1. Two Men Booked for Raping 14-Year-Old Girl
A 14-year-old-girl of Morbi district was allegedly raped by her neighbour and his friend, police said on Sunday, 4 August, adding that the accused had also shot videos of the victim.
Police said that accused neighbour, who is married and a father of two children himself, befriended the minor girl and raped her twice around six months ago. “The accused later told his friend about the assault. The friend then contacted the victim and told her that he knew about her rape and offered to get her a job,” a police inspector investigating the case told The Indian Express.
“With the help of his friend, the person (who offered her the job) took the victim to a town in Surendranagar district and the duo shot a TikTok video with her. Later, the man threatened and raped the minor.”
(Source: Indian Express)
2. Dang Gets 11 Inches Rain, Over 21,000 Moved From South Gujarat
South Gujarat continues to battle rain fury as the number of people evacuated to safe places touches 21,086 in the region. The affected people belong to Tapi, Surat, Valsad, Bharuch, Navsari, Dang and Vadodara.
An official release from the state said that so far 373 people have been rescued from the affected areas. Of the total people rescued, 13 were from Lahura and Kosadi villages of Mangrol taluka while others are from Navsari.
Officials said that the rising water levels in several rivers of these districts added to the severity of flood. The state said that by Monday, 5 August, there was not one taluka in the state that had not received rains, while overall Gujarat received 61% of its annual average rainfall so far.
(Source: DNA)
3. 2 Congress Leaders Back Decision on Article 370
Even as the Congress protested revocation of Article 370 at the Centre, two of the party’s leaders in the state expressed their support for it. A visual message from PAAS leader and Congress member Hardik Patel stating his support for the abrogation began doing the rounds.
The graphic shows Hardik in front of a map of India, with some text stating that the decision taken on Kashmir is the right one. Hardik did not respond to messages from DNA but his aide Nikhil Savani confirmed this was Hardik’s stand on the issue.
A similar post was being circulated with Congress MLA Lalit Vasoya’s name. It showed his support for the decision on Article 370.
(Source: DNA)
4. Tour Operators Take Kashmir off Menu
As the situation in Kashmir continues to be tense and uncertain which has thrown a spanner into upcoming travel plans of tourists who had planned to spend their vacations in the valley, travel operators themselves are redirecting their clients to alternative destinations. Not just the long Independence Day weekend, they are discouraging Kashmir as a destination even during Diwali.
"If a tourist comes to me and enquires about tickets and hotels for Kashmir, I would out-rightly refuse and ask him to choose an alternative destination. This Diwali, tourism in Kashmir will be hit hard," said Ajay Modi, owner of Ajay Modi Travels, as he fears the deterioration of law and order in weeks to come. However, he is on a wait and watch mode for tourism options in Jammu and Ladakh. The turnout of events in the days to follow will be crucial for Jammu and Kashmir, which ceases to be a state from Monday, 5 August.
(Source: DNA)
5. Ahmed Patel RS Poll Case: Cong's Solanki Examined as Witness
Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki was examined on Monday, 5 August, as a witness in an election petition filed by BJP leader Balvantsinh Rajput in the Gujarat High Court challenging the win of Congress candidate and senior leader Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Rajput filed the election petition after he lost to Patel in the keenly-contested Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat on August 8, 2017. Among other things, he has accused Patel of bribing Congress MLAs.
Solanki, who was the state Congress president during the August 2017 Rajya Sabha elections, told the court of Justice Bela Trivedi on Monday that unlike what generally happens, nobody had approached him with request for ticket from the party to contest the election to the Upper House in 2017.
(Source: Business Standard)
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