India

Katihar (Bihar), Aug 8 (PTI) Two minor girls, cousins by relation, were killed after suspected sexual assault in Katihar district of Bihar, police said on Thursday.

Their mutilated, semi-nude bodies tied together with a "chunri" were found in a field in Chaukia Pahadpur Diyara village under Amdabad police station limits.

Bruises and cut marks were visible on the bodies including on their private parts, though rape could be confirmed only after post-mortem, police said.

New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) As Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday strongly defended his government's decision to revoke provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution for Jammu and Kashmir, a section of state residents alleged the way it was done was "extremely undemocratic".

Some even claimed that the Centre just wanted to win lands and "not hearts of Kashmiris".

Thane, Aug9 (PTI) A woman has been booked for allegedly abandoning her newborn baby in a public toilet near here in Maharashtra, police said on Friday.

The baby, a girl, was spotted by a woman who heard her cries in the wee hours of Thursday when she went to the toilet in Mumbra town to answer nature's call, they said.

Later, with the help of a social worker, the child was shifted to Kalwa Civic Hospital, the police added.

Banda (UP), Aug 9 (PTI) A 60-year-old farmer allegedly committed suicide in Singhpur village in Bisanda here after failing to repay his loans, police said on Friday.

Rambhavan hanged from a tree in his field on Thursday night, they said.

The family members of the farmer said he was upset as he could not repay over Rs 1 lakh loan he had taken from a bank and Rs 1.25 lakh borrowed from local lenders.

Police said the body has been sent for post-mortem and the matter is being probed.

New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Friday declined to entertain a PIL seeking to stop the release of the film Batla House, which is slated to hit theatres on Independence Day, as the petitioner had not seen the movie.

"You (petitioner, his lawyers) have not seen the film. Out of trailer nothing can be done. Then why should we hear you," a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar said.

Palghar, Aug 9 (PTI) A 42-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court here in Maharashtra for repeatedly raping a teenage girl.

Judge A U Kadam convicted the accused under relevant sections of the IPC and also the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on the accused, a resident of Vasai in Palghar district.

Banda (UP), Aug 9 (PTI) A seven-year-old girl has been allegedly raped by her cousin at a village in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Thursday when the girl along with a friend (6) had gone to a forest area near her village, the police said.

The 27-year-old cousin brother got hold of her and allegedly raped her there, they said.

Chaibasa (Jharkhand), Aug 9 (PTI) A naxal was killed in an encounter with security forces in West Singhbhum district on Friday, a police officer said.

The encounter took place in Thalkobeda forest bordering Khunti district when a team of CRPF and district police launched a joint operation in the area, West Singhbhum Superintendent of Police Inderjeet Mahatha said.

The security forces had received a tip off about movement of naxals in the area.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Tens of thousands of government forces in riot gear patrol Indian-controlled Kashmir. Streets lined with shuttered shops are deserted, steel barricades and razor wire cutting off neighborhoods. An eerie silence is broken by an occasional security vehicle whizzing past or the cawing of crows.

An unprecedented security lockdown amid a near-total communications blackout entered a fourth day Thursday, forcing some news organizations to hand-carry dispatches out of the region.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the nation Thursday night that he stripped the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir of its statehood and special constitutional status to free the disputed region of “terrorism and separatism.”

Modi’s Hindu-led nationalist government imposed an unprecedented security lockdown and a near-total communications blackout in the Muslim-majority region since Sunday night, arresting more than 500 people.