New Delhi, October 27
Advising the lower courts to avoid convicting accused persons on the basis of suspicious dying declarations, the Supreme Court has set aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict sentencing a native of Ambala to life imprisonment for allegedly burning his paramour to death in June, 1991.

“Where a dying declaration is suspicious, it should not be acted upon without corroborative evidence,” a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan ruled while restoring the judgment passed by the Sessions Judge, Ambala. The Sessions Court had acquitted the accused, Surinder Kumar, by giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Surinder had allegedly poured kerosene on Kamlesh Rani and set her ablaze when she wanted to end her illicit relationship with him on the advice of her husband, Inder Pal.

Raising doubts over her dying declaration, the apex court wanted to know as to how her thumb impression could have been obtained on her statement despite the fact that she had suffered over 95 per cent burn injuries.

The police also failed to examine the victim’s two children, aged six and four, who were present at the scene of the crime. It also did not record the statements of any of the immediate neighbours and co-tenants in the same premises “which means nobody supported the version of the prosecution,” the Bench noted.

“Though there is neither rule of law nor of prudence that dying declaration cannot be acted upon without corroboration but the court must be satisfied that the dying declaration is true and voluntary and in that event, there is no impediment in basing conviction on it, without corroboration.

“It is the duty of the court to scrutinise the dying declaration carefully and must ensure that the declaration is not the result of tutoring, prompting or imagination,” the SC clarified. Likewise, where the victim was unconscious and could never make any declaration, the evidence with regard to it should be rejected. “The dying declaration which suffers from infirmity cannot form the basis of conviction. All these principles have been fully adhered to by the trial court and rightly acquitted the accused and on wrong assumption the High Court interfered with the order of acquittal,” the SC held on October 21.

Sirsa, October 27
Gopal Kanda, Minister of State for Home, Industries and Urban Local Bodies, said seven projects costing Rs 400 crore had been approved by the state government for augmenting water supply facilities and improving sewerage facilities of various towns in view of the growing population in the NCR.

Congratulating people on the completion of two years of the state government, Kanda said a number of development projects had been taken up in the state in the past two years.

He said many Japanese Companies would invest in the Industrial sector of the state and Japanese Major Asian Siki has a proposal to set up an auto plant over 50 acres at a cost of Rs 700 crore in the state. He added that in Haryana, drinking water projects and public transport system would also be set up in collaboration with Japan in various towns of the city for their development.

Kanda said besides the development of towns, health schemes had also been launched in collaboration with Japan. Besides investing in auto business, Japanese investors had also said they would also work on the ventures for equipment in pharma and biomedicine sectors.

He said the state government had prepared a scheme to strengthen the basic facilities of urban sector and for better implementation of drinking water schemes. A project of Rs 199 crore had also been approved for augmenting the drinking water and sewerage system of Sirsa town.

Under the scheme, a large water works would be constructed at Panjuana village to augment the drinking water facility of the town.

He said the National Disaster Management Authority had emphasised on strengthening the fire-fighting systems.

In view of this, the state government had decided to spend Rs 25 crore for strengthening the fire-fighting systems during the current financial year.

Rohtak, October 27
The sale of sweets on Diwali was lukewarm, mainly due to reports on adulteration of sweets made from milk and milk products. This led to a spurt in the sale of dry fruits, cookies, chocolates and juices. The authorities had seized several quintals of spurious ghee and milk products meant for the preparation of sweets in the region.

“We had been expecting a huge sale of sweets but the response was not up to the expectations,” said Shyam, an employee at a sweets shop located on Delhi road here. He said residents mainly thronged the stalls displaying gift packs containing biscuits, cookies, chocolates, fruit juices and snacks.

“This was perhaps due to the reports circulating in the media that a large quantity of spurious and adulterated sweets and milk products had been supplied in the market , claimed Anoop, another shop owner. There was about 30 to 40 per cent drop in the sale of sweets made from milk and milk products as the consumer stayed way from purchasing such products.

Several samples had been collected from local sweets shops after raids were carried out upon receipt of complaints about adulteration and this had perhaps led to better awareness among consumers, said an official of the Health Department here.

Sonepat, October 27
Representatives of farmers of eight villages in the Rai region who had been staging a dharna at Beeswan Meel under the banner of the “Bhoomi Adhigrahan Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti” in protest against the acquisition of land for Rajiv Gandhi Education City for the past 58 days, observed a ‘black’ Diwali by covering their heads with black cloth and tying black badges on their arms.

Holding black flags in their hands, they raised slogans against the government and demanded immediate release of their most fertile land. They charged the government with not listening to their grievances and pledged to continue their agitation.

Rajpal Sewli, convener of the samiti, said about 2027 acres of land in eight villages was acquired in 2006 for around Rs 260 per square yard which was being allotted to private parties for Rs 5,600 to Rs 6,000 per square yard. He asserted the acquisition of land had rendered farmers’ families jobless.

Panipat, October 27
With Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda approving the bid documents of canal-based water supply scheme for this industrial hub of the region, the project is all set to take off soon.

The Chief Minister had recently approved the scheme, costing Rs 155 crore. The Irrigation Department has been directed to issue sanction for raw water outlet connection of 49 cusecs from Parallel Delhi Branch and Carrier Lined Channel.

The project is being financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the detailed project report, with the scheme costing Rs 230.84 crore, had been prepared by a consultant of the bank itself. The project had already been approved by the National Capital Region Planning Board. The administration has identified an eight-acre piece of land between the Jind railway line and the two parallel canals that pass through the city where this project would be set up. It will have a water treatment plant with the latest filtration technology. Under this project, the city will be divided into 18 zones with each having its own supply network.

The main supply will be drawn from the two canals and in order to have a
back-up of up to three days, a huge reservoir will also be constructed.

The project also includes construction of 12 underground and six overhead water tanks and replacement of all water pipelines. Keeping in view the water requirement of the city, which is 80 Million Liters a Day (MLD), adequate arrangements will be made in the project.

As of now, the city has around 150 tubewells that pump out more than 50 million litters of water every day, which is around 30 MLD short of meeting the demands of the city. Besides, there are over 300 km of pipelines that supply water within the city and 27,887 registered connections. Once the project is completed, the city residents will get rid of the water problems, which have been ailing them for long.

Karnal/Panipat, October 27
Two persons, including a six-year-old child, were killed while six sustained serious injuries as a car hit them on the Newal-Karnal road late last night. According to the police, the deceasded were six-year-old Sunny and Lal Chand (45). The police said the victims were on two motorcycles when the car rammed into their vehicles.

In another accident, three persons who were on their way from Panipat to Gohana were killed when their motorcycle was hit by a Canter in Panipat district. The deceased were identified as Raju of Rajakheri village, Mohammad Umer of Gaziabad and Suresh Tiwari of Panipat. — TNS

Hisar, October 27
Shopkeepers of the local Guru Jambheshwar market kept their shops closed today in protest against the failure of the police to arrest the miscreants who had sought ransom from a shopkeeper and fired a shot two days ago.

Gagan Chugh, president of the Market Association, said the strike and dharna would continue till the culprits were arrested. He said the failure of the police to nab the miscreants had created a fear in the minds of the businessmen.

On Tuesday, two miscreants came to a shop in the afternoon and handed over to the owner a letter allegedly written on behalf of two criminals lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail. It demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from the shopkeeper.

The miscreants then fired a shot and escaped on their motorcycle.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, October 27
A new auto market coming up on 52-acre land in Sirsa will be one of the biggest such markets in Asia.

As many as 1,255 commercial plots have already been allotted to those in automobile trade, while the process to allot 210 more plots to those left out in the first round has been initiated, said Gopal Kanda, Minister for Home, Industries and Urban Local Bodies, at a function at an auto market in Sirsa to celebrate Vishwakarma Day.

Kanda said the Improvement Trust, Sirsa, which was developing the market, would provide all kinds of facilities to make it a modern auto market. The new auto market, he said, would provide employment to over 10,000 youths.

The minister said those associated with auto trade had waited for this new auto market for over 27 years as governments after governments, he alleged, had preferred to let the issue hang fire due to vested interests.

Meanwhile, Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera today presided over the Vishwakarma Day celebrations function in auto markets at Bhuna and Fatehabad, respectively. Tanwar said mechanics, artisans and skilled workers, who worshipped Lord Vishwakarma on this day, had been contributing a lot towards the development of society.

Chandigarh, October 27
As part of a drive to make Haryana nicotine-free, the state Food and Drug Administration Department this month raided 28 hookah bars in seven districts and have taken 77 samples so far.

Five hookah bars were raided in Panchkula district where seven samples were taken. Similarly, five such bars were raided in Panipat district and 36 samples taken. In Gurgaon district, seven hookah bars were raided and eight samples taken, in Faridabad two bars were raided and eight samples taken. Seven bars were raided in Rohtak district and 11samples taken. Similarly, one bar each was raided in Jhajjar and Hisar districts where four and three samples were taken, respectively.

None of the manufacturers of the product seized at hookah bars had a drug manufacturing licence, which was mandatory under Section 18(C) of the Drug and Cosmetics Act, a spokesman of the Haryana Food and Drug Administration Department said.

Legal action would be initiated for the violation of Section 18(C) of the Act which is punishable under Section 27 with minimum imprisonment of three years with a fine.

The raids were conducted in the state after the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued directions recently in a petition filed by an NGO, Burning Brain Society.

The samples seized from these bars in the state have been sent to the State Drug Laboratory at Chandigarh. Legal action would be initiated against the defaulters after examining the test reports issued by the laboratory.

Meanwhile, task forces has been constituted under the chairmanship of the respective Deputy Commissioner in every district to check this menace.

Hisar, October 27
INLD General Secretary Ajay Chautala has sought the resignation of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda following the defeat of the Congress nominee in the byelection to the Hisar Lok Sabha seat.

He said Haryana Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana had already resigned owning moral responsibility for the defeat. “It is now Hooda’s turn as he was the one who selected the nominee and camped here throughout the campaign”, Chautala said.

He said Hooda’s ouster was just a matter of time as Congress President Sonia Gandhi had already been apprised of the secret meeting between HJC-BJP nominee Kuldeep Bishnoi and Hooda at which it was decided to ask Congress leaders to direct their supporters to vote in Bishnoi’s favour as the Congress nominee stood no chance.

Chautala said even the UPA government at the Centre was on its last legs. A major coalition partner, the NCP led by Sharad Pawar, had strongly criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for failing to provide proper leadership. Should the NCP withdraw support, no other party would support the UPA and the government would fall. This, he said, had raised the possibilities of a mid-term Lok Sabha poll.

Madhuban (Karnal), October 27
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will focus on widening the cadre base of the party and strengthening the organisation in Haryana to emerge as a force to reckon with in the next Assembly elections.

A state-level meeting of the BSP, held here on Saturday at the residence of BSP leader Harvinder Kalyan, reviewed the progress of the formation of sector-level committees and stressed that women should be involved in the organisational work in a big way. Rajbir Singh, state in charge of the party, said the BSP was a cadre-based party and the workers were the real strength and the backbone of the organisation.

Referring to the BJP, he said the ongoing rath yatra of senior BJP leader LK Advani was an exercise in futility to retrieve the party’s lost base. The meeting resolved to ensure the success of the party in next Assembly elections.

Hisar, October 27
Dozens of students of Guru Jambheshwar University who appeared for their final year computer science and engineering examination in May are still awaiting their detailed marks cards.

Most of these students had to reappear in an examination for an earlier semester and their awards for that examination have not been sent to the examination branch.