Mumbai: A guest professor, booked for molesting female students at the annual function of St. Xavier’s College in south Mumbai, has approached the sessions court for an anticipatory bail, claiming he is suffering from a mental ailment and the case had been lodged to ruin his image. The court has reserved the plea for order next week.

As per the FIR lodged with the Azad Maidan police station, the professor was invited at an event of National Hindi Parishad, held on November 24, wherein he allegedly sexually harassed nine students and one retired teacher. It is claimed that he exhibited obscenity during the festival.

While seeking protection from the arrest, the professor has claimed he is suffering from depression and other health issues, and has on several occasion attempted to commit suicide. He claimed he is currently admitted in the hospital due to his mental ailment. The professor claimed he is ready to appear before the officer through video conferencing after he is discharged from the hospital.

The plea was opposed by the prosecution on the ground that from the statements taken from the victim women, the accused appears to be of “a perverted nature”, and the possibility of him behaving indecently with other women cannot be ruled out. The police have also raised an apprehension of communal tension as the accused and the victims are of different religions.

New Delhi, Dec 12: India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has dismissed four flight inspectors who were responsible for monitoring the safety and operational standards of IndiGo.

The action comes amid a deepening crisis at the airline, which has cancelled thousands of flights this month due to poor planning and failure to meet stricter safety norms.

The cancellations have left tens of thousands of passengers stranded across the country. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers has again been summoned by the DGCA and will appear before the officials again on Friday.

According to sources, the DGCA acted against the inspectors after finding negligence in their inspection and monitoring duties.

The regulator has now deployed two special oversight teams at IndiGo’s Gurugram office to closely track the airline’s operations.

These teams will submit a daily report to the DGCA by 6 p.m. One team is monitoring IndiGo’s fleet strength, pilot availability, crew utilisation hours, training schedules, split-duty patterns, unplanned leave, standby crew, and the number of flights affected due to crew shortage.

It is also reviewing the airline’s average stage length and network to understand the full scale of the operational disruption.

The second team is focusing on the impact of the crisis on passengers. This includes checking the status of refunds from both the airline and travel agents, compensation offered under Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), on-time performance, baggage return, and the overall cancellation status.

IndiGo has been ordered to reduce its operations by 10 per cent to stabilise its schedules and control further disruptions.

The airline usually operates around 2,200 flights per day, which means more than 200 flights will now be cancelled daily.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said passengers had suffered “severe inconvenience” because of IndiGo’s mismanagement of crew rosters, flight timings, and communication.

After a meeting with IndiGo CEO Elbers, the minister said the airline must follow all ministry directives, including fare caps and measures to support affected passengers.

As the DGCA probe continues and IndiGo’s CEO has been summoned for further explanations, the airline has announced compensation for travellers who faced extreme delays between December 3 and 5.

New Delhi, Dec 12: Meta India on Friday announced the appointment of Aman Jain as its new Head of Public Policy.

He will take charge early next year and will report to Simon Milner, Meta’s Vice President of Policy for the Asia Pacific region.

Jain will also join the company’s India leadership team as part of his new role.

“Jain will join the company early next year and will report to Simon Milner, Vice President of Policy, Asia Pacific (APAC). In this role, Aman will also be a member of the India leadership team,” the firm said in a statement.

Aman Jain comes with more than two decades of experience in public policy and business strategy.

He has worked with major global companies such as Amazon and Google, as well as with the Indian Government and international organisations.

At Google India, he served in key leadership positions, including Country Head for Government Affairs and Public Policy.

Most recently, he was the Director of Public Policy at Amazon, where he led policy strategy across areas like marketplace operations, competition, and technology.

Welcoming Jain to the company, Simon Milner said that India remains a crucial market for Meta, especially as the country’s digital economy continues to grow in areas like artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and the creator economy.

He added that Meta aims to support the development of a more inclusive and trusted internet ecosystem in India.

“As the country’s digital economy accelerates across areas such as AI, emerging tech and the creator economy, Meta aims to help build a more inclusive, trusted, and future-ready internet ecosystem for India,” it added.

Milner said he is pleased to have Aman Jain on board and believes his deep experience in technology and public policy will strengthen Meta’s engagement with regulators and industry partners.

He also noted that Jain will play an important role in Meta’s wider APAC policy leadership team.