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Sentence in ‘tandoor’ case reserved
Kuki
activists kidnap 8, burn 12 houses Surya
Kirans steal show at Sappers’ bicentenary
SC
guidelines on unnecessary witnesses |
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Allahabad
varsity gets Central status Notifications
for Assembly poll today Airport disinvestment
meeting put off Don’t
politicise plight of rape victims, says NCW Panel
approves continuance of education scheme
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Sentence in ‘tandoor’ case reserved New Delhi, November 6 Additional Sessions Judge G.P. Thareja, who had convicted Sharma for murdering his wife Naina Sahani in July 1995 and his accomplice Keshav for helping him in burning her body in the “tandoor” (oven) of a restaurant in a bid to destroy the evidence, reserved the order after prosecutor A.P. Ahluwalia reiterated his plea for awarding the death sentence to the former Youth Congress leader. The arguments on the point of sentence were taken up again today after the hearing was yesterday disrupted due to commotion inside the court room and demonstration by the Delhi BJP women wing outside the Tis Hazari court complex, seeking death sentence to Sharma. Mr Ahluwalia said punishment not less than death sentence was warranted to Sharma for the
heinous crime, which, he said, fell in the “rarest of the rare category”. Defence counsel P.K. Dham, provided to Sharma at the expense of the state after he had
expressed his inability to pay lawyer’s fee, did not put any argument against prosecution’s plea for death sentence and said the convict had left it to the court as he had “full faith in it.” Advocate V.K. Ohri, appearing for Keshav, said his client had already remained in judicial custody for over eight years, while the maximum sentence for the offence of destroying evidence was seven years. Pleading with the court to take into consideration the incarceration undergone by him in judicial custody, Keshav’s counsel said he should be set free as he was the sole
breadwinner of the family and had two minor children. To a specific query by the judge as what the defence counsel would say for accused’s act of burning a human body in the “tandoor”, Mr Ohri claimed that he did not know what Sharma was burning. He came to know of the actual facts only after the police had arrived at the spot, the counsel argued. The defence lawyer did not have a clear reply when the judge pointed out that Keshav had tried to mislead the police by stating that he was burning Congress party’s banners. Was not this a serious offence warranting appropriate punishment, the judge asked telling his counsel that a “tandoor” — used for cooking food — was used by the accused to burn human body. |
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Kuki activists kidnap 8, burn 12 houses Diphu (Assam), November 6 Deputy Commissioner Anurag Goel told PTI after his return from the Singhasan Hills, where the site of the attack, Thekerajan is situated, that a group of about 30 armed KRA militants dressed in ‘military uniforms’ stormed four villages on November 2 night and kidnapped 28 villagers but later released 20 of them. Eight villagers are still missing, he said, adding that the militants also burnt 12 houses in three villages and severely assaulted several villagers and decamped with their cattle and poultry.
— PTI |
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Surya Kirans steal show at Sappers’ bicentenary Roorkee, November 6 * * * Though the Surya Kiran is a nine-aircraft team and among the only three such teams in the world, the team fielded six aircraft today. Flying low over the parade ground with the majestic war memorial in the backdrop, the IAF fliers provide a touch of class to the bicentenary celebration with their “symphony in the air”. The flying manoeuvers of the Kiran-II trainer aircraft were accompanied by music relayed from the ground. A host of serving as well as retired sappers, their families as well as school children were in attendance. * * * Earlier, on his arrival here today, the Navy Chief was conducted to the parade ground in a traditional horse-drawn buggy, where he was presented a guard of honour by sappers attired in full ceremonial regalia. The Regimental Colours were also brought on parade on the occasion. He also laid a wreath at the regimental war memorial to honour those who had fallen in the line of duty. A ceremonial guard reversed arms while buglers sounded the Last Post followed by the Rouse. A two-minute silence was also observed. * * * Complimenting the Sappers for the commendable work done by them, Admiral Madhvendra Singh said the Sappers had not only proved their worth to the Army, but had contributed significantly to all three services. Reiterating the need for jointmanship among the services, He said that the Sapper-Navy association was growing stronger by the day, adding that an officer and 24 men of the Bengal Engineer Group were currently embarked on INS Bramhaputra, which is currently in the Andaman Sea enroute to Singapore. The Navy Chief also inaugurated an equipment park at the centre, which displays some classic pieces of equipment used by military engineers over the past two centuries. A tea and interaction of all ranks of the group with the visiting dignitaries, a ‘barakhana’ and a visit to the group museum were other highlights of the day, which created at atmosphere of bonhomie and comradeship as old associations were rejuvenated and comrades brought each other up to date. Among those who were present included the Engineer-in-Chief, Lieut-Gen Hari Uniyal, Colonel of the Bengal Sappers, Major Gen B.S. Dhaliwal, Major-Gen B.N. Mukherjee, Major-Gen Subhas Gogna, from Army Headquarters and the Centre Commandant, Brig Gautam Banerjee as well as some Air Force and Navy officers. The British officers were led by General Sir George Cooper, President of King George V’s Own Bengal Sappers and Miners Association, a UK-based organisation of officers who had served with Bengal Sappers prior to 1947. |
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SC guidelines on unnecessary witnesses New Delhi, November 6 “If there are too many witnesses on the same point, the public prosecutor is at liberty to choose two or some among them so that the time of the court can be saved from repetitive depositions on the same factual aspects,” a Bench comprising Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat in a judgement said. Upholding the conviction of accused Banti alias Guddu from Janakganj in Madhya Pradesh for murdering one Kamal Pathak who had objected to his teasing a woman, the court said “the principle applies when there are too many witnesses cited on the same point”. This would not only help the prosecution in relieving itself of the strain of adducing repetitive evidence on the same point but also help that court considerably in lessening its workload, the court said. Bunty in his appeal against conviction, had said that the prosecution had left out some of the witnesses cited by it from examination. “Time has come to make every possible effort to lessen the workload, particularly by those courts loaded with cases. But this has to be done without imparing the cause of justice,” The Bench observed. Where the prosecution has cited two categories of witnesses - those closely related to the victim and those not in his relation - it was the duty of the prosecutor to produce them from both the categories in a manner by using his discretion to limit to one or two among them. If the prosecutor came to know that any one among the two categories was not going to support the prosecution case, he was free to tell the court that such witness could be skipped from being examined as prosecution witness. “But it would be open for the defence to examine such a witness as defence witness. The decision in this regard has to be taken by the prosecutor in a fair manner,” the apex court. |
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Allahabad varsity gets Central status New Delhi, November 6 The Cabinet also approved the taking over of the Bihar College of Engineering, Patna, one of the oldest engineering colleges of the country (1924), as a fully funded Institute of the Central government and converting it into a National Institute of Technology (NIT). It will now be given the deemed-university status like 17 other NITs located in major states of the country. Briefing newspersons here after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj discounted reports that the Unorganised Sector Workers Bill had been rejected by the Group of Ministers (GoM). She pointed out that there had been no meeting of the GoM and that it had actually given its approval to the important Bill. Ms Swaraj said the opening up of the opium processing sector to the private players was significant. While India was exporting raw opium, it was importing processed opium despite being one of the 11 major opium growers globally. The entry of private players was expected to improve the situation. |
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Notifications for Assembly poll today New Delhi, November 6 The notifications will be issued by the Governors of the four states going to the polls on December 1. The filing of nominations by the candidates will start from tomorrow and the last date will be November 14. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on November 15 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is November 17. The counting of votes for the four states will be taken up simultaneously on December 4 and the entire election process will be completed by December 11. Elections will be held for 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, 200 seats in Rajasthan, 90 seats in Chhattisgarh and 70 seats in Delhi. The terms of the legislative Assemblies in the four States are to expire on December 13 (Delhi), January 3 (Rajasthan) and January 31 (Madhya Pradesh) and (Chhattisgarh). The Model Code of Conduct has come into effect from October 6 when the election schedule was announced by the Election Commission. This will be applicable to the four state governments, Union Government and to political parties. |
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Airport
disinvestment meeting put off New Delhi, November 6 Although reports here suggested that the meeting could take place later in the week, official sources, however, said that no fresh date had been fixed. Officially, no reason was attributed for the postponement. Apparently, the government wants to put the matter on the backburner, keeping in mind the forthcoming elections in Delhi. A final decision may be taken in a day or two. The GoM was to meet on the issue as the Union Cabinet had decided in September that 74 per cent of the government stake in two airports, currently run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), would be sold out to private joint-venture partners or consortia for 30 years on the basis of renewable contracts. The government had also shortlisted KPMG, ABN Amro and Ernst and Young for appointment of consultants for the process. The GoM is headed by the Minister of Finance and has Law, Disinvestment and Civil Aviation Ministers as its other members. |
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Don’t politicise plight of rape victims, says NCW New Delhi, November 6 NCW chairperson, Dr Poornima Advani, told mediapersons here on Wednesday that rape victims should be kept out of the political process. “The commission feels that the dignity of women is paramount and at no cost should individual cases of crime against women be politicised. Due care must be exercised by all political parties in the coming elections,” she observed. Dr Advani said the victim came to the commission on Tuesday. “She has complained of threats by the
assassins of her husband who are today imprisoned. She has also stated that she has a gross feeling of insecurity. The NCW has asked the state government to provide adequate security and protection to her.” |
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Panel approves continuance of education scheme New Delhi, November 6 The scheme would help in the consolidation of the existing facilities and creation of a viable institutional infrastructure, academic gradation of knowledge, competence and pedagogical skills of schoolteachers in the country. The scheme will have a projected outlay of Rs 950 crore during the 10th Plan, of which 95 per cent has been earmarked for state level activities. The scheme was started in 1987-88 with the main components of the scheme being the setting up of Districts Institutions of Education and Training (DIETs), strengthening of Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) Institutes of Advanced Studies in Education (IASEs), State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) and orientation of schoolteachers. At present, there are 492 DIETs, 86 CTEs and 38 IASEs covering all states and Union Territories, except Chndigarh, Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli. |
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