Rahul Gandhi detained on his way to Mandsaur in MP

Naya Gaon, Jun 8: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was today detained by police when he tried to force his way into Madhya Pradesh with surging crowds of Congress supporters shouting slogans in praise of the farmer.

Hundreds of Congress workers as well as senior leaders like Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot and Madhya Pradesh legislator Jaiwardhan Singh also courted arrest. They were being taken to a guesthouse of a cement company, a police official said.

Gandhi, also accompanied by senior party leaders Digvijay Singh and Kamal Nath, defied elaborate police arrangements to prevent him from entering the state. Slogans of "Jai Jawaan Jai Kisaan" and "Rahul Gandhi zindabad" could be heard as the procession made its way towards Mandsaur, the ground zero of the farmer unrest where five people were killed on Tuesday, from Naya Gaon in Neemuch.

There was high drama as the police tried to stop what had turned into a rally of sorts with Gandhi leading from the front. When police tried to push him back, he entered a field and was detained.

Determined to meet the families of farmers in distress, he walked for close to 100 metres before entering Madhya Pradesh from Dalia village in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh district, police said.

“Before entering MP, Gandhi rode pillion on a motorcycle in Nimbahed in Chittorgarh district for about five to seven kilometres,” IG Udaipur Anand Srivastava told PTI.

“Gandhi reached Udaipur from Delhi in a chartered plane and left for Madhya Pradesh in a four wheeler by road... After the bike ride, he walked to cross the border,” he said.

There are almost 2,000 people and nearly 150 vehicles with Gandhi, sources at the police control room said.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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