Passage 1
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a fresh bail plea of Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman who is being probed by the CBI and the ED in the alleged Rs 3,600-crore chopper scam cases relating to the purchase of VVIP helicopters.
It was argued that James cannot be charged under any other offences apart from those mentioned in the extradition decree and he be granted the benefit of the doctrine of speciality. He was arrested in December 2018 after being extradited from Dubai.
“How can you file the provisions in the Constitution which gives right to move the SC for enforcement of fundamental rights, petition in this case?” asked the Supreme Court bench.
Dealing with the submission that James cannot be charged for other offences which were not part of the extradition decree, the bench said this has been dealt by it earlier also and it cannot go “ad nauseum”
Source – https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sc-
Get CLAT Online Coaching!
Passage 2
There was no surprise. When Russia’s election authorities announced results of the presidential election, Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for nearly a quarter century, was elected for another term. While his closest rival, Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party of Russian Federation. There was no meaningful challenge to Mr. Putin in the election. Candidates who were critical of his policies, including the Ukraine war, were barred from contesting. State-controlled media hardly allowed any voices of dissent. And Mr. Putin’s approval rating has stayed high, according to Levada Centre, an independent Russian NGO, and he faces no visible or credible challenge to his authority among Russia’s elites.
If he completes his term, Mr. Putin, now 71, would surpass Joseph Stalin as the longest serving leader of modern Russia and the longest serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great, the 18th century Empress, who captured Crimea from the Ottomans and annexed it in 1783.
Source- https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/
