Dehradun, November 16
BD Bahuguna, police station in charge, Khurbuda police station, who is investigating the sexual exploitation case of Class VII student of Cambridge Public Senior Secondary School by his hostel warden last Sunday, could not make any headway after talking to the parents of two students, who stayed with the victim in his room today.

Nothing concrete could come out while talking to other students and parents as well on the school premises.

Bahuguna, who had a private conversation with these two students and their parents, said, “Neither the children nor their parents said anything which goes against warden Shakti Singh who is under police custody now. They admitted that he used to chide or beat them up at times but never tried to get physical.”

He also called many other students and their parents but they too did not divulge anything in this direction. A couple of them said they did not even know who Shakti Singh was.

“With the reactions of students and parents whom I tried to take into confidence in all possible ways, it seems they don’t want to spoil their relations with the school authorities as long as the children remain unharmed in the school. Nevertheless, they are apprehensive about what happened in the school hostel,” he said.

On the matter of school principal S Vohra’s arrest, he said he could not do so unless he had strong evidence against him.

The forensic evidence had been sent for further verification. The victim has left the school for good and completed all formalities in this regard.

Bahuguna said the victim’s father was meeting with people of higher authorities to have stricter punishment for the warden for committing the heinous crime and principal for remaining negligent throughout and taking refuge in levelling allegations on the victim for being careless about his studies instead.

Dehradun, November 16
Chief Minister BC Khanduri met a delegation of doctors from the Provincial Medical and Health Services Association and the Indian Medical Association (IMA), who called on him at his office at the Secretariat here today.

The delegation members, led by Dr Mahesh Kuriyal, a neurosurgeon, of the IMA, submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister containing their demands.

The Chief Minister told the visiting delegation that he would go into various demands that had been raised by them. He also gave an assurance to the medical officers that the government would keep their interests in mind.

Among other things, Provincial Medical Services doctors expressed concern over the paucity of medical professionals in the hills and said raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 years by the government was neither a permanent solution to the problem nor was it in the interest of the state.

The association demanded that the government should implement the Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) scheme on the completion of four, eight, 15 and 20 years of service to attract young medical graduates to the state medical and health services and to raise the spirit of service and confidence of senior and experienced doctors.

They said these measures would go a long way in removing a shortage of doctors in the remote and far-flung areas of the state.

The memorandum also put forward the demand for the promulgation of legal provisions for the security of medical professionals in the hospitals. In response to the demand, the CM said the task of doctors was a challenging one. They must deal with the patients in a courteous manner. Medical service was an altruistic service and the obligation should be fulfilled accordingly. Sometimes somewhere some circumstances do arise when patients resorted to unruly behaviour, but doctors should continue to behave with such patients in a guardian-like manner.

On the occasion, the delegation members also congratulated the Chief Minister for his initiatives in eradicating corruption and promoting good governance and public service in the state. They expressed their appreciation to the Chief Minister for the passage of the Lokayukta Act and the Right to Public Service Act.

Mussoorie, November 16
The practice of using the students of government school by smalltime leaders to showcase crowd strength at functions in order to please their political masters is going on unchecked at Kempty in Jaunpur belt of Tehri Garhwal district. Political functions are held quite frequently here as the Assembly elections draw closer.

During the three-day sports and cultural festival organised by a few local BJP leaders at Kempty, 13 km from Mussoorie, that was attended by bigwigs from the party such as former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Sports and Housing Minister Khajan Das and Education Minister Matbar Singh Kandari, 500 students from Government Inter-college, Kempty, were made to sit for hours as senior politicians addressed the function. This despite the students in the middle of their half yearly practical exams.

The parents of the students said such use of the students either by political parties or by some NGOs had become a common feature. This has affected studies at schools and colleges too.

The teachers of the school also consented that they had to reschedule the practical exams on such occasions. Moreover, the pressure of preparing the students for cultural programmes on short notice also fell on them, leading to utter confusion in school functioning.

The Principal of the school, showing his helplessness, said he could do little as the participation of the students in such activities was cleared at the Parents Teachers Association meeting where he had very little say.

However, the BJP leader, seeing nothing wrong in students’ participation in such functions, said there was no question of compulsion for the students and they attended the function on their own will to hear their popular leaders.

Manmohan Singh Mall, senior Congress leader, who is also not against the participation of the students in such sports and cultural festivals, said it should be done with caution so that the future of the students was not affected by such events.

Dehradun, November 16
The students of all the branches of SGRR Public School had a gala time today as the inter-school folk dance competition was held at the Vasant Vihar branch here. A total of 15 branches of the school participated in the extravaganza where the students left everyone spellbound with their performances.

The programme commenced with the welcome of the chief guest, Mahant Devendra Dassji Maharaj. The following was Saraswati Vandana. The participating students presented an array of cultural performances, including Garhwali dance, Pandav dance, dandiya, bhangra, Rajasthani dance, Bharatnatyam, kathak and Western dance.

The team of SGRR, Race Course, was adjudged first for their kalbelia dance performance while the Sahastradhra branch got the second position for its bhangra performance. The Vasant Vihar branch was declared third for presenting the Pandav dance.

Dehradun, November 16
Welham Girls’ School won the Dehradun District Council Schools Association (DDCSA) Junior Girls’ Basketball Tournament held at Welham Girls’ School here today.

Welham Girls’ School defeated Carman School 16-08 in the final match of the tournament. Sarah Chaudhary was the top scorer with six basket for the winners while Anusha Uniyal also scored six baskets for Carman School.

Priyanka D’ Souza of Carman School was awarded the most promising player award while Priya Chaudhary of Welham Girls’ School got the most valuable player of the tournament award.

Dehradun, November 16
In the ongoing Senior Council School Cricket Tournament, The Heritage School defeated Doon Cambridge School by seven runs.

Doon Cambridge won the toss and chose to field first. The Heritage team set a target score of 109 runs for 10 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. S Chauhan and A Badola were the top scorers with 14 runs each.

In reply, the Doon Cambridge team could score only 101 runs for 10 wickets in 20 overs. Ankit scored 29 runs.

Meanwhile, Carman School defeated Shivalik International by 31 runs. Carman School won the toss and chose to bat first. They were all out in 143 runs in 20 overs. Vikas was the top scorer for the team with 42 runs.

In reply, Shivalik International scored 113 runs for 10 wickets in 17 overs.