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Saturday,
May 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Report on Punjab’s human
rights abuses released Drug haul:
NCB men grill Biswas DDA scam:
brother of main accused held Police
gets sketch of Madhumita’s killer Mizoram
lottery: proceedings against Punjab stayed |
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CBSE CLASS XII
RESULTS Naik
hints at cut in petrol prices VRS
accepted can’t be withdrawn: SC
Gallantry
medals for CRPF men
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Report on Punjab’s human
rights abuses released New Delhi, May 23 The book, titled ‘Reduced to Ashes — The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab, was released by writer Patwant Singh here this evening. The book release function was organised by the Committee for Information and
Initiative on Punjab (CIIP) and the South Asia Forum for Human Rights
(SAFHR). Published by SAFHR, the report is a candid attempt to report the enormity of atrocities committed on innocent youth and the complex denial of facts by the authorities. It has been authored by human rights activists, Ram Narayan Kumar, Amrik Singh, Ashok Aggrawal and Jaskaran Kaur. Apart from documenting the absolute use of power by the state, the authors have traced the personal and political background of 672 persons from Amritsar district who disappeared before they were surreptitiously cremated. The matter is now before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). According to Mr Tapan K. Bose, Secretary General of the SAFHR, the book is inspired by a view of accountability that perceives remedies for past human rights abuses. He has pointed out that the crimes against humanity documented in the report could not have been committed by persons holding junior ranks without executive or command decisions at higher levels. Dr Syeda
Hameed, Convener of Muslim Women’s Forum, who moderated a panel discussion after the book release, said she was overwhelmed by the momentous work on the book. “It tells us that we have to hold our governments accountable,” she said. Mr Ashok Aggrawal said the NHRC was now confronted with a situation where it had to face facts. Other panellists criticised the indiscriminate use of power. They said Punjab represented the introduction of the use of absolute power in Indian polity. |
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Drug haul: NCB men grill Biswas
Kolkata, May 23 The NCB officials led by its Assistant Director N.C. Patra questioned Mr Biswas at his residence at Salt Lake from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. “We had satisfactory discussions,” a senior NCB official commented briefly as he stepped out of Mr Biswas’ house, but refused to divulge further details. He hinted that the bureau might question Mr Biswas again. The questioning of Mr Biswas came after the arrest of a casual employee of Mizoram House in the metropolis who gave his name as a reference to N. Thanga, the Mizo tenant of the former CBI Additional Director. Thanga has since absconded. The casual employees of Mizoram House, H. Lalawi Zauva, was also grilled for two days and arrested yesterday by the NCB for suspected links with a drug cartel. It was on the basis of Zauva’s reference letter that Mr Biswas had rented his house to Thanga. Thanga’s wife and brother have been detained in Shillong for questioning. NCB sleuths had raided the residence of Mr Biswas on May 17 and arrested five foreigners, two Chinese and three Myanmarese, besides seizing 24 kg of drugs valued at Rs 5 crore from his ground floor tenanted flat. Meanwhile, Mr Patra evaded a reply when asked why Mr Biswas did not go to the NCB office as per the summons. “We are satisfied. Mr Biswas responded to our queries during interrogation. Mr Biswas has been fully cooperating with us,” was all Mr Patra said. Asked if action would be taken against Mr Biswas, he said “Nothing can be said at this moment. Senior NCB officials will arrive from Delhi and the future course of action will be taken accordingly.” NCB officials also seized a post card addressed to Thanga, which arrived at the residence of Mr Biswas. “We are examining the post card,” Mr Patra added. Meanwhile, DIG (CID) Banibrata Basu said that the SDJM court’s at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district had been moved for permission to interrogate the five arrested and currently in judicial custody till June 2. Mr Basu would hold a parallel inquiry into the case.
PTI |
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DDA scam: brother of main accused held New Delhi, May 23 During investigations, the CBI found that Mr Davinder Khattar had purchased 24 kg of gold worth Rs 1.4 crore from the government-run Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation over a period and had allegedly handed it over to Mr Justice Mukherjee, Mr Sharma and other officials of the DDA, booked in the scam sources said today. He was arrested late last night after he failed to give any convincing replies during interrogation, the sources said. He was remanded in seven-day police custody for interrogation. Special judge Prem Kumar sent him to CBI custody till May 30 after the accused was produced in court this afternoon.
PTI |
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Police gets sketch of Madhumita’s killer Lucknow, May 23 The sketch would be sent to all possible places to help identify and arrest the alleged killer, said a senior police official. The crime branch of the CID, entrusted with the probe six days back, went to the site of the crime yesterday to corroborate the statement of Deshraj. Meanwhile, the police detained a person named Satya Prakash and after his verification, he was released. “Our investigation now centres around Satya Prakash and if we can arrest the real killer, the case will be solved,” said the police official. On May 9 last, Madhumita, alleged to have a close relationship with Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi, was shot dead. Deshraj, who was at home at that time, had told the police that the killer gave his name as Satya Prakash. |
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Mizoram
lottery: proceedings against Punjab stayed New Delhi, May 23 A Bench comprising Justice N Santhosh Hegde and Justice Shivaraj V Patil, sitting in the vacation, passed the stay order following a Special Leave Petition (SLP) by the Punjab Government seeking transfer of the Mizoram’s petition from the Guwahati High Court to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where its petition on the same matter is already pending. While staying the proceedings, the apex court issued notice to the Mizoram Government and directed it to file its reply. The matter is likely to be taken up for hearing after summer vacations in July. The Punjab Government in the SLP, moved by Advocate General Harbhagwan Singh, said parallel proceedings in two High Courts on the same issue might result in contradictory orders. Punjab had banned the sale of Mizoram’s lottery in its territory on the ground that it did not comply with the conditions laid down in Rule 6(a) and 6(b) framed by the state under the Lottery Act of 1998 passed by the Centre. |
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CBSE CLASS XII RESULTS New Delhi, May 23 The pass percentage of regular students is 78.33, whereas for private and patrachar students it is a meagre 30.34. Listing the reason for the decline in the overall result this year, CBSE Chairman Ashok Ganguly, attributed the success of girls to their zeal to perform. “Girls are more focused and more disciplined as far as school education is concerned and that is why they have been doing very well,” he said. A total of 3,66,363 candidates appeared for the Class XII examinations in 2003 at 2,166 centres. There was an increase of 6.86 per cent in the number of registered students. While Chennai tops the list with the highest pass percentage of 88.1, Chandigarh with 78.98 stands second, followed by Delhi with 74.63 and Allahabad with 70.59. In Chandigarh, 285 students will be awarded these certificates. Meanwhile, the schools run by the Kendriya Vidayala Sangathan and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas have also recorded a commendable pass percentage. While the former has recorded a pass percentage of 88.57, which is 2.17 per cent more than last year, the JNVs have recorded an increase from 83.53 to 85.26 per cent. The pass percentage for government-aided schools is 76.28, while for government schools it is 65.27. The pass percentage for independent schools is 81.07 and for private/patrachar schools it stands at 30.34. In Chandigarh, government schools have recorded a pass percentage of 81.14, which is the highest in all six zones. The private/patrachar schools in the region have secured a pass percentage of just 40.47, which has dipped from last year’s 50.47. |
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Naik hints at cut in petrol prices
New Delhi, May 23 “The appreciation in rupee value has created a scope for further cut in the retail selling price of petrol and diesel,” he told reporters here. The next price revision was due on May 31. With the rupee ruling at a two-year peak of Rs 46.90/91 a dollar, imports would be cheaper. This would benefit oil companies as they import 70 per cent of their crude oil requirement. Since April, state-owned oil retailing firms had cut petrol and diesel prices by Rs 3 per litre each and the softening of the dollar against the rupee would fuel another cut, he said. After over three months of surge in prices, oil firms announced a Re 1 per litre cut each in petrol and diesel prices on April 15, April 26 and May 15. Declining to give the quantum of price reduction possible due to the appreciation in rupee value, Mr Naik said, “Much will depend on international crude prices. We will have to wait and watch how prices move during the next week.” The average procurement cost of the Indian basket of crude was $ 24.33 in the second fortnight of April, which further slipped to $ 23.63 in the first half of this month, necessitating the price cut.
PTI |
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VRS accepted can’t be withdrawn: SC New Delhi, May 23 This ruling was given yesterday by a Bench comprising Mr Justice Shivaraj V. Patil and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat on a batch of petitions concerning the VRS acceptance of certain employees of Andhra Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation. Some of the employees had contended that as they had continued in service in the corporation for more than seven months after the cut off date, they should be permitted to withdraw their applications. The state high court had ruled in their favour and had directed the corporation to take them back. Setting aside the HC order, the apex court said the question of withdrawal of their applications after their acceptance did not arise and they could not be permitted to do so in law.
PTI |
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Gallantry
medals for CRPF men New Delhi, May 23 The awardees are Sub-Inspector M.S. Bisht, constable S.K. Das and CT Ashok Kumar (all posthumously), Commandant R.P.S. Rana, Assistant Commandant K.S. Rana, head constables G.P. Singh and Hriday Ram, constable Prithvi Singh, bugler M.P. Singh, CT Mool Singh, CT Utpal Dev, CT Ganesh Kumar, CT Nirmal Prakash and CT Lakhwinder Singh.
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