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Holy city ashamed again
More heads to roll in Patiala gang rape case
Government initiates measures to curb crime against women
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In second term, coalition leaders set new record in extravagance
Cong gears up to meet SAD challenge in Moga
Infant mortality rate down in state, Centre offers
Rs 106 cr incentive
Accused’s mother alleges frame-up
Punjab yet to arrange funds for sewage plants
Dense fog disrupts life in Bathinda
PRTC to set targets for bus conductors to increase revenue
Sangrur to invite PGI team to get smoke-free status
Probe acquits policeman of rape charge
Railways on right track at start of new year
Attack on AIG
PGI should only function
as a referral hospital: HC
Counsel absent, Centre draws HC ire
Khalistani module busted, 5 arrested
‘Cheated’ by husband, woman sets herself on fire
60 bags of poppy husk seized
Teenaged girl abducted, 2 booked
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Holy city ashamed again
The victim alleged the accused, who is president of a school for special children located on Mall Road area, also assaulted her about a week ago. The police registered the case only after the complainant approached the higher authorities. Talking to The Tribune, the woman alleged she came in contact with the accused in November last year and after his pursuance she shifted from Jalandhar to Amritsar. She said Milan made physical relationship with her saying that he had some family problem and would marry her at an appropriate time. She alleged for about a year the accused sexually exploited her following which she became pregnant. "When I pressed him for marriage, he started threatening me. About a week ago, the accused along with several persons came to my house and beat me up," she alleged. When she first filed a police complaint, two policemen visited her residence to inquire the matter, but no action was taken. Ram Singh, Police Commissioner, said a case under Section 376 of the IPC had been registered after a thorough inquiry and after taking a legal opinion. No arrest has been made so far. In another case, a 13-year-old girl belonging to a migrant family from Bihar was allegedly raped by a youth. The accused has been arrested following a complaint by an aunt of the victim. The complainant alleged the girl who had been residing with her had been raped for six times in the last four months by Dhoti Yadav. No stopping crime The president of a school for special children has been booked for raping a woman on the pretext of marrying her. In another case, a migrant labourer has been booked for raping a 13-year-old girl for the past four months
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More heads to roll in Patiala gang rape case
Patiala, December 31 The Punjab Police top brass warned of strict action against more police personnel in the case.
— Surjit Singh Rakhra, Cabinet Minister A heavy police presence was visible in this remote village since morning as ADGP (Crime) Jasminder Singh, IG Paramjit Singh Gill and other senior officers visited the village. After the bhog ceremony, high drama prevailed when the family refused to accept the government's job offer, as it was a temporary job of a peon in the Revenue Department. The family later agreed after persuasion by senior officials, who clarified that the job would become permanent after two years of temporary period. Cabinet Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra handed over the appointment letter to the family. Interestingly, some police officials today tried to pursue the victim's family and local residents to appeal to Rakhra to reinstate the suspended Patran DSP, Harpreet Singh. Rakhra refused to entertain any query pertaining to adopting a soft approach against the erring police officials, claiming that the role of senior police officials in this case was unfortunate. "If police officials and their seniors think they can be spared for being negligent, they are wrong. The role of everyone involved will be probed by the committee appointed by the Chief Minister," Rakhra said. Sources said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal was not happy with the way the case had been handled. Sukhbir had pointed out more heads would roll soon, they added. Punjab ADGP (Intelligence) HS Dhillon told said instead of defending guilty officers, the Patiala police should ensure that the family got justice. "A three-member committee has already been appointed to probe the case. It will also submit a report on lapses on part of police personnel posted in Patiala," Dhillon said. Personnel of the district police has been deployed for the safety of the victim's family for the last four days when the case came to light. "A total of five arrests have been made in the case so far. Besides the SI, the other are Chinder Kaur, Balwinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Sandeep Singh," said Patiala IG Paramjit Singh Gill.
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Government initiates measures to curb crime against women
Chandigarh, December 31 Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today directed the police authorities to ensure no complainant of gender-related crimes was called to the police station. Instead, all such complainants should be examined at their residence by police officials who should be accompanied by a woman officer, the Deputy Chief Minister said in a
statement. Sukhbir also asked the Director General of Police (DGP) to only depute gazetted officers, not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, to investigate gender-related cases. He also instructed that dedicated telephone numbers manned by woman constables should be set up in all police stations to deal with such complaints so that complainants could air their grievances without any fear, hesitation or inhibition. The government has directed the DGP to depute at least one woman Sub-Inspector, besides requisite woman constables, in each police station. He told the DGP to issue detailed guidelines to district police heads to monitor cases of crime against women and children on a daily basis. He said the district police chiefs must remain present in their offices from 10-11 am for attending to the complaints of crime against women and children. In a related development, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has, through a letter, asked Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice AK Sikri to allocate dedicated courts in all districts to ensure speedy trial of cases involving women and
children. Badal also constituted a four-member committee comprising Advocate General, Principal Secretary (Home), DGP and Director (prosecution and litigation) to recommend stricter laws to deal with the accused involved in crime against women and children. He also asked the committee to ensure swifter procedures for speedy prosecution of the accused. The committee will submit its report within 10 days. For their safety
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Badal cancels customary New Year visit
Chandigarh, December 31 A spokesman said the Chief Minister had cancelled his customary visit to pay his respects to Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil tomorrow, the first day of the New Year. In a statement here, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said to pay homage to the Delhi gang-rape victim, there would be no celebrations at the government level. In a message to the people, the Chief Minister said this was the time for introspection for everyone as to what extent "we have followed the teachings of our gurus who wanted us to accord the highest honour to women". "The New Year may see us closer to a society in which women, children and senior citizens enjoy a life of complete honor, security and dignity". Badal said he would observe the day in solemn dedication to the cause which the Delhi girl had come to
symbolise.
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In second term, coalition leaders set new record in extravagance
Chandigarh, December 31
An amount of Rs 4 lakh was spent on the installation of air conditioners and a water cooler at the residence of one of the ministers. Interestingly, the amount is almost three-times of what the Union Government has earmarked (Rs 1.44 lakh) for the construction of a house for a family under the Indira Awaas Yojana. The information was accessed by The Tribune under the RTI Act. It pertains to the expenditure incurred by the Water Supply and Sanitation Department on the installation of air conditioners and water coolers at the residences of 11 SAD-BJP leaders. Geysers were also installed at a few houses. Of the 11 leaders, two Ministers, Anil Joshi (Industry and Commerce) and Surjit Kumar Jiyani (Forest and Wildlife), belong to the BJP. The rest nine leaders belong to the main ally SAD. The opposition Congress does not even have a single beneficiary on the list. The highest expenditure of Rs 4.03 lakh was made at the residence of former Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, who had to quit the Cabinet following allegations of embezzlement of welfare funds issued from his discretionary quota. When contacted, Ranike said, "I stayed in the house only for a month before I shifted to my current residence in Mohali." The second highest amount of Rs 3.94 lakh was spent on the residence of PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon. Split air conditioners of 1.5-ton capacity were installed at his house. Dhillon said, "I cannot comment on the matter till I know the details of expenditure. I will verify and then speak." A good quality air conditioner of 1.5-ton is available between Rs 28,000 and Rs 40,000. As such, these Ministers could have installed 10 to 15 air conditioners at their houses with the spent amount.
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Cong gears up to meet SAD challenge in Moga
Chandigarh, December 31 The Congress has called a meeting on January 2, besides a rally on January 9, to launch an informal campaign in the constituency against Jain, who will now contest on the SAD ticket. Sources said Darshan Singh Brar and Vijay Sathi have emerged as the main contenders for the Congress ticket, though Punjab Mahila Congress president Malti Thapar is also in the race. Brar had lost the assembly elections earlier this year from Baghapurana. He is considered close to state Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh. Sathi, on the other hand, is being considered as the "best bet" from the seat in case the party decides to field a Hindu candidate to take on Jain. He also has the advantage of having contested from the seat in 2002. He was defeated by senior SAD leader Tota Singh by around 300 votes then. He is considered close to Congress Working Committee member Jagmeet Brar. Observers feel the byelection could well become a turning point in Punjab politics and its result may have an impact on the next parliamentary elections. Sources said the SAD leadership has two agendas on its mind: To further demoralise the Congress by defeating it in the byelection and pave the way to woo a few more Congress legislators into the SAD fold; to achieve a complete majority in the 117-member assembly, which will come about in case Jain wins the byelection. For the Congress, the Moga bypoll will be a do or die battle. It would never want to leave the change of avenging to some extent its defeat in the assembly elections. The party leadership is hopeful of repeating its November 1998 Adampur bypoll win when it won by a narrow margin. This bypoll win had created momentum for the then Pradesh Congress president, Capt Amarinder Singh, to lead the party to victory in the 2002 assembly elections. The Congress leaders also want to take advantage of the dissensions in the SAD camp. Though former DGP PS Gill, who was the SAD candidate in the last assembly elections, has been persuaded by the party to step aside for Jain, he would not be happy doing so. Gill has made this apparent recently. Former Agriculture Minister Tota Singh, who was nursing the Moga seat for his son Makhan Singh Brar, is also said to be unhappy at the turn of events.
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Infant mortality rate down in state, Centre offers
Rs 106 cr incentive
Chandigarh, December 31 Among the big states, Punjab has been ranked third as far as performance in the IMR is concerned. The top position has gone to Tamil Nadu to which the Union Government would give Rs 168.19 crore and the second spot has gone to
Maharashtra, which will get Rs 133.08 crore. Haryana will get Rs 12.22 crore, Himachal Pradesh Rs 16.41 crore and Gujarat Rs 15.36 crore. Among the smaller states, Manipur will get Rs 358.49 crore and Sikkim Rs 150.37 crore. The Centre has earmarked Rs 1,500 crore for distribution as incentive for reducing the infant mortality rate. The money was to be allocated on the basis of performance. As per the data, the IMR in the state has come down to 30 per thousand in 2011 from 38 per thousand in 2009. During 2010 and 2011, Punjab was able to reduce the infant mortality by 4 points each year. The figure of the current year is not available yet. The national average was recorded 44 per thousand in 2011 while it was 50 in 2009. In 2001, the IMR was 52 per thousand. In Manipur, the infant mortality rate is 11 per thousand and in Sikkim it is 26. Principal Secretary (Finance) Satish Chandra, who was earlier Principal Secretary (Health) said a letter with regard to the cash incentive had been received by his department. Institutional delivery rate in Punjab was recorded 63 per cent in 2008-09 and it is nearly 70 per cent now, it is learnt. The safe delivery percentage was recorded 77 per cent in the state in 2008-09. There is also improvement in this regard. Cash incentive is offered to women for having delivery in civil hospitals. Demographic expert Aswini Kumar Nanda said health indicators were improving constantly in the state. He said the percentage of the people who get qualified medical attention before death had gone up to 53 per cent in the state in 2010 against a figure of 48.7 per cent in 2004. Welcome move The infant mortality rate in the state has come down to 30 per thousand in 2011 from 38 per thousand in 2009
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Accused’s mother alleges frame-up
Sangrur, December 31 She today met Senior Superintendent of Police
(SSP) Harcharan Singh Bhullar here. She said the girl's family wanted to get their daughter married to her son to grab their property. The SSP has asked the SP (Detective) Paramjit Singh Goraya to investigate the matter. Earlier, a case was registered on October 16 at the Malerkotla (city-II) police station against Mohammad Saif for allegedly raping an 18-year-old girl. Saif was arrested on December 28 and was later remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. Earlier, the accused was arrested after the victim's family threatened to hold a protest against the police "inaction". The SSP said Saif was arrested on the complaint of the girl. He assured both the families that the inquiry would be conducted in an independent manner and justice would be done to them.
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Land grab charge against man who assaulted AIG Mand
Ludhiana, December 31 The night club was inaugurated on April 15 and Johar violated the building bylaws during its construction. The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation overlooked this and let the club have a side entry, which is not permissible in such buildings. The 514 sq yards of land, where The Hub is located, was actually owned by one Beant Kumari, who had purchased this property in mid 1960's. Beant Kumari's relative Gurbrinder Singh Gill, who is a resident of Amritsar, said Beant Kumari's only child named Kamla Kumari was married to one Bakhshish Singh and they had three children namely Varinder Singh Hundal, Hardial Singh Hundal and Ranjana Sohi. "Kamla passed away on May 27, 1970, after which Bakhshish remarried one Kamaljeet Kaur. Before Beant Kumari's death, she wrote in her will, that this property would now be jointly owned by Varinder Singh Hundal and Hardial Singh Hundal, both NRIs based in UK and USA. When Bakhshish passed away in 2005, Kamaljeet unsuccessfully tried to get the property registered in her name. That was when, she came in contact with Sunny Johar," alleged Gill. He further alleged that the property remained locked till the 2008 when Sunny took illegal possession of it. "Both Sunny and Kamaljeet fabricated several documents, including Beant Kumari's death certificate. He used his political contacts in Ludhiana MC to get her fake death certificate, which showed that she had passed away on November 6, 1982, whereas she had passed away on November 22, 1990. When we moved a complaint against Kamaljeet, Sunny and his accomplices in 2008, Sunny started harassing us and got a false case registered against Ranjana's husband Sukhwinder Singh Sohi, a retired ASI, in 2009. At that time Sohi had the power of attorney of the said land," said Gurbrinder. The matter was then brought to the notice of Bikram Singh Majithia as Gurbrinder's ancestral village is located in Majitha constituency of Amritsar. "But instead of helping us, he called Sunny at his house and told us that he had six 'valid' registries of the land. Majithia offered to get the matter resolved," alleged Gurbrinder Singh Gill. Sohi said their family had been suffering since 2008. "We want the state government to help us get our property back," he said. A senior district administration official, requesting anonymity, said they were looking into the matter. Sunny Johar is facing charges of attempt to murder for breaking the leg of AIG (Counter Intelligence) SS
Mand.
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Punjab yet to arrange funds for sewage plants
Sangrur, December 31 Dr AS Mann, a member of the district unit of the RTI Activists Federation (Punjab), said it was unfortunate that the government could not arrange funds for so many cities of the Sangrur district. Dr Mann urged the Punjab Government to initiate steps for the commissioning of sewage treatment plants in all the above mentioned places in Sangrur district as it had already done so in 16 cities and towns of the state. These places included
Bareta, Bhikhi, Fazilka, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Malout,
Phagwara, Nangal and Rampura Phul. Work on sewage treatment plants in 32 cities and towns has already begun. — TNS
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Dense fog disrupts life in Bathinda
Bathinda, December 31 More than a dozen serious accidents have been reported because of the fog this season in which two people have lost their lives while more than 15 were reported injured in and around Bathinda city. Accidents have been reported on Goniana road, Mansa road, Dabwali road, Barnala road and near Ghorewala
chowk, Power House chowk, GT Road and other busy intersections in the city. In an accident that took place on Dabwali road in the wee hours today, a resident of Sirsa lost his life while three others including an 11-year-old boy received serious injuries. The driver of the Maruti 800 car, Prem Kumar, a resident of
Sirsa, lost his life today while Sukhmandar Singh his wife, Sukhpal Kaur and their 11-year-old son Gurmilan Singh received serious injuries when their car collided head-on with a speeding tractor- trolley. The trolley loaded with cement bags was going towards Bathinda when the accident took place. According to the volunteers of Sangat Sahara, the accident took place at around 8 am when the Maruti car was trying to overtake a city bus near Sangat
Kenchiyan. The driver of the car failed to notice the approaching trolley and the two vehicles collided head-on. The occupants of the car are residents of Balmiki Chowk in Sirsa and were returning from Bathinda after attending the funeral rites of a relative. Doctors at the Civil Hospital said Gurmilan Singh had sustained a fracture in the arm while his parents received head injuries. They were admitted to the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital. Their condition is now stated to be critical but out of danger. The volunteers of the NGO Sangat Sahara said they have witnessed four major road accidents on Dabwali road alone during the last one week. They said all the accidents have taken place due to dense fog. The smaller vehicles have rammed into the bigger vehicles and cars overtaking each other have collided with vehicles approaching from the other side due to low visibility. In a similar accident that took place near Gehri Buttar village, four persons returning from Ludhiana received serious injuries last night. The car in which they were travelling was trailing behind a truck. The car driver failed to see the road due to the dense fog and when the truck driver applied brakes suddenly, the car rammed into the truck from the rear. Those injured in the accident were identified as Gurbachan Singh,
Harnam, Balraj, and Harjeet Kaur. They were heading towards Ranian in Haryana and the accident took place around midnight. They received head injuries and the glass shards from the window panes entered into their eyes. They were rushed to the Civil Hospital where they were given first aid and then shifted to another hospital in Haryana. In yet another accident that took place near refinery road, a jeep and a car collided due to fog yesterday in the afternoon. Though no serious injuries were reported, both the vehicles were severely damaged. The residents of the area said there are no traffic lights, speed-breakers or other identity marks to help the commuters identify the turn towards the refinery from the Dabwali road. Many accidents have taken place in the past wherein people have received serious injuries, said the residents. Meanwhile, Dimple
Goyal, son of a Bathinda-based cloth merchant, was found lying in a water channel near
Sangat. Dimple was taken to a hospital by the volunteers of Sangat Sahara in a serious condition. The volunteers said after bringing the youth out of the water channel, they brought him to the government hospital at Sangat for treatment.
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PRTC to set targets for bus conductors to increase revenue
Patiala, December 31 DPS Kharbanda, Managing Director of PRTC, said he will soon fix targets for conductors on all routes and formulate a plan of rewarding good performers and pulling up non-performers. "We have 10 depots in Punjab and have fixed daily revenue targets for each one of them. Patiala's target is Rs 15 lakh per day. However, by adding more buses to the routes, we are looking to increase the revenue," he added. The PRTC, which had a loss of Rs 2.60 crore in April this year, has now overcome all its debts and is running in profit. Setting targets for all depots and putting all defunct buses on the road helped PRTC slowly overcome its losses. In May, the loss was reduced to Rs 1.45 crore and gradually the PRTC overcame all its losses and earned a profit of Rs 56.18 lakh in August. Kharbanda said in the first week of January, PRTC was going to add 10 to 15 buses to its fleet. He said by 2013-end, its target was to add 200 buses, including 150 ordinary buses and 50 AC buses to its fleet.
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Probe acquits policeman of rape charge
Amritsar, December 31 Preet Paul Singh Virk, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Amritsar rural, said: "We have sufficient evidence against the girl who had complained that she was raped by head constable Kulwinder Singh and his nephew Gurcharan Singh. The victim had also alleged that she was forced to marry Gurcharan Singh in Mohali, he said. "We will take action against the complainant for misleading the police by lodging a false FIR," said Virk. The SSP said in another case registered at Bhindi Saida, the complainant stated in a local court that she was not raped. "We will initiate action under Section 182 of the IPC against the girl in this case," he added.— TNS
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Sangrur to invite PGI team to get smoke-free status
Sangrur, December 31 If the team gives the district clearance, then it will join the four districts that have already got the smoke-free status in the state. The districts are Mohali, Ropar, Amritsar and Mansa. The district health authorities expect to get the smoke-free status by the end of January. Sources said the team would conduct random checking in the district. The team would ask people if the no-smoking rules at public places have been implemented and check if signage (regarding no smoking rules and information about nodal officers, responsible for implementing the rules) has been displayed at offices and public places. Civil Surgeon Dr HS Bali said the district would surely get smoke-free status as it fulfilled all the
parameters. Dr Surinder Singla, the district health officer-cum-nodal officer, Tobacco Control Cell, said all the requisite steps had already been taken by the district administration to ensure proper implementation of no-smoking rules. Dr Singla said in the year 2012, over 1,600 people were challaned for violating the no-smoking rules and Rs 1,10,000 had been collected as fine.
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Railways on right track at start of new year
Bathinda, December 31 Washable aprons, which will ensure better sanitation on the railway tracks, were introduced at the Bathinda junction this year. The construction of the washable aprons was completed on platform numbers 5 and 1. For those taking trains from the Bathinda junction, the 2012 Rail Budget brought good news. It was announced that the weekly train, Sri Ganganagar-Hazoor Saheb-Nanded Express, would by converted into a tri-weekly. After much dilly-dallying, the railway authorities have decided that starting from February 2013, the train will run thrice a week.
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Attack on AIG
Ludhiana, December 31 The Duty Magistrate Jasvir Singh today remanded the owner of The Hub namely Maninder Pal Singh alias Sunny Johar and his accomplices Rishi Banda and Aman to judicial custody till January 14, 2013. They were produced in the court after spending four days in police remand. The prosecution continued to maintain a mysterious silence about the attack on
Mand, whose leg was fractured in the brawl. Nothing was spoken about the recovery of CCTV footage which reportedly showed how Mand was badly beaten up. The police are yet to record the statement of
Mand. The local police dispersed Sunny Johar’s supporters, who had assembled in the court complex in large numbers. Around four hundred supporters were present when he was produced in the court at about
1.30 pm. Assitant Public Prosecutor Gurpal Singh apprised the court that a pistol and a revolver were recovered from Sunny and complainant NRI Paramjit Singh’s mobile phone was recovered from Amandeep
Singh. Gurpal Singh had sought that the accused be sent in five more days of police remand to trace the whereabouts of three more accused on the basis of a supplementary statement of the complainant. Accused are facing accusations of beating and fiercely attacking the complainant and snatching his pistol.
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PGI should only function
as a referral hospital: HC
Chandigarh, December 31 The High Court has also made it clear the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, should function essentially as a referral hospital; and district-level hospitals in Chandigarh’s vicinity should also have intensive care units, ventilators and dialysis facilities. Upgradation of ambulances too has been recommended. The High Court directions are based on the recommendations made by a committee of experts constituted by the institute after the Bench took cognisance of a petition filed in public interest on an accident victim’s death, soon after being discharged from the PGIMER’s intensive care unit. Admitted to the PGI on August 27, 2008, with head and other injuries, Rakesh Kumar was on his way to the Civil Hospital at Solan after spending 17 days in the PGIMER’s ICU when he died. The incident was brought to the High Court’s notice by an NGO, World Human Rights Protection Council. The committee, after holding “several meetings” and “serious deliberations”, recommended that the PGIMER should “work as truly referral hospital, and receive patients in the emergency seen/evaluated at a medical centre”. The committee also recommended that proper refer-back system should be implemented, once specialised care is over. “The patient should be sent to smaller set-up hospitals for management”. The committee added: “All district hospitals of neighbouring states need to be upgraded. It is proposed that the facility of intensive care unit (10-bedded ICU), dialysis and ventilators must be available at all district-level hospitals within 40 km radius of Chandigarh”. Moreover, “the doctors of district hospitals must have training with certification that they have capability of taking bedside care of trauma patients with acute medical illnesses”, the committee suggested. Another recommendation was that all medical colleges in the neighbouring states must have departments of neurosurgery, cardiology, nephrology, plastic surgery and urology. Also required was adequate number of ambulances for ferrying ventilated patients. The ambulances must be fully equipped “both in terms of equipment and manpower, including anesthesiologist, technician and staff nurse”, the committee said. Agreeing with the recommendations, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain disposed of the petition with directions to the PGI to implement the recommendations.
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Counsel absent, Centre draws HC ire
Chandigarh, December 31 Ruling that the state of affairs has hardly improved even after repeatedly bringing the matter to the Assistant Solicitor-General Anmol Rattan Singh Sidhu’s notice, Justice Ranjit Singh has also warned the authorities concerned not to treat the order as routine lest the Defence Secretary has to be summoned. The strictures came on a petition by Jagdish Singh against the Union of India and other respondents. The petitioner, serving as Rifleman in 16 Assam Rifles, was tried and dismissed by summary court martial on May 9, 2001, after he pleaded guilty, but filed the petition to impugn the finding and sentence imposed on him. At the outset, his counsel submitted that the petition may be transferred to Armed Forces Tribunal, since the petitioner has been subjected to trial by court martial. Taking up the matter, Justice Ranjit Singh ruled the petitioner’s case was not one, where it could straightaway be held that these proceedings should be transferred to the Tribunal. The petitioner was not a person subject to Army Act. He, rather, belonged to Assam Rifles, a force raised and maintained under the Central Government authority, to which the provisions of the Army Act were applied. Justice Ranjit Singh added: “I have been denied the benefit of assistance of counsel representing the Union of India. This is nothing unusual. Counsel representing the Union of India is hardly present in the cases. This has been a feature of this case specially. “The situation has not improved despite calling Assistant Solicitor-General on more than one occasion. Even in one of the cases, the issue was brought to the Defence Secretary’s notice, but still the situation has not improved. No one was present on behalf of the respondent Union of India.
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Khalistani module busted, 5 arrested
Bathinda, December 31 The police swung into action on the basis of intelligence inputs and nabbed the kingpin of the module, Sukhcharan Singh, a registered medical practitioner, and four others. These posters have created panic in the area.
Sukhcharan was practicing in Cheema Mandi village of Sangrur. They are being interrogated by a special team that has been set up by Senior Superintendent of Police Narendera
Bhargava. They have been booked under the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act and Section 153 and 295(a) of the IPC in Bhikhi and Budladha police
stations. Bhargava said the Khalistani posters were found pasted in the wee hours in
Budladha, Bhikhi, Gurnekalan and two other places in the morning. Reacting to the situation, he immediately set up a special team under the SP (Detective) that raided several places and nabbed the members of the module that was established about a month ago. Three members of the module belong to Mansa and one each from Haryana and
Sangrur. They have been identified as Sukhdeep Singh, Johny, Manjeet Singh and Harpreet Singh. Bhargava said that the module was operating from a religious place in Cheema Mandi village where they were meeting regularly.
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‘Cheated’ by husband, woman sets herself on fire
Ludhiana, December 31 The woman who sustained 20 per cent burn injuries is undergoing treatment at the local Civil Hospital. The police has registered a case against the man, identified as Lovely Kumar of New Company Bagh Colony on the Tibba road, and started investigations. Victim's mother said her daughter fell in love with the man and married him after eloping with him. Later, with the consent of both the families, the couple solemnised their marriage in the court. It was found that Lovely agreed for a court marriage to avoid legal proceeding against him. Victim's mother said when her daughter told her husband to arrange a formal wedding, he declined and refused to take her from her paternal house. Lovely said he could not take her home since she belonged to a lower class. Feeling cheated, the woman allegedly set herself on fire at her house last evening after pouring kerosene on her body. Her condition is stated to be out of danger. She was rushed to the local Civil Hospital. The police has registered a case under Section 417 of the IPC and article 3 of the SC, ST Act against Lovely. Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh said: "Atrocities on women of any type will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against those involved in committing such crimes".
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60 bags of poppy husk seized
Sources saud two persons, both residents of Jalandhar district, were carrying the consignment of poppy husk from Madhya Pradesh in a truck. They accused have been identified as Baljit Singh and Seetal Singh. Baljit Singh was arrested while Seetal Singh managed to flee. A case has been registered under provisions of the NDPS Act at the Sadar police station,
Sunam.
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Teenaged girl abducted, 2 booked
Tarn Taran, December 31 The accused have been identified as Gurpreet Singh of Basarke village and his unknown associate. The girl was a student of class XII in Guru Kul College, Bhikhiwind. The father of the girl, in his statement to the police, alleged that the accused abducted his daughter by luring her to marry Gurpreet Singh.
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The court turned down the request for extending police remand of three accused in the Assistant Inspector General Counter Intelligence SS Mand brawl case involving a former Youth Akali Dal leader on Christmas eve. The Assistant Inspector-General was attacked in a discotheque ‘The Hub’ situated at Ghumar
Mandi, Ludhiana.
Amritsar, December 31
There was negligence on part of some senior officials in the case. If police officials and their seniors think they can be spared for being negligent, they are wrong. The role of everyone involved will be probed by the committee appointed by the Chief Minister
Sangrur, December 31