 |
| Tuesday, April 4, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Army to ‘‘hit
hard’’ militant bases HC judge’s appointment:
Jethmalani stirs row WB Cong leaders blame Dasmunshi Samjhauta Express to continue |
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Bar stir ‘suspended, not
over’ Security NDA govt’s top
priority: Advani Uttaranchal Bill AIIMS ex-officials to be
prosecuted SC: no dismissal without inquiry SAD demands Farooq’s removal Newsmen walk out of Kanshi’s
conference Woman’s body exhumed from
kitchen walls Thakre meets Samata leaders Expedite probe into Pillai’s
death: court Judge’s security not restored
|
Army to ‘‘hit hard’’ militant bases NEW DELHI, April 3 (PTI) — The Army today decided to ‘‘hit hard’’ militant bases, particularly concentrations of foreign mercenaries, in the Jammu and Kashmir hinterland and these operations figured prominently at the week-long bi-annual Army Commanders conference which began here today. The conference, which was opened by the Chief of Army Staff, Gen V.P. Malik, has been called to have top level review of prevailing security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, other Army operations, policy and plans. Attended by the six Army Commanders of the Western, Northern, Southern, Eastern, Central and Army Training Commands, besides principal staff officers at Army headquarters, the conference focussed on carrying out large-scale joint operations on the suspected Pakistani militants’ hideouts. Though the Army Chief dwelt at length on these various crucial issues while opening the conference, the Army public relations did not release the contents of General Malik’s address. Defence Minister George
Fernandes and Chiefs of Naval and Air Staff would also be
addressing the six-day conference, an official release
said. |
HC judge’s
appointment: Jethmalani stirs row CALCUTTA, April 3 — Controversy arose over the appointment of Ms Archana Wadha, member, Customs, Excise and Gold Appellate Tribunal (CEGAT) of Calcutta, Bench, as a judge of the Punjab-Haryana High Court. Her name was recommended and forwarded to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court. Mr Justice A.B. Saharya by no less a person than Union Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani. The Law Minister in a demi-official letter on October 16 to Mr Saharya requested him to consider the appointment of Ms Wadha as a judge of that high court. Her resume was also sent in. So far, Ms Wadha has not received any communication either from the office of the Chief Justice of the Punjab-Haryana High Court or the Union Law Ministry. But she already has become a subject of controversy. Two legal luminaries in Calcutta, Mr Siddhartha Shankar Ray, former Punjab Governor and Mr Somnath Chatterjee, CPM leader in the Lok Sabha strongly objected to Mr Jethmalani’s writing to the Chief Justice of the Punjab-Haryana High Court, as the Law Minister had over stepped his functional limit and misused ministerial authority in writing to the Chief Justice with such request. Mr Ray said "this is unethical and unheard of. In my long legal career I have never seen or heard any Law Minister of the Union Cabinet writing similar letter to a Chief Justice. Mr Chatterjee felt Mr Jethmalani had done illegal thing. "This is never done and should not have been done." Ms Wadha said she does not know the Union Law Minister. Nor did she make any prayer to him for her appointment in the Punjab-Haryana High Court. She also did not now how such a letter could go to the Chief Minister from the Union Law Minister’s office. Ms Wadha is a law graduate of the Punjab University and a resident of Delhi. Now she is posted in Calcutta as a member of CEGAT. Whether Mr Jethmalani is empowered to write or recommend like this is a matter of controversy but by writing such letter, he himself created another controversy. Previously, high court judges were used to be appointed by the Centre after prior consultation with the Chief Justice of Supreme Court. But now the system has been changed. Now the Chief Justice of a particular high court finalises a list of candidates and sends it to the Governor for approval. After the Governor’s approval is obtained, the list is sent to the Union Law Ministry, which, scrutinising the list forwards it to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice finally decides about the appointment after consulting two senior judges of the Supreme Court. Under the system, the
Law Minister has a very little authority in the
appointment of a judge of any high court. But he can
recommend to the Chief Justice of the high court any name
for consideration. But whether it is unethical or not is
a matter of controversy. |
RS poll reverses NEW DELHI, April 3 (PTI) — West Bengal PCC president A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury and former PCC president Somen Mitra, who were summoned here in the wake of defeat of the official nominee in Rajya Sabha polls, today told Congress president Sonia Gandhi that the party lost due to the "high-handedness" of state working president P.R. Dasmunshi. The two leaders, who had a 45-minute meeting with Mrs Gandhi this morning, reaffirmed their faith in her leadership and told her that the defeat of party candidate D.P. Roy "is not reflection on her leadership but against the high-handedness" of Mr Dasmunshi, Mr Mitra told reporters. They also cited several examples of how they had been "snubbed" by the working president on different party matters as also whenever they tried to meet the party leadership to apprise them about the state of affairs of the party in West Bengal. "We are satisfied with the talks," Mr Mitra said, adding he and Chowdhury will have another round of meeting with Mrs Gandhi tomorrow at which AICC general secretary Ambica Soni and secretary Pawan Bansal would also be present. Chowdhury even told Mrs Gandhi that he wanted to meet her several times but was denied audience allegedly at the instance of Dasmunshi, Mr Mitra said. Mrs Gandhi had summoned the state leaders here for talks amid growing rift in the state unit on the reasons behind cross-voting which led to the victory of an independent candidate backed by the Trinamool Congress, Jayanta Bhattacharya, and statements by Chowdhury hailing Trinamool proposal to forge a "grand alliance" against the CPM in the next year’s Assembly elections. The proposal, mooted by Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, was strongly opposed by a section of the party including state vice-president Saugata Roy, considered a close confidant of Mr Dasmunshi. Before leaving for Calcutta on Monday, Mr Dasmunshi had an hour-long meeting with Mrs Gandhi and briefed her about the causes and factors leading to the defeat of the party nominee. Congress high command had nominated D.P. Roy, turning down the recommendation of 50 MLAs to give Rajya Sabha ticket to former WBPCC chief Somen Mitra. Twelve Congress legislators, including Saugata Roy, who yesterday stepped down as deputy leader of the CLP, today demanded stern action against those who voted for Bhattacharya. The MLAs, in a fax message to Mrs Gandhi, had demanded an inquiry into the cross-voting and stern action against those who betrayed the party. Addressing a news
conference after apprising AICC(I) President Sonia Gandhi
of the revolt by the party’s MLAs against the wrong
selection of party’s candidate for the recent Rajya
Sabha poll from the state, Mr Choudury said they would
meet her again tomorrow and convey the sentiments of the
party’s workers in the state about ousting the CPM
in league with some other parties.The CPM was "our
enemy number one’’ in West Bengal. She should
take a decision on alliance between the Congress and
other anti-CPM forces, he said. |
Anju Ilyasi murder case NEW DELHI, April 3 — The alleged case of suicide of Anju Ilyasi, wife of TV serial producer, Suhaib Ilyasi ‘‘can be proved a dowry death case if relevant documents are submitted by complainant, sister of the deceased, Ms Rashmi Singh’’, Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Range), Mr R.K. Niyogi said. The documents are reportedly being kept by Ms Rashmi in Canada, Mr Niyogi said. However, she has given a written complaint of 15 pages to Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Preet Vihar, Mr Ravi Dadhich on the basis of which the inquest report was made. Suhaib Ilyasi was arrested last month on charges of harassment for dowry, dowry death and tampering with evidence following the inquest report submitted by the SDM. The case was registered at Trilokpuri police station in east Delhi. The Joint Commissioner said that passports of Suhaib Ilyasi were found ‘‘valid’’ after the investigation of passport officials at Regional Passport Office in the Capital. Now the case is to be investigated by the police to find out the need for keeping two passports by Suhaib. The case will be registered under the Passport Act, he said. Passport case cannot be connected with the dowry case. It will be a separate case. He said that two
licensed revolvers were found during a raid by the police
at the residence and office of Suhaib Ilyasi today. |
Writer hounded out by Pak regime NEW DELHI, April 3 (PTI) — Pakistani writer Aftab Hussain, who has been hounded by military rulers for publishing poems of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and refusal to implicate ousted Premier of his country Nawaz Sharif, today said he had no option but to leave Pakistan. The miseries for Hussain started after a noted Indian Urdu poet Jameel Akhther, who translated Mr Vajpayee’s poems, sent a copy to him with the request for publishing it in Pakistan. "Initially no publisher agreed but as Mr Vajpayee’s visit was imminent to Lahore in 1999, I managed to get the book published as a goodwill gesture, and the Pakistani edition was presented to the visiting dignitary at the Governor’s House," Hussain told reporters here. Hussain said he was not aware of what lay in store for him. After the military take-over he was continuously harassed by the military regime for publishing the book. "The military rulers asked me to depose against the sacked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as an approver and ordered me to record a statement in the court that Sharif had asked me to publish the book," he said. "They threatened me with dire consequences and even ransacked my house on March 4," Hussain, who arrived here on March 16 by Samjhauta Express, said. "The decision was painful but I was left with no option then to leave the country," he said. Hussain, who is on 60-day visa to India, is not sure what he would do next but says he is left with two options to either extend visa or seek political asylum. "I will decide about it in the coming days, he said. Hussain accused the military leadership of trying to inject anti-India feelings into the hearts of peace-loving Pakistanis, who want normal relations with their neighbour. Hussain, who earlier toured to India in 1998 while he was doing a doctorate on renowned Urdu critic Kalim-ud-Din Ahmed, said the military dictators were hell bent on framing all sorts of charges against Sharif. "After the coup, security agencies descended on my house asking me to explain reason for publishing the book... they asked me to implicate Sharif but my conscience did not allow," he said. He said the soft nature of security agencies turned hard once he rejected all such suggestions to implicate Sharif. Asked why he chose India even though he could have slipped into Iran or Dubai which were Muslim countries, Hussain said "India and Pakistan might be two nations today, but tradition and culture of the two nations are same.... in a way India is my second home after my motherland." The 38-year-old Pakistani writer, who works as Assistant Professor of Urdu Language and Literature at Lahore-based college of Panjab University, is sure that his family would be targeted by the Pakistani army. "Before fleeing I shifted them to my home town Talagang in Rawalpindi but I am sure that security agencies would have started targeting them," he added. A writer in Urdu,
Punjabi and Hindi languages, Hussain has translated a
large number of poems and short stories from Hindi and
Indian languages to Urdu. His own poems have been sung by
several renowned ghazal singers including Ghulam Ali and
Pervez Mehndi. |
MLAs come to blows NEW DELHI, April 3 (PTI) — Ruling Congress and opposition BJP members virtually came to blows in the Delhi Assembly even as the Speaker suspended 13 BJP members for a day for disrupting proceedings of the House, demanding a discussion on the bus crisis in the Capital. The trouble began when Leader of Opposition Prof Jagdish Mukhi requested Speaker Chaudhury Prem Singh to allow a full-fledged discussion on the problem faced by commuters in the Capital following the withdrawal of buses by the city government in pursuance of the Supreme Court order. The Speaker, while agreeing for a calling-attention motion on the issue, rejected Mr Mukhi’s demand following which BJP members rushed to the well of the House and staged a sit-in, shouting anti-Congress slogans. He adjourned the House twice but the BJP members did not relent and continued with slogan-shouting and singing of songs lampooning the Congress. Thereafter, the Speaker suspended 13 BJP members for the rest of the day saying that he had no option and adjourned the House for some time. As the marshals were persuading BJP members to leave the House, they shouted anti-Congress slogans to which the Treasury Benches retaliated by shouting anti-Vajpayee slogans, provoking BJP members to shout anti-Sonia Gandhi slogans. Congress members were
soon on their feet and some of them rushed menacingly
towards the BJP MLAs jumping over the seats, saying that
they would not hear a word against their party leader.
House marshals intervened and quickly moved the BJP MPs
out of the House to prevent a scuffle. |
Samjhauta Express to continue NEW DELHI, April 3 — India today emphasised its desire to continue the Samjhauta Express despite its security concerns. In response to a question, a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs described Samjhauta Express as "an important transport link between" India and Pakistan and admitted that New Delhi had its security concerns relating to the running of the train "because Pakistani agencies and unscrupulous elements in that country have sought to use it to push contraband including fire arms,narcotics and counterfeit currency into India". "Nevertheless, our commitment to the continuing of Samjhauta Express remains firm and abiding", the spokesman stressed in reaction to media reports from Islamabad that Pakistan had threatened to stop the rail service. Islamabad has accused New Delhi of failing to honour an agreement governing rail transport between the two countries. Quoting Pakistan railway authorities, the Pakistani official agency APP said yesterday that India had not provided rolling stock for the past 18 months which was a breach of agreement concluded in 1976. Each side had to provide rolling stock for the Samjhauta Express train for six months alternately. Reacting to the Pakistani accusation, the Indian spokesman blamed the Pakistani authorities saying that "our railway authorities have for long sought meetings with their Pakistan counterparts to address issues relating to Railway links between the two countries". "We regret that Pakistan has never agreed to hold a meeting which can address these issues. We once again call upon Pakistan to have a meeting at functional levels where issues concerning the Railways and in particular issues relating to the Samjhauta Express, can be addressed to mutual satisfaction", the spokesman said and added that Indian Railways "will once again be contacting Pakistan railways for a meeting of railways officials which can address all these functional issues". The agreement to run Samjhauta Express was concluded in 1976 and was extended in 1997 for another three years. Whether India has received any formal communication from Pakistan about stopping rail service, the spokesman said that he was not aware of it. When asked about the visit of a former Pakistani Ambassador, Mr Niaz Naik, to India, the spokesman said that he had seen the media reports to that effect. To a question if any meetings of Mr Naik had been fixed with the Indian officials, the spokesman said that he was not aware of any meetings. "We understand that he has come here in connection with Track II meetings", the spokesman said. Mr Naik has come here to attend a conference and he would meet with some leaders including former Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral. Mr Naik’s visit has to be seen in the context of Islamabad’s efforts to improve its image in the Western countries particularly in the USA, the diplomatic sources said adding that the Pakistani media played up Mr Naik’s visit at the instance of the Pakistani establishment. While it is true that Mr
Naik’s mission during the Kargil crisis had the
tacit approval of the Vajpayee government, this time it
is an exercise in giving a facelift to the Pakistani
military regime, the sources said. |
Bar stir ‘suspended, not over’ NEW DELHI, April 3 (UNI) — The six-week-long lawyers’ strike lost momentum today as the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) decided to suspend it from April 6 while other Bar associations asserted that the agitation should continue. The 15-member executive committee of the DHCBA held a meeting this morning in which the decision to suspend the agitation was taken unanimously. The development came following an appeal last week by Acting Chief Justice Devendra Gupta and Justice Cyriac Joseph during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL). The DHCBA which represents over 4,200 lawyers will review the matter on April 17, said its President Amarjit Singh Chandhiok. The strike has been suspended, not called off, he said. However, secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association Priya Hingorani said the strike would continue till lawyers’ demands are met. Similar sentiments were echoed by Delhi Bar Association (DBA) Secretary Rajiv Khosla who is also General Secretary of the Coordination Committee of Bar Council and all Bar associations of Delhi. Agitating lawyers are demanding suspension of police officials responsible for the February 24 crackdown. They are Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Pranab Nanda besides Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) T.S. Bhalla and Vijay Malik. Also today, a Division Bench of the High Court hearing the PIL reserved the order after closing all arguments. The judgement is expected in two or three days. During arguments, Additional Solicitor-General S.R. Jaisinghani said Mr Nanda ordered the baton charge when demonstrating lawyers broke through the barricades despite prohibitory orders in the vicinity of Parliament House. For more than a month now, talks between representatives of various Bar associations and the government have led to a stalemate, throwing the judicial process out of gear. There are divergent
views on amendments to the Civil Procedure Code among
500,000 lawyers across the country. Some say the
objective of these amendments is to simplify and expedite
the process of justice. The reforms will introduce
much-needed accountability and seriousness into the legal
process and reap the benefits of technological
advancements, they say. |
Security NDA govt’s top priority: Advani ITANAGAR, April 3 (UNI) — Union Home Minister L.K. Advani today made a scathing attack on Pakistan for trying to destabilise the secular fabric of India and said the national security was the topmost priority of the NDA Government at the Centre. Talking to reporters here, Mr Advani averred that Pakistan was out to shatter the country’s democracy and its recent activities smacked of its bigger gameplan of not only roping in Jammu and Kashmir, but also dismembering the country as a whole. "They are unable to reconcile with the success India has achieved as a secular and democratic country, despite the fact that it is a multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-ethnic country", he opined. Mr Advani said in the process of internationalising the Jammu and Kashmir issue, Pakistan was in fact internationalising terrorism. They had attracted the attention of the whole world for espousing extremism, he alleged. The Centre was committed to containing terrorism by its own efforts and also creating world opinion against cross-border terrorism, Mr Advani said, adding the Centre had already achieved success in this direction. Referring to the Sino China border, he commented that at present the border was peaceful and no major conflict was going on. But roads were being constructed on the other side of the border for which vigilance was necessary, he said. Replying to the arrest
of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (M) Leader
Issac Muivah by the Thailand police, Mr Advani said it
would not hamper the ongoing peace talks. |
Uttaranchal Bill LUCKNOW, April 3 (UNI) — The Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha today passed, with voice vote, the resolution favouring creation of a separate Uttaranchal state. The UP Reorganisation Bill, 2000, which was sent to the state legislature by the President, was passed after five hours of heated discussion. The Bill had earlier
been sent to the President for approval. As many as 29
amendments were incorporated in the draft Bill, most
important of which was exclusion of Hardwar from the
proposed hill state. |
AIIMS ex-officials to be prosecuted NEW DELHI, April 3 (PTI) — AIIMS authorities today cleared decks for prosecution of its former Superintendent Dr R.C. Anand and store assistant V.N. Singh giving a sudden twist to the controversy over their reinstatement. The governing body of AIIMS, which met here, decided that the permission for prosecution of both be given to the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi Government for the alleged ‘‘irregularities and misappropriation’’ in the hospital store in July 1998, hospital spokesman B.K. Dash said. The governing body also
decided to place them under suspension again, he said. |
SC: no dismissal without inquiry NEW DELHI, April 3 (UNI) — In a significant judgement, the Supreme Court has ruled that a dismissal order passed without regular departmental inquiry and without issuing a charge sheet or giving an opportunity of hearing cannot be sustained. The ruling was given by a division bench comprising Mr Justice S. Saghir Ahmad and Mr Justice R.P. Sethi, while allowing an appeal and quashing an order by the Telecom Department, terminating the services of an employee. Appellant Nar Singh Pal, who was engaged as a casual labour in October, 1982 by the department at Agra and had worked continuously as such for more than 10 years thereby acquiring a "temporary’’ status, was prosecuted for assaulting a colleague. The trial dragged on for many years and ultimately he was acquitted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate by his judgement and order dated February 27, 1998. But in the meantime, by an order dated May 20,1992, his services were terminated. After failing in his representation, the appellant challenged the termination order before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which dismissed his petition on December 4, 1997. The dismissal by the tribunal was upheld by the Delhi High Court on October 30, 1998. Hence the appeal before the apex court. "Once an employee attains a ‘temporary’ status, he becomes entitled to certain benefits, one of which is that, he becomes entitled to the Constitutional protection envisaged by Article 311 of the Constitution and other Articles dealing with services under the Union of India,’’ the Supreme Court judges observed in the their judgement. The court noted that the order in the instant case, could not be treated to a simple order of retrenchment. It was an order passed by way of punishment and, therefore, was an order of dismissal which having been passed without holding a regular departmental inquiry, could not be sustained. The retrenchment compensation paid to him, which was only a meagre amount of Rs 6,350, the court said, was utilised by him to sustain himself. "This does not mean that he had surrendered all his Constitutional rights in favour of the Telecom Department. The Fundamental Rights under the Constitution cannot be bartered away. They cannot be compromised nor can there be any estoppel against the exercise of Fundamental Rights available under the Constitution,’’ the court added. Allowing the appeal with
costs throughout, the court directed that the appellant
would but put back in service on the post he held on May
20, 1992 and would be paid all arrears up to the date and
other consequential benefits admissible under the rule. |
SAD demands Farooq’s removal NEW DELHI, April 3 (PTI) — The SAD(Badal) today demanded immediate removal of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and promulgation of President’s rule there alleging that the state government had failed to provide security to the Sikh community in the valley. The party also demanded abolition of Article 370, which prohibits acquisition of property in Jammu and Kashmir by anyone other than the state subject, appointment of a Sikh as Governor of the state and deployment of Punjab Police personnel in the areas where Sikhs resides in the valley. "Farooq has no right to continue as Chief Minister as he has failed to provide security to the Sikh community in the valley after the massacre of 35 Sikhs in Chatti Singhpora," SAD (B) Delhi unit chief Avtar Singh Hit told reporters here. Mr Hit, who led a seven-member delegation to the massacre site recently, said he along with his party colleagues would meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee tomorrow to apprise him of the situation in Chatti Singpora and also to seek Mr Farooq’s dismissal. Mr Hit also criticised the Vajpayee government for not taking adequate measures to instil confidence among the Sikhs in the valley. Party’s Delhi unit
Secretary General Kuldip Singh Bhogal urged the Centre to
provide adequate compensation to families of those killed
in the valley and also direct the state to recruit Sikh
youths in police force. |
Newsmen walk out of Kanshi’s conference BHOPAL, April 3 (PTI) — Newspersons today walked out of a press conference of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) President Kanshi Ram in protest against his remarks that the local media was allegedly dominated by the RSS. The BSP chief made these remarks when a reporter asked him about why some people, including four MLAs who had worked with him in Madhya Pradesh, had left his party and joined the Congress. Instead of giving a straight reply to the reporter’s query, Mr Kanshi Ram said he knew that he was talking to people from the RSS. This led to an angry uproar from journalists some of whom demanded that the BSP chief take back his words and apologise for what he had said. Mr Kanshi Ram, however, refused to apologise and insisted that the manner in which the questions were being put to him indicated that those who were asking them belonged to the RSS. When he showed no signs of apologising, journalists covering the press conference walked out in protest and later also decided to boycott the coverage of the jeep rally to be flagged off by him here later in the day. Madhya Pradesh Working
Journalists President Shalabh Bhadoria in a statement
criticised Mr Kanshi Ram for his remarks and demanded an
unconditional apology from him. |
Woman’s body exhumed from kitchen walls ELURU, April 3 (UNI) — Eleven months after she was killed by her husband, the body of 35-year-old Subbalakshmi was exhumed by the police from a most unlikely place — the kitchen walls. Paramahansa, a medical representative staying in west Gobavari district, had killed his wife Subbalakshmi by smashing her head against the kitchen wall, after a wordy duel. The 45-year-old man, in a bid to conceal the crime, later ‘‘buried’’ his wife in the kitchen walls of his house in Tadepalliguden village. The police, exhumed the
body yesterday and said today that Paramahansa, arrested
on a complaint from his mother-in-law on March 31 that
her daughter was missing, had confessed to having killed
his wife. |
Thakre meets Samata leaders NEW DELHI, April 3 (PTI) — As part of an exercise to have better relations with its allies, BJP President Kushabhau Thakre today had a meeting with Samata Party President Jaya Jaitley, Defence Minister George Fernandes and Minister of State for Railways, Digvijay Singh. "The bilateral meeting enabled us to have a free exchange of views and help better understanding among the partners of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). We propose to have more such bilateral meetings as there was need to counter the disinformation campaign going on against the NDA," BJP spokesman Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here. The meeting, which was
attended by BJP Vice-Presidents Jana Krishnamurthy and
J.P. Mathur, General Secretaries K.N. Govindacharya,
Sangapriya Gautam and Naidu and BJP leader from Bihar,
Kailashpati Mishra, felt that similar exercise with other
NDA partners would help in ironing out any perceptional
differences that may be there among the coalition
partners. |
Expedite probe into Pillai’s death: court NEW DELHI, April 3 (PTI) — A Delhi court today directed city police crime branch to expedite the probe into the custodial death of biscuit tycoon Rajan Pillai here in July 1995. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) R.K. Gauba asked the investigating officer ‘‘to expedite his efforts to complete the investigation at an early date’’ after the latter submitted the progress report of the case before him. Earlier, in his progress report Mr S.S. Rathi had informed the court that he had thoroughly interrogated 19 officials of the Tihar jail in this regard. He, however, requested the court to grant at least three months’ time to complete the probe as some more officials were yet to be interrogated. Mr Rathi had recorded
the supplementary statement of Rajan Pillai’s widow
Nina Pillai on January 15 after she joined the probe into
the custodial death of her husband following the
CMM’s order giving her last opportunity to cooperate
with the investigating officer. |
Judge’s security not restored MUMBAI, April 3 (PTI) — Despite assurance by the Maharashtra Government to forthwith restore Z-category security to designated TADA judge P.D. Kode, who is hearing the sensitive serial blast trial, there has been no change in his security cover. The judge now moves around with just two personnel holding service revolvers compared to the nine guards with sten guns earlier, court sources said. Judge Kode’s
security was abruptly pruned down on March 8 from
Z-category to Y-category and his security guards reduced
from 19 per shift to just five. |
 |
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