India

Kolkata, Jan 15 (PTI) Birbhum MP Satabdi Roy said on Friday that there was no question of her leaving the Trinamool Congress, after a two-hour-long meeting with senior leader Abhishek Banerjee, who reached out to her as she voiced discontentment amid an ongoing exodus of leaders from the party ahead of the assembly elections.

Roy, an actor-turned-politician who is a leading face in Mamata Banerjee's cultural brigade, had claimed that she was not being informed about party events in her constituency, causing "mental pain".

Pilibhit (UP), Jan 15 (PTI) A 65-year-old man has been booked for allegedly raping two sisters at a village here, police said on Friday.

New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) Protesting farmer unions stuck to their demand for a complete repeal of three contentious farm laws at their ninth round of talks with three central ministers while the government asked them to be more flexible in their approach and expressed willingness for necessary amendments, as the two sides decided to meet again on January 19.

Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan told reporters after the meeting that the unions urged the government to repeal the three laws, but the Centre was unwilling to do so.

Azamgarh (UP), Jan 15 (PTI) A POCSSO court here on Friday awarded 20-year rigorous imprisonment to three people in a rape case.

Kokrajhar, Jan 15 (PTI) A KLO militant was arrested from Assam's Kokrajhar district by a joint team of the Army and the police, defence sources said on Friday.

The Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) militant was apprehended at the Kalipukhuri village in Kokrajhar police station area on Thursday night, they said.

He has been identified as Pradip Roy alias Changma.

A 7.65 mm pistol with a magazine and six rounds of ammunition were seized from him.

Chennai, Jan 15 (PTI) Makkal Needhi Maiam has been allotted 'battery torch' symbol by the Election Commission for the coming assembly elections, party chief Kamal Haasan said here on Friday.

"We have been allotted torchlight symbol for all the 234 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu," he said in a video message on his twitter handle.

Assembly elections are likely to be held during April-May in the state.

MNM contested on the symbol of torchlight in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and garnered a vote share of 3.77 per cent.

New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) Driven by healthy growth in pharmaceuticals and engineering sectors, the country's exports grew about 11 per cent year-on-year to USD 11.81 billion in the first fortnight of January, an official said on Friday.

The exports during January 1-14 last year stood at USD 10.65 billion.

Imports during January 1-14 this year too increased by 6.58 per cent to USD 18 billion as against USD 16.91 billion in the same period of 2020, the official said.

Shahjahanpur (UP), Jan 15 (PTI) A woman here has alleged that she was raped twice by a sub-inspector who also made a video of the incident, police said on Friday.

The woman has alleged that the sub-inspector (SI) posted at Jalalabad police station took her to a secluded place when she was returning from Shahjahanpur on January 8 and raped her for the second time.

The officer also threatened her not to pursue the case, Superintendent of Police S Anand said quoting the complaint of the victim.

An FIR in the mater was registered on Thursday.

Pratapgarh (UP), Jan 16 (PTI) A man was arrested for allegedly raping and blackmailing an Uttar Pradesh government officer, police said on Saturday.

The woman officer on January 2 had filed a complaint with the police alleging that the accused had made an obscene video of her and was blackmailing her as well as her family members, Station House Officer Ram Adhar said.

Acting on the complaint, the police on Friday arrested the accused hailing from Basantpur in Shahjahanpur district, he said.

Banda (UP), Jan 16 ( PTI) A 5-year-old girl was allegedly raped in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Banda district, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday night in the village under the Girwa police station area, they said.

A man has been arrested in this connection, Circle Officer (CO) Nareni Siyaram said.

The 23-year-old man had lured the minor to a secluded spot by offering her Rs 10. He allegedly raped the girl there, the CO said.