Shimla Nahan Solan

Register rape case, villagers ask police
NURPUR, Oct 30 — Resentment prevails among residents of Sadwan village against the Nurpur police for its inaction in lodging a rape case against the two accused who allegedly gangraped a minor girl of the village.

Rape case against ex-Captain
NURPUR, Oct 30 — The local police registered a case yesterday under Sections 376 and 506 of the IPC against former Army Captain Ratan Chand of Bukwara village for allegedly raping a married woman at Sidhpur Ghat village on October 15.

Victim of group clash dead
SUNDERNAGAR, Oct 30 — Chander Sen (22), a resident of Rasmain village of the subdivision, who was injured in a group clash, died in Chandigarh on October 28. Earlier he had been admitted in a serious condition to the Military Hospital at Chandi Mandir.

BJP-HVC row over Solan seat
From S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 30 — The two ruling alliance partners in the state, the BJP and the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), are heading for a confrontation on the issue of contesting the Solan Assembly seat where the Congress MLA, Ms Krishna Mohini, has been unseated by a Supreme Court order.

Although re-election for the seat is yet to be announced, leaders of both alliance partners have staked claim for the seat.

The General Secretary of the HVC, Mr Kewal Ram Chauhan, told TNS here today that his party would not hesitate to field its candidate against the BJP in case the HVC was not allowed to contest the seat.

He said the issue would be discussed at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the HVC here on November 2 in the presence of the party chief, Mr Sukh Ram.

Mr Chauhan said with the HVC, for the first time, having wrested the Shimla Lok Sabha seat from the Congress, the BJP should have no objection in allowing the HVC to contest the seat.

He said the HVC had a strong candidate in Mr Harminder Singh Thakur, who contested the assembly election as an Independent from Solan last year, polling 26.77 per cent votes. Mr Thakur was now with the HVC.

BJP activists, on the other hand contend there is no justification in the HVC staking a claim over the seat which has been vacated because of a petition filed by the BJP candidate, Mr Mohinder Nath Sofat, who lost with a narrow margin of 26 votes.

The HVC candidate, Mr Vinod Kumar, had lost his security deposit, polling 1063 votes, which constituted only 2.92 per cent of the total votes polled.

The BJP men point out that the HVC won the Shimla Lok Sabha seat only because the BJP was able to transfer its nearly 2 lakh votes to the HVC.

The HVC is desperately trying to increase its strength in the Assembly after losing two legislators to the BJP. The party’s strength has come down to three from five.

The BJP leadership is keen on the Solan seat so that it can free itself from the clutches of Mr Sukh Ram who has indulged in arm-twisting tactics on almost every vital issue ever since Mr P.K. Dhumal became Chief Minister with his party’s support.

Capt Batra's mother opens ABVP session
From Our Correspondent

SOLAN, Oct 30 — Mrs Kamal Kant a Batra, mother of the 'hero of Drass' late Capt Vikram Batra, PVC, who laid down his life during the recent Kargil operations, inaugurated the 20th state-level annual session of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, by lighting a lamp before the portraits of Swami Vivekananda and Goddess Saraswati here today.

She said that the sacrifices made by soldiers during the Kargil operations had shown to the world that India's youth power was second to none in the world today with respect to valour and dedication to duty. Such power when harnessed for the all-important task of nation-building would ensure that our country would occupy it's due place of honour amongst the comity of nations in times to come.

She exhorted students not to ape western role models but to draw strength from our ancient culture and history, pages of which had been written with the blood of martyrs like Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

The all-India ABVP Organising Secretary, Mr H. Dattatreya, underscored the need for bringing about a systemic change in the social and educational sectors. He said that it was a pity that even after 50 years of Independence over 40 crore Indians lived below the poverty line and also that 50 per cent of the world's illiterate population were Indians.

He noted with satisfaction that the country's youth still kept the country above self, as exemplified by the over five lakh letters received by the Army Headquarters from students pledging to join the Army after the Kargil war.

Earlier, Mrs Batra, who was accompanied by her husband, Mr G.L. Batra, was welcomed with a thunderous ovation from over 600 delegates amid shouts of "Shaheed Vikram Batra amar rahe".

Man smells foul in son’s death
From Our Correspondent

JWALAMUKHI, Oct 30 — Mr Gorkhu Ram of Niharu village has sought a CBI inquiry into the death of his 17-year-old son Sunil, a student of Class X.

The deceased, who was studying in the adjoining Tihri High School, was found dead on August 25, 1998. His father, Mr Gorkhu Ram, says his son was murdered.

He alleges the culprits after having committing the crime had destroyed evidence to make it appear a case of accident. "The sequence of events and the evidence clearly indicate that it was not an accidental death as made out by the police", he said here yesterday.

He said his son on the fateful day had left home for school but was found dead in mysterious circumstances on the same day. He said his family had had an altercation with an upper caste family of the village. A love affair between his son with a girl belonging to that family had been brought to his notice by some villagers, but the matter was resolved amicably. Nevertheless, he suspected the family was behind the "murder".

Mr Gorkhu Ram regretted that despite his request to the Chief Minister, the police had not begun investigating the case.

Register rape case, villagers ask police
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, Oct 30 — Resentment prevails among residents of Sadwan village against the Nurpur police for its inaction in lodging a rape case against the two accused who allegedly gangraped a minor girl of the village.

Even after the statement of the rape victim, the police registered the FIR under Sections 506, 323 and 354 of the IPC.

According to the statement of the victim, the accused, Surinder, alias Chhindu and Bantu forcibly picked her up when she was returning to her house on October 27. They took her to a deserted place and raped her.

On Friday, the father of the victim lodged the FIR with the police which allegedly refused to lodge a rape case. The victim was medically examined at Civil Hospital, Nurpur. The possibility of rape was not ruled out in the medical report. Owing to the criminal nature of the case, the victim was today sent to the Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala for final opinion of medical experts.

No senior police official was available for comments on the alleged police inaction.

4 get life term for murder
From Our Correspondent

NAHAN, Oct 30 — Mr Janeshwar Goyal, District and Sessions Judge, Sirmour, yesterday convicted Dalip Singh, Munshi Ram, Bishan Dass and Udey. All residents of Jamna village, in Paonta tehsil under Section 302 of the IPC for murdering Rattan Singh and sentenced them to life and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 each.

According to Mr Kulwan Singh, District Attorney, there was some dispute among villagers regarding the share of government land for cutting grass.

On July 17, 1998, the villagers gathered at one place to settle the issue. But the convicted, instead of settling the issue, called Mr Rattan Singh towards them and when he went there, Dalip Singh attacked him with a "darat" and his three accomplices dragged him and caused multiple injuries on his chest and legs. Rattan Singh died on the spot.

Rape case against ex-Captain
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, Oct 30 — The local police registered a case yesterday under Sections 376 and 506 of the IPC against former Army Captain Ratan Chand of Bukwara village for allegedly raping a married woman at Sidhpur Ghat village on October 15.

According to the information, some influential persons of the area tried to hush up the case at the Panchayat level but the victim refused to compromise and lodged an FIR against the accused. The accused has absconded.

The victim in the FIR alleged that the accused had entered her house when she was alone and allegedly raped her.

Victim of group clash dead
From Our Correspondent

SUNDERNAGAR, Oct 30 — Chander Sen (22), a resident of Rasmain village of the subdivision, who was injured in a group clash died in Chandigarh on October 28. Earlier he had been admitted in a serious condition to the Military Hospital at Chandi Mandir.

It is learnt the deceased was badly injured in a group clash which took place on October 25, just 100 yards away from Sundernagar police station. He was immediately taken to the local Civil Hospital. The medical in charge on duty informed the police, but the police allegedly did not record the statement of the victim. It registered a case under Sections 341 of 323 of the IPC on the next day.

No arrest has been made so far. The body of the victim was handed over to his relatives by the police yesterday and was cremated.