On Friday evening, a tragic train accident took place in Odisha’s Balasore, when two Express trains collided that has claimed the lives of 288 people and more than hundreds of passengers are left inured, the rescue operations is underway.

Railway Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said, at around 7 PM in the evening, about 10-12 coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed and fell on the opposite track, after a while, the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express rammed into the derailed coaches of Coromandel express that resulted to the derailment of its own coaches.

The dreadful accident has taken place near the Bahanga railway station in Balasore district of Odisha, which is around 120 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar.

Reports said, a three-way accident took place and involves a good carriage train in the accident.

While no official confirmation has been received on the total death toll, reports claimed more than 50 people are already dead with the numbers substantially increasing and around 300 are injured.

Some local channels of Odisha have reported, over 70 dead and around 350 injured.

The Central and state government along with the railway department have mounted a huge rescue operation but is finding it extremely difficult to clear and rush the injured to the nearest medical facilities.

National and State Disaster Management teams along with fire fighting teams and other rescue operation teams are already in place carrying out the rescue operations.

At-least 50 ambulances and 15 fire operations team from the neighbouring districts were rushed to save the trapped passengers, said to be in hundreds in number.

The government has also issued dedicated helpline numbers for various affected regions.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed about compensation to the victims. Rs 10 lakh is announced for the deceased family members, Rs 2 lakh for critically injured and Rs 50,000 for minor injured victims.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik rushed to the state control room to personally take stock of the situation and direct measures for the rescue and relief operations.

Patnaik informed he will fly to the spot in the first thing in morning.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his grief over the terrible accident expressed his thoughts with the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the inured.

PM Modi assured all possible assistance to the affected.

A 28-year-old man has been arrested for beating up his girlfriend and banging her head on a rock for refusing to get intimate with him at a public place in Bandra, Mumbai. Reports said the seriously-injured woman has been hospitalised and her condition is improving and the attacker has been charged by police for trying to kill her.

The accused, Akash Mukherjee, is a resident of Kalyan on the outskirts of Mumbai and the victim’s name is Lubna Javed Sukte, a resident of Bhiwandi. They are both aged 28 years and have been working in the same company and had been romantically linked for the last few years.

On Wednesday, they took a train from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and visited the Gateway of India and Girgaon Chowpatty before heading to Bandra bandstand in the evening. They sat near the rocks by the sea. The police said it was Mukherjee’s birthday.

Sometime later, Mukherjee told his girlfriend that he had converted to Islam to marry her. He said he had a certificate saying this which he would show to her parents and get consent to marry her. Soon, he tried to get physical with her and the woman rejected his advances.

She started crying, when he tried to stop her by covering her mouth. During the altercation, she bit his left hand. She tried to scream, but he tried to choke her.

The woman’s refusal filled him with rage and he tried to attack her. He hit her head against the rock. He also tried to drown her in the drain. After this, she screamed for help.

On hearing the scream, people nearby called police who took the man into custody. They sent the woman to the hospital. Bandra Police are investigating the case after arresting Mukherjee.    

Several BJP leaders were quick to pounce on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comment at the National Press Club in Washington DC calling the Muslim League a secular party.

In his interaction in Washington DC, Rahul Gandhi said the Muslim League is a completely secular party and is in alliance with the Muslim League in Kerala as part of the United Democratic Front. Gandhi said there is nothing non-secular about the Muslim League and questioned the reporter’s knowledge about the Muslim League.

Senior BJP leaders said Rahul Gandhi is insulting India from foreign shores. Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said Rahul Gandhi should apologise for his comments and should speak about it to the people in India once he is here.

Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said he does not take Rahul Gandhi seriously and blamed the comment on a Congress tendency. He said the comment was dangerous as such seeds of division can grow up to be challenges to the country.

Former Law Minister and BJP leader Kiren Rijiju criticised Rahul Gandhi’s statement on the Muslim League’s secular character. BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya criticized Rahul Gandhi on Twitter.

In response, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera hit out at Malviya on Twitter and questioned the BJP IT Cell chief’s wisdom and awareness about the Muslim League. He schooled him about the difference between the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala and the Muslim League of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

During the Washington DC interaction, Rahul Gandhi held forth on various topics including the party’s chances in the 2024 Lok Sabha, the move for Opposition unity to take on the BJP and the perils of unemployment that has been encircling India. Gandhi said his party was holding regular dialogue with all Opposition parties, there is a lot of good work happening in that regard.