India

Thane, May 17 (PTI) A 42-year-old shopkeeper from Thane in Maharashtra was arrested on Monday for allegedly molesting a 12-year-old girl in his house, police said.

The incident occurred after the girl visited the timber shop of the accused Sunil Jadhav in Wagle Estate area, an official said.

Jadhav then forced the girl to accompany her to his house where he showed her obscene photos and touched her inappropriately, before letting her go, he said.

New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it views the new privacy policy of WhatsApp as a violation of the Indian Information Technology (IT) law and rules, and sought directions to the social media platform to make it clear whether it was confirming to the same.

The central government's claim was made before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh during hearing of several pleas challenging WhatsApp's new privacy policy, which according to the platform has come into effect from May 15 and has not been deferred.

Banda (UP), May 16 (PTI) A-22-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl here, police said on Sunday.

Additional Superintendent of Police, Mahendra Pratap Singh Chauhan, said the four-year-old girl was raped by the man, her neighbour, on Saturday night.

He said the accused left the girl in an unconscious state and fled the spot, adding that the man was arrested on Sunday.

The girl was admitted to a government hospital in a serious condition but her condition has improved, he said.

Kolkata, May 16 (PTI) Eminent journalist and popular TV anchor Anjan Bandyopadhyay, who tested positive for Covid-19 around a month ago, died at a private hospital in Kolkata on Sunday night, a health department official said.

He was 56.

Bandyopadhyay, the editor of Bengali news channel Zee 24 Ghanta, breathed his last at around 9.25 pm, the official said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condoled the death of the journalist, who is the brother of the state Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

Mumbai, May 17 (PTI) Cyclonic storm Tauktae over the Arabian Sea led to very strong winds blowing at a speed of 114 kmph in Mumbai on Monday afternoon, civic officials said.

This was the highest wind speed recorded so far during the day, they said.

(Reuters) --- India reported a further decline in new coronavirus cases on Monday but daily deaths remained above 4,000 and experts said the data was unreliable due to a lack of testing in rural areas where the virus is spreading fast.

For months now, nowhere in the world has been hit harder than India by the pandemic, as a new strain of the virus fuelled a surge in infections that has risen to more than 400,000 daily.

New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Monday that the government has failed to manage the COVID-19 crisis and the prime minister is nowhere to be seen.

He also lauded individuals who are helping out people in this crisis and expressed gratitude to them.

Srinagar, May 17 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir on Monday received seven new imported oxygen plants from Germany with a cumulative generation capacity of 7,100 litres per minute (LPM).

The oxygen plants were carried by an Indian Air Force aircraft from Munich in Germany and reached Srinagar Airport in the afternoon.

Kolkata, May 17 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who had rushed to the CBI office following the arrest of two state ministers, an MLA and a former party leader in Narada tapes case, left its premises almost six hours later, sources in the agency said.

Earlier, she had apparently asked agency sleuths to arrest her, too, when requested to leave the office.

The fiery TMC boss waited outside a room on the 15th floor, where the four leaders were reportedly escorted to, after their arrest.

New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) India's COVID-19 tally mounted to 24,965,463 on Monday with 281,386 fresh cases, the lowest in 27 days, while the death toll climbed to 274,390 as 4,106 more people succumbed to the disease, according to Union health ministry data

However, 2,11,74,076 patients have recuperated from the disease, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.10 per cent, it stated