India

New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) Jet fuel prices on Wednesday soared to record high levels across the country after rates were increased by 5.2 per cent in line with a rise in international oil prices.

This is the fourth hike in jet fuel or Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices in less than two months following a spike in global oil prices but petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for a record 103rd day in a row, coinciding with electioneering to elect new governments in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Kanpur: In a shocking incident, a girl from Govind Nagar here, who protested against eve-teasing, was attacked by a few drunkards.

The miscreants also attacked the neighbour who came to rescue her.

She sustained severe head injuries after she was allegedly hit with a bottle on her head.

The Police has registered a case under sections 294,323, and 504 of the IPC.

Although the girl was assaulted by the accused, the FIR has been registered under sections of bailable offence and no section of molestation.

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who resigned from the Congress on Tuesday in the midst of the election cycle, said the grand old party had lost touch with the ground reality and no longer reflected the national mood.

In a no-holds-barred interview to PTI after quitting the Congress, the 69-year-old former Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab said he had reached his limits of perseverance in the party, which, he said, lacked inspirational leadership and is facing an existential challenge.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) Retail inflation rose to 6.01 per cent in January on an annual basis and breached the RBI's upper tolerance level, mainly due to higher prices of certain food items, as per government data released on Monday.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation was 5.66 per cent in December 2021 and 4.06 per cent in January 2021.

Lucknow, Feb 14 (PTI) The Samajwadi Party on Monday urged the Election Commission to transfer IG, Lucknow Range, Laxmi Singh for allegedly forcing people to vote for her husband who is contesting the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on a BJP ticket.

In a letter sent to the poll panel by SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel, he said the police official was affecting the polls by asking people to vote for her husband, Rajeshwar Singh, and that she should be transferred to some other district.

Patna, Feb 14 (PTI) Downplaying the ongoing hijab (headscarf) controversy in Karnataka, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said it is not an issue in his state where religious sentiments are respected.

If someone puts something on the head in a classroom, there is no need to comment on it, Kumar told reporters at a programme.

This is not an issue in Bihar, we should not focus on such things.... It's useless," he said.

The matter has gone to court, said Kumar.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Monday said a conviction for the offence of rape cannot be sustained in the absence of evidence when the version of the prosecutrix is ridden with contradictions and acquitted three persons in a 2012 gang rape case.

Justice Chandra Dhari Singh, who was dealing with a batch of appeals against the 2016 order of conviction by the trial court, however upheld the conviction of three others in the case in view of the medical evidence against them.

Kolkata, Feb 14 (PTI) Nine months after its landslide win in the West Bengal assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress on Monday reaffirmed its dominance among urban voters as it made a clean sweep in the elections to four municipal corporations.

The TMC retained control of Bidhannagar, Chandernagore and Asansol municipal corporations and wrested power in Siliguri from the CPI(M)-led Left Front.

Both the vote share and the number of seats for the TMC in these civic bodies were much higher than the last election held in 2015.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) The BJP on Monday urged the Election Commission to ban Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu from campaigning in the ongoing assembly polls and register a criminal case against him and his party, alleging that he was promoting hatred and division in the society with his comments.

A BJP delegation, including Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, met the EC with a memorandum and claimed that Sidhu had insulted Brahmins with a "derogatory" reference with an aim to divide Punjabis.

Bhubaneswar, Feb 14 (PTI) A sexagenarian who allegedly married 14 women in seven states in a span of 48 years was arrested in Bhubaneswar on Monday, police said.

It is also alleged that the man who hails from a village under Patkura police station in Odisha's Kendrapara district took money from these women before fleeing.

The arrested man, however, denied the charges.