Indian Sub-continent

Jabalpur (MP), Aug 8; PTI:  A labourer has been arrested for allegedly raping a 30-year-old woman in a moving train in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district, police said today.

The woman, a ragpicker, boarded the empty general compartment of the Vindhyachal Express from the Madan Mahal station in Jabalpur city on Monday evening. After the train left the station at around 8.40 pm, the victim fell asleep, following which the accused allegedly raped her, said Y Mishra, station in-charge, Government Railway Police (GRP), Jabalpur.

New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) The government has appointed Chartered Accountant Swaminathan Gurumurthy, who is associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch, on the board of the Reserve Bank of India.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his appointment as non-official director on the central board of the RBI for a period of four years, an order issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

Islamabad, Aug 8 (PTI) Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, a close aide of Pakistan's Prime Minister in-waiting Imran Khan, was today put on no-fly list on a request filed by the National Accountability Bureau, a media report said.

The top anti-graft body is conducting a probe into off-shore companies of Bukhari, who was in charge of Khan's campaign in NA-53 (Islamabad-II). Khan had defeated former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in NA-53.

Islamabad, Aug 8 (PTI) Pakistan's deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif's sons Hassan and Hussain have been placed on the blacklist by the authorities, barring them from travelling on their Pakistani passports, media reports said today.

Sharif's sons, who live in London, were declared as absconders by a court after they failed to appear in any of the three corruption cases lodged against them along with their father after a Supreme Court decision in July 2017.

Jalandhar (PB), Aug 8 (PTI) A Class 8 Dalit student attempted suicide in Punjab's Jalandhar after he was allegedly tricked into drinking urine by his classmates and his teacher slapped him for complaining about it, police said today.

The teacher, Shriki Sharma, has been booked yesterday for allegedly assaulting and using casteist slurs against the 12-year-old boy. The student is hospitalised with multiple fractures after he jumped from the roof of his house following the incident in a private school last Friday, a police officer said.

Patna, Aug 8 (PTI) Bihar Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma today handed over her resignation to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar amid uproar over sex scandal case in the Muzaffarpur shelter home.

Verma met the chief minister and handed over her resignation to him, sources in the Chief Minister's Office said here.

The minister has been in the eye of the storm after name of her husband surfaced in the case of sexual abuse of girls at state-funded Muzaffarpur shelter home.

Mumbai, Aug 8 (PTI) Actor Kangana Ranaut today said it is a sad state of affair that people in the country are being lynched in the name of cows, even as she stressed the need to protect the animal.

There have been several incidents of lynching in the country on suspicions of either cow smuggling or consuming beef.

7 Aug 2018; DW: In the past few years, the media industry in India has expanded tremendously. But at the same time, corporate and political influences on journalists have also increased. Murali Krishnan reports from New Delhi.

New Delhi, Aug 7; PTI:  The Supreme Court today expressed concern over incidents of rape in the country and said that women are being raped "left, right and centre".

A bench comprising Justices M B Lokur, Deepak Gupta and K M Joseph pulled up the Bihar government for funding an NGO which ran the shelter home in Muzaffarpur where girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused.

The bench referred to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data and said that  every six hours, a woman is raped in India.

Lucknow, Aug 7; PTI: Uttar Pradesh minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi today admitted laxity by Deoria administration in shutting down the shelter home from where 24 girls were rescued, saying the district officials were aware about the closure order but allowed the facility to operate for more than a year.

The admission of laxity by the state women and child welfare minister came a day after Union minister Maneka Gandhi said she feared that there could be more cases of sexual abuse of minor girls at shelter homes.