As India tries to accelerate its massive vaccination programme in the middle of a devastating second Covid-19 wave, ground reports from states indicate a complex set of problems ranging from shortage of doses to glitches on the registration portal to panic and fear of the vaccines running out. In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister E Palaniswami has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the Centre to supply the required quantity of vaccines for all three age groups. A budgetary provision of Rs 35,000 crore has been made to fund the vaccine supply, he said.
The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday issued orders to procure 1.50 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines, days ahead of the next phase of vaccination in India on May 1 for people between the ages of 18 and 44. The government said the doses would be sourced by the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) and would be provided free of cost.
For assistance on COVID-19-related queries and mental health support in Chennai, citizens can contact the Greater Chennai Corporation's (GCC) COVID-19 helpline 044 46122300 | Citizens can find the nearest GCC-facilitated COVID-19 fever clinic here | For lodging rain-related complaints and assistance during the monsoon, citizens can contact the GCC's monsoon helplines 044 25384530 or 044 25384540 or the control room 1913 (available 24x7)
Chennai Hyderabad April 26, 27 Highlights
A policeman gestures as people queue outside a government dispensary to buy an antiviral drug used to treat Covid-19, in Chennai. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu recorded 17,897 fresh COVID-19 cases pushing the number of active cases to 1,12,556 and the overall tally to 11,48,064. With 107 deaths, the state’s toll reached 13,933. Chennai recorded a total of 5,445 cases and 40 deaths on Thursday. The total number of cases in the city has now been increased to 3,28,520.
The Madras High Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to actor Mansoor Ali Khan in the case registered against him by the Chennai Corporation for spreading false information on the COVID-19 vaccine. The issue pertains to the remarks Mansoor made when actor Vivek was undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Mansoor said Vivek suffered a heart attack due to the vaccine he took the previous day. The court on Thursday said it would sanction the bail on the condition that the actor pays two lakh rupees to the Tamil Nadu Health Secretary to purchase Covishield.
As per the latest by the Greater Chennai Corporation, as many as 375 streets in Chennai have more than 10 COVID-19 positive cases. In 993 streets, there have been more than six COVID-19 cases. The civic body said a total of 14,22,553 people have been vaccinated in the city till now and 25,358 people have been vaccinated on Wednesday alone.
Teachers in government and government-aided schools do not need to physically attend school from May 1, the Tamil Nadu School Education Department said. According to the circular ssued by the Director of School Education Department, S Kannapan, on Wednesday, teachers can work from home till the fresh schedule for the Class XII board examination is announced. The Class XII practical exams got over by April 24 and the board exams, which were scheduled to take place on May 5, were postponed indefinitely.
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Family members of those killed in the Thoothukudi police firing in May 2018 submitted a petition to the District Collector Thursday stating that the Vedanta-owned Sterlite copper plant should not be allowed to reopen to manufacture oxygen. Holding photographs of the deceased, protesters raised slogans outside the collector’s office against the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the operation of oxygen production units at the Sterlite copper plant.
Those at the protest alleged the motive behind producing oxygen was to have a backdoor entry to restart the copper unit, holding the Sterlite plant responsible for the death of 13 people who were shot by police personnel during a protest in May 2018.
Tamil Nadu Government Thursday announced that there will be no restriction on movement of officials, party functionaries like candidates, counting agents, food suppliers, in connection with counting of votes for the general election to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly and bye-election to the Kanniyakumari parliamentary constituency on the day of the counting of votes. As per the order issued by Chief Secretary Rajeev Ranjan, Chennai Metro Rail would be permitted to operate skeletal services during the lockdown on Sunday. Other recent restrictions implemented by the state government will continue to be in force. The district magistrate have been instructed to strictly enforce the guidelines.
According to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), a total of 14,22,553 people have been vaccinated in Chennai till date, with 25,358 vaccinated on Wednesday alone.
Telangana, which has been witnessing a rapid rise in the active number of coronavirus cases, may not impose a state-wide lockdown unlike its worst-hit neighbours Maharashtra and Karnataka—two states Telangana blames for its rising caseload.
On Wednesday night, Telangana’s director of Public Health, Dr G Srinivasa Rao issued a statement clarifying that the health department had not recommended to the state government to impose a lockdown. “There is no truth in the propaganda going on in the electronic and social media that the medical health department has sent proposals to the government to impose a lockdown in the state. The Department of Medical Health has not made any such proposal,” he said, denying submission of any report to the state on a lockdown.
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Telangana reported 7,994 fresh COVID-19 cases Wednesday, taking the tally to over 4.27 lakh while the toll stood at 2,208 with 58 more casualties, the state government said on Thursday.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 1,630, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (615) and Rangareddy (558), it said in a bulletin.
The total number of cumulative cases in the state stood at 4,27,960 while with 4,009 patients being cured, the total recoveries were at 3,49,692. The state has 76,060 active cases and over 80 thousand samples were tested on Tuesday. Cumulatively, over 1.28 crore samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was over 3.44 lakh, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.51 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 81.71 per cent. The state has 279 active micro containment zones.
According to a separate release, over 39.57 lakh people in the state have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine while over 5.78 lakh got their second shot also as of April 28. (PTI)
The Union Territory of Puducherry recorded 1122 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the overall tally to 57,427. With 12 casualties in the last 24 hours, the death toll reached 793.
A total 940 people in Puducherry, 101 in Karaikal, 30 in Yanam and 51 in Mahe were infected by the virus.
As many as 632 people were discharged on Wednesday following treatment. The active cases in the union territory stands at 8,689.
The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday made it mandatory for all contesting candidates and their polling agents to either test negative for COVID-19 or show proof of having received both doses of vaccines to enter the counting centres on May 2.
This instruction is part of the Commission’s detailed COVID19 protocol released Wednesday for the counting day, when the results of the Assembly elections held in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry will be declared.
The candidates will have to produce a COVID negative report within 48 hours (either on April 30 or by May 1) before the counting day to access the counting centres. The EC has tasked all District Election Officers to arrange for either RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen Test for the candidates and their counting agents before the day of counting.
If the candidate or one of her agents is infected, then a replacement will have to be appointed. “No one having any symptom of COVID19-like fever, cold etc. shall be allowed to enter the counting hall,” the EC’s instruction states.
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The stalemate in the production of Tamil feature film 'Indian 2', starring actor Kamal Haasan in the lead, continues as the talks between the contesting parties to arrive at an amicable solution have failed, the Madras High Court was informed on Wednesday. When the matter came up for further hearing yesterday, senior counsel for the film director S Shankar told the First Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy that the talks have failed.
Originally, Lyca Productions, the producers of the film, had moved court with an appeal for a direction to Shankar to complete the film and to restrain him from taking up any other project till then. Holding that any court order might precipitate the matter, the Bench had, on April 22, directed the parties to sit together and settle the issue amicably.
When the matter came up again yesterday, Shankar's senior counsel P S Raman told the judges that no solution was arrived at the more-than-two hours meeting last Saturday. While Shankar was prepared to give bulk dates after June, for which Haasan had also agreed, Lyca Productions insisted the director to sign a bond to the effect that he would not take up any other project. Hence, the talks failed, and the Bench posted the matter for further hearing after the summer vacation. (PTI)
A director of a financial services firm, connected to a money-lending app, has been arrested in Bengaluruin connection with a probe into instant app-based lenders allegedly harassing borrowers, Hyderabad police said on Wednesday.
In continuation of the arrests made in such cases, cyber crime police on Tuesday arrested the 24-year-old accused, who is one of thedirectors of a financial services company, a press release from the city police said. On further investigation, police identified the accounts associated to all the fraudulent money-lending companies and froze about Rs 400 crore, the release said.
The Telangana police, who had launched a crackdown against instant money-lending apps firms, said the lending companies, through instant loan apps, offer loans to people and levy huge interest and processing charges, among others. They then resort to systematically abusing, harassing and threatening the defaulters through the call centres operating from across the country.
Six cases of suicides, due to harassment by such companies, were reported in Telangana since December 2020. The State police have registered over 50 cases and arrested over 30 people, including fourChinesenationals, so far even as the Enforcement Directorate is also probing into the FIRs. (PTI)
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on Wednesday said private hospitals and hotels may set up Covid Care Centres and there was no need to obtain prior permission from it. An intimation through e-mail was enough and there is no need of prior permission to establish CCCs, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said in a brief statement. All private hotels and hospitals hence could start CCCs with necessary facilities, he said.
The GCC had days ago said that people who test positive for COVID-19 and have no symptoms should avoid immediately rushing to big hospitals. Those with mild symptoms would be referred to Covid Care Centres following screening. Patients with severe symptoms are being treated at large facilities like state-run medical college hospitals, the civic body had said.
The GCC, meanwhile, notified recruitment of 150 medical officers and an equal number of staff nurses on contract for a period of one year for COVID-19 management in the metropolis. (PTI)
A court in Hyderabad on Wednesday sentenced a 24-year-old man to 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in September last.
First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge found the man, working as a waiter, guilty under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and IPC and sentenced him to undergo 20 years RI. The court imposed also a fine of Rs 10,000.
According to prosecution, the waiter, who was a neighbour of the girl, sexually assaulted her at her house. The girl's mother filed a complaint with police after she narrated the incident to her.
A case was registered and the waiter arrested. The trial was on in the court and he was found guilty. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday reviewed the measures taken by the state government to tackle the second wave of coronavirus and said around 7,000 ex-servicemen would be roped in to help fight the pandemic.
Purohit, who chaired the high-level meeting, insisted that top officials make effective use of the services of ex-servicemen wherever possible to control the virus. “It is informed that approximately 7,000 ex-servicemen will be roped in to control the coronavirus pandemic,” a Raj Bhavan release, quoting him, said.
The Governor instructed officials to maintain adequate stock and supply of oxygen and lifesaving medicine to treat Covid-19 patients in all government and private hospitals. The availability of medical oxygen and drugs in health care facilities should be monitored regularly by the health department, Purohit said.
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No preventive, precautionary measure to tackle COVID-19 was taken by the Central and Tamil Nadu governments during the gap between the first and second waves of the pandemic, DMK president M K Stalin alleged on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should announce that COVID-19 vaccines would be provided free of cost to people and implement it immediately, he said.
Urging the union government to ‘save people’ and avoid getting blamed in the pages of history, he said information from northern states on the COVID-19 scenario heightened fear.
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A Special CBI Court in Hyderabad on Wednesday agreed to hear a petitionseeking cancellation of bail given toAndhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in a case against him overalleged quid pro quo deals. The court on Tuesday directed the Registry to number the petition filed by rebel YSR Congress Lok Sabha MP K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju who sought the cancellation of bail granted to Jagan alleging that he was not adhering to the bail conditions and accusing him of directly and indirectly influencing the witnesses.
The court yesterday ordered issuance of notices to Jagan and the central agency and posted the matter to May 7, according to petitioner's counsel S Sri Venkatesh. According to the petitioner, Jagan was also trying to drag the cases.
The CBI had filed 11 charge sheets against the YSR Congress president (Jagan) and others and he has been named as the prime accused in the alleged quid pro quo deals. The cases relate to investments made by several companies in Jagan's firms as quid pro quo for various favours, including land allotments, bestowed on them during the tenure of his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as Chief Minister between 2004 and 2009. Reddy died in 2009.
Several former Ministers and bureaucrats are also accused in the case. Jagan is currently out on bail having spent time in jail as an "un-convicted criminal prisoner" in the Chanchalguda Central Prison from May 2012 to September 2013. (PTI)
As India tries to accelerate its massive vaccination programme in the middle of a devastating second Covid-19 wave, ground reports from states indicate a complex set of problems ranging from shortage of doses to glitches on the registration portal to panic and fear of the vaccines running out.
In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister E Palaniswami has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the Centre to supply the required quantity of vaccines for all three age groups. A budgetary provision of Rs 35,000 crore has been made to fund the vaccine supply, he said.
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Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai from 9 am to 5 pm today to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the affected areas:
Tamil Nadu recorded 16,665 positive cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state tally to 11,30,167. Among these, Chennai reported 4764 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 3,23,452. The state recorded 98 deaths on Wednesday, putting the state toll at 13,826. Eighty four of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 15,114 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 10,06,033.
As of Wednesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 1,10,308. Till date, 6,82,519 males, 4,47,610 females and 38 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 2,23,78,247 samples from the state have been tested till date, with 1,25,004 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 264 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 69 are government and 195 are private facilities.
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Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, politics, civic issues and more across Chennai and Hyderabad throughout the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.
Tamil Nadu recorded 16,665 positive cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state tally to 11,30,167. Among these, Chennai reported 4764 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 3,23,452. The state recorded 98 deaths on Wednesday, putting the state toll at 13,826. Eighty four of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 15,114 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 10,06,033. Following Chennai, Chengalpattu with 1,219, Coimbatore with 963, Tiruvallur with 751 and Tirunelveli with 714 cases. There are 1,10,308 active cases in the state.
The Greater Chennai Corporation Wednesday took to Twitter to inform the city residents that they are restricting the Covaxin for second doses alone due to supply constraints. The civic body said though the vaccine is available in select centers they are receiving complaints that some of the people are unable to get vaccinated even after reaching the primary health care centers. The corporation has put out a special link (http://covid19.chennaicorporation.gov.in/covid/Registration/index.jsp) for people to register their complaints.
Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Rajeev Ranjan is having a meeting with Governor Banwarilal Purohit to brief upon the various preventive measures the government has taken to curb the spread of the pandemic virus. Health Secretary, DGP are present in the high-profile meeting which is currently taking place at the Raj Bhavan in Guindy.
Election Commission announces fresh guidelines to be followed on the day of the counting of votes for assembly polls in five states namely Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, and Puducherry. Candidates/Agents need to produce RT-PCR/vaccination reports within 48 hours of the start of counting to enter the counting hall. The Commission has also said no public gathering would be allowed outside the counting centre during the process of counting.
As part of the restrictions to curb the spread of the pandemic virus, the Union Territory of Puducherry has passed an order on Wednesday to close all kinds of liquor shops including Tourism Category Licences, Arrack, and Toddy shops till May 03. "Any deviation in this regard will be viewed seriously and appropriate action will be taken against the violators as per the Puducherry Excise Act," a release from the office of the Deputy Commissioner (Excise) of Puducherry read.
Procurement of 1.50 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses has been ordered to vaccinate from May 1, people aged above 18, the Tamil Nadu government said on Wednesday.
In the first phase, over a crore doses would be sourced by the state-run Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation for the inoculation drive to be done free of cost to the 18 plus category of people, the government said in an official release.
“As per Chief Minister K Palaniswami’s order, all necessary steps are being taken to vaccinate people aged above 18 and upto 44 years, from May 1.”
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Petrol and diesel price today: Prices of petrol and diesel were unchanged across the country for the 13th consecutive day on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. The auto fuel prices were last revised on April 15, when petrol fell by 16 paise per litre and diesel slipped by 14 paise in the national capital.
In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs. 92.43 per litre while diesel is priced at Rs. 85.75 per litre.
In Hyderabad, petrol is priced at Rs. 93.99 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs. 88.05 per litre.
Telangana's coronavirus tally mounted to over 4.19 lakh as 8,061 people tested positive for the disease while the toll in the state stood at2,150 with 56 more casualties.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 1508, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri 673 and Rangareddy 514, a government bulletin said on Wednesday.
The total number of cumulative cases in the state stood at 4,19,966 while with 5,093 patients being cured, the total recoveries were at 3, 45,683. The state has 72,133 active cases and more than 82,000 samples were tested on Tuesday. Cumulatively, over 1.27 crore samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was over 3.42 lakh, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.51 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 82.31 per cent. The state has 278 active micro containment zones.
According to a separate release, over 38.48 lakh people in the state have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine while over 5.49 lakh got their second shot also as of April 27. (PTI)
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday inaugurated the country’s first 3D printed house at IIT, Madras, conceived by former alumni and built in just five days, and said the nation needs more such young minds, who send ‘positivity and showcase India’s abilities to the world.”
Chennai-based TVASTA Manufacturing Solutions built it on a concept by former IIT-M students. TVASTA Manufacturing was set up as part of the new incubator — ASHA Incubator — of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs at IIT Madras.
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The governments of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana have started ramping up medical infrastructure to combat the rising number of Covid-19 cases in their respective states. The move comes at a time when 9,881 new cases and 51 deaths were reported in AP while Telangana reported 10,122 new cases and 52 deaths in a single day on Tuesday.
In AP, the government has prepared a 3-pronged strategy to tackle the surge, according to officials. District collectors have been given powers to take over private hospitals in their districts to arrange for beds for Covid-19 patients.
The total number of cases in the state stands at 10,43,441 with 94,05,74 recoveries and 7,736 deaths. East Godavari with 1,36,570 cases and Chittoor with 1,10,832 cases are the two worst affected districts in the state. Guntur, Nellore and Visakhapatnam are also emerging as new hotspots.
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A total of 13,97,195 people have been vaccinated in Chennai till date, with 34,878 people vaccinated on Tuesday alone, according to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).
The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and state government to consider a plea to provide economic stimulus packages for employees of private and unorganised sectors who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy gave a direction to this effect while disposing of a PIL petition from advocate S Kalimuthu Mylavan.
The PIL prayed for a direction to the State and central governments to consider petitioner’s April 16 representation to constitute high-level committees at state and national levels to sanction stimulus packages to workers in the private and unorganised sectors, who have lost jobs and suffered pay cuts, as was being done in in the UK and US.
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The DMK in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday said the oxygen to be produced from Vedanta’s Sterlite unit in Tuticorin should be given to other states only after fulfilling Tamil Nadu’s requirements and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to formulate guidelines for this.
Party President M K Stalin said that DMK supported producing oxygen from the plant on temporary approval only on a humanitarian basis.
“The oxygen should be given to other states only after fulfilling Tamil Nadu’s needs. @PMOIndia should provide the guidelines for this,” he said in a tweet, tagging the official handle of Prime Minister Modi.
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Three people were arrested here for allegedly black marketing oxygen cylinders, police said on Tuesday. On information that somepeople were illegally transporting oxygen cylinders, a police team started a vehicle check under Malkajgiri police station limits on Monday night.
The team intercepted a van and found five oxygen cylinders (each containing 150 litres oxygen), they said. The van driver and other occupants failed to produce any documents about transporting the oxygen cylinders and were taken into custody.
During investigation it was revealed that one of the arrested was running an NGO under the cover of supplying free oxygen cylinders, medical services at home and ambulance to needy coronavirus patients, Rachakonda Commissioner of Police Mahesh M Bhagwat said.
He was procuring each oxygen cylinder for Rs 16,000 and then selling it for Rs 25,000 each to patients in need of urgent oxygen, police said. He recruited the other two accused for this illegal business, police said, adding, they were illegally hoarding and transporting oxygen cylinders. (PTI)
A day after the Madras High Court came down heavily on the Election Commission (EC) for failing to stop political parties from violating Covid protocols during their campaign rallies last month, and warned it over the coming counting day, the poll body announced a ban on all victory processions following the results.
The counting of votes for the Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry will take place on May 2.
The Commission also capped the number of people permitted to accompany the winning candidate to receive the election certificate to two, saying the decisions were taken in “view of the surge in Covid-19 cases throughout the country”.
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Three people, including a staff nurse at a private hospital, were arrested here for allegedly illegally selling Remdesivir at a high price, police said on Tuesday.
Acting on credible information regarding illegal sale of the antiviral drug at higher rates at Dilsukhnagar,a police team on Monday took the trio into custody and seized eight Remdesivir injections from their possession.
With a massive spike in COVID-19 cases, demand for Remdesivir has gone up manifold in the country.
The nurse and two other accused indulged in selling Remdesivir to needy persons at higher rates for the past 10 days after collecting it from theirknown sources, a release from Rachakonda Police Commissionerate said. A case was registered under relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act and IPC. (PTI)
Long queues to buy Remdesivir were seen at Chennai’s Kilpauk Medical College for the second day in a row, sending social distancing for a complete toss as harried people got into arguments with each other and the stationed officials while trying to procure the Covid-19 drug for hospitalised loved ones.
Even as announcements were made on a loudspeaker to not crowd the counter and maintain a queue, lack of facilities like signboards and an insufficient number of officials to guide the public led to chaos.
To buy the medicine, people need a doctor’s prescription (original not photocopy), the hospital name, photocopy of the patient’s RT-PCR test report, photocopy of Aadhar card (of both the patient and the procurer), and photocopy of CT scan report showing the patient’s lung involvement.
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The Madras High Court has reduced the death sentence awarded by a lower court to life term in a sensational rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Coimbatore in 2019, which sent shock waves in Tamil Nadu. "We are satisfied that this case does not come within the category of rarest of rare cases by applying the principles laid down by the Supreme Court," the division bench, comprising Justices P N Prakash and V Sivagnanam said and commuted the death sentence of Santosh Kumar on Monday.
The bench was disposing of a referred trial by the Thudialur police, seeking to confirm the sentence and a criminal appeal from the accused, challenging the December 27, 2019 order of the Sessions Court, Special Court for the Exclusive trial of cases under the POCSO Act in Coimbatore.
The bench said "it has not been demonstrated to us that the appellant (Santhosh Kumar) was addicted to crime and that he is a menace to society, thereby ruling out any possibility of reformation. In the facts of this case, we are unable to persuade ourselves to hold that a sentence lesser than the death penalty is completely foreclosed. As life imprisonment is the rule and death sentence is the exception, the sentence of death awarded by the trial Court is commuted to imprisonment for life with the rider that the appellant will not be entitled to any statutory remission or commutation until he has completed 25 years of actual imprisonment," the bench ruled.
"We are entitled to say so in law in the light of the judgment of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court...", the judges said. The bench confirmed the conviction of the appellant under Section 302 IPC, but, modified the same to one of imprisonment for life with the rider. The appellant is also liable to pay the fine of Rs one lakh, in default thereof, to undergo simple imprisonment for one more year, the judges added.
The judges also upheld a direction of the trial court to the Coimbatore SP to appoint a female Investigating Officer to conduct further investigation in the case as the DNA report had suggested the role of another male in the crime. The bench also affirmed the compensation of Rs 10 lakh awarded by the trial Court to be paid to Vanitha, the mother of the victim girl. The amount shall be paid within three months, the judges added. (PTI)
A total of 172 flights willbe operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 85 arrivals and 87 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
All those above 18 years of age can register for vaccination against Covid-19 using the CoWIN platform or Aarogya Setu app, starting at 4 PM today. All Indian adults will be eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine starting May 1 so you can start registering in the afternoon.
There are currently two Covid vaccines being administered in India which include the Covaxin that has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, and Covishield that has been developed by the Oxford-AstraZeneca and is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. Sputnik V which was developed in Russia and is imported and sold in India by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories – has also been approved by the Indian drug regulator.
Read here on how to register through CoWIN and Aarogya Setu
Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai from 9 am to 5 pm today to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the affected areas:
Tamil Nadu recorded 15,830 positive cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the state tally to 11,13,502. Among these, Chennai reported 4640 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 3,18,614. The state recorded 77 deaths on Tuesday, putting the state toll at 13,728. Sixty three of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 14,043 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 9,90,919.
As of Tuesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 1,08,855. Till date, 6,72,280 males, 4,41,184 females and 38 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 2,22,48,205 samples from the state have been tested till date, with 1,21,549 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 264 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 69 are government and 195 are private facilities.
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, politics, civic issues and more across Chennai and Hyderabad throughout the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.