Delhi sees 3.20 C, season’s lowest

Delhi sees 3.20 C, season’s lowest

21.12.2021

The capital continued to shiver as a cold wave swept the region on Monday, with the minimum temperature at Safdarjung dipping to 3.2 degrees C, the season’s lowest so far. The Jafarpur station reported 2.9 degrees. Some respite from the severe cold is expected from Tuesday as a western disturbance approaches the region.

ICMR kit to detect variant ready for mkt

ICMR kit to detect variant ready for mkt

New Delhi:21.12.2021

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has designed a diagnostic kit for detection of Omicron variant of the coronavirus and has invited Expression of Interest from in vitro diagnostics (IVD) kit manufacturers for undertaking transfer of technology for its development and commercialisation.

The ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, NE, Dibrugarh has developed a novel technology -- real-time RTPCR assay for detection of Omicron and a kit for the same.

“ICMR is the owner of the said technology, including any underlying intellectual property(ies) and commercialisation rights. ICMR is lawfully entitled to enter into any form of non-exclusive license agreements with selected manufacturer/manufacturers...,” the invitation of Expression of Interest document said. PTI

IN LINE WITH SC HC: U-21 adult male can’t wed, can live with lover

IN LINE WITH SC

HC: U-21 adult male can’t wed, can live with lover

Ajay.Sura@timesgroup.com

Chandigarh:21.12.2021

An adult man under the legally marriageable age of 21 can live like a couple outside wedlock with a consenting woman 18 years or above, the Punjab and Haryana HC said last week. The HC’s remarks were in line with a Supreme Court order in 2018 that an adult couple can live together without marriage.

The HC made the observation while hearing a plea for protection by a couple in a livein relationship from Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. Both are above 18 years — the age a woman attains adulthood and can get married. Men also lawfully become adults at 18, but cannot marry before 21 in accordance with the Hindu Marriage Act. The couple approached the HC for protection, alleging threats from their families over their relationship. Their counsel said they feared that their families might murder them.

“It is the bounden duty of the state as per the constitutional obligations cast upon it to protect the life and liberty of every citizen. The mere fact that the petitioner No. 2 (man) was not of marriageable age would not deprive the petitioners of their fundamental right as envisaged in the Constitution, being citizens of India,” Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill said. The judge directed the Gurdaspur SSP to take a decision on the couple’s Dec 7 request and grant protection to them, if any threat to their life and liberty is perceived.

HC: Adult male under 21 can have a live-in relationship

HC: Adult male under 21 can have a live-in relationship

Orders Police To Grant Protection To The Couple

Ajay.Sura@timesgroup.com

Chandigarh:21.12.2021

An adult man under the legally marriageable age of 21 can live like a couple outside wedlock with a consenting woman 18 years or above, the Punjab and Haryana high court said last week. The HC’s remarks were in line with a Supreme Court order in May 2018 that an adult couple can live together without marriage.

The HC made the observation while hearing a plea for protection by a couple in a live-in relationship from Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. Both are above 18 years—the age a woman attains adulthood and can get married. Men also lawfully become adults at18, but cannot marry before 21 in accordance with the Hindu Marriage Act.

The couple approached the HC for protection, alleging threats from their families over their relationship. Their counsel said they feared that their families might murder them.

“It is the bounden duty of the state as per the constitutional obligations cast upon it to protect the life and liberty of every citizen. The mere fact that the petitioner No. 2 (man) was not of marriageable age, would not deprive the petitioners of their fundamental right as envisaged in the Constitution, being citizens of India,” Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill said.

The judge directed the Gurdaspur SSP to take a decision on the couple’s December 7 request and grant protection to them, if any threat to their life and liberty is perceived.

Times View: Live-in relationships are part and parcel of our new social fabric. By granting protection to the young couple, the High Court has taken a sensible and progressive decision.

The HC’s remarks in line with a Supreme Court order in May 2018 that an adult couple can live together without marriage

Professor caught stealing mobiles of students

Professor caught stealing mobiles of students

Shivani.Azad@timesgroup.com

Dehradun:21.12.2021

In a curious case of theft, a professor at Srinagar Medical College in Pauri Garhwal was found with almost a dozen stolen mobile phones, which he had allegedly swiped from his own students or acquaintances. The stolen phones were found at his residence, inside the medical college campus, where he stays alone.

The theft came to light after the professor, who has been working in the college since 2010, was caught on CCTV while stealing the mobile phone of an MBBS student, who was writing his exam. When the student complained that his phone, which was kept outside the examination hall, had been stolen, the head of the department requested authorities to scan the CCTV footage.

Upon inspection, it was revealed that the professor had swiped the device and walked away with it.

Omicron: Most patients in Guj needed re-test

Parth Shastri & Sachin Sharma | TNN

Ahmedabad/Vadodara: 21.12.2021

What was common about the cases recorded in Vadodara on Monday and in Ahmedabad on Sunday? The patients had tested negative with RT-PCR tests twice — but the third test detected the presence of Covid-19 and subsequently genomic sequencing found the Omicron variant.

In the case of a 27-yearold woman in Vadodara, she developed symptoms such as low-grade fever after returning from the UK last week. “She underwent the RT-PCR test before boarding the flight according to the requirements. Upon arrival in Mumbai, she again took the test and the result was negative,” said a senior health department official. “She then returned to Vadodara. As she developed symptoms, she was advised another test and the presence of the virus was detected.” In the case of a couple from Tanzania, the chance discovery was due to a preprocedure RT-PCR test that gave the positive result. They had tested negative in Mumbai and Ahmedabad and even at the time of boarding the flight. Experts pointed out that the milder symptoms or the lack of symptoms make detection all the more difficult. Senior state health department officials were not available for comment on whether multiple testing could be the norm for passengers from ‘at risk’ countries.

Dr Mukesh Maheshwari, an Ahmedabad-based pathologist, said that the way in which the samples are collected matters as much as the kits do. “Both nasal and throat swabs can give results, but if the viral load is low, the virus may not get detected immediately,” he said. “It’s possible that the first two tests are carried out at a short interval, and by the third test the viral load required for detection is achieved.”

TN considering leave for Nalini, govt tells Madras HC

TN considering leave for Nalini, govt tells Madras HC

Chennai:21.12.2021

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday informed the Madras high court that application made by Rajiv Gandhi assassination life convict S Nalini seeking ordinary leave to take care of her ailing mother is under consideration.

State public prosecutor Hasan Mohamed Jinnah made the submission on the plea moved by Nalini’s mother S Padma seeking direction to the state to consider her application for ordinary leave.

Recording the submission, a division bench of Justice P N Prakash and Justice R Hemalatha adjourned the hearing to December 23. According to the petitioner, in 2018 the state cabinet passed a resolution for release of her daughter and all other convicts sentenced to life term in the assassination case. A recommendation to this effect was also made to the governor.

However, the governor is sitting on the recommendation without taking any decision for over two years, she said. Since my health condition deteriorated, I made an application to the superintendent of prison, special prison for women, Vellore seeking to grant leave for my daughter so that she can take care of me, the petitioner said. TNN