Latest news with #Sequeira
New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Orissa High Court upholds right to protest, quashes Rayagada DM's order
CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Friday quashed a controversial order issued by the Rayagada collector that barred Bhawanipatna-based doctor Randall Sequeira from entering the district. The June 4 order, which also applied to noted activist Medha Patkar and 22 others, was imposed ahead of a planned protest against proposed bauxite mining at the Sijimali hills. Delivering the verdict, Justice SK Panigrahi held that blanket bans on protest activities are contrary to constitutional values. 'In a constitutional democracy, the government should focus on dialogue and management rather than exclusion,' the court said, emphasising that reasonable regulation and not prohibition is the appropriate response to concerns over law and order. The court took note of the context in which the ban was issued - during the Rath Yatra festivities, when police resources were stretched thin. However, it stated that those constraints were temporary and it was no longer justifiable to continue the restrictions. Dr Sequeira, who has provided free healthcare services to tribal communities in Rayagada and Kalahandi for several years, had challenged the ban as unconstitutional. His counsel, Advocate Afraaz Suhail, argued that the order disrupted essential services and violated his client's fundamental rights. While lifting the restriction on Dr Sequeira, the court laid down operational guidelines for future protests. These include prior notification to authorities, cooperation from organisers, state facilitation of venue and time, and proportionate restrictions to maintain public order. This apart, protesters must ensure peaceful conduct and authorities must avoid arbitrary denial of protest rights. The court stressed that these guidelines are case-specific and do not dilute broader constitutional protections under Article 19. Violations by protesters or unjustified restrictions by authorities will both be subject to legal scrutiny, it said. Dr Sequeira is now free to enter Rayagada district and resume his work. The status of the ban on other activists, including Medha Patkar and Prafulla Samantara, remains unclear as of the judgment by Justice Panigrahi on Friday.
NBC News
5 days ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Some immigrants want to self-deport but they're hitting roadblocks and confusion
The Trump administration has been urging immigrants without legal immigration status to self-deport, with video and radio messages by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem telling them: "Leave now — if you don't, we will find you and deport you." But a number of immigrants and their attorneys told Noticias Telemundo that they're not getting the documents and the guidance they need, and haven't been able to leave. 'I felt sad, honestly,' Jairo Sequeira said about his failed attempt to return to his home country of Nicaragua. He said he tried to self-deport at the end of May and filled out the voluntary departure form through the CBP Home app. Sequeira was turned away, he said, because he didn't have a Nicaraguan passport, which was taken when he surrendered in 2021 to immigration authorities in El Paso, Texas, after entering the U.S. 'I never thought that would happen at the airport,' said Sequeira, whose suitcase still has a Nicaragua-bound sticker. 'I was always in touch [with my family], telling them, 'I'll arrive at such and such a time,' excited.' After using the CBP Home app, he received an email, which he showed Noticias Telemundo. 'Thank you for submitting your intention to depart the United States voluntarily. Your submission has been confirmed,' it said. Sequeira printed it out and took with him on his trip three days later. He traveled from Georgia to Texas to catch a plane to Nicaragua. But when he arrived at the gate, an airline employee told him he couldn't fly without his Nicaraguan passport. Sequeira explained that both his passport and Nicaraguan national identity card were taken by U.S. immigration authorities. Though he showed the agent the CBP Home email he got, he wasn't allowed to fly home. In response to questions from Noticias Telemundo, a Department of Homeland Security official stated in an e-mail that 'tens of thousands of immigrants' have used the CBP Home app to self-deport. They didn't provide an exact number or answer specific questions about the process. Announced in early March, CBP Home is part of the Project Homecoming program, through which the Trump administration offers undocumented immigrants two options: leave voluntarily with the promise of government support and financial assistance, or 'stay and face the process." Sequeira said that when he decided to self-deport, he asked a community organization in Atlanta, Georgia, for help filling out the form on the CBP Home app. Sequeira doesn't know if the person in Atlanta who helped him fill out the information indicated online that Sequeira needed help with his passport and ID. With his own savings, he bought the plane ticket home. Sequeira said he didn't know how to recover the documents he gave to officials at the border and added that, at least until July 8, he had tried to get his passport replaced through attorneys in Nicaragua. But the attorneys back home asked Sequeira for his national identity card, which was also taken when he entered the country, he said. Noticias Telemundo contacted United Airlines — the airline Sequeira was supposed to travel on — but in a brief email response, the company referred questions to Customs and Border Protection. CBP then referred Noticias Telemundo to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not respond to specific questions. In an email, it indicated that foreign nationals seeking voluntary departure 'through the CBP Home application may be eligible to receive financial assistance for their departure.' They also stated that, if requested, the U.S. government will assist them in booking tickets and/or obtaining necessary travel documents. DHS did not explain what this assistance entails nor what happens to immigrants whose passports were withheld by U.S. immigration authorities or who have been unable to renew or replace their identification documents. The DHS official also did not respond to questions about how many people have registered to self-deport and are waiting to return to their countries. According to information on the app's website, those who register on the app are assigned a departure date approximately 21 days after signing up. However, it's unclear what happens if an immigrant decides to leave before that deadline, or how long the process may take. In early May, Trump directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to take the necessary actions to facilitate 'the rapid departure' of those who 'do not have a valid travel document from their country of citizenship or nationality or who wish to travel to any other country willing to accept their entry." Regarding a $1,000 'exit bonus,' DHS states on its website that immigrants will receive it after confirming they have left the U.S. and landed in another country. It also says that a bank account is not required and that 'the delivery method will vary depending on the guidelines and regulations of the specific country.' 'I want to go to Nicaragua' Titza Escobar didn't know how to self-deport, but believed that if she turned herself in at a police station in Miami, Florida, she would be sent back to her home country of Nicaragua. Escobar said she sought help from different places, including the police, a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services center and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, but didn't get the assistance she needed. 'There are many people who don't want to leave, but when I wanted to leave, they didn't take me,' said Escobar, who is originally from an Indigenous community in the Nicaraguan Caribbean and whose native language is Miskito. Escobar said she was told she needed documents to be able to leave the country, but the 29-year-old mother of three children has never had documents nor a passport. Escobar was crying outside the ICE field office in the city of Miramar when a group of activists found her and were able to provide help. 'She was completely in a situation of extreme vulnerability. She didn't have a single dollar; she spent her last bit of money paying someone to take her to Miramar,' said Karla de Anda, an activist with The Right to Freedom Network who, along with María Bilbao of the American Friends Service Committee in Florida, provided Escobar with food and temporary shelter and also assisted her in completing the application form at CBP Home. Bilbao accompanied Escobar to the Nicaraguan consulate in Miami — one of three remaining Nicaraguan consulates in the U.S. — where they agreed to help Escobar obtain safe passage home, after she told them she had suffered domestic abuse while in the U.S. and presented a police report detailing that her husband threatened to kill her. According to Bilbao, Escobar was told that a safe-conduct permit can take 15 days to obtain, a passport up to four months, and that it's a process immigrants must complete in person. Escobar is presently waiting to receive what she needs to return home. For some Nicaraguans, applying for a passport or renewal is no guarantee of obtaining one: independent media and human rights organizations have reported dozens of cases in which the process has been denied or indefinitely delayed within Nicaragua or at consulates abroad, especially for opponents of the current government and sometimes their families. For immigrants from countries like Venezuela — which doesn't have consulates in the U.S. after a severing of diplomatic relations — the situation is even more complex. 'People are distrustful' Christina Wilkes, an immigration attorney in Maryland and Washington, D.C., told Noticias Telemundo she had a client who wanted to self-deport but was 'terrified' of using the CBP Home app and of being deported before he could leave voluntarily, so he sold his business and bought his plane ticket to Mexico. Another client had a passport, but his wife and children, who are Venezuelan and have been in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status, don't have passports. 'And that's the problem: you can't get Venezuelan passports in the United States,' Wilkes said, adding that her client will try to naturalize the children in the Dominican Republic, where he is originally from, and obtain documents from that country for them. The self-deportation process through CBP Home is very new and unclear, Wilkes said. 'I think that because people are distrustful; most of the people who are leaving are leaving quietly, and without using the app.' Unlike them, Juhany Pina used the app when she decided to self-deport. After a month of waiting for instructions, authorities assigned her a travel date, but she said they never called her again. Instead, the Venezuela native used her Mexican passport — she had lived there before coming to the U.S. — and managed to board a plane to Mexico in early July. Pina said she's part of a WhatsApp group with more than 100 members where immigrants like her share the setbacks they've experienced during the self-deportation process. 'We thought it would be a much faster process,' Pina said.
Time of India
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Plea in HC against Rayagada collector's 2-month entry ban against Patkar, 24 others
Cuttack: Orissa high court on Friday began hearing a petition challenging an order issued by the Rayagada collector on June 4, which prohibits activist Medha Patkar and 24 others from entering or staying in the district for two months. The ban was imposed ahead of a public meeting scheduled for June 5 at Hatpada field in Sunger under Kashipur block, where Patkar and other activists were expected to protest against proposed bauxite mining in the Sijimali hills. Citing law and order concerns, collector Parul Patwari acted on a report from the SP stating that the presence of the group might disturb public peace and hinder administrative functioning. The matter reached the HC through a petition filed by Dr Randall Sequeira, a Bhawanipatna-based medical practitioner who was among those barred. Sequeira contended that the order severely hampers his ability to provide essential medical services to tribal communities in Rayagada and Kalahandi, where he has been offering free healthcare for years. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Afraaz Suhail argued that the prohibition was arbitrary, disproportionate and violated constitutional rights. He highlighted that the planned protest was a daylong event, and imposing a two-month district-wide ban not only lacks justification but reflects "non-application of mind" by authorities. Taking note of it, Justice S K Panigrahi sought responses from the Rayagada collector and SP. Additional govt advocate Debashish Nayak was directed to obtain necessary instructions. The matter has been posted for further hearing on Tuesday. The petition asserts that equating peaceful protest in a scheduled area with a threat to public peace is flawed reasoning. It alleges that the administration's approach overlooks the nuanced balance between environmental concerns, indigenous rights and development policies. Sequeira maintained he has no links to any protest and fears the order unjustly tarnishes his record while depriving tribals of crucial healthcare services.
Indian Express
19-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Jai Corp Case: Complainant helms realty firms with no revenue but high reserves & surplus
The CBI Wednesday opposed a petition filed by Jai Corporation Ltd against an investigation by the central agency into allegations of serious financial irregularities by the Mumbai-based company led by Anand Jaikumar Jain. Seeking rejoinders from petitioner Jain and Jai Corp, which is involved in the manufacturing sector, the High Court posted the hearing after four weeks. The hearing was held after the Supreme Court on March 17 disp-osed of an appeal by Jai Corp aga-inst a Bombay High Court order directing the CBI to form an SIT to probe the allegations of irregularities to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore. The allegations against Jain stem from complaints first filed in 2021, and later in 2023, with the Economic Offence Wing (EoW) of Mumbai Police by Shoaib Sequeira, the founding member of NGO Protection of Rights Association (P.O.R.A) and a director in at least two real estate firms. Set up in 2009, P.O.R.A was started by a group of seven persons who, according to its website, 'came in contact with each other due to personal and individual litigations wherein their rights and the rights of their family members were violated due to the misuse of power and high handedness of people in governance'. It aims to 'educate and create awareness…about the various mechanisms/ methods by which corruption in governance can be exposed and curbed through citizen movements and social participation', apart from other objectives such as legal aid. Registrar of Companies (RoC) records show Sequeira is one of the two directors at Sigrun Realties, a real-estate firm incorporated in December 2005, and its subsidiary First Virasat Realcon — the other director in both firms is listed as Naveen Dsouza. But Sequeira is not a direct shareholder in either Sigrun Realties or First Virasat Realcon. Records list the major shareholders of Sigrun Realties as Stephen Dmello (73%) and Shivani Atri (24.51%). It lists the shareholders of First Virasat as Sigrun Realties (66.65%); Faizal Patel, UK (8.34%); Rakesh Soni, UK (6.45%); Anavarhushen Patel (6.45%); and, Siraj Vali Umerji Buma (6.45%). Records show Sigrun Realties has a paid up capital of Rs 34 crore with reserves and surplus of over Rs 41 crore. They also show that the company has not generated any revenue over at least the past four financial years from FY'21 to Fy'24. During this period, its financial statements do not reveal any source of funds for the amount shown in reserves and surplus. Records show First Virasat Realcon has a paid up capital of Rs 1.01 crore with reserves and surplus exceeding Rs 65 crore. It did not post any revenue over at least the past four financial years from FY'21 to Fy'24. RoC filings show the company had 'No employees other than directors'. They also do not reveal any source of funds for the amount listed in reserves and surplus. The case in court Legal representatives of Sequeira did not respond to requests for comment from The Indian Express. It was in January 2021 that Sequeira approached the EOW in 'public interest', seeking a probe against Jain related to alleged fraud to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore through various means, such as misappropriation of public funds and defrauding of investors, among others. In the complaint, he also stated that he had come to know through news reports about SEBI action against two companies headed by Jain. The EOW forwarded the complaint to SEBI. Citing lack of progress, Sequeira filed another complaint to the EOW in April 2023. The EOW forwarded the second complaint to the CBI. The central agency expressed its inability to conduct an investigation, stating that the allegations came under the jurisdiction of SEBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED). In 2024, citing lack of progress once again, Sequeira approached the Bombay High Court. Sequeira told the High Court that in 2021, he learnt that SEBI had imposed fines of Rs 20 crore and Rs 10 crore on two companies, Mumbai SEZ Ltd and Navi Mumbai SEZ pvt Ltd, respectively, in which Jain was chairman, for alleged fraudulent futures trading in stocks of Reliance Petrochemicals Ltd (RPL). In January this year, the High Court directed the CBI to form an SIT to probe into the complaints against Jain. The High Court observed that the case has 'national and international ramifications', and that 'agencies (including EOW and CBI) are passing the buck from each other'. How-ever, it also clarified: 'Transferring the investigation to SIT does not mean that we have ruled on the guilt of the person/ persons named as that is not the scope of the petition.' In its order, the High Court also said 'it was pertinent to note that this is not the first case in public interest that the petitioner (Sequeira) has agitated'. In 2005, Sequeira had raised the issue of alleged scams of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore in incentive schemes related to import and export policies. In 2006, he filed two PILs against Autoriders Finance Ltd alleging misappropriation of Rs 50 crore availed as loan from United Trust of India and misappropriation of Rs 76 crore as loan from a consortium of six banks. In April, 2009, the banks collectively recovered nearly Rs 14 crore from Autoriders Finance. Following the Bombay High Court order in the Jain case, the CBI filed an FIR. On March 17, while refusing to interfere in the HC verdict, the Supreme Court said it admired and appreciated the courage with which the HC passed the order.
Time of India
18-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Kudla Pelakai Parba from June 21
Mangaluru: The two-day Kudla Pelakai Parba (Mangaluru Jackfruit Festival), a celebration of local agriculture and food heritage, will be held at the St Sebastian Centenary Auditorium, Bendoorwell, on Saturday and Sunday. The event is being organised by Honeygensics Bee Farms and RO International, said organiser Ashwin Sequeira. He told reporters on Wednesday, that the festival aims to highlight youth-led initiatives that promote local farming, entrepreneurship, and sustainable food practices. Farmers from across Karnataka, including Ramnagar, Doddaballapura, Kodagu, and Udupi, will bring farm produce such as jackfruit, mango, avocado, dragon fruit, rambutan, mangosteen, and more, all directly sourced and sold by the farmers themselves. "Kudla Pelakai Parba is more than a festival. It is a movement that celebrates coastal culture, supports farmers, empowers small businesses, and brings the community together through food and collaboration," Sequeira said. Special attention will be given to jackfruit-based delicacies and value-added products from the Mangaluru and Udupi regions. Visitors can purchase a wide range of jackfruit dishes, snacks, and products made locally. The event will also serve as a platform for small-scale industries and artisans to exhibit and sell their products. "We want to foster innovation, promote self-reliance, and encourage people to support local entrepreneurs," Sequeira added. To boost the festive spirit, the event will feature fun games, an open mic, and live entertainment organised by St Aloysius College students and the Mangaluru City Rotaract Club.
