M A I N   N E W S

Two jail inmates die in 48 hours
Chander Parkash and Anirudh Gupta
Tribune News Service

Ferozepore, June 25
Two inmates of the local Central Jail, Balbir Singh and Anwar, have died within 48 hours.

Official sources said Balbir Singh, an undertrial in a case related to the smuggling of narcotics, died on Saturday while Anwar, who was undergoing imprisonment of 10 years after being convicted under the NDPS Act, died last night.

Balbir, who was having some abdominal problem, was undergoing treatment by the local jail medical staff. He was taken to Civil Hospital when his condition deteriorated. Failing to respond to the treatment given to him, he died about three hours after being admitted to the hospital, sources said.

He had an ulcer, as per the post-mortem report, sources added.

The other inmate died under mysterious circumstances last night. Anwar, who complained of pain in the abdomen, was undergoing treatment in the jail hospital.

Civil Hospital sources said Anwar was suspected to have died of poisoning. When brought into the hospital, he looked as if he was under the influence of drugs, they said. Sources said Anwar (45), a resident of Makhu, was put in jail on December 13, 1999, and convicted on February 9, 2000.

Unconfirmed sources said Anwar died because he had consumed three days’ medicine given by the local medical staff in one go.

Mr Bhajan Singh, Jail Superintendent, when contacted, said that in both cases all formalities had been completed. He said the viscera of Anwar had been sent for chemical examination to a Patiala-based laboratory.

He said the District Magistrate, Mr S.R. Ladhar, had been informed about the death of the inmates. The post-mortem examinations had been conducted as per guidelines laid down by the human rights commission, he said.

Mr Ladhar, when contacted, said the post-mortem examination was conducted after the inquest of the bodies by a magistrate. He said the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had been informed about the same.

41 students told to leave Thapar institute
Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 25
As many as 41 students of first and second year of Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) course of the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET) have been asked to leave the institute for failing to secure the requisite grades.

The Thapar Institute asked 41 students, including 12 of the first year and 29 of the second year course of Bachelor of Engineering to leave the institute for failing to meet the requirement of securing 50 per cent aggregate in all subjects as well as a cummulative grade point average of 3.7 per cent in the first year and 4.5 per cent in the second in mid June. One student of Masters of Computer Application who had completed two years of the two-and-a-half years course has also been asked to leave the institute.

The move led to a disturbance in the campus with few students smashing the window panes of the office of Dean, Academics. Their parents are also distressed that institute has adopted both conditions of aggregate marks as well as cummulative grade point average to judge the future of their wards. According to the parents of wards who were studying in the second year, this condition was not present in the prospectus when their wards applied for admission. They said when their wards applied for admission in the B.E. course they said they would be promoted to the next class if they abided by any of the two conditions — securing a subject average of 50 per cent or a cummulative grade averaged of 4.5 per cent.

The parents said conditions in the prospectus could be amended to the advantage of their wards, but the institute manangement made both criteria of subject average and grade average mandatory for promotion to the next class. They said it was even more discriminatory that the amendments had been made in November last year and were to be put into effect for students who had taken admission in the institute earlier.

Sources said earlier the institute was following the requirement of allowing students to fulfil any of the two conditions set by it. However, when seven students of first year were asked to leave by the management on this count they approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court which ruled in their favour. They said following this the institute approached the Supreme Court.

Institute Registrar Prof A. Juneja said the institute had been advised by the Supreme Court to revise its regulations and that these were revised subsequently in November 2000. He said according to the revised notifications both conditions had been made mandatory for promotion to the next class. He denied that the order was being implemented with retrospective effect.

Prof Juneja disclosed that the affected students had been informed well in advance about the conditions so that they could improve their grades in time. He said the intention behind laying down the conditions was that those who were not able to pick up the engineering course effectively should not proceed studies further. He said such students who might not be able to complete the course later would be better placed to take up some other career if they were relieved by the institute right now.

The parents as well as the students, however, feel they have been discriminated against. “Our aptitude to do the course should have been tested right in the beginning.” They said the second year students say they have paid Rs 25,000 fee per semester besides hostel charges of Rs 2,000 per month which amounted to an expenditure of around Rs 2 lakh. “Now they have told us to leave by applying stringent conditions”, they added.