Opinion January 27, 1982, Forty Years Ago: Ranga’s Plea

Ranga whose execution is set for January 31 has filed another petition in the Supreme Court requesting it to review its latest decision. He has also sent another petition to the president seeking to do some hard work in the jail and requesting him to delink his case from that of Billa, the other accused in the gruesome Chopra murder case. In his fifth attempt to get a reduced sentence, Ranga has drawn attention to the role press played in the legal battle in this case. In November, Chief Justice Y V Chandrachud at a special sitting in his house admitted Ranga’s petition. There was a barrage of articles in the press criticising the move.

Padma Awards

Atm Prakash, eminent surgeon of the All India India Institute of Medical Sciences, has been conferred the Padma Bhushan. Another recipient of the Padma Bhushan from the AIIMS is J S Bajaj. Ajit Ram Verma, director of the National Physical Laboratory, has also been given the award. Cricketer Syed Kirmani and world badminton champion Prakash Padukone have been conferred the Padma Shri. Honoured for putting men and women in newspaper pictures is Virendra Prabhakar of The Hindustan Times, who has been conferred the Padma Shri.

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Assam Strike

While agitation leaders are going ahead with their plan to impose a 12 hour curfew on Republic Day, the new Congress (I) administration is making necessary preparations to meet its first major challenge. Saying that no government can tolerate the imposition of a curfew by a non-constitutional authority and that too on Republic Day, Chief Minister Keshab Chandra Gogoi appealed to the agitators to take back their decision.

There was no edition of this paper on January 27, 1982 on account of Republic Day. The above are edited excerpts of the paper on January 26, 1982