2100 HRS

3rd May, 2013

THE HEADLINES: 

• Last rites of Sarabjit performed with full state honours in his native village.

• Campaigning for Karnataka Assembly elections ends.

• President calls upon film industry to portray positive social values; gives away National Film Awards.

• Pakistani prisoner Sanaulla,injured in a scuffle with another inmate in Jammu central jail, airlifted to PGI Chandigarh.

• Sensex sheds 160 points to close at 19,576,.

• P V Sindhu storms into women's singles final of the Malaysian Grand Prix Gold Badminton tournament.

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The mortal remains of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who died after being brutally assaulted in a Pakistani jail, were today consigned to flames in his native village Bikhiwind in Amrisar district of Punjab with full state honours amid emotional scenes. A contingent of Punjab Police reversed their arms and then fired shots in the air as a mark of respect to 49-year-old Sarabjit, who died yesterday in a Lahore hospital.

A large crowd comprising villagers and VIPs, including Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and representatives of other political parties bid a heartfelt adieu to Sarabjit, whose body was brought to Bikhiwind late last night, 23 years after he inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan.Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur were among others present.

Wrapped in the tricolour, the body was placed at a school ground for the people to pay their last respects.

The whole family of Sarabjit Singh was inconsolable. The family performed the rituals together. His sister Dalbir Kaur finally lit the pyre amidst 24 gun salute by aPunjab Police contingent. People were gathered in large number around the cremation place and were raising slogans against Pakistan where the brutal attack on Sarabjit proved fatal.Rajesh Bali, air news,Bhikiwind-Tarn Taran.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, has demanded action against all those who played a role in the assault on Sarabjit Singh.

Amnesty International has said, Pakistan must protect Indian prisoners from violence in the country's jails. Polly Truscott, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Deputy Director said, Pakistan must now carry out an impartial, public investigation into this horrific attack on Sarabjeet and ensure that those responsible are promptly prosecuted in fair trials - including prison staff. The postmortem of Sarbjit Singh conducted by doctors in Amritsar last evening has revealed that some of his vital organs were missing.

49-year-old Sarabjit was the second Indian prisoner to die in the notorious Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore this year.Another Indian prisoner Chamel Singh died in the same jail in January.

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Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today said, India cannot break off its dialogue process with Pakistan on the Sarabjit issue alone as it would serve no purpose.

Talking to newsmen in Bangalore, the minister said, Pakistan should have protected Sarabjit like India protected Kasab till the Supreme Court decided his case and subsequent action was carried out in accordance with the apex court's judgement.

He said, while the government as well as the people of India are unhappy with what happened to Sarabjit and it may affect to some extent India's future dialogue process with Pakistan, New Delhi cannot break it off with Islamabad on this ground alone.

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Campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections has come to an end this evening. The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for polling on Sunday, with extensive security arrangements in the state.

Additional Director General of Police Bipin Gopalakrishna Hosur informed media persons in Bangalore today that 9954 hyper sensitive, 14,209 sensitive and 149 naxal prone polling booths will be provided extra protection. As a precautionary measure, 85,338 licensed guns have been deposited with the police stations.

The physically challenged and visually impaired voters will be allowed to vote on a priority basis. The polling officials have been told to arrange drinking water at booth level in view of peak summer. The voting process will begin at 7.00 am and conclude at 5.00 pm. This time the Election Commission has made arrangements to distribute voters slip with photograph for the convenience of the voters. The check posts and flying squads have been put on alert to prevent appeasement of voters. With Devendra this is Sudhindra for AIR News, Bangalore

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Two more suspects were arrested in Coimbatore today related to the bomb blast in Bangalore near the BJP office on April 17. The Bangalore city Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar told media that the two suspects were arrested by the Tamilnadu police today. He said they are suspected of sourcing explosive material used in the bomb that was concealed in a bike. Four suspects have already been detained by the police in this case. Sixteen people were injured in the blast.

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In Assam,security forces have apprehended today 15 cadres of the banned outfit National Democratic Front of Bodoland,NDFB (Sangbijit faction) in Sivsagar district. State Law and Order IGP S N Singh said that acting on tip off, police arrested all of them at Namtola area .The arrested militants were trying to enter Mon district of neighbouring Nagaland for military training.

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President Pranab Mukherjee has called upon the film industry to portray positive societal values through movies to build a tolerant and harmonious India. Addressing the 60th National Film award function in New Delhi this evening, the President expressed concern at the growing violence against women and children. Mr Mukherjee said, cinema can play a pivotal role in resetting the moral compass of society and prevent the erosion of values.

I would like to stress upon the crucial role the cinema can and must play in re-setting the moral compass of the nation. It is the responsibility of the everyone associated with the film industry to use this powerful medium of cinema to portray our positive societal values for building a tolerant an harmonious Indian.

The President also conferred the National Film awards at the glitering function. Bollywood movie Pan Singh Tomar got the award for the Best film and its lead actor Irfan Khan shared the best actor honour with Vikram Gokhale for the Marathi movie Anumati. The best actress award went to Ms Usha Jadhav for her performance in the Marathi movie Dhag. Anu Kapoor won the best supporting actor award for Vicky Donor while the award for the best male playback singer was bagged by Shankar Mahadevan for the song Bolo Na from the movie Chittagong. Lyricist Prasoon Joshi won the best lyrics award for the same song. Sujoy Ghosh won the best screen play writer award for Kahaani. The award for the best choreography was conferred on Pt. Birju Maharaj for Tamil film Vishwaroopam. In the feature film category, 38 films from 14 languages were selected for the National Awards.

In the non-feature category, Gojri and Urdu film Shepherds of Paradise won the best film award. Vikrant Pawar won the Best Director award for the Marathi movie Kaatal. Timbaktu has won the best film award in the environmental category while Dreaming Taj Mahal has been conferred the award for the best promotional film.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari announced the institution of a centenary film award, which will be given from this year for paradigm shift in film making.

As a tribute to Indian Film making, the government is instituting centenary award, that would be given every year. It would recognise paradigm transformation in film making and honour individual of films that have profoundly influenced contemporary socio-cultural evolution.

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A Pakistani prisoner who was seriously injured in Jammu central jail on being beaten by another inmate has been airlifted to PGI Chandigarh after doctors said his condition was critical.

52-year-old Sanuallah, a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, was immediately shifted from the high-security Kot Balwal jail to the Government Medical College hospital. Sanuallah, who suffered serious head injuries, is serving a life term after being convicted under TADA provisions following his arrest in 1999.

Two prison officials including jail superintendent have been suspended by the Jammu and Kashmir government which has ordered an enquiry by Divisional Commissioner Jammu.External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbarudin said, the Pakistan prisoner is receiving medical treatment and once medical arrangements are completed, consular access will be provided to Pakistan.

What we are doing right now is ensuring the medical arrangements of the injured prisoner. And once those medical arrangements are in place, we will certainly provide counselor access. We are in touch with the Pakistani High Commission inNew Delhi on the matter.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed said, attack on Pakistani prisoner in Jammu jail is unfortunate and extremely distressing.

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In Punjab, security of all the 57 Pakistani prisoners lodged in Punjab jails has been beefed up as a precautionary measure . the Jail Minister of Punjab, Sarwan Singh Phillaur said in Chandigarh that 28 Pakistani prisoners in Amritsar of a total of 38 have already completed their terms and they have been lodged in a transit camp within the Jail.

In Uttar Pradesh also security for Pakistani prisoners across the state has been intensified.

In his circular the DG police has directed jail authorities to keep Pakistani prisoners away from other inmates and keep them confined to high-security areas of the jails.

The Supreme Court today said the television interview of the December 16 gangrape victim's friend cannot be used as evidence in the trial proceedings.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir set aside the Delhi High Court order which had allowed use of the interview CD as evidence. The bench said that the interview was given after the charge sheet was filed and therefore, it could not be used as evidence under the law. The court passed the order on a petition filed by the Delhi government challenging the March 7 order of the high court.

The high court had allowed the plea of accused Ram Singh, who has since died, and his brother Mukesh and had set aside the trial court's February 8 order by which they were not allowed to exhibit the CD of the interview telecast on January 4, as a piece of evidence.

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BUSINESS WORLD

Snapping a three-day rally, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange declined 160 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 19,576, on selling especially in interest-rate sensitive stocks, after the announcement of the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy, today. The Nifty fell 55 points, to 5,944. The rupee depreciated 13 paise, to close at 53.94 against the dollar. Snapping a three-day losing streak, gold surged 255 rupees, to 27,870 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver climbed 910 rupees, to 46,000 rupees per kilo.Pradeep Kumar, AIR News

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External Affairs minister Salman Khurshid has arrived on a three day visit to Iran. He inaugurated the Indian Cultural Center at the Indian Embassy in Teheran a short while ago and interacted with the members of Indian community.He will be co chairing the 17th session of India Iran Joint Commission, JCM meeting in Teheran tomorrow with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi.

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Earlier, Mr. Khurshid said that the progress in dialogue to end stand-off in Ladakh is not satisfactory and India would have liked much better response from China. Talking to newsmen on borad his aircraft on the way to Iran, he emphasised that India wanted reversal of adverse incident in Ladakh and return to the status quo in Depsang Valley where the Chinese troops intruded.

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India gives consular access to Pakistan High Commission official to meet the prisoner who was attacked in Jammu jail.

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India's P V Sindhu has stormed into the final of the women's singles event at the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament. In the semi-final in Kuala Lumpur today, the top-seeded Sindhu beat third-seeded Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in straight games 21-17, 21-11 in just 34 minutes.  The 17-year-old Hyderabadi shuttler will face fifth seeded  Gu Juan of Singapore in the final