New Delhi, September 12
A day before the DUSU polls, Delhi University teachers and students today condemned the Delhi Police for their alleged 'high-handedness' and insensitivity by the administration in the incidents of a group of fasting students who were roughed up on north campus while being shifted to hospital in which one student was badly injured. A raid was also conducted by the Maharashtra Police along with Delhi Police Special Cell at the residence of the assistant professor of Ram Lal Anand College, GN Saibaba, for his alleged Maoist links.

On the other side, the Delhi Police denied all the allegations and confirmed the arrest of four students allegedly for setting a police Gypsy ablaze. The students were held on charges of rioting and damaging property.

During the intervening night of September 11-12, around 12 policemen from Morris Nagar police station reached with an ambulance to the Arts Faculty where a student Praveen Kumar under the banner of Students' Right to Accommodation remained on an indefinite hunger strike for the last 11 days. His demands are subsidised food for the poor and hostel accommodation for all the outstation students.

Students from several groups, including those who were witness to the incident confirmed that while the cops dragged the fasting student in process of evacuation, another student Kamlesh Mishra lay down and was later allegedly run over by the ambulance. They were taken to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital and discharged today.

During the day today, students and teachers had gathered outside the VC's official residence to protest against the administration's indifference and the police violence.

New Delhi, September 12
Clamping down on power thieves, 12 persons have been convicted in eight separate cases by the Special Courts of Electricity. Of these, seven accused have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment (RI) in Tihar Jail, varying between five months and three years. Cumulatively, they have also been penalised around Rs 3 core.

These 12 accused include two industrialists, three factory owners, one tailoring unit owner, four commercial users and three domestic users.

The Special Court of Electricity, Karkardooma, has sentenced Bhupender Bansal, owner of a large industrial unit engaged in "wire drawing", to RI of two years and imposed a civil liability of Rs 43 lakh. The factory owner having his premises in Vishwas Nagar was convicted of stealing a whopping 76 KW of electricity for industrial purposes.

An inspection by the enforcement team of BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) in 2004 had found the entire industrial unit running on stolen electricity. They were stealing a whopping 76 KW by way of direct theft.

Four persons in south Delhi were ordered to three-year RI and penalised them Rs 8 lakh (civil liability Rs 3.12 lakh + fine Rs 4.68 lakh). They were convicted of power theft of 9.39 KW by way of direct theft.

It was found the premises in Kishan Gargh, Vasant Kunj, was being used by the accused namely Jagdish Arora, Sandeep Singh, Narender Singh and Dalel Singh.

Two electric meters were found installed at the premises in question and the outgoing of both the said meters was found disconnected. Electricity was being stolen by way of direct theft.

New Delhi, September 12
The BJP demanded severe punishment for the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case that could deter the criminals from committing such a gruesome crime in future.

Addressing a joint press conference today, Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel and party national secretary Aarti Mehra said, "It is ironical that in spite of the reprehensible incident of December 16 last year, the cases of rape have increased in Delhi by 240 per cent and molestation by 495 per cent this year. The government has only done window dressing as far as safety of women is concerned."

The BJP wanted immediate modernization of the Delhi Police, deployment of sufficient number of the women police in every police station, replacement of old vehicles by upgraded ones for patrolling and induction of more women police force. There should be self-defence training for girls and women in all educational institutions, said Goel.

"The BJP will implement all these measures when it comes to power in Delhi as women safety is on the top of its agenda," Goel added.

Following the Nirbhaya incident, the Delhi Government had promised to install CCTV cameras, global positioning system in the city buses and also deploy homeguards in these buses. But nothing much seems to have happened on the ground.

The police record from January to August 15 this year shows 1,036 rape cases as compared to 433 cases reported during the same period last year, 2,267 cases of molestation were reported this year as compared to 381 cases last year and cases of eve-teasing registered an increase of 700 per cent as compared to reported during the same period last year, Goel said.

New Delhi, September 12
The election expenditure which has been fixed by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the Delhi Government, Vijay Dev, is not realistic, said Delhi unit chief of the BJP Vijay Goel.

He said that the limit of Rs 14 lakh fixed by the CEO is not enough for the assembly election as rates of advertisements in print and electronic media, hoardings, pamphlets, vehicle, fuel, etc., have gone high. The same expenditure limit was fixed in the last assembly election too. Now before fixing the limit the authorities concerned should see how much the rate of inflation has gone high in the past five years.

He said BJP representative Shikha Rai was called by the Election Officer to discuss the expenditure limit had suggested that Rs 14 lakh was not enough to contest the assembly election in Delhi.

When asked how much expenditure limit could be sufficient, Goel said that Rs 25 lakh might be enough to manage the things in the election.

When asked that the Chief Minister said that limit fixed by the election department was sufficient, he said, "The Chief Minister has already spent crores of rupees in publicity by giving ads in news papers and holding meetings and other means of publicity."

The Election Commission has not only fixed the limit of Rs 14 lakh for election expenditure, but also the contestants have to give account of their expenses to the department within 30 days of the polls. The election office will also maintain a shadow expenditure register of each candidate, said the CEO.

New Delhi, September 12
Three persons have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a nine-year-old boy who has been rescued by the police.

The accused have been identified as Mohammed Rafiq (30), Mohammed Rahish (27) and Mohammed Naseem (22), who are residents of Delhi. They were arrested on September 10. A fourth accused, Bunty, is at large. Rafiq is a school drop-out and makes bangles in his house. Rahish is married and works at a cloth shop in Bhajanpura. Naseem is unemployed.

"The accused said that Rafiq is a relative of the boy's father. Rafiq knew that he is an affluent person and can pay a large amount of money for the release of his only child," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.

On September 8 at about 12.45 pm, the boy went for a haircut to a barber's shop located in the area under the jurisdiction of the Bhajanpura police station. The police have not disclosed the boy's name.

"His father received a call on his mobile phone. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of Rs 80 lakh," said Yadav.

The Special Cell was tipped off that the accused would be present near Surghat in Delhi's Wazirabad area. They were apprehended from there.

"The accused said Rafiq discussed his plan to kidnap the boy with his friend, Rahish, who then talked it to his brother, Naseem. Naseem roped in a criminal named Bunty. The four persons hatched a conspiracy to kidnap the child," said Yadav.