Daily News Dose: Droupadi Murmu takes oath as India's 15th President | July 25, 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. Droupadi Murmu takes oath as India's 15th President

2. Gold smuggling case: HC pulls up Saritha Nair for seeking Swapna's confidential statement

3. 3 more arrested over moral policing in Palakkad, child rights panel steps in

4. 2 held for smuggling 3,500 litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor from Mahe

5. India reports close to 17,000 new COVID cases and 41 deaths

Let's get into the details:

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1. President-elect Droupadi Murmu took oath of office for the highest constitutional post in the country at the Central Hall of Parliament on Monday. Chief Justice of India N V Ramana administered her oath in the presence of former president Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.

Murmu took the oath in Hindi. In her first address to the nation, she noted her election to the post was not only her own achievement, but that of every poor in the country. This indicates the confidence of crores of Indians and proof that the poor too can have dreams and even fulfil them, she said.

The ceremony was followed by a 21-gun salute. Sixty-four-year-old Murmu scripted history on July 21 when she defeated Opposition Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha in a one-sided contest.

Murmu won the election by an overwhelming margin against Sinha after receiving over 64 per cent of valid votes of MPs and MLAs, to succeed Ram Nath Kovind to become the country's 15th president. Murmu got 6,76,803 votes against Sinha's 3,80,177 votes.

She is India's first tribal President, the first to be born after Independence and the youngest to occupy the top post. She is also the second woman to become the President of India.     

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2. The Kerala High Court on Monday delivered a stinging rebuke to Saritha S Nair for seeking a copy of the confidential court statement of Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case. "How can the court grant access of a confidential statement to an individual unrelated to the case?" the court asked in response to her plea. 

Saritha, herself an accused in a major political scandal that happened a decade ago, was challenging the Ernakulam Sessions Court order dismissing her plea to get hold of the secret statement filed as per Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. 

She had earlier approached the lower court for a copy of Swapna's confidential statement. Saritha's counsel had argued that the statement given by Swapna was a public document and that she was entitled to get a copy as her name was mentioned in the statement. The lower court pointed out that only the investigating agency was entitled to a copy of the statement. 

Swapna had filed the statement in the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court on June 6 and 7 as part of an Enforcement Directorate case.

The sensational gold smuggling case came to the limelight again recently after Swapna gave a secret statement in a court and levelled serious allegations against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his family members, former minister K T Jaleel and some top bureaucrats. 

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3. Police have arrested three more persons over the moral policing incident that happened in Kerala's Palakkad on July 22. The Child Welfare Committee has sought a detailed report from Kalladikode police and the District Child Protection Officer on the incident.

The police action is based on a complaint that a group of boys and girls were attacked and beaten up by a gang for sitting next to each other at a bus stop. Five students have formally complained to the police that they were beaten up by a gang.

So far five persons have been arrested in connection with the case.

The Child Welfare Committee has taken serious cognisance note of the incident. Its further action will be based on the police report.

The children who were attacked are so upset they are reluctant to go to school or even go out elsewhere, stated their parents, who have demanded that the students be counselled, besides initiating stringent action against the assailants.

One of the students who was beaten up had sought treatment at the Palakkad District Hospital after he experienced physical discomfort.

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Before we move on, here's a quick reminder to checkout Onmanorama's other podcasts, Wacky News and News Brake. Wacky News is a collection of the weirdest and strangest news from across the globe and News Brake is a clutter-free explainer of the major news story of the week. Both programmes are available on all podcast platforms. 

Now, back to Daily News Dose.

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4. In a major haul, Kerala police on Monday seized over 3,500 litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor, which was being smuggled from Mahe in a milk van and arrested two persons.

Police seized 3,582 litres of liquor, which were banned from selling outside Mahe, an enclave of the Union Territory of Puducherry, and arrested Thiruvananthapuram-native Krishna Prakash and Kollam resident Saji.

The duo were apprehended early Monday morning by a special squad from Kodungallur and Vadanappally police.

The team was inspecting suspicious vehicles based on a tip-off when they found liquor of various brands worth around Rs 50 lakh. Police suspect the duo were planning to sell the illegal liquor during the Onam season.

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5. With 16,866 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,39,05,621, while the daily positivity rate crossed 7 per cent again after a gap of 168 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The active cases have declined to 1,50,877, while the death toll has climbed to 5,26,074 with 41 new fatalities. A decrease of 1,323 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 7.03 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 4.49 per cent. 

The 41 new fatalities include 13 from Kerala, six each from Maharashtra and West Bengal, four from Punjab, two each from Delhi and Sikkim and one each from Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.

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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.