Latest news with #Rajpoot
Time of India
6 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
NEET PG 2025 not before this date of August? Here's what NBEMS told the Supreme Court
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has informed the Supreme Court that it will not be able to conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2025 before August 3, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Supreme Court advocate Satyam Singh Rajpoot. Rajpoot, who represents the United Doctors Front (UDF), stated in his post that NBEMS, in its affidavit to the court, mentioned August 3 as the earliest feasible date to conduct the exam in a single-shift format across all centres, given the massive scale of operations involved. Here is the X post made by advocate Satyam Singh Rajpoot: This proposal by NBEMS comes in after the Supreme Court's ruling to scrap the two-shift format and conduct the NEET PG exam in a single shift owing to fairness concerns. Why did SC bar two-shift format for NEET PG? The Supreme Court's ruling came after multiple petitions were filed by medical aspirants and the UDF. The petitioners argued that a two-shift format could lead to discrepancies in difficulty levels across question sets, undermining the fairness and credibility of the exam. Represented by SC advocate Satyam Singh Rajpoot, UDF emphasized that such a system would disadvantage candidates based solely on the shift they were assigned. Agreeing with these concerns, the Bench observed that conducting the exam in two shifts would be 'arbitrary' and that the principle of uniformity in evaluation would be violated. On May 30, the court formally directed NBEMS to conduct NEET PG 2025 in a single shift to uphold the integrity of the exam process. NBEMS suggests new date for NEET PG 2025 In compliance with the court's directive, NBEMS has proposed a new exam date. The board explained that rescheduling was essential to make arrangements for conducting the test in a single shift for all aspirants across the country. Conducting NEET PG in a single shift is a massive undertaking, requiring the coordination of over 1,000 exam centers in more than 250 cities and the deployment of around 60,000 personnel including invigilators, technical staff, and security. NBEMS stated that maintaining exam integrity while accommodating a large number of candidates in a synchronized, single session necessitates significant preparation. It also stressed that ensuring adequate facilities, safety protocols, and smooth delivery of question papers nationwide takes time and cannot be rushed. The Supreme Court is currently reviewing NBEMS's affidavit and is expected to take a final call on the proposed date. Meanwhile, the board has urged candidates to keep checking its official website for further announcements related to the new examination schedule. Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
New York Times
07-03-2025
- New York Times
Her Father Took Her on a Trip to Pakistan. The Police Say It Was a Trap.
When Hira Anwar's father dropped her off every morning at middle school, she would duck out of his car and scamper up the steps of Public School 16 in Yonkers, N.Y., the Westchester County town where she grew up. Inside, Hira would greet her principal and catch up with her classmates, sharing tracks by her favorite band, Chase Atlantic, or TikTok videos of the singer Zayn Malik, whom everyone knew she had a particular crush on because he was of Pakistani descent, as she was. Then, a few months ago, something changed: When her father's car was out of sight of the school, Hira, 14, would remove her hijab. Hira's principal took notice, and, concerned that she was being bullied to conform, she pulled Hira aside to check in. Hira said it was the opposite, according to her principal: She finally felt free to express herself. That freedom did not last long. In late January, while on a vacation with her father to his hometown, Quetta, Pakistan, Hira was shot to death in front of her father's family home. Shortly after, her father, Anwar ul-Haq Rajpoot, tearfully told the police that a random attack had taken his daughter's life. But the Pakistani police now say that the shooting, and in fact the entire trip, was a trap that he orchestrated. In a chilling confession, Mr. Rajpoot told investigators he ordered Hira's execution because her behavior was an embarrassment. Mr. Rajpoot had his daughter killed, he told the police, because 'Hira's clothing choices, lifestyle and social relationships' had brought her family shame. In Yonkers, her school, her friends and her family are reeling, unable to process the death of an eighth grader whose sass impressed her teachers and whose staunch character made her a go-to referee among her girlfriends. 'It is hard for us to even understand mentally that this actually happened,' the eldest of her two sisters, Heba Anwar, 22, said before declining to comment further. 'We were living a very happy nice life.' Hira lived with her parents on the ground floor of a pink brick split-level home in a semi-suburban housing development in Yonkers, a working-class area where neighbors spoke Bengali, Urdu and Spanish. Her mother, Sumara Anwar, was also originally from Pakistan, and was not out of place in the neighborhood wearing a niqab that exposed only her eyes. Her father had worked as an Uber driver. Hira and her sisters, like many children of immigrants, often served as interpreters for their parents. A local real estate agent, Albina Durgaj, said that when the family bought an apartment to rent out, their daughters translated the entire transaction. She recalled Mr. Rajpoot and his wife as warm. Until this year, they had never failed to send her holiday greetings at Christmas. Hira had just started at School 16, but only a few days into the fall semester she already had a gaggle of admiring girlfriends, her principal, Vanessa Vasquez, said in an interview. She was a dedicated student who sometimes seemed like a little adult, Dr. Vasquez recalled: After an 'aha' moment in science, her favorite subject, Hira turned to her teacher and complimented her teaching style. For most of her childhood, Hira and her sisters attended religion classes on the weekends at the Andalusia Islamic Center not far from their home, according to Rashid Jamshaid, a member of the board. Lately, she had spent her weekends at the Cross County Center mall with her friends, shopping for the boxy tops and baggy jeans favored by the pop star Billie Eilish, one of her idols. Though Hira was new to School 16, she had no problem standing up to authority or other students when she felt she was being treated unfairly. She was usually the appointed leader of her friend group to, say, argue their case against a demerit for being late to class. Her teachers thought she would grow up to be a politician or a lawyer, Dr. Vasquez said, adding, 'She had that personality of not being afraid to speak up.' In the schoolyard, Hira used that spark to challenge bullies who picked on her friends, said her close friend, Layla Blanca. 'She had so much courage to be a good friend,' Layla said. Shortly after the school year began, Layla recalled, Hira slipped off her hijab in class to reveal cute blonde streaks she had dyed into her dark hair. There are 16 languages spoken by students at School 16, which sets aside special prayer rooms for students during Ramadan. 'I think she got more comfortable in herself, and I think she wanted to maybe show what she really is,' Layla said. 'She respects her culture, but as a teenage girl in middle school, I think she wanted to be like other girls.' It was around that point when Dr. Vasquez called Hira aside to make sure she wasn't being bullied into removing her head covering. Hira told her not to worry. 'This was her choice,' the principal said. Just before winter break, Hira's parents unenrolled her from School 16, according to Akeem H. Jamal, a spokesman for Yonkers Public Schools. Mr. Jamal declined to comment on whether any reason was given, citing student privacy rules. For a student to be legally withdrawn from a school, her guardian must show proof she is registered elsewhere. Hira was newly enrolled in a school in Pakistan, according to someone with direct knowledge of the situation who was not permitted to speak publicly about it. But her friend Layla said Hira never mentioned that she was moving abroad or that she was aware she was enrolled in a Pakistani school. According to Layla, all that Hira knew was that she and her father were going on a trip. On Jan. 15, Hira and her father arrived in Pakistan. She told her friends it was a vacation, and indeed, the two spent a week sightseeing in Lahore, according to the Pakistani police. On Jan. 20, Hira posted pictures on Instagram of soldiers marching in the pomp-filled daily military ceremony at the Wagah-Attari crossing at the border with India. Later that day, she shared photos she appeared to have taken at a market: glittering souvenirs, jewelry and embroidered bridal gowns. The pair arrived in Quetta, in the province of Balochistan, near the Afghan border, on Jan. 22. The region, in the southwest of Pakistan, is in the throes of a violent separatist insurgency, and in recent months killings between insurgent groups have escalated. Hira and her father were staying in a house with a bright blue door on Balochi Street that Mr. Rajpoot owned with several family members, near the city center. On Jan. 26, Hira sent a message to Layla back in Yonkers, a video clip of Zayn Malik. Layla sent her love. Hira didn't text back. The next evening at about 11 o'clock, Hira was headed out with her father to visit Muhammad Tayyab, one of her mother's brothers, her father later told the police. In Hira's father's telling, he happened to duck inside moments before she was gunned down in front of the blue door on Balochi Street. 'I realized I had forgotten my phone, so I went back inside to retrieve it. Suddenly, I heard gunshots and Hira crying, 'Father, father,'' Mr. Rajpoot wrote in Urdu in a statement to the Quetta Police. 'When I rushed outside, I found her lying injured at the doorstep. The attacker had already fled. With the help of neighbors, I took her to the hospital, but she later succumbed to her injuries.' Neighbors ran out into the dark street, just as a motorcycle roared away. They found Hira on the ground, hit by two bullets: one in her chest, one her arm. 'I rushed outside and saw Hira lying injured at the doorstep,' one of the neighbors who found her, Abdul Manan, 16, said in an interview. 'Her father was there, crying.' Abdul said that Hira's father told friends, neighbors and police officers that he believed Hira was an innocent bystander killed by robbers or insurgents. 'They said 'unidentified assailants' had opened fire on her,' Abdul recalled. But things didn't seem to add up, according to Capt. Zuhaib Muhsin, the head of investigations for the Quetta Police. 'From the beginning, we suspected the killing was linked to the family,' Captain Muhsin said. To start, it was only after he buried his daughter on Jan. 28 that Mr. Rajpoot filed an official police report. And in it, he wrote that he had brought her to Pakistan to visit her ancestral homeland for the very first time — but Hira's social media posts appeared to show she had visited previously over the summer. It was her funeral that set off alarms for investigators. Pakistani funerals are typically days-long affairs full of prayer and collective grief expressed out loud, where no death is as wrenching as that of a child. The ritual is so important that burials are often put on hold until far-flung family can gather. Hira was buried at noon the day after she died, while her mother and sisters were still in New York. At the gravesite, mourners were taken aback when her father announced Hira would receive a single day of prayer, rather than the customary three days, said Zafar Ali, a longtime family friend who was there. Some policemen had joined to pay their respects and were troubled by what they saw. To one officer, who asked that his name not be used because he is not permitted to speak to reporters, it seemed that Mr. Rajpoot was in a hurry to bury his daughter. But what most raised his suspicions, he said, is that at her graveside, no one seemed to be grieving. The police now say Mr. Rajpoot ordered his daughter's death and that the gunman was Mr. Tayyab, the uncle that Hira was told they were going to see. The two men were arrested on Jan. 29. After hours of questioning, Captain Muhsin said, each confessed to the crime. On March 3, Mr. Rajpoot and his brother-in-law appeared handcuffed in court in Quetta. They were permitted a few moments to meet with a group of family members at the hearing where documents were submitted and the case adjourned to a later date. Mr. Rajpoot's wife and other daughters did not appear to be present. Naveed Qambrani, a lawyer for both men, said his clients insist they are innocent and believe they are being framed for a crime they did not commit. 'Rajpoot insists that the accusation is driven by an ulterior motive to frame him in the case,' Mr. Qambrani said. 'Ultimately, it is up to the court.' The Last Text So-called honor killings are murders of women who supposedly brought shame to their families for such actions as refusing a marriage or behaving in ways deemed immodest and contrary to hard-line Islamic codes of female conduct. They are an ancient problem that has evolved in the era of social media. Hira's death is part of a pattern of violence targeting women that is deeply ingrained in Pakistan and within some parts of the diaspora, experts said. There were 588 such killings in Pakistan in 2024, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent watchdog group, a more than 20 percent increase from 2023. 'Cases like this shake us to the core,' Captain Muhsin said. 'This tragedy is a reminder that we, as a society, must work harder to challenge outdated and oppressive attitudes that lead to such violence.' He added, 'This is not just a crime against one girl — it is an attack on the basic rights and freedoms of all individuals.' That Mr. Rajpoot could be behind the murder of his own daughter stunned people who knew him. From the outside, he seemed not especially religious and content to raise three American daughters. Originally from Quetta, where his family ran a business renting out tents, chairs and tables for parties, Mr. Rajpoot was the envy of his friends when he won the U.S. green card lottery in his 20s, several said. Today he is a dual Pakistani and U.S. citizen, and the Rajpoots have called Yonkers home for decades. His daughters seemed to have been given opportunities to excel. Information online shows Hira was a contestant in a fifth-grade spelling bee; her older sister, Heba, studied nursing at the University of Mount Saint Vincent, according to her LinkedIn. But there were bumps on the way. In 2014, Mr. Rajpoot filed for bankruptcy with just $4,400 to his name, according to court filings that list him as a cabdriver. A spokeswoman for Uber confirmed Mr. Rajpoot had been a driver, but not for several years. The family had rented the pink split-level since Hira was an infant, but by 2022, things had turned around enough for them to purchase a four-bedroom home not far away, which they rent out for income. Among the close-knit Muslim community of Yonkers, Mr. Rajpoot was not known to be devout, according to Shabbir Gul, a community activist who also belongs to the Andalusia mosque; for years, he recalled, he saw him only infrequently at Friday prayers, dressed in jeans and with a clean-shaven face. But about two years ago, Mr. Rajpoot grew a beard and began showing up more regularly, sometimes in traditional Pakistani dress. 'Nobody knows what happened, how come this guy suddenly did this,' Mr. Gul said. 'Islam says that kids have freedom,' he added. 'They can go pray, they can play, they can have their own life.' After the killing, Mr. Rajpoot had planned to flee back to the United States, according to Captain Muhsin. Instead, he and Mr. Tayyab are still in jail in Quetta. From their interrogations, the police were led to a motorcycle they say was the getaway vehicle and a pistol registered in Mr. Tayyab's name at his home; the police now say it is the murder weapon. Back in Yonkers, the eighth graders at School 16 are planning a memorial for Hira. In the spring, they will plant a tree in her honor, the principal said, and the students are putting together a collage of snapshots of her. She had made so many friends in just a few months that it seems like almost everyone has a photo of Hira on their phone. 'She is being the glue right now that is keeping our school community together,' Dr. Vasquez said. The day she found out her friend had been killed, Layla Blanca could not go into the school where they had met, had giggled, had gossiped. She spent the day unable to get up from her bed, looking through old messages from Hira. The last one came in on Jan. 26 at 5:10 a.m., Yonkers time — 3:10 in the afternoon in Pakistan. In it, Zayn Malik is onstage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. He pulls a microphone close and sings in Urdu, 'I love you.'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Restaurant plans extension and flats in old pub
A Bradford restaurant has submitted plans to develop a neighbouring pub which currently stands vacant. Rajpoot, on Otley Road in Shipley, has applied for planning permission to renovate the restaurant as well as the former Old House at Home pub which stands next door. Under the plans, the restaurant would extend into the old pub and a "small" rear extension to both units would be built. Six apartments would then be constructed in the space above the whole site which stands close to Shipley Rail Station. Three of the flats would be one-bed properties under the plans while two would be two-beds and one three-bed. The Old House at Home shut down in September 2023, according to the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra). A decision on the plans is expected to be made by Bradford Council in due course. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Bradford Council
