Kaithal, April 25
Members of several orgnisations, including CITU, Akhil Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, Akhil Bharatiya Janvadi Mahila Samiti, Nekdor,Anusuchit Jati and Janjati Sangthan, Guru Ravidas Sabha,Samta Mulk Mahila Sangthan, Janvadi Naujawan Sabha, Soshit Samaj, Haryana, Gyan Vigyan Samiti and Manrega Mazdoor Union, today took out a procession here today in support of Dalits of Pabnawa who became victims of caste violence about 10 days ago. They also handed over a memorandum to the district administration in which they served an ultimatum on the administration to accept their demands by April 28 failing which they threatened to intensify their agitation.

Earlier, they met in Jawahar Park and resolved to force the administraion to do justice with the violence-hit Dalits. Their demands include arrest of the remaining accused in the Pabnawa incident, adequate compensation for those injured in the attack ,full security for Dalits of the village and 10 qunitals of foodgrains for each family hit by the attack.

Many Dalits were injured and property of several others was damaged when members of the Ror community attacked them on the night of April 13. Several Dalit families fled the village after the attack.

Rohtak, April 25
The police has arrested five youths accused of gang-raping a 15-year-old minor Dalit girl at Meham on Monday night. They were remanded to judicial custody after they were produced before the court here this morning. This is the second such incident in the district in the past about 48 hours.

The police said the accused -- Vinod, Satawan and Balwan of Imligarh village and Sandeep and Vikas of Meham --allegedly accosted the Dalit girl to a secluded place on Monday and gang-raped her. She was later dropped near her house.

The matter was reported to the police on Tuesday evening and the accused were arrested last night. The police said the medical examination of the victim confirmed the rape and the department was providing her counselling. The accused hail from different communities.

A case has been booked against the accused in this connection.

Sirsa: A woman has lodged a complaint of rape and physical assault against a man, who, she alleged, married her by posing as a bachelor and then assaulted her both sexually and physically.

The woman shows an injury mark inflicted by her husband at Sirsa. A Tribune photograph

Showing her arm bearing a sharp-edged weapon injury mark, the woman alleged that the accused attacked her with a shaving blade when she threatened to take the matter to the police.

The woman alleged that the accused, a resident of Jagmalwali in Sirsa, married her at the Arya Samaj Mandir in Hisar on October 24, 2011, claiming to be unmarried. She said in June 2012, she came to know that he was married and had a child and since then he was harassing her and subjecting her to physical and sexual assaults.

Finally, she approached the police with a complaint of fraud, rape and assault.

Senior Superintendent of Police Raj Shri Singh said the police was looking into the complaint. She said at an earlier occasion too, the woman had lodged a complaint but she retracted it later.

Bhiwani, April 25
The Bhiwani police has come under fire for pressurising a minor girl, victim of alleged gangrape, to give a tutored statement before a magistrate in order to save the culprits.

A 13-year-old girl from Durjanpur village of Bhiwani, who was kidnapped on April 11 and recovered five days later from Jaipur, has alleged in her complaint that she was gangraped by six youths from the village, but the police pressurised her not to give any statement against them.

After Kusum Sharma, an advocate on the panel of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), took up the victim’s case, the police incorporated Section 376 (rape) of the IPC in the FIR already registered under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC.

However, the police is still firm on its stand that the girl had given her earlier statement on her own.

“The police did not allow the girl to meet her parents and pressurised her to give a tutored statement before the magistrate in which she said she was not sexually assaulted by anyone. The police went to the extent of intimidating the girl that her parents would land in trouble if she levelled allegations of rape. The police did not even think it necessary to get the victim medically examined,” alleged Kusum Sharma, who, along with others, met Bhiwani SP Simardeep Singh.

Sharma said Kusum had moved an application before the District and Sessions Judge, Bhiwani, requesting him to order the recording of girl’s statement under Section 164 of the CrPC again.

SP Simardeep Singh said after the girl’s recovery, the police had registered an FIR of kidnapping against one person, Rajesh, based on the statement of the victim given before a magistrate.

“Now, when she has retracted from her statement and had levelled allegation of gangrape against six persons, we have incorporated relevant Sections in our FIR. However, the police will investigate the matter thoroughly to check the veracity of her allegations, before we proceed further,” said the SP.

Simardeep Singh justified the police act of not getting the girl medically examined after her recovery from Jaipur, as she had not levelled any allegations of sexual assault.

“The police can violate an individual’s right to privacy and get her medically examined if she does not allege a rape,” the SP maintained.

Hisar, April 25
Hisar Superintendent of Police B Satheesh Balan has shifted Uklana station house officer Jai Bhagwan, who is facing allegations of pressuring a missing rape victim’s family in Bhairi Akbarpur village of Hisar, leading the family to take poison under a suicide pact.

All five members of the family had consumed poison to commit suicide on Monday and four of them have died.

The SP has posted Kapil, an inspector, as the new SHO of Uklana police station, while Jai Bhagwan has been sent on leave pending inquiry.

Meanwhile, the Additional Deputy Commissioner Ashok Kumar Garg has started his probe into the incident.

Yesterday, the Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar Agarwal had ordered an inquiry by Garg.

Garg will inquire the circumstances leading to the poor family taking such an extreme step and he will also fix liability, if anyone is found responsible for the incident.

The 40-year-old father of the missing rape victim had consumed poison along with his wife, a 13-year-old daughter and two sons aged 11 and 9 in the wee hours on Monday.

Now, the man is the lone survivor of the family as all the other four have died.

In his statement, the man had alleged that he had taken this step due to abject poverty, loss of livelihood due to frequent visits to courts and police stations and pressure by the police to produce his missing rape victim daughter.

Meerpur (Rewari), April 25
Fulfilling a longstanding demand of local residents, the Haryana government has decided to upgrade Rohtak-based Maharshi Dayanand University's Indira Gandhi PG Regional Centre located here to a university. The university will also be named after the late Prime Minister.

An announcement to this effect was made by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while addressing a 'vikas rally' here today. Hooda said the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, would lay the foundation stone of the country's first defence university in Gurgaon on May 23.

The Chief Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of 11 projects worth nearly Rs 160.64 crore. He also announced special grants of Rs 15 crore for the development of Rewari district and Rs 1 crore for Meerpur village.

However, contrary to the claims made by local Congress leaders and rally organisers, the event witnessed a rather slim attendance.

The organisers blamed it on the hot weather, but a number of vehicles leaving the rally venue even before the speeches of the senior leaders told the real tale.

HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana, Haryana ministers Capt Ajay Yadav and Rao Narender Singh and chief parliamentary secretaries Anita Yadav and Rao Dan Singh also addressed the gathering.

Prominent Congress leader of the Ahirwal belt and sitting Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh was, however, conspicuous by his absence.

Rally organiser and state Power Minister Ajay Yadav said he had invited Rao Inderjit for the rally through a letter written on April 3.

He even waved a copy of the letter before the gathering. The rebel Gurgaon MP had denied having received any verbal or written communiqué inviting him to the rally.

Having a dig at Rao Inderjit Singh without directly referring to him, the CM said the development of all parts of the state was the responsibility of his government, but he was not responsible for the "personal development" of any individual.

Reacting sharply to INLD leaders' allegations that the Congress leadership was behind sending former CM Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Singh to jail, Hooda said the Chautalas had been punished for their own deeds.

Hooda said he was aware of the acute scarcity of water in the area and efforts were being made to augment the water supply. He accused INLD and HJC leaders of putting legal obstacles in the way of the commissioning of the BML-Hansi-Butana link canal.

Fatehabad, April 25
After consuming sweetened milk served by a local resident, a large number of children from Government Primary School in Fatehabad fell ill today.

Nearly 20 children from Government Primary School situated in the Old Tehsil area of Fatehabad were shifted to the General Hospital with symptoms of food poisoning, where their condition is stated to be stable now.

The children said a resident living in the neighbourhood of the school distributed sweetened milk among them after a religious function in his house. Soon after consuming the milk, the children started complaining of nausea, vomiting and loose motion.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Rajiv Rattan, Superintendent of Police Vikas Dhankhar and Youth Congress president for the Sirsa parliamentary seat Anandvir Singh Gillankhera visited the hospital and met the children.

Dr Mukta Kumar, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, said 19 children were brought to the hospital and only three of them needed intravenous drips. She said the condition of most of the children was better.

Sonepat, April 25
Wheat procurement in different grain markets and purchase centres in the district is likely to fall short by 40 per cent during the ongoing procurement season.

Mainly two reasons are being attributed to this situation. One is the diversion of wheat in the grain market of Narela in Delhi and the other, around 30 per cent decline in the per hectare production in comparison to last year’s production.

According to official sources, the total arrival in different purchasing points during last season by April 24 was around 4.01 lakh MT, whereas this season’s arrival so far stands at 2.76 MT.

This season’s procurement is likely to last up till coming Sunday, as the arrival in a number of purchase centres had already stopped and at others it was very lean.

When the per hectare decline in production had demoralised the farmers, the market committees are also going to lose its income by around 40 per cent in the shape of market fee and the Haryana Rural Development Fund charges being charged from the farmers after the sale of their produce.

Secretary the Sonepat market committee Chander Prakash told The Tribune that the total income of the market committees in the district was around Rs 13 crore last year, whereas it, so far, was only around Rs 7 crore.

The worst hit are the grain markets of Sonepat and Kharkhoda and the purchase centres at Mohana, Farmana, Murthal and Rai because of their proximity to Narela, where the farmers were getting Rs 80 to 100 per quintal more than prices in the district, he said.

“The last season’s income of the Sonepat market committee was around Rs 6 crore and during this season, it is likely to remain around Rs 3 crore,” he added.

Chandigarh, April 25
The state government today issued transfer and posting orders of seven HCS officers.

Mukul Kumar, SDO (civil)-cum-additional collector, Karnal, has been posted as zonal administrator, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, Karnal, in addition to his present duties vice Suresh Kumar Chahal, who goes as SDO (civil), Barwala.

Hawa Singh, secretary, Regional Transport Authorities, Sirsa-Fatehabad and Manjeet Singh, Managing Director, Cooperative Sugar Mill, Panipat, swap their place of postings.

Vandana Disodia, City Magistrate, Panchkula, has been posted as joint director (administration), Food and Drugs Administration, in addition to her present duties relieving Virender Kumar Dahiya of the charge.

Sant Lal Pachar has been posted as SDO (civil), Sirsa, and Estate Officer, HUDA, Sirsa, vice Amarjit Singh, who goes as SDO (civil), Hisar. — TNS

Rohtak, April 25
The Haryana CPM has taken exception to the public utterances of a minister, Geeta Bhukkal, on marriages, describing them as against Haryana’s culture.

Calling the remarks regressive, the party has sought a clarification and a public apology as it claimed that it would help the elements who posed a threat to Dalits in the state.

Sonepat, April 25
A commission agent of the new grain market here was on Tuesday caught playing fraud in filling bags with purchased wheat and causing a loss of 2 kg in each bag to a farmer.

When farmers protested against this fraud, Sonepat market committee secretary Chander Prakash intervened and imposed fine of Rs 10,000 on the commission agent.

He assured the farmers that he would send a report to the higher authorities for cancellation of the commission agent’s licence.

Souces said Karan Singh of Revli village brought his wheat produce to the shop of Kallu Ram Jot Ram and Sons in the market. He

suspected some kind of foul play in filling of bags with wheat.

When his bags were weighed again on his demand, it was found that each bag was filled with 52 kg of wheat instead of the standard limit

of 50 kg. He along with other farmers started protesting and demanding action against the commission agent who closed his shop and fled the spot.

The market committee secretary reached the spot and pacified the farmers assuring them that the action would be taken against the commission agent.

Chandigarh, April 25
The Haryana Power Distribution Corporation, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) plan to increase the duration of electricity supply by three hours a day for all categories of consumers within next three months.

This was stated by Devender Singh, chairperson and managing director of the DHBVN and the UHBVN, while presiding over a meeting of officials of the DHBVN today. He said with the completion of the programme of renovation and strengthening of power distribution system in towns and villages all over the state, the power distribution utilities would increase hours of supply for all consumers. He said the power distribution utilities had a schedule of power supply for 20 hours a day in urban areas, 20-and-a-half hour a day for industries and 11 hours a day for rural domestic use.

Chandigarh, April 25
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) today demanded a probe from a sitting Supreme Court judge into all land deals of Hooda government, including the DLF-Vadra land deal.

State president of the INLD Ashok Arora said the irregularities in the Robert Vadra and DLF land deal were a hint that big land scams had taken place in the state during the Congress regime. He said the Hooda government had forced the farmers to sell their land at cheaper rates by misusing Sections 4 and 6 of the land acquisition Act to provide huge benefits to private builders.

The INLD leader said the government had violated all rules by issuing a commercial licence to the Vadra-owned Sky Light Hospitality Company and to use the land of Shikohpur village in Gurgaon for commercial purposes. Arora said the land in Sector 83 of Gurgaon belonged to the specific area where only 50 per cent land could be used for commercial purposes and of the total 126 acres, only 63 acres could be used for commercial purposes. He said when the Hooda government had issued the commercial licence to the company, 8.7 acres of land of the sector was already being used for the commercial purposes and the government extended the set limit by reducing the land reserved for the green belt and roads.

Though the company did not fulfil the norm of having Rs 20 crore as capital, the government gave a licence to the company, which had only Rs 1 lakh capital when it applied for the licence and Rs 5 lakh when it was granted. When the government asked Vadra’s company to pay Rs 2.22 crore for internal and external development charges and change of land use fee, the company sold the land to DLF and collected huge amounts of money.

He further said that in September 2012, the then Director-General Consolidation, Haryana, Ashok Khemka, cancelled the mutation of the land, but the government helped the company get clearance from a committee of senior officers.

Arora said the CAG report mentioned that thousands of acres were released in favour of private builders and the matter should be probed immediately. He said the Haryana government had tweaked the tender norms to provide benefit to DLF and the 350 acres land of Gurgaon was given under a single tender at throwaway prices. The government has also helped DLF by owning responsibility to get clearance from environment, defence and civil aviation departments while agreeing to provide 20 per cent extra floor area ratio, thus providing a benefit of thousands of crores of rupees to DLF.

Arora said the Gurgaon Deputy Forest Conservator had written many letters to the government from May 8, 2007 to July 2009, raising objections over the land deal, but the government overlooked all the irregularities and also delayed the meeting of the state Cabinet for dissolving state assembly in 2009 for two days so that this “scam” could be executed.

Rohtak, April 25
A convict of a dowry death case, serving life imprisonment in Sonepat district, managed to escape from the PGIMS here early this morning. He had been admitted after a complaint of stomach pain on Tuesday in police custody and was to undergo surgery today.

A case has been registered against the accused and the three policemen guarding him at the hospital.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Sharma the incident took place around 2.30 pm when the convict, identified as Jagdish, was asleep in ward number four of the PGIMS hospital.

It is reported though three policemen had been posted to guard him, only one was present at the spot from where the accused managed to flee. It is revealed that he was taking a nap after putting the handcuff on the prisoner, but found him missing around 2.30 pm when he woke up. The matter was reported to the police around 4 pm.

The accused, hailing from Bali Qutubpur village of Sonepat district, had been convicted of dowry death (section 304- B of the IPC ) and was undergoing life term at the Sonepat jail. He had been shifted here on Tuesday and was diagnosed with suffering from kidney stone and was due to undergo surgery on Thursday, said the police. The police has booked a case under Sections 223 and 224 of the IPC against the prisoner and the three policemen identified as Dharambir, Om Prakash( both head constables) and Ashok, a constable of the Haryana police posted in Sonepat.