Hisar, March 27
The cow-protection cell of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has demanded the registration of a case against the police and administrative officials who had allegedly helped cattle smugglers in taking away bulls in trucks from Barwala township in the district.

It may be mentioned here that the police had confiscated 33 trucks which were taking more than 400 bulls, buffaloes and calves allegedly to slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh. A cattle fair was in progress at Barwala, from which the animals had been taken.

Talking to The Tribune here today, the general secretary of VHP's Haryana chapter,Vijay Sharma, asserted that the smuggling of cattle could not have been possible without the connivance of the "mela", administration and police officials.

"Of the nearly 425 bulls, only 140 were found to be fit for agriculture. The animals were so badly loaded in the trucks that eight of them were found dead by the police," Sharma maintained, adding that all this clearly indicated that the officials concerned were hand in glove with the cattle smugglers.

He pointed out that the episode also raised serious questions over the validity of the medical tests, on the basis of which the sale of such old and sick bulls was allowed.

The state VHP general secretary demanded police action against the officials involved in the crime, failing which a mass agitation would be launched. He said the involvement and patronisation of certain influential political leaders of Haryana as well as Uttar Pradesh in the matter could also not be ruled out.

Meanwhile, the district units of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the district administration. In the memorandum, they have demanded registration of a police case, arrest and strict action against the officials found involved in the case. 

Sonepat, March 27
Another case of sexual abuse of a schoolgirl came to light today when a social panchayat accused a private school owner and another teacher of raping a girl of Class XII in Sargathal village under Gohana subdivision today.

According to information, the girl earlier was a student of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial School in Sargathal village. She passed her matriculation from that school and now was appearing in 10+2 examination in Saman Puthi village in Rohtak. The girl was staying with her relatives in Sargathal village till two years ago but returned to her native village after passing matriculation.

However, the director of the school yesterday went to her village and took her to Hansi town. The girl informed a neighbour in her village she had left home and the duo came back to the school in Sargathal village. The girl’s parents tracked the call and reached Hansi in her search. On reaching there they suspected school owner, Neelam Singh Malik could have lured the girl. Family members reached Sargathal village and raided the school premises.

In the meantime, the school owner and his accomplice schoolteacher Ranbir Singh to slipped out of the villagers. The girl’s family today called a social panchayat which decided to lock the school and lodged complaint to the Gohana police station. The police has registered a case against the two teachers. The panchayat also decided to organise a mahapanchayat representing 17 nearby villages on March 29 to decide on the teachers who committed the crime. 

Rohtak, March 27
Greater emphasis must be laid on teaching basic sciences at school, college and varsity levels, Dr R. S. Dhanker, Vice-Chancellor, Maharshi Dayanand University, said here today.

Presiding over the opening session of a workshop on “Recent Trends in Nanotechnology”, organised by the Department of Engineering & Technology of the university, he said nanotechnology would be beneficial to the society and provide solutions to various problems.

Earlier, Dean, Academic Affairs, Dr Ishwar Singh described nanotechnology as a contemporary scientific phenomenon.

National Physical Laboratory ‘s leading scientist Dr S. M. Shivprasad said that nanotechnology was the latest area of science emerging throughout the world as a leading new technology.

Prof. S. K. Chakarvarti, Head, Department of Applied Physics, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, also spoke.

About 100 delegates took part in this one- day workshop.

Fatehabad, March 27
Representatives of the Private Schools Association today began relay fast outside the mini secretariat here, to protest against the cane charge and arrest of agitating teachers at Chandigarh on March 23 and irrational clauses in the newly introduced education policy.

Representatives of all three organizations of private schools owners, the Haryana United Schools Association (HUSAa), the All Haryana United Schools Association (AHUSA) and the Saraswati Gramin School Sangh (SGSS) participated in the the fast today.

Shalen Bhaskar, district president of the HUSA, Vijay Nirmohi, state vice-president of the HUSA, Ravinder Gautam, district president of the AHUSA, Gulab Singh, district president of the SGSS and Brij Bhushan Midha, district president of the District Private Schools Association were among the 12 persons who sat on fest today.

Talking to media persons, Bhaskar said 103 members of their associations were arrested by the police while they were holding peaceful agitation at Chandigarh on March 22.

He demanded the government should release all without precondition.

He said the government released the Amended Education Policy 2007 on March 3, 2007, which was acclaimed by the private schools, as it was softer than the Education Policy 2003 released by the erstwhile Chautala government but, surprisingly, the government had given time of 28 days to implement the policy.

Bhaskar said it was not possible for private schools owners to bring about major modifications in school buildings to comply with the Education Policy 2007 in 28 days. aHe demanded at least two to three years for the implementation of the policy.

Chandigarh, March 27
The Haryana Urdu Akademi will honour 12 Urdu litterateurs for the their outstanding contribution in the field of Urdu literature.

Haryana education minister Phool Chand Mullana said a function would be organised in Panchkula on March 28 for giving away the awards. The function would be presided over by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Mullana said Shams-Ur-Rehman Farooqi would receive the Hali award with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a shawl and a citation.

He said head of the Urdu department of Delhi University Ibne Kanwal would be honoured with the Kanwar Mohinder Singh Bedi Award with a cash prizeof Rs 25,000, a shawl, a memento and a citation. He said the granddaughter of Hali Panipati, Sayyida Sayyidain, would be honoured with the Sabir Dutt Award for Social Upliftment of Women with a cash prize of Rs 25,000, a shawl and a memento.

Azad Gulati from Gurgaon would get the Syed Mujaffar Hussain Burney Award and Naseerudin Azhar from Nuh the Khawaja Ahmad Abbas Award for Urdu prose.

These two awardees would receive a cash prize of Rs 21,000 each, a shawl, a memento and a citation. Story writer Kedar Sharma of Panchkula would receive the Munshi Gumani Lal Award for Urdu fiction. He would receive a cash prize
of Rs 11,000.

Journalist Hafiz Ishaq Saharanpuri would get the Surinder Pandit Soz Award for the promotion of Urdu in Ambala and its neighbourhood.

Kulbhushan Parwaz, Ajiz Jalandhari and Shanti Swarup from Panchkula, O.P.Laghar from Faridabad and Azad from Sonepat would also be honoured on the occasion, he said.

Karnal, March 27
A mentally challenged person allegedly killed a tantrik in a village in Panipat district early today.

Sources said the victim, Pale Ram, was a native of Buanalakhu village and was related to the accused.

The victim had gone to Bhalsi village near Matlauda in Panipat yesterday to treat the mentally challenged person, Anil. Anil allegedly attacked the tantrik with a stick on his head.

His body was recovered from Anil's house. Sources said the police had registered a case against Anil, his father, Ishwar and Subash.

Yamunanagar, March 27
Bodies of two senior citizens were found hanging with lengths of cloth here today. Both seem to be cases of suicides.

Body of Baljeet (65) was found hanging from a length of cloth (a parna used to cover to head) from a neem tree in Gadhoula village here. Banto Devi, wife of the deceased, told the police her three sons along with their wives were out on work when Baljeet allegedly hanged himself to death. Baljeet used to skin dead animals and was an alcoholic said police sources. It is being suspected he took the extreme step after consuming liquor.

Body of Parmjeet Singh (60) was found hanging in a cattle shed in Chagnauli village of Bilaspur block last evening. The police has ruled out the possibility of foul play in the death. In both cases the police started inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Cr.P.C and bodies were given over to the families after postmortem examinations. 

Ambala, March 27
Rajendra Kumar Vij, husband of Rajni Vij, former principal of Radha Lal Geeta Vidya Mandir, Ambala city, who committed suicide earlier this month, today expressed unhappiness with the slow pace of police investigation in the case.

Rajni Vij had committed suicide on March 7. Rajendra Kumar said even though the suicide note left behind by his wife clearly mentioned the name of an office bearer of the school management, the police has not yet arrested the person.

He said his wife was harassed and threatened by a member of the school management, as stated in the note.

Rajendra said if the police does not take prompt action in the case, he will meet Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and appraise him on the matter.

Rajni has mentioned in the suicide note that she had been working in Radha Lal Geeta Vidya Mandir since March 26, 1996. She has stated that except one person, nobody else had ever harassed her. She added that she had been threatened in her office and the intention of the person did not seem good.