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S. African model gangraped
Bungalow: wife’s action may cost DGP
CRPF crack teams for
Naxal-hit states
Bomb hoax sends cops in tizzy
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One year post tsunami, it’s women power in TN
FLASHBACK 2005
HIV test for soldiers in North-East
Joshi CD case given to CID
Let’s excel: Kalam
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S. African model gangraped
Mumbai, December 31 Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shashikant Shinde today said a case of rape under section 376/34 of IPC has been registered against two people he declined to identify. However, sources in the Vile Parle police station said the South African national identified the accused as Rahul and Aditya. The complainant said the accused laced her drink with some drug when she went to the toilet in Hotel Bawa International, adding when she became groggy they took her in a car to an isolated location and gangraped her on Wednesday. Hotel owner Kiran Bawa said the model had come to the hotel’s pub but denied any rape incident. Mr Shinde said police have collected vital information about the two accused from the hotel staff and the owner and they would be arrested soon. Daughter of a South African business tycoon, the woman, who had come to India in September this year, was staying at an apartment in Lokhandwala in Andheri (West). The men, after allegedly raping her, dropped her at her Lokhandwala residence, police sources said. Medical tests on the woman have confirmed rape, the sources added.
— UNI |
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Bungalow: wife’s action may cost DGP his job
Lucknow, December 31 Early this year, DGP Yashpal Singh had made checking encroachments and land mafia as the priority of his police force. By the year-end his wife was involved in a sordid drama of forcibly occupying the sprawling bungalow in Gonda spread over six acres. It led to a virtual showdown between the local police and PAC. In an ironical situation around 20 PAC jawans have been deployed to guard a vacant bungalow from being forcibly occupied by the wife of the state’s police chief. On Christmas eve Gita Singh, MLA from neighbouring Balrampur, came along with her supporters and captured the bungalow allotted to the Commandant of the 30th Battalion, PAC, station in Gonda. In a turn of events the local police virtually fled the scene to avoid taking action against the DGP’s wife. Finally, DIG, PAC, D.C. Pandey was rushed from Lucknow who along with DIG, Range, Safi Rizvi met her. After a daylong drama she finally let go the bungalow when she was told in no uncertain terms that her action was illegal and she should vacate the bungalow immediately. This was her second attempt to forcibly occupy the bungalow which is a private property owned by Vijay Laxmi Bhatnagar. Her explanation for occupying the bungalow is her reported emotional attachment to the house as her two children were born there when her husband was posted with PAC in Gonda. The drama did not end there. The Gonda police registered an FIR against Gita Singh and two others for attempting to grab the bungalow. She in turn filed a counter FIR, charging PAC Deputy Commandant Ramesh Chander and quartermaster Triloki Nath for threatening to kill her and her supporters. Meanwhile, the state government appointed DIG, Range, Safi Rizvi as the district chief, a post that had been lying vacant for some time. One of the first steps that Rizvi took was to suspend Kotwali inspector R.P. Singh for his role in the unsavoury drama. In a bid to please the top boss’s wife he had sent a report to the city magistrate for attachment of the property without taking permission from senior police officers. He was also found to be instrumental in delaying the registration of the PAC’s FIR against Gita Singh. Amid the drama the departmental promotion committee met on Friday to clear the names of three IPS officers for the rank of DGP. Among them is ADG Bua Singh, who observers believe will take over from Mr Yashpal Singh and save the government from further embarrassment. |
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CRPF crack teams for
Naxal-hit states
New Delhi, December 31 These 11 companies have been carved out from the already existing 22 battalions of the CRPF deployed in various Naxal-hit states. Confirming this here, CRPF Director-General J.K. Sinha told The Tribune that these crack teams will be deployed for “specific sustained operations” in the next couple of months. “This elite companies have been specifically trained for conducting long-drawn sustained operations in Naxal-hit areas... This crack team will be equipped with sophisticated weapons, night vision equipment, food, tentages, etc so that they can conduct operations continuously for six to eight days without depending on replenishment,” Mr Sinha said. The Director-General said states affected by Naxalism will be requested not to deploy this elite teams for routine duties in Naxal-hit areas and use them only for specific long-drawn sustained operations. “Right now the problem at the ground level is that due to scattered deployment of CRPF in Naxal-hit areas, the force, divided into small groups, is not in a position to conduct sustained combing or hot pursuit operations. That is why this elite crack teams, on the pattern of Andhra Pradesh Police’s ‘Grey Hounds’ has been carved out,” he said. Mr Sinha said he would urge the Central Government and the state government to help extend enhanced insurance cover to the jawans in this force. |
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Bomb hoax sends cops in tizzy
Hyderabad, December 31 While the bomb threat proved to be a hoax, the police admitted that the hackers had broken into AP State Wide Area Network (Apswan) but failed to steal key government data. Apswan is the main server of the government-owned AP Technology Services (APTS) Limited. It is through this network that the Chief Minister holds videoconferences with district officials and key official data is transmitted between the state headquarters and districts. Director-General of Police Swaranjit Sen admitted at a news conference that the APTS server was hacked but claimed that the hackers failed to steal confidential information. K. Sunitha, Managing Director, APTS, had lodged a complaint at the police station dealing with cyber crimes. However, Sunitha or any other official of the APTS refused to talk to the media. Meanwhile, there was an anonymous call about a bomb in Hitec city but after thorough checking it turned out to be a hoax. The police said Cyber Pearl, the third phase of Hitec city, received a call around 11 am about a bomb being planted in the building. The entire building housing several IT companies was evacuated and policemen accompanied by dog squads and bomb disposal teams searched the premises. After about two hours the building was declared safe. “No explosives were found during the search,” said S. Jayram, Inspector of Madhapur police.
— IANS
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One year post tsunami, it’s women power in TN
Chennai, December 31 Post tsunami there has been a sea change in all the costal areas of the state. In post-tsunami Tamil Nadu, gender roles are getting redrawn: while it was the men who brought in the money earlier, the women have now taken over, silently and swiftly rebuilding livelihoods. Visit any of the coastal villages in this state that are tsunami signposts - Colachel in Kanyakumari, Akkaraipettai or Seruthur in Nagapattinam, Devanampattinam, the largest fishing village of India in Cuddalore or Srinivasapuram in this state Capital of Tamil Nadu. The scene is the same. You will see the men gambling and starting to drink from noon. In contrary, women could be seen pitching up their temporary shelters or if they had been lucky to shift to permanent houses making it ready, ensuring that the children go to school. For the first time in the history of Tamil Nadu have the women run self-help groups (SHGs) proved their mettle as comprehensively as in post-tsunami reconstruction. This despite the fact that according to a Rural Development Department statistics, 37,385 SHG members all over Tamil Nadu have been directly affected by the tsunami and 831 of them killed. It was a wonder for many that just two weeks after the tsunami, as many as five SHGs became operational in Colachel in Kanyakumari district, some of them with only a handful of members, but each with a clearly defined task. While a SHG lobbied with aid-givers and NGOs in getting the best possible shelter arrangements, another ran the community kitchen while one counselled distraught survivors and cajoled them out of depression. In Nagapattinam, the worst hit in mainland India with 6065 dead, SHGs have helped communities tide over local frictions and traditional rivalry with neighbouring villages over fishing rights. With the male-dominated panchayat system dysfunctional, the women now run a de facto panchayat. Women have been working hard and even bagging export orders to the tune of lakhs of rupees. Even greeting cards drawn by orphaned children are in great demand. Devanampattinanm in Cuddalore which had been infamous some of the bloodiest feuds with neighbouring villages is now a model as far as law and order is concerned. Said Cuddalore District Collector Gagandeep Singh Bedi, “Earlier fights among fishermen over small things were quite common. After tsunami the rate of crime has gone down considerably.” With the loss of livelihood pushing the men into an alcoholic stupor, the women are putting together the pieces. Nearly eight SHGs had been operational in two streets alone, doing everything from repairing and painting boats to making fish pickle. “Ever since tsunami happened our men had not been to the sea. For two months it was my earnings that fed our children and men,” said Pushpa, who lost a son to the sea. Said Mariyayee (80) at Srinivasapuram here, “Earlier fishing community was always run by women but ‘Dubai money’ spoilt community dynamics. Now it is back to us, at least after this I hope our men will beat us up less.” According to Nagapatti-nam Collector Dr J. Radhakrishnan, “We are lining up revolving funds and capacity-building initiatives for SHGs. TADCO has also sanctioned a Rs 50-lakh discretionary fund and several microfinancing options are being explored. We are very particular about community participation in disaster recuperation.” |
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Growing clout, India’s pride, neighbours’ envy
Rajeev Sharma Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 31 These two events overshadowed the bumpy road to peace India and Pakistan continued to take in 2005, marked by the historic launch of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service on April 7 and the opening of five crossing points at the Line of Control in the wake of the October 8 earthquake. The Indo-US nuclear deal marked not only a new high in India’s strategic relationship with the US but also gave a powerful signal to the world on India’s place in Washington’s perception of the fast changing new world order. It was also be seen as a precursor to realignment of forces across the globe. That China felt uneasy about its strategic implications for Beijing was clear by its negative reaction. The Manmohan Singh government was attacked both within and without Parliament for signing the deal. The Opposition as well as its allies, the Left parties, criticized it as a sellout to the US. The Bush administration also faced howls of protests in the Congress. Post-July 18, the Indian establishment got busy with the highly complicated and politically sensitive process of separation of civilian and nuclear facilities - an important precondition of the nuclear deal. India’s stand was put to the test at the 35-member IAEA’s Board of Governors meeting at Vienna nine weeks later. The Indian vote was against Iran though the spin masters in New Delhi made elaborate explanations of how it was actually in favour of Iran’s interests. The vote raised political temperatures with the rightist and leftist parties joining hands to condemn the UPA government. The Left even talked of “dangerous consequences” (meaning withdrawal of their support) if the government were to repeat the “folly” a second time. The Indian vote against Iran did not go waste as Washington used its clout to put India on board the strategically crucial international programme of nuclear fusion energy-International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). India’s entry into ITER took its international profile several notches higher as the sixth India-EU Strategic Partnership Summit in New Delhi in September had already made India a member of Galileo, the EU’s satellite navigation project. On the Indo-Pak relations front, the two nations continued to remain engaged, though terrorist acts like Ayodhya (July), Delhi blasts (October 29) and Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore (December 29) threatened to rip apart the thin fabric of their peace talks. Yet, New Delhi and Islamabad continued to smoke the peace pipe. This was evident in their decisions aimed at making the LoC porous for facilitating greater people-to-people interaction. The fortnightly Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service was launched and was resumed quickly after the October 8 earthquake-hit road network was repaired. The world was treated to the unique spectacle of India ferrying relief material across the LoC and the two countries agreeing to set up five crossing points along the LoC for responding to the needs of the quake-hit masses. Other decisions which India and Pakistan took this year to give a fillip to people-to-people contacts and trade include: agreement to start Lahore-Amritsar and Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus services, while an inter-LoC movement of trucks and Munabao (Rajasthan)-Khokhrapar (Sind) train service are in the pipeline. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf visited India in April, ostensibly for cricket diplomacy, and had substantive talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh The biggest areas of concern this year were Nepal and Bangladesh. Nepal emerged as a problem area with King Gyanendra’s February 1 royal coup. India reacted angrily to the move by first announcing its pullout from the SAARC summit in Dhaka which was scheduled a few days later, and then by freezing its arms supplies to Kathmandu. Bangladesh emerged as the new address of jihadi-brand terrorism, a point strongly conveyed by the August 17 serial blasts that occurred in 63 out of a total of 64 districts in that country. The logjam in Indo-Bangladesh relations on the issue of Dhaka’s support to anti-India terrorist outfits continued. With China, India’s relations continued to improve, reflected by the healthy bilateral trade figure, which crossed the $15 billion mark. They continued to remain engaged in the Special Representatives-level talks for resolving the boundary dispute. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also visited India and announced financial aid worth Rs 22,000 crore for upgrading Indian infrastructure. Overall, the year just gone by was an eventful year for Indian diplomacy during which the stature of India rose significantly across the globe.
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HIV test for soldiers in North-East
New Delhi, December 31 A proposal to test all soldiers going to the insurgency-affected northeast as well as those returning from the region is awaiting clearance from the government, said Vice Admiral V.K. Singh, director-general of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS). The AFMS is also awaiting approval for a proposal to create a DNA database of all armed forces personnel and to introduce mandatory HIV tests for all new recruits to the army, navy and air force. Mr Singh told a news conference here on Saturday that all “full blown cases of AIDS” in the armed forces would be removed from service, even though they would continue to get medical treatment and pension benefits. According to a reliable estimate, some 100 soldiers have been “boarded out” or removed from service after developing “full blown AIDS” in the past two years. Currently, all personnel sent to join UN peacekeeping missions are tested for HIV. India is one of the largest contributors of military troops and policemen for UN peacekeeping missions.
— IANS |
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Joshi CD case given to CID
Bhopal, December 31 The CID, accordingly, registered on Friday night a criminal case under Sections 467, 471, 507 and 387 of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act against unidentified persons. It is over a week that Mr Sanjay Joshi had complained of blackmail threat in writing to Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police Swaraj Puri. The RSS pointsman in the BJP, Mr Joshi had resigned as BJP general secretary after the CD showing him with a woman in a compromising position was made public during the BJP’s silver jubilee celebrations in Mumbai. |
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Let’s excel: Kalam
New Delhi, December 31 “On the occasion of New Year, I extend my greetings and best wishes to all our people in India and abroad,” Dr Kalam said in a message. “As we enter into the New Year, let us resolve to excel in whatever we do, whatever may be our mission of life or profession or task in which we are engaged,” he said, adding that this attitude and performance would make the country great and bring smiles to a billion people. |
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