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SC refuses to entertain Dhananjay’s plea
Kalam outlines five-point space
mission
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Ex-VC of Visva Bharati arrested
Tehelka panel to hear Fernandes’ arguments on July
25
Patil tells Mufti, Dy CM to sort out differences
Cong defends resignation of 4 J-K ministers
Meghalaya to
set up cancer detection centre
2 PU students to meet Nobel laureates
CPI for raising of Manipur regiment
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SC refuses to entertain Dhananjay’s plea
New Delhi, June 25 The convict had challenged before the Supreme Court the West Bengal Governor’s order rejecting his mercy plea, while filing a clemency petition before the President. Dhananjay convicted for sexually assaulting a school girl, Hetal Parekh on March 5, 1990, and then
brutally murdering her, was to be hanged today but his execution was yesterday stayed by the Union Home Ministry as well as the Supreme Court. He has been lodged in Alipur jail for the past 14 years. A vacation Bench of Mr Justice
K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice P.V. Reddi, which had also stayed the execution yesterday, said today “since the President is seized of the matter under Article 72 of the Constitution (which deals with his clemency powers), we close the case at this stage.” West Bengal counsel Tarachandra Sharma told the court that the state government had yesterday received a communication from the Union Home Ministry stating that the “President is considering” the mercy petition of the convict and till then his execution should be stayed. The execution of Dhananjay, had been caught in a legal wrangle since 1996 whether the West Bengal Governor had used his clemency power properly or not. The Governor had rejected his mercy petitions twice on February 16, 1996 and on June 2 this year. His execution had evoked media hype in view of various human rights organisations opposed to capital punishment pleading for mercy for him and asking the authorities to convert his death sentence to life imprisonment. He was convicted and sentenced to death by the Alipur
Sessions Court in August 1991. The Kolkata High Court had confirmed his death sentence in August 1992, which was upheld by the Supreme Court on January 11, 1992. The apex court had subsequently rejected his review petition 10 days latter. The apex court today did not agree with senior advocate Colin
Gonsalves, appearing for Dhananjay’s brother Bikas Chatterjee, that the petition should be kept pending till the President decides the matter. During the brief hearing, the Bench said “we are simply closing the matter.” Kolkata:
Students and teachers of Welland Gouldsmith School in central Kolkata today paid tributes to
Hetal. Hetal was a student of the school. They resolved to urge the President not to grant clemency to
Dhananjay. Meanwhile, a large section of students demanded that Dhananjay should be hanged, which would be a lesson to other criminals. But Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and other CPM leaders wanted that Dhananjay to be hanged.
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Kalam outlines five-point space
mission
Bangalore, June 25 The five-point mission comprised, first, bringing down the cost per kg launch of satellite payload, which could be done only with the use of reusable launch vehicle technology employing air-breathing engines and new materials. “The Indian conception of a hyperplane, a fully reusable system, is an innovation in rocketry providing a payload fraction of 15 per cent, drastically reducing the launch cost.” His second point was that spacecraft weight should be reduced using NANO-science and NANO-technology in composite structures, electronics, computing and protective coatings. Third, there should be an intensive partnership between the two countries for generating power using solar-powered satellites and space exploration, particularly by mining for minerals on the moon and on asteroids, and for establishing the first habitats in the Mars. Fourth, NASA and ISRO should work towards an ability to predict earthquakes and volcanoes at least a week ahead of an event, involving extensive research in geomagnetics and related instrumentation. Electromagnetic radiation has been indicative of both stress accumulation in the earth’s faultlines and in gaseous emissions from erupting volcanoes, he said. Fifth, the benefits of space research should reach the entire six billion population of the earth by enabling provision of safe drinking water, shelter, food, healthcare and education. “How can we imagine that 1.5 billion people of advanced nations can have a peaceful life, if 4.5 billion are below the poverty line and are not happy? ”I visualise in 2050 an Indo-US team establishing a habitat in the Mars, setting up mining industrial units in space and working on a joint programme to destroy and deviate asteroids when the earth is endangered,” he added. A joint vision statement was released at the end of the conference. The USA and India will collaborate on the national polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite system (NPOESS), the next generation US environmental satellite system, ISRO and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today. |
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Ex-VC of Visva Bharati
arrested
Kolkata, June 25 But the policemen raided his house and arrested him specifically on the charge of appointing Ms Mukti Deb as a lecturer even after knowing well that she did not have the requisite qualification for becoming a university teacher, said the Additional Director-General of Police (CID), Mr R.K. Mahanti, who is heading the CID team probing the Tagore’s Nobel prize theft case. Ms Dev was later arrested from her residence at Barasat in North 24-Parganas. Mr Mahanti hoped with the arrest of the Vice-Chancellor, it would be now possible for them to solve the mystery of the theft of the Nobel prize and other memorabilia from Uttarayan Museum. The CBI also has been making a separate inquiry into the case. But so far, neither the Nobel prize medal nor several other memorabilia stolen from the museum on March 24 could be recovered. Mr Mahanti alleged that the Vice-Chancellor himself attested the photocopies of the false certificates of Ms Dev at the time of recruiting her as a lecturer, ignoring the university’s appointment committee which did not have the opportunity to scrutinise and verify her certificates. Dr Sinha was arrested after interrogating the former Registrar and several other university staff who had worked together during the former Vice-Chancellor’s tenure in office. The Registrar had been arrested earlier in May from whose possession some of the university’s valuable documents and one of the stolen artifacts of Uttarayan Museum were recovered. The present Vice-Chancellor, Dr Sujit Bose, refused to comment on the arrest of Dr Sinha. He admitted there had been several illegal appointments in the university. |
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Tehelka panel to hear Fernandes’ arguments on July
25
New Delhi, June 25 The commission fixed the hearing of arguments on behalf of Fernandes after completing the cross-examination of London-based forensic science expert Mathew James Cass on his findings about the authenticity of Tehelka tapes. Cass in his report had stated that the tapes sent for his examination were camera originals and had not been “over dubbed”, but were edited. Fernandes’ close associate Jaya Jaitly after coming out of the commission’s office told mediapersons that Congress spokesman Anand Sharma had “sought favours” for his arms dealer friend B.L. Sharma in defence deals from her a few days before the Tehelka expose, which she had turned down saying it was not possible. “If any arms middlemen had ever visited my house, he was brought by Anand Sharma”, Jaitly said alleging that Sharma had also talked to her about it on the phone. When the Congress had launched an attack on her and George Fernandes on the Tehleka issue and she asked Sharma whether she should make a “clarification” about it, the Congress spokesman had requested that “she should not do so as the matter related to their personal relations,” Jaitly claimed. |
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Patil tells Mufti, Dy CM to sort out differences
New Delhi, June 25 Jammu and Kashmir Governor S.K. Sinha has also been requested to intervene and find a way out of the impasse with four ministers of the Congress resigning in protest against the curtailment of the Amarnath yatra and the alleged efforts of the Chief Minister to get the selection list of the Kashmir Administrative Service nullified. Mr Patil took the initiative in trying to put matters on an even keel between the coalition partners — the Mufti’s PDP and the Congress — in the sensitive border state. This was done after an extended and emergency meeting last night following the resignation of four Congress ministers in the Mufti government in protest against the refusal to extend the Amarnath Yatra from the existing one month to two months. Mr Sharma had rushed to the Capital yesterday to brief the Congress high command about the fast-paced development and the Congress taking strong exception to the Mufti’s style of functioning. He said they would wait for a few days to see if the issue was resolved satisfactouly as the Chief Minister had taken a decision on the Amarnath Yatra unilaterally without consulting the Congress which is its ally and coalition partner. |
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Cong defends resignation of 4 J-K ministers
New Delhi, June 25 Congress General Secretary Ambika Soni said the members who had resigned from the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s government did not get out of the party domain and submitted their resignations to the Congress high command protesting against the Chief Minister’s unilateral decision of not extending the Amarnath yatra by a month. Meanwhile, the AICC stayed tomorrow’s meeting of the faction-ridden Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee amid indications that the organisational revamp is on the anvil. The Congress today categorised the goings-on in the BJP and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s averment that he joked about his retirement as nothing short of reducing politics to a farce. Sympathising with Mr Vajpayee, party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told mediapersons here that the former Prime Minister had been reduced to cracking jokes. He said the BJP had been disgraceful in Parliament and should at least have respect for Mr Vajpayee’s age. On the BJP returning to Hindutva, Mr Singhvi said whenever the glue of power comes unstuck for the saffron brigade and its allies, the original agenda of the RSS comes to the fore. |
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Meghalaya to
set up cancer detection centre
New Delhi, June 25 The Resident Commissioner of Meghalaya House, Mr S. Mendiratta, said the Meghalaya Government had identified a site for a 25 to 30 bedded cancer hospital in Shillong. “We want to provide secondary care as most patients have to go to Delhi, Guwahati or Kolkata for treatment.” |
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2 PU students to meet Nobel laureates
New Delhi, June 25 The meeting will enable the young scientists, shortlisted by the Department for Science and Technology (DST) from the premier science institutes of the country. to interact with Nobel laureates. Among others, Harleen Dahyia working on “body systems” and Shuchi Gupta working on “ theoretical and computational solid state physics” at Panjab University are the members of the delegations. The Indian team will also visit premier German institutes for one week following the Lindau meetings, sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG), one of the DST’s bilateral cooperative partner. The selected scientists were briefed today by an eminent space scientist, Dr K. Kasturirangan, a former Director of IIT, Kharagpur. The meeting between the Nobel laureates in sciences and the students is an annual affair since 1951. |
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CPI for raising of Manipur regiment
New Delhi, June 25 A four-member delegation of the CPI, led by party General Secretary A.B. Bardhan, met Home Minister Shivraj Patil and apprised him of the law and order situation in the state. It said that underground insurgent groups were disrupting normal political activity and extortion and ransom demands were on the rise. The party drew Mr Patil’s attention to the long-standing demand for shifting the headquarters of the Assam Rifles from Kangla in Manipur to Mahakoireng near Imphal. |
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