The Evening Wrap: SC rejects Gujarat plea to review adverse remarks in Bilkis Bano case verdict

The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea filed by the Gujarat government seeking a review of the court’s verdict which contained certain observations against the State while quashing the remission granted to 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 riots. A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan also rejected the application for listing review petition in open court. “Having carefully gone through the Review Petitions, the order under challenge and the papers annexed therewith, we are satisfied that there is no error apparent on the face of the record or any merit in the Review Petitions, warranting reconsideration of the order impugned. The Review Petitions are, accordingly, dismissed,” the Bench said. The Gujarat government in its plea had said the apex court’s observation in the January 8 judgment, holding the state guilty of “usurpation of power” and “abuse of discretion” for complying with an order of another top court bench, was an “error apparent on the face of the record” primarily on three grounds. Samples of over 50 drugs in market not of standard quality: CDSCO The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), in its drug alert for August, has listed that samples of more than 50 drugs, including commonly used paracetamol, Pan D, calcium, vitamin D3 supplements, and anti-diabetes pills, are “not of standard quality”. The drugs are allegedly manufactured by companies, including Alkem Laboratories, Hindustan Antibiotics Limited, Hetero Labs Limited, Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Nestor Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Priya Pharmaceuticals and Scott-Edil Pharmacia Ltd. CDSCO releases a list of “not of standard quality” drugs every month. The monthly exercise is aimed at ensuring that standard medicines are available to the public. The drug alert for August also notes that high blood pressure medications Telmisartan and Atropine Sulphate and antibiotics such as Amoxicillin and Potassium Clavulanate tablets have also been categorised as not of “standard quality”. While batches of some drugs failed the ‘dissolution test’ as per Indian Pharmacopoeia, some failed the ‘Assay’ and ‘water’ test as per IP, while some drugs were identified as spurious or having uniformity of volume issues. Isolate all Mpox cases, follow strict control measures: Health Ministry After India became the third non-African country to report a case of clade Ib Mpox infection recently, the Union Health Ministry has written to all States and Union Territories directing that all suspected Mpox cases be isolated and strict infection prevention and control measures be put in place. It said samples from skin lesions of any patient with suspected symptoms of Mpox should be sent to the designated labs immediately and for those who test positive a sample should be sent to the ICMR-NIV for genome sequencing to determine the clade. “Robust diagnostic testing capability is already available; 36 labs supported by the ICMR across the country and three commercial PCR kits validated by ICMR that are now approved by CDSCO,’’ said the Ministry. It said the World Health Organisation on August 14, 2024 announced that the current outbreak of Mpox (previously known as Monkeypox) disease was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This is the second time such Mpox disease associated with PHEIC has been declared by the WHO under the International Health Regulations, 2005, to which India is a signatory. Former T.N. Minister Senthilbalaji released on bail after 471 days of remand Former Minister and DMK MLA V. Senthilbalaji, who was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a money laundering case in 2023, has been released from the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai, after being in remand for 471 days. He was given a rousing reception by his supporters and DMK cadre as he walked out of prison after the Supreme Court granted him bail. Mr. Senthilbalaji is facing a case that was filed by the ED in 2021 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which arose from three cases filed by the Central Crime Branch of the Chennai City Police. It was alleged that when Mr. Senthilbalaji was the Minister for Transport in the AIADMK government in 2014, he and others received money from job aspirants for appointments in transport corporations. The case took a new turn after the Supreme Court allowed the ED to proceed with the investigation. After conducting searches at the houses and official premises of Mr. Senthilbalaji, the ED officers arrested him in the early hours of June 14 last year. He underwent a heart surgery following his arrest, and was later lodged in the Puzhal Central Prison for a long time. Sanjay Raut gets bail, hours after Mumbai court sends him to prison in defamation case A metropolitan magistrate court in Mazgaon, Mumbai has granted bail to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut hours after sentencing him to 15 days of simple imprisonment in a defamation complaint filed against him by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s wife Medha Somaiya. Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Aarti Kulkarni convicted Mr. Raut for the offence under Indian Penal Code Section 500 (punishment for defamation). The court also imposed a fine of ₹25,000 in the criminal defamation case. After the court passed its judgment, Mr. Raut’s lawyer filed two pleas for suspension of the sentence and granting him bail, which the court allowed. The court, later, suspended Mr. Raut’s sentence and granted bail to the Rajya Sabha member on his application for the same. The case was filed by Medha Kirit Somaiya, wife of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, over Mr. Raut’s allegations of her involvement in a ₹100 crore toilet scam. In Brief: India has “strongly advised” its nationals to leave Lebanon. An advisory issued by the Embassy of India in Beirut has advised Indian citizens not to travel to Lebanon, which has been targeted by Israeli bombing raids over the past three days. Official sources have said that the government of India is contemplating naval evacuation of Indian nationals from Lebanon in view of the deteriorating security situation there. This is the first advisory by India since the pager attacks targeted Lebanon a week earlier. Subsequently, Israel carried out bombing raids targeting southern Lebanon and capital Beirut. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 26 September 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Bilkis Bano case: Supreme Court rejects Gujarat government plea seeking review of verdict over certain observations The Supreme Court has [dismissed a plea filed by the Gujarat government]( seeking a review of the court’s verdict which contained certain observations against the State while quashing the remission granted to 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 riots. A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan also rejected the application for listing review petition in open court. “Having carefully gone through the Review Petitions, the order under challenge and the papers annexed therewith, we are satisfied that there is no error apparent on the face of the record or any merit in the Review Petitions, warranting reconsideration of the order impugned. The Review Petitions are, accordingly, dismissed,” the Bench said. The Gujarat government in its plea had said the apex court’s observation in the January 8 judgment, holding the state guilty of “usurpation of power” and “abuse of discretion” for complying with an order of another top court bench, was an “error apparent on the face of the record” primarily on three grounds. Samples of over 50 drugs in market not of standard quality: CDSCO The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), in its drug alert for August, has listed that samples of more than 50 drugs, including commonly used paracetamol, Pan D, calcium, vitamin D3 supplements, and anti-diabetes pills, are [“not of standard quality”](. The drugs are allegedly manufactured by companies, including Alkem Laboratories, Hindustan Antibiotics Limited, Hetero Labs Limited, Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Nestor Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Priya Pharmaceuticals and Scott-Edil Pharmacia Ltd. CDSCO releases a list of “not of standard quality” drugs every month. The monthly exercise is aimed at ensuring that standard medicines are available to the public. The drug alert for August also notes that high blood pressure medications Telmisartan and Atropine Sulphate and antibiotics such as Amoxicillin and Potassium Clavulanate tablets have also been categorised as not of “standard quality”. While batches of some drugs failed the ‘dissolution test’ as per Indian Pharmacopoeia, some failed the ‘Assay’ and ‘water’ test as per IP, while some drugs were identified as spurious or having uniformity of volume issues. Isolate all Mpox cases, follow strict control measures: Health Ministry After India became the third non-African country to report a case of clade Ib Mpox infection recently, the Union Health Ministry has written to all States and Union Territories [directing that all suspected Mpox cases be isolated]( and strict infection prevention and control measures be put in place. It said samples from skin lesions of any patient with suspected symptoms of Mpox should be sent to the designated labs immediately and for those who test positive a sample should be sent to the ICMR-NIV for genome sequencing to determine the clade. “Robust diagnostic testing capability is already available; 36 labs supported by the ICMR across the country and three commercial PCR kits validated by ICMR that are now approved by CDSCO,’’ said the Ministry. It said the World Health Organisation on August 14, 2024 announced that the current outbreak of Mpox (previously known as Monkeypox) disease was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This is the second time such Mpox disease associated with PHEIC has been declared by the WHO under the International Health Regulations, 2005, to which India is a signatory. Former T.N. Minister Senthilbalaji released on bail after 471 days of remand  Former Minister and DMK MLA V. Senthilbalaji, who was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a money laundering case in 2023, has been [released from the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai]( after being in remand for 471 days. He was given a rousing reception by his supporters and DMK cadre as he walked out of prison after the [Supreme Court granted him bail](. Mr. Senthilbalaji is facing a case that was filed by the ED in 2021 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which arose from three cases filed by the Central Crime Branch of the Chennai City Police. It was alleged that when Mr. Senthilbalaji was the Minister for Transport in the AIADMK government in 2014, he and others received money from job aspirants for appointments in transport corporations. The case took a new turn after the Supreme Court allowed the ED to proceed with the investigation. After conducting searches at the houses and official premises of Mr. Senthilbalaji, the ED officers arrested him in the early hours of June 14 last year. He underwent a heart surgery following his arrest, and was later lodged in the Puzhal Central Prison for a long time. Sanjay Raut gets bail, hours after Mumbai court sends him to prison in defamation case A metropolitan magistrate court in Mazgaon, Mumbai has [granted bail to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut hours after sentencing him to 15 days of simple imprisonment]( in a defamation complaint filed against him by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s wife Medha Somaiya. Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Aarti Kulkarni convicted Mr. Raut for the offence under Indian Penal Code Section 500 (punishment for defamation). The court also imposed a fine of ₹25,000 in the criminal defamation case. After the court passed its judgment, Mr. Raut’s lawyer filed two pleas for suspension of the sentence and granting him bail, which the court allowed. The court, later, suspended Mr. Raut’s sentence and granted bail to the Rajya Sabha member on his application for the same. The case was filed by Medha Kirit Somaiya, wife of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, over Mr. Raut’s allegations of her involvement in a ₹100 crore toilet scam. In Brief: India has [“strongly advised” its nationals to leave Lebanon](. An advisory issued by the Embassy of India in Beirut has advised Indian citizens not to travel to Lebanon, which has been targeted by Israeli bombing raids over the past three days. Official sources have said that the government of India is contemplating naval evacuation of Indian nationals from Lebanon in view of the deteriorating security situation there. This is the first advisory by India since the pager attacks targeted Lebanon a week earlier. Subsequently, Israel carried out bombing raids targeting southern Lebanon and capital Beirut. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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