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Kerala High Court resumes hearing of Bail Application of M Sivasankar, Former Principal Secretary of Kerala Chief Minister

 Sivasankar is presently in ED's custody for alleged involvement in the Kerala Gold Smuggling case. He is also being investigated by the NIA and Customs Department.
Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta is arguing for Sivasankar.

He denies ED's allegations that Sivasankar contacted customs officials to clear the baggage alleged to be containing smuggled gold.
Gupta claims statement made by co-accused Swapna Suresh about Sivasankar's involvement are not credible as the same were made after her arrest.
Gupta points out that the correspondence between Sivasankar and Swapna does not disclose any knowledge on the latter's part.

He also tells Court that all of Swapna's statements categorically denied his client's involvement in gold smuggling, until before her arrest.
Gupta says the authority has submitted before Special Court that the crime need not be identified to proceed under PMLA

"If you don't identify the crime, how do you know it is a 'Scheduled Offence' under the PMLA from which the proceeds of crime came?": Gupta
Gupta: You cannot proceed against a person on the basis of an underlying offence. What is the predicate offence?

Reads out Section 3 of PMLA:

"There has to be a predicate offence from which proceeds of crime arise, that money needs to be touched by the accused to be prosecuted"
Gupta points out that in this case the predicate offence is not defined. The allegations have been changed from Gold smuggling to involvement in LIFE Mission case.

https://t.co/sDkgKRDwp8
Gupta: First they said proceeds of crime are from gold smuggling. Now they say these are kickbacks from Life Mission contract.

What is the predicate offence? PMLA is not applicable here: Gupta
Where are the proceeds of crime? My client has not received any money, the offence under PMLA is not complete: Gupta

The Project was a private contract, how are they saying that a government servant received kickbacks from it?: Gupta
LIFE Mission project had its own CEO. He was a senior IAS Officer. My client could not have been involved unless they say that the entire Government was under his control. But there is no material to show the same: Gupta
The contract was awarded after a public tender; everything is in public domain; no one can tamper with this information; there are no reasonable grounds to hold my client responsible for anything: Gupta
Gupta is now making submissions on the provision of Bail under Section 45 of PMLA.

Read S. 45 here: https://t.co/Y9emmHQIfa
(This Section was amended in 2018.)
Under S. 45 Public Prosecutor has to be given an opportunity to oppose Bail.

Gupta refers to SC's verdict in Nikesh Tarachand Shah v. UoI where it was held that S. 45 is manifestly arbitrary and contravenes Art 14.

Gupta submits that 2018 amendment has not removed the problem.
Gupta reads out the following excerpt from the Nikesh Tarachand case and submits that many arbitrary conditions pointed out in the Judgment still persist even after the amendment:
Gupta now refers to the second P. Chidambaram Judgment passed by the SC on Dec 4, 2019

Read here:
https://t.co/p8ykH5Z56P
He points out that in cases pertaining to economic offences it has been held that special circumstances must be shown to release the accused on Bail. However in this latest judgment on PMLA, it was held:
Gupta quotes from the Judgment: "...even if allegation is one of grave economic offence, it is not a rule that bail should be denied in every case since there is no such bar created in the relevant enactment passed by the legislature nor does the bail jurisprudence provides so."
Gupta points out that correspondence between Swapna & Sivasankar does not disclose anything suspicious.

Says that they are social acquaintances & merely because Sivasankar sought accommodation for Swapna, Respondents are making an impression that it was to keep proceeds of crime
Gupta reads out a Whatsapp Chat between Sivasankar and one Venugopal. The chat is about availability of a flat.

Gupta: If this is to be read without any external allegations in mind, there is nothing suspicious about it. They are trying to create impressions.
Earlier Gupta had claimed that merely because Sivasankar told Swapna about a job vacancy in PwC for its Space Park Project with Kerala govt. would not mean that there is anything suspicious.

https://t.co/lWadiouGKm
It must be seen that they are socially familiar & this is natural behavior: Gupta tells Kerala HC
Gupta concludes.

Submissions on behalf of ED are likely to be made by ASG Raju on December 18.

Hearing concludes for the day.

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Bombay HC refers to SC judgment in Arnab Goswami case during the hearing of Varavara Rao's case.

"Now we have a judgment(Arnab case) wherein it has been clarified that HC can grant bail in writ. Earlier there was a grey area. Now the law has been made clear", Justice Shinde says


'Arnab's case was on different facts', submits ASG Anil Singh for NIA @NIA_India

"Earlier both of us were pondering whether under 226 bail can be granted, but the position has been clarified now", Justice Shinde replies.

#BombayHighCourt
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"Nanavati hospital report is deficient in a number of areas, they have been conspicuously silent on a number of issues"- Anand Grover submits for Varavara Rao.
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VV Rao has had ailments from the beginning, they do not have the infrastructure in jail in terms of medical facilities and he keeps getting unwell/sick since the conditions are such, that is why he cannot stay in jail - Grover

#BombayHighCourt
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Once he goes back to jail he will again get sick seeing the ailments he is suffering from, so we will be back to court again as he will get sick - Grover

#BombayHighCourt
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[WEBINAR]
Topic- Keys to Governance: Independence of Judiciary
The Webinar is being organized by India International Centre and D.S. Borker Memorial Foundation.
-Thursday 07 at 6:00PM-


Key Speakers:
1. Rtd. Justice Madan B Lokur, Former SC Judge
2. Tarunabh Khaitan, Vice Dean Faculty of Law, Oxford University
3. Maneka Guruswamy, Senior Advocate
4. N Ram, Former Editor in Chief, The Hindu
Moderator: Suhas Borker, Managing Trustee, DS Borker Memorial Foundation

The webinar has started.
Critical questions to be addressed in the webinar:
1. Is the SC performing its functions to defend the constitution satisfactorily?
2. Has the SC become an executive court?
3. Does the collegiums system ensure independence of judiciary?

4. Are post retirement benefits for judges compromising our judicial system?
5. Is there a need to increase the retirement age of judges?
6. Should there be a bar for restricting the post retirement jobs to judges?

7. How do you keep the government of the day at bay from exercising interference on the court?
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A Supreme Court bench headed by CJI SA Bobde is hearing a PIL seeking the direction for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Law and Justice and Women and Child Development to make all the personal laws uniform.

Senior Adv. Pinky Anand is appearing for the Petitioners followed by Meenakshi Arora.
The plea seeks the removal of personal laws as they are discriminatory under Art. 14,15 and other provisions of International Covenants.

CJI: You want the abolishment of Personal Laws?
Pinky Anand: No
CJI: You are not saying it doesn't mean that's not the reality.

"You are asking us to encroach upon personal laws and remove the distinction that they create." CJI said.

Pinky Anand refers to the cases of Shayara Bano and Sarala Mudgal to argue that Courts on earlier occasions have struck down laws and gave directions for practices found to be unconstitutional.
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Supreme Court takes up the suo moto case on 'remediation of polluted rivers'.


Meenakshi Arora (amicus curiae) : The water quality level as on January 18 was excellent. Ammonium levels were in control. If that can be maintained, it will be good.

Arora submits that the NGT has appointed a river monitoring committee for Yamuna river and requests court to call for a report from the committee.

"They could assist us in a big manner", Arora submits.

#YamunaRiver #RiverPollution

Arora : Haryana has said they are in the process of upgrading certain STPs and CETPs.
#YamunaRiver #RiverPollution

CJI : Alright. Today we will pass an order calling for a report from the committee you mentioned.
INDIA
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#Thread on #HijabCase judgment of Karnataka HC. Relevant observations :
"The Holy Quran does not mandate wearing of #hijab or headgear for Muslim women. Whatever is stated in the above sūras, we say, is only directory , because of absence of prescription of penalty or penance.."


"...for not wearing #hijab, the linguistic structure of verses supports this view.

"This apparel at the most is a means to gain access to public places & not a religious end in itself. It was a measure of women enablement and not a figurative constraint" - Karnataka High Court

#Hijab at most a cultural practice.

"Regard being had to the kind of life conditions then obtaining in the region concerned, wearing hijab was recommended as a measure of social security for women & to facilitate their safe access to public domain"- Karnataka High Court

"At the most the practice of wearing this apparel may have something to do with culture but certainly not with religion" - Karnataka High Court in #HijabVerdict


"Thus, it can be reasonably assumed that the practice of wearing hijab had a thick nexus to the socio-cultural conditions then prevalent in the region. The veil was a safe means for the women to leave the confines of their homes" - Karnataka High Court in #HijabRow case
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⚠️ENDGAME: VOTER ID LAWS⚠️

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One of the goals of the 2020 election is to show the public rampant proof of voter fraud so every state would be pressured to implement strict Voter ID Laws.
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TD Cole Esq. ⚖🇳🇬...
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Tunde Thomas (alias Tunde Gentle), 45, died about two weeks ago from heartbreak. The two kids from his marriage were indeed fathered by a man without scruples or conscience, the current MD of FCMB, Adam Nuru who was his wife’s boss (MD) in FCMB. Tunde’s wife, Moyo Thomas
#thread


(Nee Ojo), a useless an unconscionable adulterer was engaged in an office romance with her MD, a relationship that was well known throughout the organization as the lack of shame and decorum in both lovebirds made them to get carried away and to throw caution to the wind.


FCMB, an organization without proper rules or governance looked the other way while the open and unprofessional romance was going on between the MD and a subordinate staff of the same organization, a married woman.

The MD, Adam Nuru, who was supposed to be the chief


Governance Officer and Chief Image Maker of FCMB spared no thought for the husband of this lady who was bringing up his (Nuru’s) two children while thinking they were his. He also did not think of the organization he was leading while engaging in this foul conduct, the


scandal with which no ethical organization would want to be associated.
Tunde was so in love with & attached to his wife & children that he spent most of his resources on them. He took them to London & Dubai on holidays. He also spared no penny in putting them in the best schools
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TATA v MISTRY

Hearing to resume today in Supreme Court. Senior Advocate CA Sundaram to continue arguments on behalf of Shapoorji Pallonji firms.

Follow this thread for live updates from court.

@tatatrusts @TataCompanies

#SupremeCourt #tatamistry


TATA v MISTRY

Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde assembles.

Hearing commences.

@tatatrusts @TataCompanies

TATA v MISTRY

CJI SA Bobde announces that over the weekend he discovered his son who is practicing in Mumbai has been appearing for the last 2 years in a slum rehabilitation matter for a subsidiary company of Shapoorji Pallonji group.

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TATA v MISTRY

CJI asks whether Harish Salve, Dr Singhvi or CA Sundaram has any objections to CJI hearing the matter.

None of them object. The same is recorded by the Court.

Hearing continues.

#SupremeCourt

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CJI says such issues could cause potential problems in future.

Sundaram continues with his arguments.

@tatatrusts @TataCompanies
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Tonight we have dissents from both Sotomayor and Breyer in the last instance of the Supreme Court waving the matador's cape for Trump's machinery of death without so much as a word of reasoned justification


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"This is not justice"


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Where were we: Boaz Barak proposed a “law of nature” that if there is a physical device that can make a certain computation C, then there is a quantum circuit that computes C. 1/11

@boazbaraktcs @quantum_aram @AspectStalence @RosenblumSerge

Aram remarked that Boaz's proposed law is a variant of the strong Church Turing thesis. Correct! 2/11

I proposed a refinement of the general law. There are cases where we can analyse classes of devices (or natural processes) and can conclude that for them there is even a classical circuit that computes what they compute. 3/11

I gave a few examples 1) Computations that take place in Boaz's laptop can be carried out by a classical circuit.
4/11

2) Computations carried out by Boaz's brain can be carried out by a classical circuit. 5/11
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THREAD: 12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ

1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE


2. The heritability of IQ *increases* from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, the effect of the shared environment largely fades away. In other words, when it comes to IQ, nature becomes more important as we get older, nurture less. https://t.co/UqtS1lpw3n


3. IQ scores have been increasing for the last century or so, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. https://t.co/sCZvCst3hw (N ≈ 4 million)

(Note that the Flynn effect shows that IQ isn't 100% genetic; it doesn't show that it's 100% environmental.)


4. IQ predicts many important real world outcomes.

For example, though far from perfect, IQ is the single-best predictor of job performance we have – much better than Emotional Intelligence, the Big Five, Grit, etc. https://t.co/rKUgKDAAVx https://t.co/DWbVI8QSU3


5. Higher IQ is associated with a lower risk of death from most causes, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, most forms of cancer, homicide, suicide, and accident. https://t.co/PJjGNyeQRA (N = 728,160)
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1 of 16: WE ARE ALL JEWS HERE: THE STORY OF RODDIE EDMONDS

One of the most moving and relevant stories of the Battle of the Bulge, or any American Soldier in any war, is that of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, a Knoxville, Tennessee native, who served with the 106th Infantry.


2 of 16:

Roddie was captured early on in the Battle of the Bulge, on December 19th, when Panzer forces plowed through his unit.

He, along with almost his entire regiment, was forced to surrender.


3 of 16:

The men were transported to the Stalag IX-A POW camp in Ziegenhain, Germany.

Roddie was the senior enlisted American Soldier at the site. As such, he was the conduit between all American Soldiers and their German captors.


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In late January, the camp’s commandant, Major Siegmann [pictured here], ordered Roddie, a Christian, to identify all Jewish Soldiers and order them to stand in formation by themselves the next day.

[Jewish Soldiers were a minority within American units]


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Throughout WWII, captured Jewish Soldiers were often tortured and then killed by their German captors.

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00:30: Welcomes viewers and uses points out that his videos are only getting attention b/c they're 'horrific'. Directs folk to his Youtube page. So already clout hunting.

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2:10 "Don't be under any illusion I'm only showing you the bad bits" - only shows you the bad bits.

3:45: He's had offers of help, but hes said no because hes not responsible for 'anybody elses safety' Good lord.

5:01: "Its not that bad. But its not all good either" -Correct

6:00: TW: child abuse - He starts claiming to have been contacted by a health professional and told about child abuse 'in the area'. Huge ethical issues here as the 'professional' who has 'been in the game a long time' is reporting to Facebook Dude and not authorities.
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4/ Thinking I was an absolute genius I decided to start a bunch of businesses. As silly as it sounds I had this goal of making $5m as I wanted to buy Bedford Town Football Club and get them in the league, and as Crypto was going up forever I needed 6 months.

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Yes - all of the above as a one-man army :)
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Yoga Ramar Temple
#Nedungunam
#TamilNaduTemples 🚩

Yoga Ramar Temple is located near Thiruvannamalai. Shri Rama is seated with eyes closed, without any weapons. Mata Sita  pointing to the feet of Rama telling that  everyone is safe at his feet. Lakshmana standing near Shri Rama


Hanuman is seen chanting Vedas obediently sitting before Shri Rama.

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after the war, he did not have any weapons with him.

Another gopuram called Kili Gopuram is there for Sukabrahma Maharishi. There is a hill nearby called Dheergachala. According to Sthala puranam, Sri Padham of Prabhu Rama are found on the top of the hill


It is said that this is the place where Shri Rama gave darshan to Suka Maharishi. Nedumgunam means which shows all qualities of Shri Rama who is Maryadha purushottam. Shri Ramanavami is very famous here.

Jai Sri Ram
🙏🕉🙏
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