J A L A N D H A R

Man gets 2-year RI for offering bribe to SHO
Jalandhar, December 9
The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr S.K. Aggrawal, today sentenced Sarbjit Singh, a resident of Rode village in Shahkot, to two years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 for offering illegal gratification amounting to Rs 1.5 lakh to the then Phillaur SHO, Mr Balwinder Singh, seeking the release his son from the police custody.

Village locks out AIDS awareness
Mansoorwal Bet (Kapurthala), December 9
Even after eight deaths from AIDS in the last two years here, a majority of the villagers of Mansoorwal Bet still shy away from a solution. After the recent publication of a news report about the deaths and a visit by the AIDS Control Society from Chandigarh to the village on Wednesday, local health authorities have at last woken-up. Their first move was an awareness camp, which was held here today.

The locked house of Joginder Kaur and Darshan Singh, the couple who died from AIDS this year, in Mansoorwal Bet in Kapurthala. — A Tribune photo

City Zila Parishad member booked
Phagwara, December 9
A day after a fracas at the venue of a Minister’s press conference, the police today booked the person who started it all— Sukhwinder Singh Sukha of Pholdiwal village who is a member of the Jalandhar Zila Parishad.

Exporters plea to PM for retrospective benefit
Phagwara, December 9
Over 80,000 exporters of the country were looking up to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for getting the Income Tax benefits under Section 80 HHC, without any discrimination and conditions of export sales of up to Rs 10 crore and above. This was stated here today by Mr A.K.Kohli, Senior Vice-President, Punjab Chamber of Small Exporters.

• Three travel agents booked
• Body found

Man gets 2-year RI for offering bribe to SHO
Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 9
The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr S.K. Aggrawal, today sentenced Sarbjit Singh, a resident of Rode village in Shahkot, to two years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 for offering illegal gratification amounting to Rs 1.5 lakh to the then Phillaur SHO, Mr Balwinder Singh, seeking the release his son from the police custody.

In default of payment of fine, Sarbjit Singh, who was booked under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, would have to spend another two months in jail.

According to the prosecution, Sarbjit Singh had offered the bribe in 1998 for seeking release of his son, Charahat Singh, who was held by the Phillaur police for possessing around 3 kg of gold.

But the tables turned the police official registered a case against Sarbjit Singh, the father of Charahat Singh, on charges of offering illegal gratification.

Agreeing with the plea of the prosecution, the judge said since the accused had abetted the SHO who was a public servant by way of offering him illegal gratification, other than legal remuneration for the securing release of his son from legal police custody, he deserved no leniency. 

Village locks out AIDS awareness
Arun Sharma
Tribune News Service

Mansoorwal Bet (Kapurthala), December 9
Even after eight deaths from AIDS in the last two years here, a majority of the villagers of Mansoorwal Bet still shy away from a solution. After the recent publication of a news report about the deaths and a visit by the AIDS Control Society from Chandigarh to the village on Wednesday, local health authorities have at last woken-up. Their first move was an awareness camp, which was held here today.

But about 60-odd villagers bothered to attend the camp. The only consolation for the authorities was the presence of 25 women from the affected village.

The residents, however, still seemed more panic-stricken by the social stigma attached to AIDS than the disease itself.

Many of the villagers even refused to accompany The Tribune team to the houses of victims, but they were vocal in divulging the details of victims’ families in private.

According to Darshan Singh, husband of Bhajan Kaur who is the sarpanch, the most recent victim of the disease was Jaswinder Kaur (25), the wife of a truck driver Balbir Singh.

She died on Sunday after suffering from the HIV virus for more than eight years.

Jaswinder Kaur reportedly got the disease from her husband and was aware of the fact that she was carrying the deadly virus at the time of the birth of her son, now eight-years-old, said Darshan Singh.

He said no HIV test has yet been conducted on the boy.

The house of Joginder Kaur who died from AIDS last month following the death of her husband, Darshan Singh, last January, was found locked since none of the relatives wanted to touch the things the family had used. Darshan Singh was also a truck driver, said the husband of the sarpanch.

Similarly, AIDS also finished off four members of another family in just two years— Piara Singh, his two sons and a daughter-in-law.

Another villager, a 40-year-old unmarried farmer, died last year due to the disease. 

City Zila Parishad member booked
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, December 9
A day after a fracas at the venue of a Minister’s press conference, the police today booked the person who started it all— Sukhwinder Singh Sukha of Pholdiwal village who is a member of the Jalandhar Zila Parishad.

A case was registered against him for assaulting a public servant from the discharge of his duty and obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions on the complaint of ASI Param Singh Randhawa, In-charge, Police Post, Chaheru. Sukha had allegedly manhandled him.

Sukha is considered by many to be a protégé of the Punjab Transport Minister, Mr Mohinder Singh Kaypee, and he abundantly flaunted his ministerial relations publicly here yesterday.

During yesterday’s meet, Sukha had also allegedly used foul language against the Phagwara DSP and misbehaved with a journalist, even though he had later denied all these allegations.

He had accompanied the Minister who came here to inspect the construction work of the new PRTC bus stand.

The IG, Zonal, Mr H.S. Dhillon, too came to probe the matter here today.

Meanwhile, sources say Sukhwinder Singh Sukha has several police cases registered against him. 

Exporters plea to PM for retrospective benefit
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, December 9
Over 80,000 exporters of the country were looking up to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for getting the Income Tax benefits under Section 80 HHC, without any discrimination and conditions of export sales of up to Rs 10 crore and above. This was stated here today by Mr A.K.Kohli, Senior Vice-President, Punjab Chamber of Small Exporters.

These benefits should accrue to all categories of exporters having any amount of export sales retrospectively from 1997-98 till 2003, he demanded.

He said the 2nd amendment Bill-2005 in this regard had been placed in the current session of Parliament with the efforts of Dr Manmohan Singh  and Mr P. Chidambram.

The tax law should not be allowed to be twisted by the self-styled findings of certain tax officers and exporters should be given retrospective tax relief as they earned huge foreign exchange for the country and provided employment to youths, Mr Kohli added.

He dismissed as unjustified demands raised by some Income Tax officials for disallowing benefits to exporters on their export earnings and government incentives. 

Three travel agents booked

Phagwara, December 9
Three travel agents here were booked on charges of cheating by the Nawanshahr police yesterday. The case was registered on a complaint lodged by Satnam Singh, a resident of Kariyam village in the Nawanshahr district, which said that Kulwinder Singh, Hardev Singh and Balwinder Singh, all residents of Phagwara, had promised to send him to Canada if he agreed to pay them Rs 7 lakh. The complainant said he paid them Rs 3.40 lakh as advance amount, but the travel agents neither sent him abroad nor returned the money.— TNS

Body found
Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, December 9
Body of a 25-year-old was found beside a dried-up canal near Kala Sanghia village here on Friday. According to the police, the deceased was resident of Masanda, an area near Jalandhar. No marks of injury were found on the body, the police added. The cause of the death is yet to be ascertained.