Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri the Karnataka Education Minister, issued an ultimatum for schools, saying it is the duty of every Indian to respect the sacred Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita, or else they should leave the country and settle abroad.

Kageri issued a circular proposing that the Bhagavad Gita be taught to schoolchildren for at least an hour a day.

The state opposition leader H Deve Gowda rebuked the minister for his statement and reminded him that India is a secular country and every religion has it's rights.

Kageri's circular was challenged by the Karnataka State Minorities Educational Institutions Managements Federation, who have filed a petition in the state high court.

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According to Pandit Bhagwat Guruji, an ordained priest, he forgot he was on a movie set and read out the real wedding mantras and performed the real rituals, while the pair was shooting a wedding scene for the Nishikant Kamat movie 'Force'.

The priest says Genelia D’Souza cannot now marry boyfriend Riteish Deshmukh because she is already married to John.

Producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah says the pandit is now angry that he was involved in the shooting of the scene.

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A Bihar village panchayat (village council) ordered four youths to pay a total of Rs.85,000 to a married Muslim woman as compensation for gang raping her. The elders also decreed that the now 'defiled' woman must divorce her husband.

The decision of the village court came to light after the 22 year old rape victim filed a court case against her rapists, one of whom surrendered and produced a copy of the compensation Agreement reached with the woman at the panchayat meeting. Grounds upon which the rapist sought bail.

The court called the compensation Agreement injustice of the worst kind, and heard the whole ghastly case of the woman who was spirited away from her home and held captive for three days when she was gang raped. After she was freed she told her daily wage earner husband of the crime and they filed a case. Sadly the police cooled their heels over reacting to the poor woman's complaint during which, though she was made to sign the compensation Agreement she did not accept the compensation and continued to live with her husband.

While the Court rejected the bail petition of the jailed rapist, the three others remain at large.

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In the forests of northwestern India where Hindu belief includes the worship of animals as avatars, monkeys have a special place as they are worshipped as avatars of Hanuman the monkey God

One Mr. Rajesh a 38 year old childless rickshaw driver happily arranged the marriage of his beloved pet monkey Raju, with Chinki, a female monkey owned by a village priest.

The excited owners planned a huge simian wedding, sent out hundreds of invitations and set out their plans according to traditional Hindu customs. 2000 guests were expected to turn up for the wedding feast.

As news of the monkey marriage spread, state forest department officials intervened. In India monkeys are protected as government property, and no one is allowed to adopt them as pets. The forest officer also stated that it is illegal to marry monkeys and perpetrators will be arrested.

Disappointed villagers protested and the monkeys and their owners went into hiding.

On the day of the planned wedding 200 guards covered the village and its angry occupants. Meanwhile the owners secretly arranged for Raju and Chinki to be married and celebrations erupted.

Forestry officials eventually found Chinki bedecked in the Hindu vermillion worn by Hindu wives. But though sympathetic, the officials did their duty and the monkey couple were taken away to be released in nearby forests.

An emotional Ramesh is convinced his adopted son the monkey Raju will return home to him along with his wife Chinki.

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Ajay Gupta was waiting on the railway platform of Muzaffapur to meet his wife who was arriving on a train, when he was assaulted by a railway protection force constable because he looked like a labourer in his unwashed clothes.

The investigators into the event said that the constable took Gupta for an antisocial element who was loitering on the platform.

When the policeman ordered Gupta to leave, he refused and showed them his platform ticket and explained that he was receiving his wife who was arriving on the train.

Authorities say the constable was out of line and did not have the right to assault anyone because of their attire.

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