The Evening Wrap: Allahabad High Court grants bail to journalist Siddique Kappan in PMLA case

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on December 23, 2022 granted bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The jailed journalist had moved the High Court after being denied bail by a Lucknow sessions court on October 31 in the PMLA case which led the journalist to remain in prison despite being granted bail by the Supreme Court (SC) in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case in September 2022. The bail from the High Court means Kappan will walk free after more than 26 months since his arrest in October 2020 while he was on his way to Hathras, where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being raped. Kappan was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act apart from the PMLA by the law enforcement agencies. The Supreme Court on September 9 granted bail to Kappan in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case, stating that “every citizen has the right to free expression”. Kappan who originally hails from Kerala worked as a reporter for Malayalam news website Azhimukham and also held the post of secretary in Delhi Unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ). Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine approved by govt., to be available on CO-WIN soon Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine has been approved by the Union Health Ministry as a booster dose for those above 18 years of age, official sources said on Friday. The needle-free vaccine will be available at private centres. It will be introduced on the Co-WIN platform soon, they said. It is likely to be rolled out in the national Covid vaccination programme soon. The nasal vaccine -- BBV154 -- received approval of the Drugs Controller General of India in November for restricted use in an emergency situation for those above 18 years as a heterologous booster dose. The approval for the vaccine comes amid a spurt in Covid cases in China and some other countries. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will hold a meeting with the health ministers of the states and Union territories at 3 p.m. over the Covid related situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Thursday cautioned people against complacency and urged them to wear masks in crowded places, while also directing officials to strengthen surveillance measures, especially at international airports. Meanwhile, renowned virologist Gagandeep Kang on December 23, 2022 said India has reported a few cases of Omicron sub-variants XBB and BF.7, but they have not driven an upsurge, and she does not expect a spike in COVID cases. Her remarks come in the backdrop on the highly transmissible Omicron strains, mostly BF.7, causing a spike in coronavirus cases in many countries, including China. “They are, like all Omicron sub-variants, very good at infecting people because they escape the immune response that prevents infection, but are not causing more severe disease than Delta,” the professor at the Christian Medical College’s division of gastrointestinal sciences tweeted. Kang said that “at the moment, India is doing fine” but maintained that surveillance should be ensured to “detect signal of any changes in the behaviour of the virus”. BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5 and has the strongest infection ability since it is highly transmissible, has a shorter incubation period and has a higher capacity to cause reinfection or infect even those vaccinated. China is opening up fast at a time when their population has low levels of exposure to natural infection, she said, adding that “the current circulating variants are Omicron, which have evolved in vaccinated populations and are therefore very infectious”. Kang said most of China’s population has received two doses of vaccines. “Most infections can be managed at home, but sheer numbers mean that even a small proportion getting severely ill, means that many people will have severe disease and that a proportion of those will die,” she said in another tweet. “At the moment, India is doing fine. We have few cases, we have had the XBB and BF.7 for a while and they have not driven an upsurge in India. In the absence of an even more highly infectious variant, I do not expect a surge,” the virologist tweeted. Noting that Omicron does result in severe disease in a proportion of the infected, but it is not as severe as that caused by the Delta variant, she said it is not mild, but it does infect the upper respiratory tract more than the lower. “Each new sub-variant thrives only if it is better at immune escape than the prior ones. Therefore, greater infectiousness of new variants is a given and not news,” the virologist said on Twitter. “Worry with China is not just the tragedy unfolding for them as they undergo what we have already experienced, but that high levels of replication mean increased opportunity for new variants to emerge,” she said. Kang said there is a need to maintain variant and clinical surveillance to ensure that “we detect signal of any changes in the behaviour of the virus”. “This is a public health function where stable surveillance runs in the background and ramps up for emerging threats,” she said. She said randomly increasing testing has little value. “Testing incoming travellers needs a risk-based framework, but ‘X per cent’ sampling also means that you accept that every incoming case will not be detected. In other words, increasing testing needs a strategic approach,” Kang said. “Our population is vaccinated with the primary series, and has had high rates of infection (90% estimated). Most infections were during Omicron, and this gives us hybrid immunity. How long will it last and vaccines?” Kang tweeted. NDTV founders to sell most of their stake in broadcaster to Adani Group NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy on December 23, 2022 said they will sell 27.26% out of their remaining 32.26% shareholding in the news broadcaster to Adani Group. This follows Adani Group becoming the single largest shareholder in New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) after first buying out a company backed by the founders and then acquiring more shares from the open market. “Consequently, with mutual agreement we have decided to divest most of our shares in NDTV to (Adani Group firm) AMG Media Network,” the founders said in a statement to stock exchanges. The two together hold 32.26% stake in NDTV while Adani Group now holds 37.44% shareholding in the company. Of the 32.26% stake, the couple will sell 27.26% while retaining a minority 5% shareholding in the company. “Since the open offer (by Adani Group) was launched, our discussions with Gautam Adani have been constructive; all the suggestions we made were accepted by him positively and with openness,” they said in the statement. Gauhati High Court seeks verification of Assam MP’s ST certificate The Gauhati High Court on Friday ordered the verification of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate that independent MP Naba Kumar Sarania had submitted while filing his affidavit for the Lok Sabha elections. A former extremist, Sarania represents western Assam’s Kokrajhar parliamentary constituency. Former income-tax officer and tribal activist Janaklal Basumatary had challenged Sarania’s ST status, claiming that it was fake. He also said that the authorities concerned had brushed aside his complaints for the past three years. Hearing the case, the High Court ordered a State-level scrutiny committee to look into the allegations against the MP. Sarania had joined the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom in the 1980s and received arms training in Myanmar and Afghanistan. Known as Heera Sarania then, he was the commander of a major strike battalion of the outfit. In Brief: Sixteen Army personnel lost their lives after an Army truck met with an accident at Zema in North Sikkim on December 23, 2022. “The ill-fated vehicle was part of a three-vehicle convoy that had moved from Chatten in the morning towards Thangu. Enroute at Zema, the vehicle skidded down a steep slope while negotiating a sharp turn,” the Army’s Eastern Command said in a statement. A rescue mission was immediately launched, and four injured soldiers have been air evacuated. “Unfortunately, three Junior Commissioned Officers and 13 soldiers succumbed to the injuries sustained in the accident,” the statement added. The four injured personnel and being treated at a military hospital in Siliguri, officials said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 23 DECEMBER 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Dear reader, We have now made it easier for you to manage your The Hindu newsletter subscriptions in one place! 1. Visit [The Hindu newsletters page]( 2. Click MANAGE tab and then click LOGIN / SIGN UP 3. If you don’t have an account with The Hindu, please click SIGN UP OR If you already have an account with The Hindu with this email ID, please login using the email ID Allahabad High Court grants bail to journalist Siddique Kappan in PMLA case The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on December 23, 2022 [granted bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case]( lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The jailed journalist had moved the High Court after being denied bail by a Lucknow sessions court on October 31 in the PMLA case which led the journalist to remain in prison despite being granted bail by the Supreme Court (SC) in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case in September 2022. [File photo of journalist Siddique Kappan.] The bail from the High Court means Kappan will walk free after more than 26 months since his arrest in October 2020 while he was on his way to Hathras, where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being raped. Kappan was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act apart from the PMLA by the law enforcement agencies. The Supreme Court on September 9 granted bail to Kappan in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case, stating that “every citizen has the right to free expression”. Kappan who originally hails from Kerala worked as a reporter for Malayalam news website Azhimukham and also held the post of secretary in Delhi Unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ). Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine approved by govt., to be available on CO-WIN soon [Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine has been approved by the Union Health Ministry as a booster dose]( for those above 18 years of age, official sources said on Friday. The needle-free vaccine will be available at private centres. It will be introduced on the Co-WIN platform soon, they said. It is likely to be rolled out in the national Covid vaccination programme soon. The nasal vaccine -- BBV154 -- received approval of the Drugs Controller General of India in November for restricted use in an emergency situation for those above 18 years as a heterologous booster dose. The approval for the vaccine comes amid a spurt in Covid cases in China and some other countries. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will hold a meeting with the health ministers of the states and Union territories at 3 p.m. over the Covid related situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Thursday cautioned people against complacency and urged them to wear masks in crowded places, while also directing officials to strengthen surveillance measures, especially at international airports. Meanwhile, renowned virologist Gagandeep Kang on December 23, 2022 said India has reported a few cases of Omicron sub-variants XBB and BF.7, but they have not driven an upsurge, and she does not expect a spike in COVID cases. Her remarks come in the backdrop on the highly transmissible Omicron strains, mostly BF.7, causing a spike in coronavirus cases in many countries, including China. “They are, like all Omicron sub-variants, very good at infecting people because they escape the immune response that prevents infection, but are not causing more severe disease than Delta,” the professor at the Christian Medical College’s division of gastrointestinal sciences tweeted. Kang said that “at the moment, India is doing fine” but maintained that surveillance should be ensured to “detect signal of any changes in the behaviour of the virus”. BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5 and has the strongest infection ability since it is highly transmissible, has a shorter incubation period and has a higher capacity to cause reinfection or infect even those vaccinated. China is opening up fast at a time when their population has low levels of exposure to natural infection, she said, adding that “the current circulating variants are Omicron, which have evolved in vaccinated populations and are therefore very infectious”. Kang said most of China’s population has received two doses of vaccines. “Most infections can be managed at home, but sheer numbers mean that even a small proportion getting severely ill, means that many people will have severe disease and that a proportion of those will die,” she said in another tweet. “At the moment, India is doing fine. We have few cases, we have had the XBB and BF.7 for a while and they have not driven an upsurge in India. In the absence of an even more highly infectious variant, I do not expect a surge,” the virologist tweeted. Noting that Omicron does result in severe disease in a proportion of the infected, but it is not as severe as that caused by the Delta variant, she said it is not mild, but it does infect the upper respiratory tract more than the lower. “Each new sub-variant thrives only if it is better at immune escape than the prior ones. Therefore, greater infectiousness of new variants is a given and not news,” the virologist said on Twitter. “Worry with China is not just the tragedy unfolding for them as they undergo what we have already experienced, but that high levels of replication mean increased opportunity for new variants to emerge,” she said. Kang said there is a need to maintain variant and clinical surveillance to ensure that “we detect signal of any changes in the behaviour of the virus”. “This is a public health function where stable surveillance runs in the background and ramps up for emerging threats,” she said. She said randomly increasing testing has little value. “Testing incoming travellers needs a risk-based framework, but ‘X per cent’ sampling also means that you accept that every incoming case will not be detected. In other words, increasing testing needs a strategic approach,” Kang said. “Our population is vaccinated with the primary series, and has had high rates of infection (90% estimated). Most infections were during Omicron, and this gives us hybrid immunity. How long will it last and vaccines?” Kang tweeted. NDTV founders to sell most of their stake in broadcaster to Adani Group NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy on December 23, 2022 said they will [sell 27.26% out of their remaining 32.26% shareholding]( in the news broadcaster to Adani Group. This follows Adani Group becoming the single largest shareholder in New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) after first buying out a company backed by the founders and then acquiring more shares from the open market. “Consequently, with mutual agreement we have decided to divest most of our shares in NDTV to (Adani Group firm) AMG Media Network,” the founders said in a statement to stock exchanges. The two together hold 32.26% stake in NDTV while Adani Group now holds 37.44% shareholding in the company. Of the 32.26% stake, the couple will sell 27.26% while retaining a minority 5% shareholding in the company. “Since the open offer (by Adani Group) was launched, our discussions with Gautam Adani have been constructive; all the suggestions we made were accepted by him positively and with openness,” they said in the statement. Gauhati High Court seeks verification of Assam MP’s ST certificate The Gauhati High Court on Friday ordered the [verification of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate that independent MP Naba Kumar Sarania had submitted]( while filing his affidavit for the Lok Sabha elections. A former extremist, Sarania represents western Assam’s Kokrajhar parliamentary constituency. Former income-tax officer and tribal activist Janaklal Basumatary had challenged Sarania’s ST status, claiming that it was fake. He also said that the authorities concerned had brushed aside his complaints for the past three years. Hearing the case, the High Court ordered a State-level scrutiny committee to look into the allegations against the MP. Sarania had joined the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom in the 1980s and received arms training in Myanmar and Afghanistan. Known as Heera Sarania then, he was the commander of a major strike battalion of the outfit. In Brief: [Sixteen Army personnel lost their lives]( after an Army truck met with an accident at Zema in North Sikkim on December 23, 2022. “The ill-fated vehicle was part of a three-vehicle convoy that had moved from Chatten in the morning towards Thangu. Enroute at Zema, the vehicle skidded down a steep slope while negotiating a sharp turn,” the Army’s Eastern Command said in a statement. A rescue mission was immediately launched, and four injured soldiers have been air evacuated. “Unfortunately, three Junior Commissioned Officers and 13 soldiers succumbed to the injuries sustained in the accident,” the statement added. The four injured personnel and being treated at a military hospital in Siliguri, officials said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Interested in Science? Our "Science For All" weekly newsletter takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! 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