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Ganeshi
Lal admits differences
LEAF FROM HISTORY 2 killed
in road accident Preacher
convicted of raping minor |
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Ganeshi
Lal admits differences with INLD Sirsa, December 8 He was addressing a press conference here at the local Surkhap tourist complex. He said due to the non-availability of senior BJP leaders in view of their preoccupation in the recent Vidhan Sabha elections, the same could not be finalised earlier. He hoped that it would be finalised in the meeting scheduled on December 11 with the party high command. Replying to a question with regard to the party’s relation with the INLD, Prof. Ganeshi Lal evaded a direct reply and said the decision on this matter was not in his jurisdiction and the same would be decided by the party high command. However, he was acquainting the central leadership with the feelings of the public and party workers. When asked whether state leadership felt that the INLD was a liability, he said they had decided to opt for the role of an invigilator and admitted that the party had differences on various public issues like VAT, self-occupant house tax, professional tax etc. In addition to this, the party wants that the government should first give its plan to rehabilitate those who were being dislodged in anti-encroachment operation, he added. The BJP leader alleged that the Congress was a victim of ‘Mareech culture’. They believed in capturing power through manoeuvering elections and not by public support. That is why the Jogi episode has happened in Chhattisgarh. |
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Police blocks widow’s fight for justice Chandigarh, December 8 Mrs Sharbati Devi has been fighting unsuccessfully for the past five years to bring to book the killer of her husband, Shivnarain Singh, a retired teacher. Shivnarain was killed allegedly by ASI Suresh Kumar on court premises in broad daylight. Instead of punishing the cop, the police registered a case against the retired teacher and his associates, accusing them of trying to escape from lawful custody and assaulting the ASI. The judiciary was, of course, not taken in by the police story. Mrs Sharbati Devi still remembers the dark day of October 13, 1998, when she had gone to the Narnaul court where her husband and his colleagues were to be produced. She says being a social activist, her husband had earned the wrath of the powers that be. He was allegedly implicated in a case under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) IPC, and was under arrest. Shivnarain and his three associates were brought from the Rohtak jail by a four-member judicial guard headed by Mr Suresh Kumar. During lunch-break, the four were having food brought by their relatives. Suresh objected on the ground that the accused could not take food brought from outside as it might be poisonous. He allegedly used abusive language against them. Shivnarain protested. Irked by his insistence to see the SP Suresh allegedly fired three shots, injuring Shivnarain and his
associate, Bhartesh. Shivnarain later succumbed to his injuries in Rohtak Medical College Hospital on October 17, 1998. Condemning the incident, the Mahendragarh Bar Association demanded action against the ASI. Shivnarain also made a statement before the then Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Mr Sandeep Singh, alleging that Suresh had shot at him as part of a conspiracy. He alleged that since several important persons in the district administration were annoyed with him because of his outspokenness, the conspirators wanted to eliminate him. His statement was sent by the then Chief Judicial Magistrate, Narnaul, to the police for necessary action. However, instead of acting on that statement, the police lodged an FIR against Shivnarain and his associates. The police registered a case against Shivnarain and his associates for attempt to murder Suresh, who had allegedly suffered a bullet injury when the accused fired at him with his service revolver. The accused were tried in the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Narnaul, Mr S.K. Gupta. The Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the District and Sessions Judge, Narnaul, on November 26, 1998, to conduct an inquiry into a complaint made by Mrs Sharbati Devi. Mr Arvind Kumar, who conducted the inquiry, held that Suresh had opened fire “without any sufficient or reasonable cause. There is nothing on the record to suggest that the undertrials were escaping from the court premises...” Agreeing that the members of the judicial guard erred in allowing the undertrials to have food brought by their relatives, and had thus had failed in performing their duties honestly and dedicatedly, Mr Arvind Kumar held that ASI Suresh Kumar was at fault in abusing the
undertrials. “No government is allowed by the Constitution of India to permit anybody to abuse a person... Suresh Kumar being a responsible police officer was not supposed to lose his temper and it was his duty to tackle the situation with a balanced mind, but I am afraid to observe that he did not control himself and out of his impatience, he started abusing the undertrials and kicked the food being eaten by them. More so, he
did (commit) atrocities upon them, without any cogent and reasonable lawful cause...” Mr Arvind Kumar also castigated the police for the delay in taking Shivnarain to the Rohtak hospital after he was referred to there by Narnaul doctors. The judge concluded that the “investigating agency registered a case against the undertrials solely to save the skin of ASI Suresh Kumar.” Mr S.K. Gupta, Additional Sessions Judge, Narnaul, while acquitting the associates of Shivnarain in the case of assault on Suresh, held that the then S.P., Mahendragarh, Mr R.C. Mishra, was “out and out to save the ASI”. The judge found many holes in the police case. The defence had contended before the trial court that the bullet shown to have been recovered from the body of the ASI was actually recovered from the body of Shivnarain. The prosecution, interestingly, did not produce the doctor who allegedly extracted the bullet from the ASI’s body, as a witness in the court. After the acquittal of Shivnarain’s associates by Mr Gupta, Sharbati’s son Mr Shamsher Singh Yadav filed a complaint before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Narnaul, Mr A.K. Bishnoi, praying for the registration a case against Suresh. Mr Bishnoi on August 1, ordered the police to register a case and investigate. Sharbati Devi says the police registered the case on August 14, 2003, but so far it has not arrested the ASI. She fears that the police may cancel the case as “untraced”. The S.P., Narnaul, was not available for comments. |
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LEAF
FROM HISTORY Ambala,
December 8 For the past couple of years, the de-commissioned steam engine at the DRM complex reminded one of the bygone era. The engine, referred to as Steam Loco KC 520, was just another showpiece till it was decided that the steam engine will once again be put back into service. It proved to be a herculean task to move the steam engine from the DRM complex to the railway yard from where it could be sent ahead for major repairs. A railway officer said moving the mammoth steam engine required extensive planning and heavy equipment. “The steam engine had to be removed with all care so that no major damage took place to its structure. Hat’s off to railway engineers who made it operational again”, he said. The Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Mr Dayal Dogra, said the steam engine had been placed in Shimla. “The steam engine runs only when there is need,” he stated. The steam engine had been manufactured by North British Locomotive Company, England. It was built in 1905 and it was commissioned in 1906. The steam engine was converted from “saturate steam to super heat” in 1956, and it was withdrawn from service in 1971. After it was de-commissioned, railway officials thought it best to place the steam engine at the Ambala DRM complex so that people could recall the glorious history of steam travel on the picturesque Kalka-Shimla rail line. Interestingly, the initial cost of the steam engine was Rs 29,946. The weight of the steam engine is 32 ton without coal and water. The steam engine has a coal capacity of 3.5 ton and water capacity of 5682 litres. The 96.5-km-long Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge railway line, with a 76.2-cm wide track, was built in 1903 during the reign of Lord Curzon by the erstwhile Delhi-Ambala-Kalka Railway Company and commissioned for service on January 1, 1906, by the former North Western Railway at an initial cost of 1.75 crore. The railway line was primarily built to connect Shimla, the then summer capital of India. It figures in the Limca Book of Records for its steep rise. |
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2 killed in road accident Hisar, December 8 According to the police, Balwant Singh (25) and his friend Ranbir Singh (30), residents of the nearby Kabrel village, were returning to their village on a motor cycle last night. As soon as they reached near Salemgarh village a truck, coming from the opposite direction, collided with their motor cycle. Balwant Singh died on the spot while Ranbir Singh succumbed to his injuries on the way to the local Civil Hospital. The Sadar police has registered a case against the truck driver. |
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Preacher
convicted of raping minor Solan, December 8 The judge has fixed December 10 for announcing the sentence. The case had been transferred to the District and Session Court here by the Supreme Court after the accused who was booked for the crime in Ambala had moved an application seeking trial of the case in any state other than Haryana. The
case pertains to the rape of minor Ambala-based girl who had gone to
hear his religious discourse on May 11, 2001. |
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Two sisters kidnapped Sonepat, December 8 The police has registered a case and launched a hunt to trace the sisters. The parents of the sisters suspect that a shopkeeper had kidnapped them. The shopkeeper has also been missing since the day of incident, police sources said.
— PTI |
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