Heena Sharma Blog

The execution of convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case will be the first time post Independence that four men are hanged to death together. Sixteen convicts have been executed in the country in the past three decades, including Yakub Memon, Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab. On February 9, 2013, Afzal Guru was executed in Tihar jail. Guru was convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack. No execution has taken place in Tihar since Guru. In 1989, former prime minister Indira Gandhi's assassin Satwant Singh and co-conspirator Kehar Singh were hanged in Tihar Jail. There has also been a dual hanging in the past, when Ranga and Billa were hanged together after they were convicted in the kidnapping and murder of siblings Geeta and Sanjay Chopra. Jasbir Singh alias Billa and Kuljeet Singh also known as Ranga Khus were hanged at Tihar Jail on 31 January 1982. Read More

The Narendra Modi-led government has not released any money to Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), India’s only central government-owned pilot training institute, since 2015-16. The institute was established in 1985 by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Fursatganj in the Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh. Currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Smriti Irani, the Amethi constituency was represented in Parliament by Rajiv Gandhi from 1981 until his death in 1991. Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi represented it from 1999 to 2004, and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi from 2004 to 2019. Rahul Gandhi has also served as a member of the IGRUA governing council in the past. IGRUA’s financial statements show that the last grant (Rs 5 crore) it received from the government was in 2014-15. According to Budget documents, the government made token provisions for the institutions but never released the money. For instance, in 2017-18, it made a nomina...

Top political leaders on Wednesday paid homage to India's third prime minister Indira Gandhi to commemorate her 34th death anniversary. "Tributes to our former Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary ," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress President Rahul Gandhi also took to the micro-blogging site to remember his grandmother "with a deep sense of happiness." "Remembering Dadi today with a deep sense of happiness. She taught me so much and gave me unending love. She gave so much of herself to her people. I am very proud of her," his tweet read. The Congress President, along with his mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also paid floral tributes to the 'Iron Lady' at her memorial Shakti Sthal. Indira Gandhi, who was hailed as one of the tallest world leaders, was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards at her residenc...