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Wadda Dera case to reopen
J&K sex scandal accused move SC
Power thefts: states told to set up special courts |
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Abuse of domestic child labour alarming: study UPA reaches out to rural folk
UK envoy’s assurance to Nitish
Paigah Palace to house
US Consulate
PETA’s naked protest today
NHRC seeks report from Bihar Govt
Two arrested in case of Gavit-Bhati conversation
Pranab attacks Left’s education policy
Navy likely to buy Hawk 100 aircraft
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Wadda Dera case to reopen
New Delhi, August 28 In a legal battle going on for 44 years, the SGPC had claimed its right over the Wadda Dera, owning 200 bighas donated to it by the then Maharaja of Nabha in 1851. The SGPC had claimed its right over the Wadda Dera for the first time in 1962-63 under Section 17(1) of the Sikh Gurdwara Act and sought it to be declared a gurdwara for the reason that Guru Granth Sahib was placed there. Mahant Jwala Singh had contested the claim of the SGPC. A disciple and heir of Mahant Bishan Singh, he had moved a special leave petition in the apex court in 1983 against the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling. In an application today, he sought the revival of the case. A Bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice C.K. Thakker issued a notice to the SGPC after Mahant Jwala Singh’s counsel S.L. Gupta contended that the high court judgement was not based on correct facts. The high court, in its 1982 judgement, had upheld the order of the Gurdwara Tribunal in Punjab, delivered in 1972, declaring the Wadda Dera a Sikh gurdwara. The main contention of Mahant Jwala Singh in the special leave petition was that the tribunal’s order was based on surmises and conjectures as it had not taken into account the evidence and old revenue records, including the reports of the Tehsildar and the Settlement Commissioner on the ownership of the 200 bighas donated to the Wadda Dera’s Mahant Bhai Bir Singh by the Maharaja of Nabha in 1851. Mahant Jwala Singh said in the special leave petition that the tribunal had drawn the incorrect conclusion that there was a recommendation of the Settlement Officer in 1899 that Mahant Bhai Bir Singh had got the land on lease from the Maharaja of Nabha and he had been paying land revenue on it. Initially the tribunal had allowed the petition of the mahant of the dera in 1964, but it changed its findings after the SGPC filed an amended statement, stating that the institution of the Wadda Dera at Jalal was a Sikh gurdwara built in the memory of Guru Gobind Singh, who came and stayed there for some time. But the mahant had raised the question of law whether under Section 16(2)(iii) of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, the SGPC had the right to declare an institution not established by Sikhs a gurdwara merely on the grounds that the Guru Granth Sahib was placed in it. The land records were old documents pertaining to the period when revenue records were prepared and it was stated that Mahant Bhai Bir Singh had been allotted the land by the Maharaja of Nabha, the special leave petition said.
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J&K sex scandal accused move SC
New Delhi, August 28 A Bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice C.K. Thakker, while taking strong exception to the Srinagar Bar Association not allowing any lawyer to appear for any of the accused, issued notices to the CBI and the Jammu and Kashmir Government on their plea. They were directed to submit replies within three days. The court scheduled further hearing for September 4. The 13 accused who sought the transfer of the case included former minister Raman Mattoo, suspended BSF DIG K.C. Padhi, former state Additional Advocate General Anil Sethi, IAS officer Mohd Iqbal Khanday, state police DSP Mohd Yousuf Mir, sex racket’s alleged kingpin Sabeena and her husband Abdul Hamid Bulla. Former minister Mian Abdul Qayoom did not seek the transfer of the case. The court took the Srinagar Bar Association to task for putting a blanket ban on its members against appearing for the accused. Bar body president Mian Abdul Qayoom denied passing any resolution against the appearance of lawyers for the accused, but said there was an attempt to divide the Bar between lawyers from villages and those from towns. The accused sought the transfer on the grounds that the high court had passed orders of day-to-day monitoring and issued blanket directions for the arrest of any suspect. Due to this, the lower judiciary was under pressure not to take up an independent view of the case, the petition said. With the Bar’s intervention, the atmosphere had become surcharged, the petition added. The accused cited the alleged threat from the Dukhtharan-e-Millat to them as the reason for seeking the transfer. Taking exception to the manner in which the high court had been issuing directions in the case, the Chief Justice observed that if there was solid evidence against a person, he should be arrested by the CBI, but arrests could not be made on the basis of mere suspicion. The high court could not act like an investigating agency, monitoring the progress of probe in a case, the Bench said. The court directed the Bar body to file an affidavit within three days to a CBI petition, challenging the blanket orders on the arrest and custodial interrogation passed by the high court, for it being the mover of the public interest litigation in the sex scandal. The association’s chief said it was not interested in contesting the petition for the transfer of the case.
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Power thefts: states told to set up special courts New Delhi, August 28 At a recent meeting called by Power Secretary R. V. Shahi to review power reforms in the northern states, the ministry has asked the states to set up special police stations and courts under the Electricity Act, 2003, to prosecute electricity consumers involved in power pilferage, a senior official in the power ministry told The Tribune today. He pointed that some states, including West Bengal, Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan, Orissa and Karnataka, had already set up special police stations and courts as part of their strategy to check massive pilferage in the power sector. West Bengal is perhaps the first state in the country where the government has shown political will to check power pilferage. Hundreds of people have been convincted by special courts in the state for power pilferage. Power pilferage by all sections of society, including high-profile industrialists, traders, politicians, farmers and domestic sector leads not only to frequent power cuts and revenue losses to the exchequer worth thousands of crores, but also damages power transformers and electrical equipment through fluctuations in power supply. “In Delhi too where about 50 per cent of the total power supply is pilfered, the government has set up special courts and private distribution companies have agreed to provide funds for the police force. With the intervention of the Power Ministry and the Home Ministry, the Delhi Government has entered into an agreement with the Central Industrial and Security Force (CISF) to provide 150 policemen to check power theft,” he said. However, he lamented that in Haryana, which was among the first state to introduce power reforms during the Bansi Lal government, no action had been taken so far to set up special police stations and courts for this purpose. At present, the aggregate transmission and commercial losses, a euphemism for power pilferage, are as high as 45 per cent of the total power consumption in Haryana, as compared to 17 to 18 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. At the review meeting, the official said, even Punjab had claimed to bring down the losses to 23.8 per cent and Himachal Pradesh to around 30 per cent. Himachal has also claimed to set up special courts for this purpose. However, in some states like Bihar (74 per cent), Jharkhand (69 per cent), Jammu and Kashmir (68 per cent) the power situation is very grim. Power Secretary is holding separate review meeting with Power Secretaries in these states to check power thefts that would also help the turnaround of state power utilities.
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Abuse of domestic child labour alarming: study New Delhi, August 28 The research conducted by NGO Save the Children, gives horrifying details about how a large number of child domestic workers in the country are not only routinely subjected to unsafe working conditions, lack of food and physical abuse but also “deliberately burnt and sexually abused”. Contending that a majority of domestic workers in the country are in the age-group 12 to 16, the NGO has questioned the limiting of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act to domestic labour to 14 years and asked the cut-off limit to be raised to 18 years. “The Act needs to have much more to protect children,” Save the Children says. The Child labour Act was recently amended by the government to include child domestic work as a form of hazardous labour, stating that action can be taken against those who employ children up to the age of 14 in domestic work, including homes, hotels, motels, tea shops, resorts or any other recreational centre As per Save the Children national programme manager Manab Ray, after the recent amendment, the Act now states that action can be taken against anyone who employs children under 14 in domestic work in homes or hotels. “But our research shows that 74 per cent of child domestic workers are between the age group 12 to 16 and this amendment leaves a large chunk of child domestic workers out in the cold. More than 50,000 children are employed in this kind of work in Kolkata alone and this figure is broadly indicative that the number of child domestic workers in the country is somewhere around 1.15 crore,” he adds. This study, which is part of the NGO’s work over a period of four years in in six districts of West Bengal and is now being undertaken in Pune, Ranchi and Delhi homes. The study claims that the children working as domestic labour are routinely subjected to many forms of abuse from unsafe working conditions to lack of food to being beaten, deliberately burnt or sexually abused. It says that 99 per cent of child domestic workers in Delhi and 84 per cent in Kolkata are girls, who come from poor families and forced to work for up to 15 hours a day with no break and little or no pay, adding that 78 per cent of workers receive less than Rs 500 per month. As many as 68 per cent of children surveyed had faced physical abuse and 46.6 per cent severe abuse, leading to injuries. What is more shocking is that 32.2 per cent children reported to have their private parts being touched by an abuser and 20 per cent claimed to being forced to have sexual intercourse. Fifty per cent of these young domestic workers did not get any leave in a year and 37 per cent never got to see their families. Incidentally, 32 per cent of families had no idea where their daughters were working, while 27 per cent admitted to be knowing that their children were being beaten up and harassed. “Child domestic workers are unlikely to ever go to school, they have no control over their income, are subjected to irregular working hours and face repeated insults threats and violence at the hands of their employers. They do not get to mingle with other children and often suffer from mal-nourishment. Even more worryingly, a significant number of child domestic workers face sexual abuse,” he said, quoting examples of several such girls who had to face abuse and sexual exploitation right through their adolescence.
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UPA reaches out to rural folk Karaikal (Pondicherry), August 28 Having recently attended the four-day public information campaign, conducted here by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Prabhavati finds herself empowered with details about the available resources under the Centre’s different schemes as well as the wide scope of the UPA government’s Bharat Nirman scheme, National Rural Employment Guarantee programme and the Right to Information Act. “This programme has definitely enabled me and scores of other women to understand our rights,” says Prabhavati, explaining that she will now use this freshly-gleaned information to access the available funds to upgrade the infrastructure in her area. “I will also educate others about these programmes,” she adds. Prabhavati is but one of the large number of women in Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country, who have benefited from the ongoing public information campaign. Unlike the NDA government’s India Shining programme, which was confined to the media, this campaign ,managed by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), seeks to reach out to those residing in rural India. “These Info-Expos are designed to empower people by providing them information on the Centre’s various priority schemes like Bharat Nirman, rural employment programme, the National Rural Health Scheme and the Prime Minister’s new 15-point scheme for minorities,” says Mrs. Deepak Sandhu, Press Information Officer, who has devised this programme under guidance from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). In addition to Tamil Nadu, such camps have also been conducted in Punjab, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and the North East and will gradually travel to other states as well. The information at these camps is imparted in a lively, interactive manner, explains Mrs. Sandhu. A virtual mela-type ambience is recreated at these camps as different stalls are put up informing the villagers about the UPA government’s different schemes. Free health camps, loan melas, quizz programmes for schoolchildren are also held. At the same time, the PIB’s virtually-defunct Song and Drama Division has been resurrected to carry this message to the villages through street plays.
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UK envoy’s assurance to Nitish
Patna, August 28 On his part, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made it clear that his main target now was to put Bihar on development map. During his two-day visit to Bihar that concluded on Thursday, the British High Commissioner opened the first-ever branch of the HSBC in Bihar. The HSBC had started its operations in India as early as in mid-19th century. But it took 60 years for it to put its foothold in Bihar since the country’s Independence in 1947. Mr Arthur was candid in admitting that the decision of the HSBC to come to Bihar was a indicator, acknowledging the changing perception of the state once known as a “bad land”. Under the changed scenario, Mr Arthur also gave an assurance to consider sending a British trade and business delegation shortly to Bihar to explore investment opportunities. Mr Arthur was impressed with the provision of 50 per cent reservation of seats for women in the just-concluded panchayat poll in the state. Mr Arthur was of the view that besides decentralisation of power, the equal participation of women in grassroots democracy would help achieve gender equality in the society. Bihar is the first state in the country to reserve 50 per cent seats for women in panchayats. Close on the heels of Mr Arthur’s visit, Mr Kumar received a letter from Tata group chairman Ratan Tata expressing his willingness to come to the state to discuss investment opportunities here. Tatas had a presence in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, which was once part of undivided Bihar. Official sources disclosed that investment proposals worth Rs 9,000 crore had been cleared by the NDA government in past nine months with a focus on the ailing sugarcane industry.
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Paigah Palace to house
US Consulate
Hyderabad, August 28 The fourth US Consulate in the country was announced by US President George W. Bush during his visit to the city in March last. Indian and US officials had scouted several places in the city for the setting up of a temporary office and selected the Paigah Palace after going through the security angle. The Paigah Palace, built in the European style in the 1880s by Sir Vicar-ul-Umra, had 20 spacious rooms and four huge halls a with high ceiling that went up to 26 feet. The state government had offered a 10-acre site at Madhapur, near the Hitec City, the hub of the IT sector in Hyderabad, for housing the Consulate. Since the construction of buildings at the site would take time, the government had offered temporary accommodation to get the Consulate functional without delay. The Consulate was expected to be operational from October 2007. The Paigah Palace presently housed the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority office, which would have to be shifted now.
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PETA’s naked protest today
New Delhi, August 28 The demonstration, to press the point that animals are made up of flesh, blood and bones and have life and emotions, will be held in front of the Pragati Maidan, the venue of the International Livestock and Dairy Expo India. PETA India coordinator campaigns N.G. Jayasimha says the two women will be dressed in skin suits and wrapped in cellophane paper to mimic packages
of frozen meat. “Unlike what poultry and meat industry advertisements will like us to believe, animals are cruelly treated and illegally slaughtered. Eating flesh is like eating the corpse of a tortured animal, who did not wish to die. The industry, through advertisements where animals are shown prancing around, will like consumers to believe that animals are happy when they are killed. But like any other living being, they have emotions and are certainly not happy when they are cruelly slaughtered”, he says. While he agrees that everyone has the right to freedom to choose whether to be a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian, he says the animal rights’ group propagating ethical treatment of animals only wants to encourage kind consumers to give vegetarianism a try. He says animals are hit, dragged and cruelly and illegally handled and often not provided with basic necessities like food, water and veterinary treatment. “Eating meat is like literally eating a corpse. Animals are fed hormones and made to stay in cramped conditions till they are slaughtered for meat. During transportation, they are crammed in vehicles in such large numbers that many are severely injured or die en route. They are killed in front of others at slaughter houses and often dismembered and skinned while they are still conscious”, he adds. He does not believe in advocating better rights for animals being slaughtered for meat as he says, “There is no best way to kill an animal”.
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NHRC seeks report from Bihar Govt
New Delhi, August 28 The commission has asked the Chief Secretary and the Director-General of Police, Bihar, to take appropriate steps to provide protection to the next of kin of the deceased and those who witnessed the killings by a crowd. In his complaint, Prabir Kumar Das, a Bhubaneshwar based advocate and human rights activist, drew the attention of the commission to a news story telecast by a television channel early this month. According to the story, the youths were allegedly killed for trying to steal a buffalo. The commission received another letter from Ram Kripal Yadav, Lok Sabha MP, and others who forwarded a complaint by the relatives of the deceased. The relatives alleged that four persons, belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, were robbed of their money and later killed by the accused named in the complaint. They petitioned the NHRC to order an inquiry into the matter and provide protection to them as well as those who witnessed the murder.
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Two arrested in case of Gavit-Bhati conversation
New Delhi, August 28 Both, in their early 30s, are residents of Delhi. One of them had allegedly impersonated as Manik Rao Gavit while talking to the UP gangster, a CBI spokesman said here. While Krishan Kumar, a real estate dealer, was taken into custody on August 26 from the Karkardooma Court where he was produced following his arrest by the Delhi police on Friday, another person Vinod Kumar, was arrested today from Rohini. Krishan Kumar will be produced in court on September 1 and Vinod will be produced in court tomorrow. “The arrests were made following a preliminary inquiry”, the spokesman said. In its preliminary inquiry, the CBI had sent the audio CD, containing the alleged conversation between Gavit and Bhati, for forensic tests. The CFSL report refuted the charges of a TV channel that the voice in the ‘tapes’ were that of the union minister. Mr Gavit was later given a clean chit by the agency. The voice spectrography report from the CFSL laboratory said the voice of the minister did not match with the tapes procured from the TV channel. On August 26, the CBI had begun its probe into the conspiracy angle after registering a case on the basis of the TV channel’s report.
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Pranab attacks Left’s education policy
Kolkata, August 28 He also threw challenge to the CPM leadership to withdraw their support to the UPA government and face another elections. Mr Mukherjee accused the CPM of denigrating Rabindranath Tagore as bourgeois poet, whose “Sahaj Path” had been deleted from the primary schools syllabus and Tagore had been replaced by Marx, Lenin and Mao Tse Tung. The Defence Minister was addressing youth congress workers at Mahataji Sadan today on the occasion of the 53rd foundation ceremony of Chhatra Parisad. He said the time had come when students, irrespective of their political and ideological differences, should stand united and fight against the CPM’s “misuse of power” and it’s “wrong” education policy, which had been “ruining” their careers.
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Navy likely to buy Hawk 100 aircraft
Mumbai, August 28 The Indian Navy was further considering the acquisition of eight BAE Sea Harrier FA2 fighter jets from the Royal Navy. The publication quoted the BAE Systems as saying that the Hawk AJT is well placed to meet the Indian Navy’s requirements. The BAE won a $1.7 billion contract in early 2004 to supply the IAF 66 Hawk 132Y trainers. |
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