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The rapist and murderer of an Indian doctor was sentenced to life in prison Monday for a gruesome crime that sparked nationwide protests and widespread hospital strikes last year.The family of the 31-year-old medic broke into tears saying they were “shocked” at the sentence and had hoped her murderer would be hanged, for a case that highlighted the chronic issue of violence against women in the world’s most populous country.But Judge Anirban Das said the case did not deserve the death penalty as it was not “the rarest of the rare cases”, and ordered that Sanjoy Roy must spend his life behind bars.The discovery of the trainee doctor’s bloodied body at a government hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata in August 2024 sparked outrage.The murder led to demands by doctors at government hospitals for additional security, with thousands of citizens in Kolkata and elsewhere in India joining doctors’ protests in solidarity.Roy, 33, the lone accused in the case, who had been a civic volunteer in the hospital, was arrested a day after the victim’s body was discovered.India’s Supreme Court last year ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for healthcare workers, saying the brutality of the killing had “shocked the conscience of the nation”.The victim’s mother and father, who were seated close to Roy in court on Monday, have said they wanted Roy to be executed.”We are shocked by the verdict”, the victim’s father told AFP, tears running down his face.”We will continue our fight, and won’t let investigations stop… Come what may, we will fight for justice.”Family members cannot be identified in keeping with Indian law around the reporting of sexual violence cases.- ‘Diabolical crime’ -The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.India imposes the death penalty, although it is rarely carried out in practice.The last executions in India were in March 2020 — of four men convicted of the 2012 Delhi bus attack.The trial of Roy, who pleaded not guilty, was fast-tracked through India’s normally glacial legal system.Before the sentencing, Roy on Monday again insisted he was innocent and that he had been “framed”.Roy’s lawyer, Kabita Sarkar, said he was “not mentally stable” and that they would appeal.Police stopped several processions from reaching the court, but thousands gathered nearby with many chanting: “Hang him, hang him.”Rimjhim Sinha, 34, who helped organise multiple mass rallies demanding justice and better protection for women before the trial, said she was “profoundly disappointed” at the sentence.”It was a diabolical crime, an extreme case of depravity”, Sinha said, part of the “Reclaim the Night” movement.”It is high time that India stem the ever-swelling tide of rape and murder”.Aniket Mahato, a medic and spokesman for the junior doctors who carried out weeks of strikes last year demanding better security for healthcare workers, said that he felt the “justice was not delivered”.

Within five hours while sitting at home in India, retired professor Kamta Prasad Singh handed over his hard-earned savings to online fraudsters impersonating police.The cybercrime known as “digital arrest” — where fraudsters pose online as law enforcement officials and order people to transfer huge amounts of money — has become so rampant that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has issued warnings.Singh told AFP that money was his life savings.”Over the years, I have skipped having tea outside, walked to avoid spending on public transport,” the 62-year-old said, his voice breaking.”Only I know how I saved my money.”Police say scammers have exploited the vast gap between the breakneck speed of India’s data digitalisation, from personal details to online banking, and the lagging awareness of many of basic internet safety.Fraudsters are using technology for data breaches, targeting information their victims believe is only available to government authorities, and making otherwise unlikely demands appear credible.Indians have emptied their bank accounts “out of sheer fear”, Modi said in an October radio broadcast, adding fraudsters “create so much psychological pressure on the victim”.- ‘Ruined’ -Mobile phones, and especially video calling, have allowed fraudsters to reach straight into people’s homes.India runs the world’s largest biometric digital identity programme — called “Aadhaar”, or foundation in Hindi — a unique card issued to India’s more than one billion people, and increasingly required for financial transactions.Scammers often claim they are police investigating questionable payments, quoting their target’s Aadhaar number to appear genuine.They then request their victim make a “temporary” bank transfer to validate their accounts, before stealing the cash.Singh, from India’s eastern state of Bihar, said the web of lies began when he received a call in December, seemingly from the telecom regulatory authority.”They said… police were on their way to arrest me,” Singh said.The fraudsters told Singh that his Aadhaar ID was being misused for illegal payments.Terrified, Singh agreed to prove he had control of his bank account, and after spiralling threats, transferred over $16,100.”I have lost sleep, don’t feel like eating,” he said. “I have been ruined.”- ‘Rot in proverbial hell’ -The surge of online scams is worrying because of “how valid they make it look and sound”, said police officer Sushil Kumar, who handled cybercrimes for half a decade.The perpetrators range from school dropouts to highly educated individuals.”They know what to search for on the internet to find out basic details of how government agencies work,” Kumar added.India registered 17,470 cybercrimes in 2022, including 6,491 cases of online bank fraud, according to the latest government data.Tricks vary. Kaveri, 71, told AFP her story on condition her name was changed.She said fraudsters posed as officials from the US courier FedEx, claiming she had sent a package containing drugs, passports and credit cards.They offered her full name and Aadhaar ID details as “proof”, followed by well-forged letters from the Central Bank of India and Central Bureau of Investigation, the country’s top investigative agency.”They wanted me to send money, which would be returned in 30 minutes,” she said, adding she was convinced when they sent a “properly signed letter”.She transferred savings from a house sale totalling around $120,000 in four instalments over six days before the fraudsters vanished.Kaveri says those days felt “like a tunnel”.Meeta, 35, a private health professional from Bengaluru who also did not want to be identified, was conned by fake police via a video call.”It seemed like a proper police station, with walkie-talkie noises,” she said.The scammers told her to prove she controlled her bank account by taking out a 200,000 rupee ($2,300) loan via her bank’s phone app, before demanding she make a “temporary” transfer.Despite making it clear to the bank that she had been scammed, Meeta continues to be asked to pay back the loan.”My trust in banks has mostly gone,” she said, before cursing the thieves.”I hope they rot in proverbial hell.”

Keen to improve India’s abysmal crowd management record at large-scale religious events, organisers of the world’s largest human gathering are using artificial intelligence to try to prevent stampedes.Organisers predict up to 400 million pilgrims will visit the Kumbh Mela, a millennia-old sacred show of Hindu piety and ritual bathing that began Monday and runs for six weeks.Deadly crowd crushes are a notorious feature of Indian religious festivals, and the Kumbh Mela, with its unfathomable throngs of devotees, has a grim track record of stampedes. “We want everyone to go back home happily after having fulfilled their spiritual duties,” Amit Kumar, a senior police officer heading tech operations in the festival, told AFP.”AI is helping us avoid reaching that critical mass in sensitive places.”More than 400 people died after being trampled or drowned at the Kumbh Mela on a single day of the festival in 1954, one of the largest tolls in a crowd-related disaster globally.Another 36 people were crushed to death in 2013, the last time the festival was staged in the northern city of Prayagraj. But this time, authorities say the technology they have deployed will help them gather accurate estimates of crowd sizes, allowing them to be better prepared for potential trouble.Police say they have installed around 300 cameras at the festival site and on roads leading to the sprawling encampment, mounted on poles and a fleet of overhead drones. Not far from the spiritual centre of the festival at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, the network is overseen in a glass-panelled command and control room by a small army of police officers and technicians.”We can look at the entire Kumbh Mela from here,” said Kumar. “There are camera angles where we cannot even see complete bodies and we have to count using heads or torsos.”Kumar said the footage fed into an AI algorithm that gives its handlers an overall estimate of a crowd stretching for miles in every direction, cross-checked against data from railways and bus operators. “We are using AI to track people flow, crowd density at various inlets, adding them up and then interpolating from there,” he added. The system sounds the alarm if sections of the crowd get so concentrated that they pose a safety threat. – ‘Makes us feel safe’ -The Kumbh Mela is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.Organisers say the scale of this year’s festival is that of a temporary country — with numbers expected to total around the combined populations of the United States and Canada.Some six million devotees took a dip in the river on the first morning of the festival, according to official estimates. With a congregation that size, Kumar said that some degree of crowd crush is inevitable.”The personal bubble of an individual is quite big in the West,” said Kumar, explaining how the critical threshold at which AI crowd control systems ring the alarm is higher than in other countries using similar crowd management systems.”The standard there is three people per square foot,” he added. “But we can afford to go several times higher than that.”Organisers have been eager to tout the technological advancements of this year’s edition of the Kumbh Mela and their attendant benefits for pilgrims. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, a devout Hindu monk whose government is responsible for organising the festival, has described it as an event “at the confluence of faith and modernity”.”The fact that there are cameras and drones makes us feel safe,” 28-year-old automotive engineer Harshit Joshi, one of the millions of pilgrims to arrive for the start of the festival, told AFP. 

Spinner Sajid Khan took five wickets and Abrar Ahmed another four to guide Pakistan to a 127-run win on the third day of the first Test against West Indies in Multan on Sunday.Sajid took 5-50 for match figures of 9-115, while leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed snared 4-27 as West Indies were dismissed for 123, falling well short of their victory target of 251.Pakistan’s spinners took all the wickets in West Indies’ second innings, with Noman Ali chipping in with 1-42, as the home side took an early advantage in the two-Test series. Left-handed batter Alick Athanaze hit 55, the only half-century of the match for the tourists, and added 41 runs for the sixth wicket with Tevin Imlach.Sajid removed the dangerous Athanaze, while Abrar’s haul included the final wicket of Jomel Warrican.Left-armer Warrican had led the spin attack for the tourists with a career-best 7-32 as Pakistan were bowled out for 157 in their second innings.They were the best figures by a West Indian bowler in Pakistan, topping fast bowler Malcolm Marshall’s 5-33 at Lahore in 1986.Pakistan captain Shan Masood praised his spinners but said he wanted to see an improvement in the side’s batting.”The spinners were clinical and Abrar along with Noman and Sajid was great,” Masood said. “Batting was tough on this pitch but we still need to add more runs with the last few wickets and there are improvements to be made.”His beaten counterpart Kraigg Brathwaite wanted West Indies’ batters to believe in their abilities.”The batters didn’t play as well as they should have,” Brathwaite said. “We saw how Alick played so we just have to be brave. We have got one more Test and we have to believe in ourselves.”The Test lasted fewer than eight sessions, with the start delayed on the first day by poor visibility.The Multan pitch provided sharp turn, with Sajid taking the wickets of Brathwaite (12), Keacy Carty (six), Kavem Hodge (0) and Mikyle Louis (13).Noman then trapped Justin Greaves leg before wicket for nine in the last over before lunch, leaving the tourists tottering on 54-5.Noman took 5-39 in the first innings. He and Sajid took 39 of the 40 wickets in the last two Tests against England in Pakistan’s 2-1 series win last year.Pakistan had resumed earlier on 109-3 but managed to add just 48 runs.Warrican’s nagging line and length earned him match figures of 10-101, his first 10-wicket match haul.He dismissed overnight batter Saud Shakeel for two with the first ball of the day and then had Mohammad Rizwan for the same score in his next over.Warrican continued the demolition with the wickets of Kamran Ghulam (27), Noman (nine) and Sajid (five).The second match starts on January 25, also in Multan.

Five Bangladeshi health workers have been arrested on murder charges after a social media post accused them of failing to provide aid to a man who died during last year’s revolution, a prosecutor said Sunday.The case, which has generated widespread attention after the Facebook post resulted in criticism online of the medics, concerns the death of a rickshaw puller, Mohammed Ismail.Hospital workers say the five are innocent and that they risked their lives repeatedly to help wounded protesters.More than 800 people died in the student-led demonstrations that culminated in the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5, according to the interim authorities who subsequently took power.Ismail was shot in the head on July 19, 2024 during a police crackdown in the Rampura suburb of the capital Dhaka, local media reported at the time.A Facebook post showed his bloodied body on the entrance steps of the Delta Health Care Hospital.”We saw a post on social media,” chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, from Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told AFP.The five — doctor Sadi Bin Shams and four others including nurses — were arrested late on Friday.”These individuals allegedly denied Ismail access to treatment, leaving him unattended for four hours,” Islam said.But hospital director Saiful Islam Selim described how the medics had repeatedly defied police orders not to help wounded protesters.The area around the hospital was “a battleground” during the revolution, he said, and police and members of the then-ruling party, the Awami League, “ordered us not to treat any protesters”, he said.”Despite these orders, we defied them multiple times and helped as much as we could,” Selim told AFP.He said hospital staff had tried to drag Ismail’s body inside the hospital, but retreated after police fired shots.”We had no choice but to leave the body there,” he said, accusing the court of misdirected investigations.”The ICT failed to identify the police officer who shot Mohammed Ismail,” he said.AFP could not independently confirm who shot Ismail.”Instead, they arrested a doctor and other hospital staff who had tried to save lives.” Ismail’s widow, Lucky Begum, said she wanted “justice”, but added: “I don’t want innocent people to go to prison”.

Noman Ali and Sajid Khan guided Pakistan to a strong position against the West Indies after another spin-dominated second day’s play in the opening Test in Multan on Saturday.The spin duo shared nine wickets between them to dismiss the West Indies for 137 in reply to the home team’s 230 all out.By the close, Pakistan stretched their lead to 202 by scoring 109-3 in their second innings, with Kamran Ghulam and Saud Shakeel batting on nine and two respectively when bad light ended play 25 minutes early.Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican (2-17) dismissed Muhammad Hurraira for 29 after an opening stand of 67 and Babar Azam for a second failure, trapped leg-before for five.Skipper Shan Masood looked solid for his 52, hitting two sixes and two fours, before Warrican ran him out after attempting a quick single.”The weather is foggy so if we have continuous play and take our lead over 300 then we can win this Test,” said Sajid.”It’s great to bowl with Noman, who always guides me.”Warrican wants the target to be under 250.”Obviously we don’t want to get the lead go over 250 because it’s a spin-favouring surface,” said Warrican. “We need a good comeback in batting the second time around on this pitch.”The dry and grassless Multan pitch has already produced 23 wickets in six sessions — 19 on day two — even though two-and-a-half hours were lost on day one and another 30 minutes on Saturday because of poor visibility.Noman grabbed 5-39 for his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests while Sajid finished with 4-65 to dismiss the West Indies after lunch in a first innings that lasted just 25.2 overs.Noman and Sajid, who shared 39 of the 40 wickets in the last two Tests against England in Pakistan’s 2-1 series win last year, were once again unplayable.Sajid opened the bowling and removed Mikyle Louis (one), Keacy Carty (0), Kraigg Brathwaite (11) and Kavem Hodge (four) in his first three overs.Noman then further jolted the tourists with another four wickets to leave them tottering on 66-8.The tailenders showed more resistance, with number 10 batsman Warrican unbeaten on 31 and Gudakesh Motie adding 19.Jayden Seales was the last wicket to fall for 22.Seales hit three sixes before holing out off spinner Abrar Ahmed.Earlier, Warrican took 3-69 as Pakistan lost their last six wickets for 43 runs after resuming at 143-4.Shakeel top-scored for Pakistan with 84 off 157 deliveries, including six boundaries, while keeper Mohammad Rizwan added 71.Shakeel added an invaluable 141 for the fifth wicket with Rizwan, lifting Pakistan from a precarious 46-4 on day one.

Spin pair Noman Ali and Sajid Khan shared nine wickets between them to give Pakistan a 93-run lead on the second day of the opening Test against West Indies in Multan on Saturday.Noman grabbed 5-39 for his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests, while Sajid finished with 4-65 to dismiss the West Indies for 137 after lunch in a first innings that lasted just 25.2 overs.Pakistan earlier lost their last six wickets for 43 runs after resuming at 143-4 and were bowled out for 230 in their first innings.The dry and grassless Multan pitch has already produced 20 wickets in five sessions even though two-and-a-half hours were lost on day one, and another 30 minutes on Saturday, because of poor visibility.Noman and Sajid, who shared 39 of the 40 wickets in the last two Tests against England in Pakistan’s 2-1 series win last year, were once again unplayable.Sajid opened the bowling and removed Mikyle Louis (one), Keacy Carty (0), Kraigg Brathwaite (11) and Kavem Hodge (four) in his first three overs.Noman then further jolted the tourists with another four wickets to leave them on 66-8.The tail-enders showed more resistance, with number 10 batsman Jomel Warrican unbeaten on 31, with Gudakesh Motie adding 19 and Jayden Seales the last wicket to fall for 22.Seales hit three sixes before holing out off spinner Abrar Ahmed.Warrican also took 3-69 in Pakistan’s innings.Saud Shakeel top-scored for Pakistan with 84 off 157 deliveries, including six boundaries, while keeper Mohammad Rizwan added 71.Shakeel added an invaluable 141 for the fifth wicket with Rizwan, lifting Pakistan from a precarious 46-4 on day one.Kevin Sinclair sparked the Pakistan batting collapse by taking Shakeel’s wicket with the first ball after drinks.He then trapped Rizwan leg-before off a missed reverse sweep, the original decision of not out overturned on review.Rizwan’s 133-ball stay included nine boundaries.Sajid hit a boundary and a six in a rapid-fire 18 before he was bowled by Warrican on the stroke of lunch to end Pakistan’s innings.

An Indian court on Saturday found a 33-year-old man guilty for the rape and murder of a doctor, a crime that sparked nationwide protests and hospital strikes last year.The discovery of the victim’s bloodied body at a government hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata last August once again highlighted the chronic issue of violence against women in the world’s most populous country.It led to demands by doctors at government hospitals for additional security, with thousands of citizens in Kolkata and elsewhere in India joining the doctors’ protests in solidarity.The trial of defendant Sanjoy Roy was fast-tracked through India’s normally glacial legal system and arguments in the case concluded a little over a week ago. “The sentence will be delivered on Monday,” presiding judge Anirban Das said after finding Roy, a civic volunteer in the hospital, guilty of rape and murder. Roy has consistently maintained his innocence and again told the court that he was not guilty.”I have been framed,” he said. Roy was brought to court by a prison van and greeted by a crowd of protesters, held at bay by police officers, demanding he be given the death penalty. “Hang him, hang him,” they chanted. The sentiment was echoed by the victim’s family, none of whom have been identified in keeping with Indian law around the reporting of sexual violence cases. “The common man will lose faith in the judiciary if he is not handed down the death penalty,” the victim’s mother, seated just a few metres from Roy when the verdict was read out, told AFP.Her father added: “He brutally snuffed out the life of our daughter. He deserves the same fate.”The trainee doctor was found raped and murdered in a seminar room of the hospital last year.The crime led to nationwide outrage and prolonged protests by doctors across the state, demanding justice for the victim and stronger security measures in government hospitals.Roy was arrested a day after the victim’s body was discovered. India’s Supreme Court set up a national task force after the protests that suggested ways to enhance safety measures in the government hospitals.The victim’s father at one of the protest marches in October told AFP that his family was “devastated”.  “My daughter’s soul will not rest in peace until she gets justice,” he said.The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.

Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan hit unbeaten half-centuries to lead a Pakistan fightback in the first Test against the West Indies on Friday as the hosts reached 143-4 at the close of a fog-hit opening day.When bad light in Multan ended play with just 41.3 overs bowled, Shakeel was on 56 for his ninth half- century and Rizwan was 51 not out for his 11th.The pair added 97 after coming together with Pakistan in real trouble at 46-4.The left-right combination of Shakeel and Rizwan negotiated the three-spinner West Indies attack with aplomb after fast bowler Jayden Seales initially left the home team struggling.”This pitch is tough to bat on,” said Rizwan.”We batted with caution and just took advantage of loose balls. It’s tough to judge what should be a good total, but we will target 300 plus.”Sensing the dry and grassless Multan Stadium pitch will be tricky for batting on the last two days — and with spin set to play a major role — the home team opted to bat after winning the toss.But play was delayed because of early morning fog compounded by poor air quality, resulting in limited visibility and wiping out the first session.Shakeel has so far cracked four boundaries while Rizwan has seven hits to the fence.Seales finished with 3-21 off 10 overs.”My aim was to build pressure and get wickets,” he said. “I sense spin will play a major role on this pitch going forward.”Both teams started with three spinners and just one frontline fast bowler, and the tourists opened the bowling with left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie alongside Seales.It was Seales who provided the breakthrough, forcing an edge off debutant Muhammad Hurraira to wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach in the sixth over. Hurraira scored six.Three overs later, Motie dismissed skipper Shan Masood off a faint edge to the wicketkeeper for 11, before Seales trapped Kamran Ghulam leg-before with a sharp incoming delivery for five.It became 46-4 when Babar Azam edged Seales behind the wicket for eight, continuing a poor run of scores at home for Pakistan’s premier batter.The two-match series is part of the World Test Championship. Pakistan currently rank eighth and the West Indies ninth and last.

A Pakistan court convicted former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in a graft case on Friday, sentencing Khan to 14 years in prison.Khan, 72, has been held in custody since August 2023 charged in around 200 cases but his party claims the latest conviction was being used to pressure him into stepping back from politics.The conviction came a day after PTI leaders again met the government for talks aimed at easing political tensions. The PTI’s chairman also met the chief of the armed forces.”I will neither make any deal nor seek any relief,” Khan told reporters inside the courtroom after his conviction.The anti-graft court convened in the jail where Khan is being held near the capital Islamabad and convicted the couple for graft linked to the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare foundation they established.”The prosecution has proven its case. Khan is convicted,” said Judge Nasir Javed Rana, announcing a 14-year sentence for Khan and seven years for Bibi.Faith healer Bibi, who was recently released on bail, was arrested at the court after the conviction, her spokeswoman Mashal Yousafzai said.Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said it would challenge the verdict.Ousted from power by a no-confidence vote in 2022, the former cricket star has since launched an unprecedented campaign in which he has openly criticised Pakistan’s powerful generals.Analysts say the military’s leaders are Pakistan’s kingmakers, although the generals deny interfering in politics.”The decision against Imran Khan was not made by any judicial judge but by a general,” PTI activist Qadir Nawaz said at a protest in Peshawar in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Khan’s powerbase.”Such decisions cannot scare Imran Khan or his workers,” the 54-year-old told AFP at the rally of around 150 people.  – Defiant Khan -Khan maintains all cases against him are politically motivated and designed to keep him from returning to power.He had been convicted four times since his arrest, with two convictions overturned and the sentences in the other two cases suspended.He remained in prison over the Al-Qadir Trust case, the longest running against him, and other charges related to inciting protests.The court’s announcement had been postponed three times, with analysts saying back-room negotiations were being held.Khan said in a statement posted by his team on social media this month that he was “indirectly approached” about the possibility of house arrest at his sprawling home on Islamabad’s outskirts.But he has remained defiant, firing off statements railing against the government and promising to fight his battles through the courts.”Imran Khan challenged the system that has been entrenched in this country,” 43-year-old PTI activist Ayesha Bano said at the Peshawar protest.”He was fighting a genuine battle for this country,” she said. “We will oppose Imran Khan’s sentencing on every front, no matter the cost.”Khan’s popularity continues to undermine a shaky coalition government that kept PTI from power in elections last year.A UN panel of experts found last year that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.Khan was barred from standing in February’s election and his PTI party was hamstrung by a widespread crackdown.PTI won more seats than any other party but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to the military’s influence shut them out of power.