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INLD members protest outside Delhi court

New Delhi: A Delhi court will on Tuesday pronounce its order on the sentence against former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and 53 others guilty of illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in the state in the year 2000.

Just ahead of the court proceedings, thousands of supporters of Om Prakash Chautala gathered outside the Rohini court and clashed with policemen.

Police had to resort to lathicharge and lobbing tear gas shells to disperse the slogan shouting crowds, and also closed the main gates of the premises.

"We had to use water canons, tear gas and lathicharge, as the supporters tried to break the police barricade outside the court around 9.20 am," a police official said.

"We have deployed over 1,000 police personnel in and around the court premises," the police official added.

Several supporters kept on standing outside the court. All roads leading to the court complex were full of cars and SUVs of supporters and workers. Paramilitary forces have been called in to control the situation. 

Delhi Airport Metro resumes operations

New Delhi: After being shut for six months, Reliance Infrastructure-run Delhi Airport Metro Express was thrown open for the public from Tuesday but trains will run at a drastically reduced speed of 50 km per hour.

Trains on the corridor were earlier running at a speed of 105 km per hour.

Commercial operations of the 23-km corridor that connects Connaught Place with Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport began at 5.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

However, check-in and baggage facilities for both international and domestic passengers would not be available for the time being.

Though resumption of services would bring smiles on the faces of commuters, an 18-20 minute journey from Connaught Place to the Terminal 3 of IGI Airport will hitherto take at least 30 to 35 minutes, effectively failing the purpose of a high-speed corridor.

"Reliance Metro's Airport Express Line would run daily from 5.30 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. at a frequency of 15 minutes. Reliance Metro has made arrangements to provide seamless connectivity for Terminal-1 passengers to Aerocity Station through shared cab and shuttle bus services," a Reliance Infra spokesman said.

As a promotional initiative, passengers can travel on the line at a discounted fare of Rs 30 from anywhere to anywhere. On a normal day, the minimum fare is Rs 20 and the maximum is Rs 100.

SC to hear plea to shift gang-rape trial out of Delhi today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the plea of one of the six accused in the December 16 gang-rape and murder case for shifting the trial to a place outside Delhi.

On Monday, the advocate for accused Mukesh pleaded for an urgent hearing on the ground that free and fair trial is not possible in the national capital because of strong public sentiment against him.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir then listed the matter for Tuesday.  Mukesh, who has been charged with murder, gang-rape and unnatural offences, submitted in his petition that in view of the regular agitation, police and judicial officials are allegedly under pressure to pass orders according to the demands of the agitators and a fair hearing is not possible.

"The sentiment has gone into the root of each home in Delhi by which even the judicial officers and the state are not spared and in these circumstances, he cannot get justice in Delhi at all," the petition, filed through his advocate, said.