Sirsa, April 10
A head constable of the Haryana Police posted in Sirsa is alleged to have raped a woman by promising to marry her. Senior Superintendent of Police Raj Shri Singh asked the station house officer of the Dabwali police station to probe the allegations after residents of the woman’s Desumalkana village met her and sought criminal action against the accused.

The 28-year-old victim alleged that she had lodged a complaint with the police on March 14 but it was not registering an FIR against the head constable.

The woman alleged that she met the accused at a computer centre in Dabwali in 2009. She alleged that the head constable promised to marry her and on September 10, 2009, when she had to go to Chandigarh for a test, he kept her in his rented accommodation at Dabwali and violated her.

She alleged that he continued to rape her on assurance of marriage. However, in February this year, he married another woman.

The victim alleged that she had given a complaint to the police and requested them to stop the marriage, but the police did not do anything.

Sirsa, April 10
Teachers of government schools in Sirsa district have resolved to boycott the evaluation of answersheets of the secondary and senior secondary examinations of the Haryana Board of School Education.

A meeting of the Haryana School Teachers Association was held at Government Model Sanskriti Senior Secondary School here today.

The teachers alleged that the board dates for the evaluation of answersheets coincided with their “fasli avkaash” (wheat harvesting vacation) that began today.

The teachers alleged that despite their opposition to this even last year, the dates coincided with their vacation this time too.

The teachers alleged that while the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) paid Rs 16 and Rs 20 per copy for the secondary and senior secondary classes, respectively, the Haryana board paid Rs 7 and Rs 9, respectively.

Fatehabad: The Haryana School Teachers Association affiliated with the Sarva Karamchari Sangh today held a meeting here and decided to boycott the evaluation of answersheets of the Haryana School Education Board.

The teachers alleged that the board wanted to mar their vacation by ordering them to evaluate during the vacation. They said the honorarium for evaluation and the TA/DA paid by the board was too meagre in comparison with the CBSE and other boards. 

Sirsa, April 10
A team of State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) today unearthed a fake ghee factory near Begu village in Sirsa and recovered huge quantities of raw material from there. The factory owner, however, managed to give police the slip.

The State Vigilance Bureauteam had received a complaint that fake ghee was being prepared in an unauthorised factory at Begu.

A seven-member team of the SVB from Hisar led by Inspector Bhupinder Sharma raided the factory.

The team found some workers of the factory packing spurious ghee. The factory owners slipped after noticing the raid.

The SVB team has taken with it some packs of the ghee as well as material being used for the manufacturing. 

Kurukshetra, April 10
The police has registered a case against two persons for allegedly duping a person of Rs 11 lakh in a land deal case

District police chief Rakesh Kumar Arya said here that Satbir of Chorpura in Karnal district had complained to the police that Meena Kukreja and her husband, Sikander Pal, residents of Sector 3, HUDA, Kurukshetra, were paid Rs 11 lakh as an advance for the purchase of 13 canals and three marlas of land.

The complainant came to know after some time that the land had been sold to another party. The advance totalling Rs 11 lakh had also not been returned.

The police has also booked Ashok Bansal, an advocate, for allegedly duping Gyano Deviof Kheri village, of Rs 2 lakh. She said Bansal had promised that if she gave Rs 2 lakh to him, he would pay her double the amount after one year, but he paid her nothing. 

Rohtak, April 10
The Haryana unit of the CPM has objected to the ‘unilateral’ notification of HUDA regarding the allotment of plots for setting up state offices at Panchkula for the national and state recognised political parties.

In a letter to the Chief Minister and the State Election Commission, state CPM secretary Inderjit Singh has questioned the alleged illogical eligibility conditions for allotment. The condition of having

at least one legislator in the present Assembly has been laid down by HUDA. Irked over this condition the CPM has claimed that despite having no MLA, it was a national-level party

and deserved to be allotted space at a reasonable cost. He claimed that the cost of Rs 8 crore decided for a plot measuring 4,087 metres was too high and a party like CPM could not afford to pay.

It has demanded immediate cancellation of the alleged arbitrary notice and asked the government to convene an all-party meeting for finalising a policy in this regard.

Rohtak, April 10
With the standoff after the clash between activists of the Arya Samaj and followers of the Satlok Ashram at Karontha village appears to continue with both the sides sticking to their stand, the district authorities managed to get the dharna of the protesters lifted today after giving them an assurance of an amicable solution within the next 20 days.

Despite the presence of the police force on the spot, the number of dera followers on the ashram premises swelled to around 800 today. The traffic movement has been fully restored with no incident of protest reported. However, the clash between the supporters of the dera and the protesters opposing the handing over of the Satlok Ashram, located about 10 km from here, to the followers of dera resulted in mounting of tension in the region and had disrupted the traffic movement on the NH-71.

The authorities that held a meeting last night reportedly got persuaded by Arya Samaj leaders to lift the protest till April 30 after assuring them of an amicable solution to the issue by then. It is reported that the meeting was held between the Deputy Commissioner and the senior leaders of the Arya Samaj, including the head of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Acharya Baldev, who had led the protest yesterday. It may be recalled that the Arya Samajis descended at the spot after the authorities handed over the possession of the ashram to the dera followers on Sunday.

The police authorities claimed that while the police force had been stationed there for the time being to ensure law and order, the situation was peaceful with no disruption to the movement of traffic on the highway. 

Chandigarh, April 10
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has virtually censured a Sirsa Additional Sessions Judge for passing an unreasoned order.

The reproach came on a petition filed by Darshan Singh against Haryana and other respondents. In his petition placed before Justice Vijender Singh Malik, he had alleged that charges against the accused in a case has been framed for an offence punishable under Section 285, IPC (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), instead of attempt to murder under Section 307, IPC.

Going into the background of the controversy, Darshan Singh’s counsel submitted that on July 28, 2010, two persons allegedly suffered injuries at the hands of the petitioner-complainant party. Petitioner Darshan Singh and Sukhraj Singh also sustained injuries . The medico-legal examination revealed that Sukhraj Singh had suffered a gunshot injury.

He added prima facie an offence under Section 307, IPC, and not under Section 285, is considered to have been committed when a firearm is used to target someone. Section 285, IPC, deals with negligent conduct of a person with respect to fire or combustible matter. But, the case in hand was not of negligent handling of a firearm.

He has further submitted that the Additional Sessions Judge did not give reasons for not finding a prima facie case for an offence punishable under Section 307, IPC. The impugned order dated September 11, 2012, lacked reasons and was, therefore, liable to be set aside.

Taking up the matter, Justice Malik asserted: “If this is the use of the gun, it will not be covered by Section 285, IPC. This is intentional use or rather misuse of the gun and not negligent conduct with respect to the same. I am at a loss to understand as to how the Additional Sessions Judge could ignore this aspect….

“In these circumstances, the unreasoned order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Sirsa, cannot be sustained. The revision petition is allowed and the impugned order is set aside. The matter is remitted to the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Sirsa, with the direction to pass a detailed and well-reasoned order in the matter”.

Chandigarh, April 10
Haryana has taken the lead over other states in implementing of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme launched by the Centre about two months ago.

Krishan Mohan, Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner, Revenue, who is also the Registrar of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for the state, said the state had transferred over Rs 6 crore to beneficiaries till March 31 using the Aadhaar payment bridge system, which was highest in the country. The scheme was launched by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on February 1.

The Centre had identified 51 districts in the country in which cash benefit was to be transferred directly to the beneficiaries. Two such districts, Ambala and Sonepat, were identified in Haryana.

The schemes under which the benefits are to be transferred directly to the beneficiaries include post-matric scholarships for SC and other backward class students and the Janani Suraksha Yojna.

Keshni Anand Arora, Director-General, Chandigarh UIDAI regional office, says 20 agencies are working in Haryana alone to cover the remaining population for Aadhaar enrolment in the shortest possible time. In the entire region comprising Haryana, Punjab, Himachal and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, over 1.20 lakh persons were being enrolled for Aadhaar daily.

As of now, 29 per cent of the population in Haryana has been enrolled.

She said in view of complaints of non-receipt of Aadhaar letters, it had been decided that e-Aadhaar letters, which could be downloaded from http://eaadhaar.uidai.gov.in, would be considered as valid proof of identity on a par with the Aadhaar letters. 

Chandigarh, April 10
Taking up the plea of Dharam Pal who was to be hanged on April 15, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today extended the stay on his execution till May 6. The relief came less than a fortnight after the President rejected his mercy petition filed in 1999 in a murder case.

In Dharam Pal’s case, the mercy petition has been rejected. But it is yet to be seen by the court whether condemned prisoners behind bars should be hanged, even after long delay - an issue which has been raised by militant Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar before the apex court

Drawing a parallel between Dharam Pal and Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s case, his counsel Navkiran Singh had on the previous date of hearing elaborated that the apex court was “seized of the matter pertaining to all the death sentence convicts, whose mercy petitions were pending with the President”.

Referring to Bhullar’s case, Navkiran Singh contended that his argument before the Supreme Court was that he has earned a right to get the sentence converted into life imprisonment due to the delay in the execution of the death penalty. In an attempt to substantiate his contentions, Bhullar was relying on the judgment of the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench in the case of Triveni Behan.

Faridabad, April 10
Haryana Congress President Phool Chand Mullana has rubbished the BJP’s claim that Gujarat is a model state of development and countered it by claiming Haryana to be ahead of Gujarat.

Addressing party workers at District Congress Committee, Faridabad, Mullana said Haryana was ahead of the BJP-ruled state on several parameters.

He dared Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi to have a one-on-one debate with the Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda with regard to the development works undertaken by them in their respective states.

He said, “BJP is trying to sugar-coat the pernicious personality of Modi by glorifying his half-baked development works in Gujarat.”

Mullana said Congress would form the government in Haryana for the third consecutive term under Hooda as the party had undertaken holistic development of the state. He rebutted allegations that the government discriminated against some areas of the state with regard to development.

He urged party workers to spread awareness about the development works done by the state government and to step up their contact with the public to know their grievances.

In response to a media query, Mullana refuted allegations of the INLD that the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre misused the CBI to fabricate their party leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala in the teachers’ recruitment case.

He said the party was not in the saddle either in Haryana or at the Centre when the case was handed over to the CBI for investigation. Rather, the INLD was in power in Haryana and the BJP-led NDA at the Centre, he added.

Bhiwani, April 10
Sohan Lal Makkar has been declared president of the District Bar Association, Bhiwani. The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana has confirmed Makkar's election in a communication sent on April 6.

Owing to tearing of a few ballot papers by some members of the District Bar at the time of counting of votes on April 5, an announcement on Makkar's election was deferred and the matter was referred to the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. Virender Singh Yadav was present as a Bar Council observer during the polling and counting of votes.

Sirsa, April 10
In a career counselling seminar, organised at the CMK National PG College auditorium , experts briefed students from the rural areas of the district about the career opportunities available after school.

Among those who guided the students were Rajinder Narang, secretary of the northern region of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Naveen Kumar from IIT, Delhi, Dr Raju Singh from Study Innovations, Delhi and Abhey Mishra from Amity, Noida.

The experts gave career guidance in fields like pharmacy, medicine, engineering, law, accountancy and others.

The seminar was organised under the aegis of Kushalta Vikas Kendra, a concept of skill development among youths, initiated by Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar in his parliamentary constituency. Six such KVKs have already been developed and the process for setting up of more such institutions was under progress.

Kaithal , April 10
The Kaithal police has arrested two accused of the murder of Ajit Singh, alias Jeeta Pehalwan of the local Chaand Akhara, which took place here on March 27.

The victim was also president of the sports cell of the District Congress Committee. Local youths Rajiv Kumar and Ravi Kumar have been arrested on the charge of Jeeta's murder. They will be produced in the court on Thursday. — OC

Gurgaon, April 10
Recent appeals of various Muslim organisations regarding polio immunisation seem to have fallen on deaf ears as around 26 families of two villages of Mewat have yet again refused to go for an immunisation drive that concluded yesterday.

In what has been proving to be a consistent roadblock in the polio immunisation drive in the district is the fact that these families of Sudaka and Nangal Mubarakpur continue to denounce the immunisation, claiming that the ingredients of the vaccine are against the norms of Islam.

The district administration, especially the health authorities, has made all possible efforts with the CMO, Dr BK Rajuara, visiting every house but of 
no use.

“It is unfortunate but true that many still refuse to take vaccination citing religious reasons. I went to every single house here along with my team and persuaded them. We even got them to talk to local muftis who assured them but they refused. But we have not given up and are planning more initiatives to mobilise them,” said Dr Rajuara.

“Mewat is polio free, but this persistent denouncement of immunisation is perturbing. The problem is massive in these two villages where people believe that this vaccine uses ingredients like intestine of monkey that is banned in Islam. We are planning to get a national ‘ulema’ and some professors from the AMU to assure these people that vaccination will not hamper their religion but will improve the quality of their lives,” said Sanjeev Tanwar, Medical Surveillance Officer, WHO.

Rohtak, April 10
The inflow and presence of illicit arms and weapons in the district seem to be fuelling the crime graph, which has been rising abnormally in the recent past. Several incidents of firing have taken place in the past couple of months and many cases have been registered under the Arms Act during the period.

‘The police recovers more than 100 weapons in a year, on an average. A majority of these arms are locally manufactured, either in the neighbouring state of UP or are supplied from Madhya Pradesh,’ said sources in the department.

Five cases of murder took place in the past about a month and the use of firearms has been prominent in majority of the incidents. The investigation into the recent incident of murder of two dalits at Madina village in the district also revealed that the accused used firearms to kill the victims.

The police on Monday booked a youth for attempt to murder by opening fire at a woman, at Bhagwan Nagar here on Sunday, after the victim spurned his offer of friendship. Though the woman escaped unhurt, the incident has left the family extremely scared.

Anti- social elements opened fire on a person at Preet Vihar last week while some youths shot dead a housewife at Prem Nagar a few weeks ago. The police is yet to crack the murder case of a former SHO who was killed by two armed persons a couple of months at his house.

Anil Kumar Rao, Inspector-General (IG), Rohtak range, said efforts were in place to check the flow and use of illicit weapons. He blamed the porous border with neighbouring states for the smuggling of arms.

Rohtak, April 10
Exhorting the people to work for a change, social activist Anna Hazare claimed that only people could usher a new era of democracy by electing honest persons with high moral character to Parliament and state assemblies. This, he said, would ensure that the real power and authority lay with the common man and not ministers and MPs.

He was addressing a public meeting at the Jan Sewa Sansthan Ashram on the Rohtak-Bhiwani road, near here, today in connection with the ongoing Jantantra Chetna Yatra regarding the need of a jan lok pal and other issues.

Anna said a well-balanced progress was impossible without the development of villages. He said people would have to choose their candidates wisely as the quality of elected representatives would decide the quality of governance and fulfilment of the aspirations of the electorate.

Urgin g the people to choose honest candidates without considering their political affiliations, he said, “Today, 163 parliamentarians are tainted, which is a cause of big concern and it can be rectified only by the electorate."

Former Army Chief, Gen V.K Singh (retd), asked the people not to forget the scams and scandals and teach the corrupt leaders a lesson in the next poll. He said while Rohtak and Jhajjar had a large number of retired and serving defence personnel, they should get united and become a part of the present drive as it was aimed at uprooting the corruption in public life. He said a strong jan lok pal and an efficient government could be a reality only when good people were elected to Parliament and state assemblies. 

Chandigarh, April 10
The Haryana Government has cancelled the licence of another New Delhi-based realtor--Navjyoti Overseas Private Limited--to develop a residential project on 6.81 acres in Garh Shahjanpur(Sonepat) village.

Anurag Rastogi, Director-General of Town and Country Planning, cancelled the licence for various deficiencies, including non-payment of external development charges (EDC), and non-submission of the environment clearance certificate.

The developer was granted the licence on Novermber 27,2006. The licence, which was valid up to November 26,2008, was subsequently renewed till November 26,2011. On April 24, 2012, the developer applied for renewal of the licence up to November 26, 2013 .

On July 17, 2012, an opportunity was given to the realtor to deposit 25% bank guarantee for the outstanding enhanced EDC with an undertaking. By February 12, 2013, an amount of 2.41 crore was outstanding on account of EDC, the Director-General order stated.

Similarly, the realtor failed to submit a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The status of construction of EWS flats in the residential project was also not submitted.

Meanwhile, appearing on behalf of the company, S.C. Kalra, senior vice-president, contended that a part of the colony fell in Sector 17 of development plan at Sonepat where the construction of sector roads had been held up due to stay by the court. The approach to the said site is not available which has led to non-launching of the project. He had submitted that the building plans had already been approved and requested for grant of some time to deposit the bank guarantee.

According to the order, on the request of the company, time till January 31, 2013 was granted to the firm to submit the bank guarantees on account of enhanced EDC and an undertaking. However, the builder failed to deposit the bank guarantee and undertaking within the stipulated time period.

Faridabad, April 10
After dragging its foot for long, the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad, (MCF) has finally decided to legalise unauthorised water and sewer connections to houses and commercial units in Faridabad.

According to a survey conducted by the MCF, more than one lakh houses have illegal water and sewer connections.

A House meeting of the MCF adopted a resolution to regularise the connections and also fixed the rates for it. The rates are correlated to the size of the plots of the dwelling and commercial units.

The resolution will be submitted to the government for ratification.

The MCF had been mulling on the issue of legalising the connections for the past more than a year. It had to abandoned it on account of resentment against it from quarters of the units.

The general feeling among the MCF officials is that the regularisation would be a win-win situation for everyone concerned. While the civic body would earn handsome revenues, the owners of the units would be free of all anxieties.

The House also adopted a resolution to dispose of the MCF land in Sector 43, 49 and 52 through public auctions for constructing group housing flats. The MCF hopes to mop up about Rs 1,100 crore through th sale of the land.