New Delhi, May 9
Observing that the “gravity and nature of offence” is one of the main considerations while deciding the bail plea of the accused in non-bailable cases, the Supreme Court has cancelled the bail of an Allahabad-based advocate who is facing murder charges.

A bench of Justice H.K. Sema and Justice R.V. Raveendran set aside the September 7, 2005 order of the Allahabad High Court granting bail to accused Anil Kumar Tulsuyani saying “the High Court has not at all addressed this issue while granting bail to the respondent (accused).

“Being an advocate he is in a commanding position and standing in the society. Keeping in view his position in the background, a reasonable apprehension of the witness being tampered with or won over, coerced, threatened or intimidated by using his influence and position cannot be ruled out,” the Bench said.

The court cancelled Tulsuyani’s bail bond and surety and directed him to be taken into custody forthwith.

Reversing the High Court’s order, the apex court said “the High Court has not at all considered the gravity and the nature of the offence in which the deceased, stated to be a close friend of the accused, has been shot at in his house, that too in his bedroom.”

Quoting from its own judgment in Amarmani Tripathi case, the apex court said while deciding a bail application, the courts should consider the nature and gravity of offence, severity of punishment in the event of conviction, danger of the accused absconding, if released on bail.

Whether there is any prima facie or reasonable ground to believe that the accused had committed the offence has also to be considered, the Bench said.

Character, behaviour, means, position and standing of the accused, likelihood of the offence being repeated, reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with and danger of justice being thwarted by grant of bail too should be taken into account while deciding bail applications, it said quoting from the apex court’s verdict in Tripathi case. — PTI

Mumbai, May 9
An allegation by a 14-year-old girl that she was raped by between 90 and 120 men, including neighbours and relatives, over two months has sent several residents of a Mumbai slum into hiding.

According to police, the girl — a resident of the Haseena Nagar slum at Chembur, on the outskirts of Mumbai — had filed a complaint of rape on Sunday.

In her complaint filed before the RCF police station, the girl said she was lured with chocolates into the huts of her neighbours where the men raped her.

After the girl named several of her neighbours, the police arrested 21 persons. Incidentally, the girl was not sent for physical examination before the arrests.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Ravindra Sengaokar, who is in-charge of the area, said the girl was sent for a medical examination today.

Residents of the slums are skeptical of the allegations. “The girl’s father had forced her into prostitution and coached her to accuse neighbours to escape arrest,” said Fatima Bi, a resident of the slum. Other residents allege that the girl’s father Asfaque Ali had framed his neighbours due to past enmity.

“There are allegations of rape and murder against Ali and is therefore taking revenge on the neighbours,” says Salim Sheikh another neighbour.

According to the police, the family came to Mumbai from Allahabad more than two years ago and had settled down in Mumbai. Ali has been quoted as saying that the girl’s mother used to indulge in prostitution before her death some years ago. He also claimed to have come to Mumbai to escape the stigma.

New Delhi, May 9
The second phase of the Budget session of Parliament, reconvening from tomorrow, is likely to be a turbulent one with Opposition BJP as well as the Left parties expected to put the UPA on the mat on a number of issues, including Volcker controversy and the Centre’s foreign policy.

The two-week session, being held at a time when the results of the Assembly elections in five states will start coming, will witness the impact of the poll outcome.

The controversy over the OBC quota in elite educational institutions is also likely to figure prominently with the differences between Union Ministers Arjun Singh and Kapil Sibal and agitation by a section of students coming under focus of the political parties during the session.

Notwithstanding Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s appeal today to political parties to extend cooperation for smooth conduct of the House, the session is likely to generate much political heat on reservation and other issues.

RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has even favoured a 5 per cent reservation for economically poor in upper caste, while the Congress and the BJP are trying to chart out a middle path out of what has come to be known as Mandal-II.

The BJP has put the government on notice on several issues, including the Volcker controversy and the statements of former Union Minister Natwar Singh as also on the killings of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Left parties have warned that they would go on the offensive after the poll and have been agitating on several issues, including airport privatisation and FDI in retail.

The Congress and its allies in the ruling coalition are expected to raise the Vadodara riots to put the BJP in an embarrassing position as the violence there had brought the Narendra Modi government under a renewed attack.

On the opening day, both Houses of Parliament are expected to pay homage to senior BJP leader and former Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan and other current and former members who died during the inter-session period.

This will be the first session for Sonia Gandhi that she will not be able to attend on the first day as the result of Rae Bareli byelection is expected on May 11. She had resigned from her seat in the wake of Opposition targeting her on the office-of-profit row.

Ms Gandhi is likely to be in time when Parliament is expected to deliberate on a legislation on the office-of-profit issue.

Though government has announced that a legislation on the controversial issue would be on its priority agenda, it is still not clear what shape the proposed legislation would take as the BJP has opposed any dilution of the present provision with a view to corner Ms Gandhi on the issue.

Political parties had been asked to give their views and suggestions on the proposed legislation in writing to the Leader of the Lok Sabha and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee but so far the position is not clear as to how many of them have done so.

The BJP is expected to focus on the attacks on the Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir by drawing the government’s attention to the recent Doda killings.

The BJP is also planning to embarrass the Congress-led coalition on the separate Telengana issue with the party seeking to drive a wedge by attempting to wean away the TRS from the UPA.

“We will support the government if it comes with a Bill on it. Otherwise, it is for the TRS to decide whether they want to be part of the UPA”, the BJP leaders, who held a marathon session yesterday under the chairmanship of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said.

The meeting identified around 40 issues and decided to reserve certain days to raise major issues.

It would take up the sealing and demolition of residential and commercial premises in Delhi on May 11 to coincide with the Delhi bandh called by some traders’ organisations.

The spiralling prices of wheat and pulses, the government not taking any action against the Congress despite “all the proofs” suggesting its alleged involvement in the oil-for-food scam and the Prime Minister allegedly sitting on the complaint against Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, the alleged corruption charges against Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran are some of the other major issues on which the BJP plans to put the government on the mat.

Bangalore, May 9
A majority of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) yesterday asserted that the government should not extend reservation to OBCs, as proposed by the HRD Ministry, and called for maintaining a status quo on the issue till more effective avenues of affirmative action were explored.

Despite extensive discussion on the subject, which continued till today, the commission recorded a split decision on the issue.

Two members, Dr P.M. Bhargava and Dr Jayati Ghosh, supported extension of reservation to OBCs, subject to certain conditions, even as six members called for maintaining a status quo on the issue.

Briefing mediapersons, NKC chairman Sam Pitroda said the recommendation would be sent to the Prime Minister, along with the dissenting note.

Giving reasons for the 6-2 verdict and why he did not favour extension of reservation, Mr Pitroda said there were better ways to achieve the objective.

Saying the country needed to learn from its past and then decide how to go forward, he admitted that it was difficult and needed more social debate and careful thought.

He said Dr Nandan Nilekani, Dr Deepak Nayyar, Dr Bhanu Pratap Mehta, Dr Andre Beteille, Dr Ashok Ganguly and he had looked at the issue keeping in view what the country needed in the 21st century.

He said the members felt that this was a unique opportunity to make more effective policies, which could make educational institutions more socially inclusive.

Asked whether increasing seats in educational institutions could compound problems, he said he did not think so.

Asked about the stance taken by him and Dr Ghosh, Dr Bhargava said despite reservation since Independence, the OBCs had not been touched.

He said Dr Ghosh and he wanted reservation to be extended, along with certain conditions.

Dr Bhargava said this included the establishment of 4,000 high schools on the pattern of central schools to impart quality education throughout the country.

He said the government should draw a timetable for a gradual reduction in reservation.

He said the creamy layer should be excluded altogether from this policy.

Questioned on the issue of opening the education sector to foreign investment, Mr Pitroda said the NKC was looking into the subject.

He said a regulatory authority could be created on the lines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India as the NKC felt that providing quality education was important to meet the needs of the people.

He also called for shaking up the education system as the average quality of education was very poor.

Hyderabad, May 9
The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here has produced the first “gene knockout mouse” in the country, Centre Director Lalji Singh said today.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said a team of researchers led by Dr Satish Kumar of the CCMB, created a “knockout mouse strain” for the first time in India.

He said during the last decade and researchers had perfected a technology called “gene knockout technology” that allowed them to precisely remove a given gene in a mouse. “This week Indian biologists joined the select club of scientists from a few advanced nations by successfully establishing and using ‘gene knockout technology’ in the country,” he added.

Dr Singh said the technology had tremendous applications not only in the field of basic biology but also for creation of human disease models and in the drug discovery process. He said recognising the tremendous potential of the technology, the CCMB had created a national facility for transgenic and gene knockout mice with support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, and the Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR). “The CCMB scientists were training researchers from other academic institutions and pharmaceutical industries in the country in the these technologies,” he added. The technology was based on the mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. ES cells were derived from the early embryos and could be maintained outside the body for long periods.

“The real beauty of this system is that one can precisely remove or modify an existing gene in these cells, and then reconstruct a novel animal from these genetically modified cells. “This helps to see the effects of the absence of a given gene on the knockout mouse and thus, understand the function of the gene,” he added.

Stating that the CCMB team had genetically engineered a mutant mouse strain that lacked one of the milk protein genes, known as kappa-casein, he said in the absence of this gene, females were healthy and could produce pups but these were unable to produce milk for their young ones.

Dr Satish said “the mouse strain produced by the CCMB team will be useful for animal model for the creation of novel dairy animals with the modified milk properties and also in the efforts to produce genetically-modified farm animals producing pharmaceutical proteins in their milk. These results are being published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, a prestigious research journal”, he added. — UNI

New Delhi, May 9
If one thought Clemenceau was carrying enough toxic wastes to make environmentalists fret and fume, make way for S.S. Norway, or Blue lady as it more popularly known as. Some more trouble can be anticipated for the Indian ship -breaking industry as the end-of-the-life passenger cruise ship has been bought by Alang-based Reagent Shipping for $17 million and environmentalist are once again gearing up to oppose the entry of one more "hazardous waste carrier" into India.

Asking the Indian Government and the industry to find a solution and develop a sustainable ship-recycling policy and facility, NGO Greenpeace today urged them to take the opportunity presented by the current situation to transform the ship-breaking industry in India.

" Our aim is not to run after every hazardous waste carrying ship that heads for ship-breaking yards of India nor are we against the ship-breaking industry.

But for clean ship breaking to become a reality, the government and ship-breakers must develop a policy and action plan to ensure an economically viable and environmentally sustainable future of the industry," Greenpeace activist Ramapati 
Kumar, said.

Considering that fact that in the next five to six years as many as 2,200 single hull oil tankers will phase out (and this figure does not include passenger, cruise and other ships) and the European Union is seeking to make shipping safer, it makes business sense for developing countries like India to have environmentally sound management facilities for ship recycling.

Having taken ship-breaking issue very seriously, the EU is creating road map for a safe and sustainable way to handle end-of-life ships.

The EU is also exploring possibilities to develop a comprehensive policy on ship recycling, including setting up of pre-cleaning facilities, setting up of dismantling facilities in Europe.

"If stakeholders in India, led by the government, do not rise to the occasion now and secure Alang's place in the new evolving world order in the shipping industry, the loss will be irretrievable and India will no longer be a destination of choice for the recycling of ships," warns Mr Ramapati.

This Blue lady, a passenger cruise ship that was launched on May 11, 1960, is at present being towed to a ship-breaking yard in Alang in Gujarat where it is expected to reach on May 23.

Greenpeace says that the Blue Lady will bring with itself over 900 tonnes of asbestos and other toxic materials such as globally banned and cancer-causing chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). S.S. Norway was crippled following a boiler room explosion in Miami three years ago.

In relation to the much-controversial French warship Clemenceau, which was turned back to France, S.S. Norway has three times more toxic wastes, Mr Ramapati says.

The 11-storey high ship, originally belonging to Malaysian owners Star Cruise, is among the 50 "dirtiest" ships in the world, which was even refused entry by Bangladesh.

A letter of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association (BSBA), circulated by the Greenpeace, says: It has come to the noting of BSBA that one passenger ship S.S. Norway has come in the international market which is seriously contaminated and carrying dangerous hazardous material.

" I would like to indicate it very clearly that if any member of BSBA purchase that ship for scrapping purposes, his documents shall not be forwarded to the government authorities for permission," states the letter, dated January 28, 2006, signed by BSBA President Zafar Khan. Following this, the Bangladesh MoEF made a decision to take necessary action to ensure that the S.S. Norway (even if it has changed its name) does not enter Bangladesh.

Turning back of Clemenceau was a major victory for Greenpeace, Mr Ramapati says, adding that "turning back a dirty ship only raises an alarm. The attempt should be to find a clear-cut solution"

New Delhi, May 9
Minority Affairs Minister A. R. Antulay has finally been allotted office space, three months after his appointment to the post. He has to wait for at least two more months before he can begin using the new workplace.

Mr Antulay, who wanted an office somewhere near Parliament, has been assigned a floor in the CGO complex, about four km away. The minister, who has been working from his home will also get three joint Secretaries.

The office will have four wings, one of them designated for the minister's personal staff. The minister was more interested in having an office at some central location, but he has accepted the place offered to him.

New Delhi, May 9
Stressing that e-governance could be an effective tool to ensure transparent and corruption-free administration, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today said the internet revolution has proved to be a powerful mechanism for good governance by providing adequate access to information for citizens.

“The internet revolution has proved to be a powerful tool for the good governance initiative and the world is moving towards internet governance,” Mr Kalam said at the inaugural session of the conference on ‘Effects of Corruption on Good Governance and Human Rights’ here.

“e-Governance should enable seamless access to information and seamless flow of information across the state and Central Government in a federal setup,” he said.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairperson Justice A.S. Anand, in his inaugural speech, said, “Corruption is a potent violator of human rights, particularly the economic and social rights of individuals as well as those of the state.”