicine | Puducherry |
48. Shri Hanumantha Rao Pasupuleti | Medicine | Telangana |
49. Shri Ramesh Patange | Literature & Education | Maharashtra |
50. Ms Krishna Patel | Art | Odisha |
51. Shri K Kalyanasundaram Pillai | Art | Tamil Nadu |
52. Shri V P Appukuttan Poduval | Social Work | Kerala |
53. Shri Kapil Dev Prasad | Art | Bihar |
54. Shri S R D Prasad | Sports | Kerala |
55. Shri Shah Rasheed Ahmed Quadri | Art | Karnataka |
56. Shri C V Raju | Art | Andhra Pradesh |
57. Shri Bakshi Ram | Science & Engineering | Haryana |
58. Shri Cheruvayal K Raman | Others | Kerala |
59. Ms Sujatha Ramdorai | Science & Engineering | Canada |
60. Shri Pareshbhai Rathwa | Art | Gujarat |
61. Shri B Ramakrishna Reddy | Literature & Education | Telangana |
62. Shri Mangala Kanti Roy | Art | West Bengal |
63. Ms K C Runremsangi | Art | Mizoram |
64. Shri Vadivel Gopal & Shri Masi | Social Work | Tamil Nadu |
65. Shri Manoranjan Sahu | Medicine | UP |
66. Shri Patayat Sahu | Others | Odisha |
67. Shri Ritwik Sanyal | Art | UP |
68. Shri Kota S S | Art | Andhra Pradesh |
69. Shri Sankurathri Chandra Sekhar | Social Work | Andhra Pradesh |
70. Shri K Shanathoiba Sharma | Sports | Manipur |
71. Shri Nekram Sharma | Others | Himachal Pradesh |
72. Shri Gurcharan Singh | Sports | Delhi |
73. Shri Laxman Singh | Social Work | Rajasthan |
74. Shri Mohan Singh | Literature | J & K |
75. Shri T C Singh | Public Affairs | Manipur |
76. Shri P C Sood | Literature | Andhra Pradesh |
77. Ms Neihunuo Sorhie | Art | Nagaland |
78. Janum Singh Soy | Literature | Jharkhand |
79. Shri Kushok Thiksey Nawang Chamba Stanzin | Others | Ladakh |
80. Shri S Subraman | Others | Karnataka |
81. Shri Moa Subong | Art | Nagaland |
82. Shri P K Sundaram | Social Work | Tamil Nadu |
83. Ms Raveena Ravi Tandon | Art | Maharashtra |
84. Shri V P Tiwari | Literature | UP |
85. Shri Dhaniram Toto | Literature | WB |
86. Shri T R Upreti | Others | Sikkim |
87. Dr Gopalsamy Veluchamy | Medicine | Tamil Nadu |
88. Dr Ishwar Chander Verma | Medicine | Delhi |
89. Ms Coomi Nariman Wadia | Art | Maharashtra |
90. Shri Karma Wangchu (Posthumous) | Social Work | Arunachal Pradesh |
91. Shri G M Zaz | Art | Jammu & Kashmir |
Padma Bhushan awardees
Name | Field | State/Country |
1. Shri S L Bhyrappa | Literature & Education | Karnataka |
2. Shri Kumar Mangalam Birla | Trade & Industry | Maharashtra |
3. Shri Deepak Dhar | Science & Engineering | Maharashtra |
4. Ms Vani Jairam | Art | Tamil Nadu |
5. Swami Chinna Jeeyar | Others-Spiritualism | Telangana |
6. Ms Suman Kalyanpur | Art | Maharashtra |
7. Shri Kapil Kapoor | Literature & Education | Delhi |
8. Ms Sudha Murty | Social Work | Karnataka |
9. Shri Kamlesh D Patel | Others- Spiritualism |
Padma Vibhushan awardees
Name | Field | State/Country |
1. Shri Balkrishna Doshi (Posthumous) | Others | Gujarat |
2. Shri Dilip Mahalanabis (Posthumous) | Medicine | West Bengal |
3. Mulayam Singh Yadav(Posthumous) | Public Affairs | Uttar Pradesh |
4. Shri Zakir Hussain | Art | Maharashtra |
5. Shri S M Krishna | Public Affairs | Karnataka |
6. Shri Srinivas Varadhan | Science & Engineering | USA |
India News
Quake felt in Delhi again, tremors of magnitude 2.7 jolts the national capital
The quake on Wednesday comes after another earthquake that jolted parts of India on Tuesday night. As per the reports, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook up parts of Northern India. It was also reported that at least 11 people died and over 160 others were injured in neighboring Pakistan.

Another earthquake shook up the national capital on Wednesday after parts of India witnessed a 6.6 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday night. As per the reports, the quake was of 2.7 magnitudes and took place 5 km below the national capital.
The National Center for Seismology also tweeted informing the same as they wrote that an earthquake of Magnitude 2.7 occurred on 22 March at 4:42 pm. The latitude was 28.66 and the Long was 77.03. The depth of the tremor was 5 Km. The epicenter of the quake is reported to be west Delhi.
The quake on Wednesday comes after another earthquake that jolted parts of India on Tuesday night. As per the reports, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook up parts of Northern India. It was also reported that at least 11 people died and over 160 others were injured in neighboring Pakistan.
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A statement by the international Seismological Center reported that apart from Pakistan, tremors were also felt in India, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, and Kyrgyzstan.
The quake jolted several parts of India at around 10:17 pm on Tuesday night. As per the reports, the tremors were felt across Northern India including Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh. The epicenter of the earthquake that hit northern parts of India and various other countries was Afghanistan.
7 dead as massive blaze engulfs firecracker unit in Tamil Nadu’s Kanchipuram
Assam man buys dream scooter with sack of coins he saved for 6 years | WATCH
India News
7 dead as massive blaze engulfs firecracker unit in Tamil Nadu’s Kanchipuram
A massive fire engulfed a firecracker unit in Tamil Nadu’s Kanchipuram district on Wednesday leaving at least seven people dead while 15 others received severe burn injuries, reports said.

A massive fire engulfed a firecracker unit in Tamil Nadu’s Kanchipuram district on Wednesday leaving at least seven people dead while 15 others received severe burn injuries, reports said.
As per reports, an enormous blaze consumed a firecracker making unit at Vazhathottam, 10 kilometers from Kanchipuram, killing at least seven people and leaving fifteen others wounded.
A report quoted Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services DGP, Abhash Kumar as saying that the building collapsed due to the gigantic inferno and many people are still feared trapped inside. The officer said that a joint rescue operation was launched by the firemen, the Kanchipuram district police along with Rescue Services personnel and local residents to pull out survivors from the torched building.
Read Also: Assam man buys dream scooter with sack of coins he saved for 6 years | WATCH
DGP Kumar said the firecracker unit had a valid license and that an investigation has been launched to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.
Local reports said that the injured, who suffered burn injuries, have been rushed nearby hospital for medical attention.
More details are awaited.
In a similar incident, ten people, including three children, were injured after a fire erupted at a seven-storey residential building in Mumbai’s Mulund West last week. The incident happened at around 2:55 pm at the Jagruti Society in Vithhal Nagar.
Rescue services and firemen successfully had rescued 80 people trapped in the burning building.
Officials at the time had said that the fire out in the electric meter room on the ground floor of the building and the smoke from the meter room spread to all its seven floors.
Fire brigade chief Sanjay Manjrekar said it was not a major fire but the smoke had spread to all the floors. He had said that people got scared of the smoke, came running and got trapped.
The official said that the fire was confined to electric wiring, electric installation, electric main cables, all meters, all switches, etc. in a common electric meter cabin on the ground floor plus the upper seven floored residential building.
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