Daily News Dose: Wearing facemasks mandatory again in Kerala, violators to be fined | Apr 27, 2022

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. Wearing facemasks mandatory again in Kerala, violators to be fined

2. MeToo accused actor-producer Vijay Babu now in Dubai, mulls defamation case against complainant

3. Kerala CM sends his Chief Secretary on a two-day tour to study the Gujarat model

4. Gold smuggling: Film producer, politician's son absconding in Kerala

5. Unease in CPI over age bar for party posts

Let's get into the details:

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1. On account of the rising Covid-19 cases in the country, the Kerala government has issued an order making it mandatory to wear facemasks.

Individuals will now have to wear masks in public places, at their workplace, during gatherings and while travelling. Those who  violate the order will be fined. However, the Government Order (GO) doesn't specify the penalty for not wearing masks. Kerala had lifted Covid-containment measures on April 7, a fortnight after the Centre directed all states and union territories to consider such a measure. The order issued by the State Government then had stated police will not be able to slap penalties for violation of norms. But it urged people to keep observing Covid appropriate behaviour, like wearing of masks and ensuring hand hygiene.

The restrictions had been in place in the state since March 2020.

Meanwhile, speaking at an interaction with chief ministers on the emerging COVID-19 situation in the country, Modi asserted that it is clear that the threat of coronavirus is not fully gone yet. He said Covid vaccination of all eligible children at the earliest is a priority for the government and specialised programmes will need to be conducted for it in schools. “We have to implement our strategy of Test, Track and Treat equally effectively. In the current situation of coronavirus, it is necessary that we have 100 per cent RT-PCR test for patients admitted in hospitals,” he said.

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2. Cops are on the lookout for Malayalam film actor and producer Vijay Babu over a #MeToo allegation.

Vijay is not in Kerala at present, said Kochi Deputy Commissioner of Police U V Kuriakose on Wednesday.

However, the actor confirmed that he is in Dubai and available for contact by anybody.

A probe into the sexual abuse case against Vijay, which was registered on Tuesday, is meanwhile progressing. The complainant filed the case at the Ernakulam South police station. 

There are also reports that a new case will be charged against Vijay for revealing the name of the complainant. Police will investigate the incident in which the actor took to Facebook Live to talk about the allegation and repeatedly named the female actor in the process. Disclosing the identity of victims of certain offences (including sexual) is punishable as per law. Vijay Babu, however, said he was willing to face the consequences.

Vijay, in his Facebook Live, claimed to be the 'real victim' and said he will file a defamation case. Claiming that he was scripting "a new chapter in #MeToo", Vijay Babu repeatedly named the female actor in his Facebook Live past midnight Wednesday. Vijay said he was ready to go public with the screenshots of the chats he had with the actor, with whom he associated with for a Malayalam movie he produced.

Vijay also said he will file for defamation. “It won't be a small case. I won't let her get away that easily. I can share all the proof with me but I won't because I don't want to cause damage to her family. "I'm answerable only to my wife, mother, sister and friends. And I don't want this to end with a piece of small news saying, 'Vijay Babu found not guilty'," said the 45-year-old. Vijay Babu has known the actor since 2018.

Meanwhile, the actress who was subject to the harassment posted a long and detailed account of the sexual excesses allegedly committed by Vijay Babu over a period of time.  The actress claims that she was not alone in the trap and that others have fallen silent out of fear. She also warns in the post that she would take legal action against those who victimise or attack her personally on social media.

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3. A two-member team led by Kerala Chief Secretary V P Joy will leave for Ahmedabad in Gujarat to get experiential knowledge of a unique e-governance initiative of the Gujarat government, the CM Dashboard.

The officers - the Chief Secretary's staff officer N K Singh is the other officer - will be in Ahmedabad for two days, on April 27 and 28. They will meet top officials, understand the working of the Dashboard. On his return, the Chief Secretary will submit a report to the Chief Minister on the Dashboard and also on the ways to adopt the system in Kerala. On the face of it, the Chief Secretary flying to another Indian state to study a successful e-governance model is a commendable step. It is said that the Gujarat e-governance 'Dashboard' allows the state Chief Minister to get even the granular details of government projects and programmes in at least 20 sectors in just a click.  However, considering the CPM's known opposition on aping anything related to Gujarat after Narendra Modi came to power in 2001, this decision by the CPM-led LDF government could trigger uncomfortable political questions.

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4. A film producer and the son of a politician are absconding after a failed gold smuggling bid through the Cochin International Airport last week. The case is over the seizure of 2.23 kg gold by Customs from a meat-cutting machine at the cargo terminal of the airport.

The absconders are film producer K P Sirajuddin and Shabin, who is the son of A A Ibrahimkutty, the vice-chairman of Thrikkakara Municipality in Ernakulam. Ibrahimkutty has come out in defence of his son claiming that he was innocent. Customs officials fear that Sirajuddin has managed to escape to Dubai. He is the producer of films like 'Vaanku' and 'Charminar'. Nakulan, a driver who came to the airport to collect the parcel, was arrested earlier in the case. Customs officials conducted raids at the houses of Sirajuddin and Shabin on Tuesday. They claimed to have got some leads related to the case from the laptops of Sirajuddin and Shabin, which were seized during the raids. 

Authorities had been viewing their rapid growth in business with suspicion. Small-time businessmen, Sirajuddin and Shabin achieved success and expanded their business at an unprecedented rate. Customs ooffiical  claim gold smuggling is behind the turnaround in their fortunes.

According to Customs, Sirajuddin and Shabin have been smuggling in gold in the pretext of importing machine parts. In the latest incident, they smuggled gold in a meat-cutting machine. The machine had arrived on an Air India cargo flight from Dubai on Saturday night. After routine inspections at the cargo terminal, the machine was handed over to Nakulan, who had reached the airport to take possession of the item.

Nakulan loaded the cargo on a vehicle and had passed the gate of the cargo terminal when Customs officers received a message that gold was concealed in the machine. Immediately, the Customs team chased Nakulan's vehicle and blocked it.

Nakulan interrogation yielded the information regarding the racket.

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5. A meeting of the Kerala State Council of the Communist Party of India  witnessed sharp criticism over the move to bring strict age restrictions at the organisational-level. CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran, while justifying the move, said that the State leadership was following the guidelines issued by the party national council.

Kanam reminded the leaders that only if the party replicated at the organisation level the kind of changes it had experimented at the parliamentary level, the party would have a future existence in the State.

But the reply of Kanam did not pacify the Council members. Many termed the new guidelines as something that went against the party constitution. They said that what is needed first is the amendment of the party constitution.

Some of the leaders at the meeting alleged that age criterion  was brought by the national leadership to deviate attention from its efficiency in interfering effectively in the national politics and ensuring the further growth of the party at the State-level. As per the new guidelines, 50 percent of those who get elected to each party forum should be below 40 years of age. The Council members said that such restrictions were anti-Communist in approach. They pointed out that the situation in Kerala was quite different from North Indian States.

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That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.