Jalandhar, October 25
Panic spread in the Central Town area after some youths resorted to firing in the air today evening. The youths indulged in the act outside the residence of a person, with whom they had some old rivalry. However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Naresh Dogra and Station House Officer, Police Division No. 4, Surinderpal, along with the police party reached the spot.

Acting on the complaint of a resident, the police registered a case and launched a manhunt to nab the accused.

Sunita Thakur, resident of Central Town, told mediapersons that Minta, Tondon and Vicky resorted to firing outside their house and even pelted their house with stones.

She said though the accused had some enmity with Simarjit, a resident of their locality, they targeted their house only because her son, Vishal, was a friend of Simarjit.

She said a few months ago, the three youths had falsely implicated Simarjit into some criminal case. Her son today just told the trio that they should not have done this. The youths then attempted to traumatise them by resorting to firing outside their house.

Sources said prior to this incident, the accused also attempted to corner Vishal today afternoon when he went to meet the family members of Simarjit at his house near the locality, but her son managed to escape then.

The ADCP said a case under Section 336 of the IPC had been registered against them. Raids were being conducted at the suspected hideouts of the accused, he added.

Jalandhar, October 25
An elderly woman was crushed to death by a train near the City Railway Station today afternoon. She was heading towards her home when the incident took place.

The deceased was identified as Sushma, resident of Tanda road, here.

Government Railway Police officials said when the deceased was crossing the tracks, her foot got slipped on the tracks and she fell down. Though she tried to get up, but couldn’t. In a few seconds, Jehlam Express arrived and crushed her to death.

The woman got crushed so badly that her body was cut into several pieces.

After conducting preliminary investigations and questioning the relatives of the woman, the GRP police initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPc.

At least for half an hour, the GRP police could not arrange a vehicle to bring her body to the hospital.

Jalandhar, October 25
Security guard of Transport Minister and MLA of the Shahkot constituency Ajit Singh Kohar died after his service rifle went off accidentally at Kohar Khurd village yesterday evening. The bullet hit him on his head and he died on the spot.

The deceased was identified as Ranjit Singh (36), resident of Mukatsar. He was in the 75 Battalion of the Punjab Armed Police.

The incident occurred at 7.45 pm on Thursday evening when the victim was changing clothes at his room situated close to the Minister’s residence. The victim sustained serious head injuries which caused his death.

Rajinder Singh, Superintendent of Police, Detective, said while the deceased was changing his dress, his service rifle, which was on auto mode, unfortunately fell off his hands. Consequently, the rifle fired three 9 mm shots in a row. Two bullets hit the roof, while one hit him in the head.

Soon after listening to the shrieks of the victim, other security men and people present at the Minister’s residence went to inquire the same and they found the security guard lying in a pool of blood, he added.

Asked if the police suspect any foul play in this incident, the SP denied the same and said it was purely a case of accidental death and accordingly, inquest proceedings were initiated.

Police sources said acting on the statement of sub-inspector Shital Singh, inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPc were initiated.

Senior Superintendent of Police Yurinder Singh also today reached the spot to conduct investigations.

Jalandhar, October 25
Two girls were reportedly kidnapped from Lambra yesterday evening. One of the victims was a minor. They have been identified as Reshma (19) and Rasidi (13).

Reshma’s father Mohammad Sharif told the police that on Wednesday evening, his daughter, along with his niece, had gone to the market, near to their house, for some personal chores and a few minutes later, he listened to the shrieks of both girls.

“When I went to inquire about the same, I noticed two youths forcibly bundling the girls in their car and he even tried to chase them but they fled,” he said.

Later, Mohammad Sharif told the police that he had identified the accused and accordingly, the police had registered a case of kidnapping against the two.

Lambra police officials said according to the complaint of Sharif, a case under Sections 366, 366 A of the IPC had been registered against the accused. A manhunt had also been launched to nab them.

Jalandhar, October 25
As many as 25,000 forms have been received by the district election office for the registration of new voters during the ongoing summary revision of voter lists.

Priyank Bharti, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer, said this in a meeting here today.

He said the work on voters’ list would be completed by October 31 and uploaded on the CEO Punjab website.

He said the electors still had six days to download forms from the website and submit the same to their respective booth-level officers, whose names and cellphone numbers had been put on the same website.

He said the objections would be cleared by December 1 and the final publishing of the list would be done on January 5.

Jalandhar, October 25
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and the 1984 Sikh carnage are two of the biggest homicides of the 20th century but even as Jallinwala Bagh is remembered with a heavy heart across the country, the 1984 riot victims have been clearly forgotten.

Senior Supreme Court advocate Harvinder Singh Phoolka made this statement as he organised a photo exhibition in the city ahead of the 28th anniversary of the 1984 Sikh carnage.

Phoolka said the aim of the exhibition is to sensitise the youth about the tragic events of 1984. The exhibition began at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar and will be organised in other cities of Punjab as well.

On the occasion, Phoolka said a petition signed by eminent citizens had been sent to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The petition has been signed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Krishna Iyer, former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan, reputed advocate Fali S. Nairman, former High Court Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar and renowned journalist Kuldip Nayar. They have demanded a reinvestigation and reopening of the cases in which the guilty are yet to be punished despite strong evidence and eyewitness accounts against them.

The votaries for justice to the 1984 riot victims shall also be taking up this issue at the Jantar Mantar on November 3.

Talking about the role of the Punjab government in the issue, Phoolka said it is a worrisome aspect that the 1984 riots are perceived to be relegated to a Sikh issue in Punjab.

“Between November 1 and 3 (1984) as many as 3,000 people were killed in Delhi and 7,000 across the nation. Many Hindus also sheltered the Sikhs and lost lives for it. It is not a Sikh issue. It is a national issue. Reducing it to a tragedy which affects or matters to only 2 per cent of the country’s people is not right,” he said.

There is a lack of political will in Punjab to term the issue as a national tragedy, everytime it is reduced to a communal issue, he said. Although he said the state government had been largely supportive of their efforts and offered helped whenever they asked for it.

The exhibition saw a very strong response both at Amritsar and Sultanpur Lodhi and it will be taken to Ludhiana (Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahab) tomorrow.

Jalandhar, October 25
Surveys to ascertain the number of cancer cases in the district for the effective treatment and care of the patients will begin in the district from December 1 this year.

A district-level workshop was held to spread awareness among ASHA workers and village-level health workers about the rise in the cases of cancer in Punjab. The workshop was inaugurated by Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan.

While speaking on the occasion, Dr Bassan exhorted health workers to conduct proper door-to-door surveys to determine the spread and extent of cancer in the district so that effective steps could be taken to ensure proper treatment machinery and determine the extent of the cancer threat in the district.

Dr PL Garg, Executive Director, State Health System, Resource Centre, Chandigarh, while speaking on the occasion, said ASHA workers played an important role in the campaign to curb the cancer menace because they were the ones who knew the situation of the patients at the ground level.

While the cancer-related surveillance has been conducted in the Kheyal block, Faridkot area, of the state, in the rest of the districts as well as Jalandhar, it will begin on December 1.

While the cancer situation in the Malwa region of the state is really bad, the Doaba region and Jalandhar district itself also suffer from a huge number of cancer cases.

While hospital authorities claim that effective measures are regularly being taken to extend help and proper treatment to cancer patients in the district, in the recent times it has also been seen that some people, especially from the lower income groups, languish due to relatively limited awareness about health schemes and the lack of reach of health teams to their areas.

The survey being conducted from December 1 will hopefully help change things, especially by providing the Health Department with a better perspective on the cancer threat in the district.

Jalandhar, October 25
The management of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV) will hold a two-day conference on ‘role of technology in enhancing the quality of higher education (ICRT-12)’ from tomorrow.

The conference will be instrumental in developing teaching-learning processes with technological advancements in methodologies, which will enhance the quality of higher education, said Dr Atima Sharma, principal of KMV.

Eminent luminaries of international standing from the leading universities of the US, UK, Hong Kong, Dubai, India, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Egypt and Ukraine will attend the conference. Fifteen scholars and experts from overseas will attend the conference.

Prof. John Battaglino, Executive Director and Dean, Student Activities, Boston University, USA, will be the chief guest for the inaugural session.

Dr Maria Nikolova Zlateva, Prof. Boston University, USA, will deliver the keynote address.

Chander Gaind, Special Secretary, Higher Education, Punjab, will be the chief guest of the valedictory session.

Inderjit Singh, Registrar, GNDU, Amritsar, will preside over the function, while Kamna Raj Aggarwal, a leading industrialist, will be the guests of honour.

The resource persons include Dr Maria Nikolova Zlateva, Professor, Boston University, USA; Dr Cynthia Smith Forrest, vice-president of Student Affairs, University of New England, Bitteford; Dr Jyoti K. Grewal, Zayed University, Dubai, Dr Carol Shepherd, National University, California, USA; Dr Rashmi Sahi, St. Stephen’s College, Hong Kong; Dr Chris Boesch, Singapore Management University, Singapore; Alvetyna Pikovets Mehandru, Kharkiv Music School, Ukraine, Dr Norrozila Binti Sulaiman, University Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia, and Mathew Cullen, Educational Consultant, Compton Education, UK.