CHANDIGARH, June 28 — A Bathinda mother’s petition for rescuing her sons from the “illegal custody” of their grandfather was dismissed by Mr Justice Nirmal Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today after the two refused to accompany her.

Nine-year-old Maninder Singh and Varinder Singh, who is a year younger, screamed and cried after clinging to grandfather Amarjit Singh’s legs in the courtroom today as mother Kashmir Kaur tried to take the duo to a chamber for talking to them.

Observing the scene, Mr Justice Nirmal Singh said: “It shows that the children are living with their grandfather with their free will and that they are not in illegal custody. Hence, this petition becomes infructuous and is dismissed as such”.

In his detailed order, Mr Justice Nirmal Singh stated: “Both alleged detainees are present in the court. They have made a statement that they want to live with their grandfather and do not wish to go with their mother”.

Mr Justice Nirmal Singh also observed: “The petitioner requested that the children may be allowed to talk to her and stay with her for about an hour. The request of the petitioner was accepted and she was allowed to take the children to the chamber of the court, but they refused in open court to talk and to go with her even to the chamber. The petitioner tried to take the children to the chamber but they started weeping and crying and hugged their grandfather”.

Earlier, in her petition, Kashmir Kaur had alleged that the grandfather had forcibly taken her two sons away after coming to her house, along with a few others, following her refusal to sign certain documents.

NEW DELHI, June 28 (UNI) — The one-day token strike call given by seven unions to protest against the move for corporatisation of the Department of Telecom Services (DTS) evoked partial response today as all the four recognised unions boycotted the call.

They were opposing the proposed disinvestment of the MTNL, inordinate delay in payment of pension and settlement of pay and perks, besides the corporatisation of the DTS.

A joint release by the seven unions claimed that more than two lakh telecom employees in the country participated in the strike. The strike was total in Assam, north east, West Bengal, Calcutta, Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. A majority of telecom employees participated in Andhra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana, it added.

In West Bengal, all other central government employees including postal department went on a four-hour solidarity strike. Postal employees all over the country organised demonstrations in support of the strike, according to the release.

However, official sources said the unions participating in the strike were unrecognised ones and represented a small section of the Telecom employees. The strike had evoked no response, they added.

The recognised unions which boycotted the call were the Indian Telecom Services Association, the Telecom Engineers Officers Association, the National Federation of Telecom Employees and the Bharatiya Telecom Employees Federation.