India

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) Chief of newly-formed 'JK Apni Party' Altaf Bukhari met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday during which the minister allayed fears of demographic changes in Jammu and Kashmir and also assured for early return of statehood.

Emerging after a nearly two-hour long meeting with the home minister, Bukhari, a businessman-turned-politician who led a delegation of the party, said various issues, including apprehension of people of a possible demographic change, early restoration of statehood and release of political prisoners were discussed.

Amaravati, Mar 15 (PTI) Elections to to rural and urban local bodies in Andhra Pradesh were put off for six weeks by the State Election Commission on Sunday in view of spread of coronavirus.

Elections to gram panchayats have been kept in abeyance for six weeks, State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar said.

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) Newly-appointed Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said on Sunday the AIMIM should be banned for its link to "violence and terrorists" and claimed Congress workers will join the saffron organisation in large numbers as their party was staring at "disintegration" in the state.

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) The number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 107 on Sunday, with 12 fresh cases in Maharashtra, the Union Health Ministry said.

The number of cases include two persons who died in Delhi and Karnataka.

KANPUR: As the closure of educational institutions were announced owing to the coronavirus spreading fast, the examinees appearing at Kanpur University desired to know whether the scheduled date of their B. Com. Part II examinations has been postponed. But nothing as such has taken place, according to the available information.

The examinations are going to be held from Monday( March 16).

Commonly examinees attempt to gain some extra time prior to the examination day and this very urge makes them feel so.

New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court has decided to limit its functioning due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and hold hearing of only six out of 15 benches on Monday.

The six benches will take up for hearing only urgent matters and no persons, except lawyers concerned, will be allowed inside its courtrooms.

New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) A Delhi court on Friday sentenced expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar to 10 years' imprisonment in the custodial death case of Unnao rape victim's father.

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma directed both Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother Atul Singh Sengar to pay Rs 10 lakh each as compensation to the victim's family.

The victim's father had died in judicial custody on April 9, 2018.

New Delhi, Mar 14 (PTI) The government on Saturday hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by a steep Rs 3 per litre each to garner about Rs 39,000 crore additional revenue as it repeated its 2014-15 act of not passing on gains arising from slump in international oil prices.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel will not be impacted by the tax changes as state-owned oil firms adjusted them against the recent fall in oil prices and the likely trend in the near future, industry officials said.

Gorakhpur (UP), Mar 13 (PTI) A labourer of a sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district was allegedly raped by the driver of the factory, police said on Friday.

The incident occurred at Hata area on Tuesday when the woman's husband went to the market, according to the complaint.

Tura (Meghalaya), Mar 13 (PTI) A teenage girl was sexually assaulted by her father who was out on bail after spending years in prison for allegedly raping his other daughter and impregnating her, the Meghalaya Police said on Friday.

The incident happened near Dalu in the state's West Garo Hills district, officials said.