New Delhi, May 17
A court here has sentenced a 40-year-old man to ten years' rigorous imprisonment for raping his minor daughter four years ago.

After hearing the arguments of both the prosecution and the defence, additional sessions judge (ASJ) Neeraj Kumar Gupta, held Kamal Kumar, a resident of Karol Bagh here in Central Delhi, guilty of raping his 14-year-old daughter and also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.

According to the prosecution, on the intervening night of April 16-17, 2003, Kamal, after giving food to his two sons Raju and Babu, raped his minor daughter, as his two wives were not present in his home at that time.

Kamal was living with his two wives Ram Pyari and Kamla Das, in Karol Bagh area after his first wife, Reeta Puri, divorced him after seven years of the marriage on June 2002.

The victim had deposed and identified that Kamal, her own father, had raped her on the fateful night. She further stated that her 8-year-old-brother, Raju, came to know about the incident and he reported the matter to his mother Kamla Das.

The accused was arrested from his residence on the same day.

"The bizzare incident has shocked the entire system of a happy family where a father has raped his minor daughter. Seeing the gravity of the heinous crime, I am of the opinion that the convict, Kamal Kumar, should at least be sentenced to a minimum of ten years' in jail so that justice would be meted out to the victim," the Judge said.

Kamal was convicted under Sections 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court had on September 12, 2005, framed charges against him. The prosecution produced sixteen witnesses, including the main eyewitness, the victim and others to prove its case against the accused.

"The witnesses have supported the prosecution case and the chain of events regarding committal of rape by the convict on her daughter. The victim also fearlessly and fairly deposed against her own father and was consistent in her version to unravel the truth," the Judge said.

New Delhi, May 17
Two rounds of meeting between senior officers of the transport departments of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have given hope to daily commuters for resumption of bus services of both the states.

The senior officers of UP included chief managing director (transport) Dev Dutt and principal secretary, transport, Pradeep Shukla. Among the Delhi government officers were principal secretary-cum-commissioner, transport, R. Chandra Mohan and chairman-cum-managing director, Delhi Transport Corporation, Anshu Prakash. A total number of six officers from both the sides attended the meeting.

They had two rounds of meetings to work out all issues relating to the bus row between both the states, sources said.

The sources said that response from UP transport officers was in affirmative. As the newly formed government of Mayawati has not yet allocated transport department to any minister, the final decision on bus row could not be taken. Once the transport minister in UP is appointed, the row will be over, sources say.

Delhi transport minister Haroon Yusuf said that the UP transport minister would come to Delhi to discuss the issue. Besides, various other issues were likely to be discussed, he said, adding that everything would be recorded in writing so that in future such crisis could not occur.

The bus row between both the states triggered on November 13 last year when Delhi government confiscated UP buses in the national Capital for reportedly violating agreement reached between the governments of the two neighbouring states.

Subsequently, the UP government had also stopped entry of Delhi buses into its territory. The Delhi Transport Corporation used to operate 1,049 buses in UP and its counterpart was running its 1,264 buses in the national Capital. This row had caused Rs 5 crore loss to Delhi government.

Gurgaon, May 17
The administration today had egg all over its face with women residents of the old city area blocking roads at two places for several hours and at More Chowk along with their menfolk in protest again the erratic supply of power and water. The development had an adverse effect on the movement of traffic.

At least 200 irate females of Saraswati Enclave were at their vocal best. They also took matters into their hands when they walloped four two-wheeler riders as they tried to cross their path at the Sector 10 crossing near Kadipur where they had enforced the blockade.

The women literally chased the riders and dragged them down from their vehicles, all the while raining blows on them. Expletives against the officials of the two departments for their alleged apathy were used. The women blocked the road for more than three hours. Significantly, the protest was an all-woman affair. They alleged there had been erratic supply of water and power for the past two months. The officials at two departments also did to behave in a proper manner when the residents visited their offices with their grievances, they further alleged.

The situation was more or less similar at the Pataudi-Khandsa road where women from Shakti Nagar and Lakshmi Garden squatted for several hours, blocking the road in the process. They indulged in abuses against the government and the district administration for failing in their primary duties towards the citizens. Policemen who had gone to remove the blockade also came in for admonitions. They were served with homilies and reminders from the agitationists that they, too, had wives and kids at homes who needed water and electricity. More Chowk, the most visible site of the city what with residences of deputy commissioner, Gurgaon, and heads of almost all departments in the district at a stone's throw from the place, was also chosen by women with men by their side this time to enforce a blockade. Significantly, a senior officer of the electricity department showed up at the site after more than two hours of the blockade to pacify the protesters. The blockade here stretched for several hours. The outbursts of the agitationists against the establishment on the water-electricity issues were equally critical. One of the agitationists, Shanti Devi, alleged they were facing one of the worst crisis due to the shortage of water and electricity.

New Delhi, May 17
The head of sanitation department, MCD, put an assistant engineer and a junior engineer under suspension with immediate effect for dereliction of duties.

The suspension order was issued following mayor Arti Mehra's directive. She visited Tigri drain where a five-year-old child slipped into the drain last night. She was fished out dead. The victim was identified as Bimla.

The mayor visited the bereaved family and announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 50,000 to her parents from the mayor's fund. She instructed the department concerned to release the compensation amount immediately.

Mehra called a meeting of senior officers where Leader of the House Subhash Arya and chairman, standing committee, Vijender Gupta, were also present. She instructed that the desilting of Tigri drain must be taken on priority and it must be ensured that drains all over Delhi were desilted in a time-bound manner.

Gurgaon, May 17
On the plea of affected residents of DLF City, Phase 3 , against the functioning of Solitaire Club in the residential area, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has "restrained the club owners from running it".

Advocate P Norula, a resident of T-1/7, DLF ,Phase 3, informed that local residents had submitted a number of complaints to the deputy commissioner, senior superintendent of police, pollution control board and the district town planner (enforcement) for closing the Solitaire Club, situated at farm land of village Nathupur, Gurgaon .

Following no action by the district administration, the residents approached the high court .They pleaded thatthe Solitaire Club, a unit of Hari Farms ,was adjoining the residential colony of DLF Phase 3 ,with residential houses on the one side and a school on the other.

On the same land, the Utopia Club used to run in 2000. The club was closed following a writ petition by the residents . Its building was demolished by the district town planner (enforcement) in June 2001.In 2005, the Solitaire Club came up on the site .

The club hosted marriage functions, parties and private functions leading to traffic blockage in the T-1 lane.

Not only the constructions of the club is illegal, the late night activities affected peace, quiet and security of the residents. The noise pollution at the club violated the Supreme Court guidelines , alleged the residents. The court has restrained club owner Sunil Goyal from running the club.

New Delhi, May 17
Senior faculty members, resident doctors and students of AIIMS and Maulana Azad Medical College, under the banner of Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum (PMSF), held a dharna at Jantar Mantar demanding stern action against the persons identified by the Thorat Committee for ‘perpetuating caste-based discrimination’ at AIIMS.

The medical students demanded the UPA government should stop ‘patronising the upper caste chauvinists’ for ‘destroying’ the social, academic and cultural fabric of AIIMS and other institutes by encouraging anti-reservation movement.

"There is no basis left with the government to allow such people in the institutes," they said.

The students further demanded that the government should invoke the powers wrested with it by the relevant sections of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Act to take action against such persons.

Greater Noida, May 17
The entire district of Gautam Budh Nagar is facing the hottest days of the season with power cuts extending up to 20 hours.

Both transformers of the Pali power project tripped and the plunged into unprecedented turmoil. What people don't understand is as to why the UP Power Corporation has to switch on and off the system 10 times in a minute. This is playing havoc with the electrical equipment and gadgets like coolers, fridges and air-conditioners.

Noida's Sectors 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 66, 52 and 71, which are linked with the Sector 66 substation, are the worst affected as they have to live with prolonged power cuts.

In Greater Noida, instead of improvement in the power situation things are going from bad to worse. The same sad story is true about Noida also.

Apart from residents, industrialists and traders running commercial establishments are at their wits' end as to what to do.

The Noida Entrepreneurs Association has served a notice on the government that if the power and law and order scenarios do not improve rapidly they will have to launch an agitation against it.

In Greater Noida and in some parts of Noida, there was no power throughout the intervening night of May 16 and 17. A large number of people had to spend the night in public parks.

The situation has deteriorated so much that even water supply has been affected acutely. People have to strive for every drop of water. Even inverters have ground to a halt as the batteries do not get charged because of prolonged power cuts and running gensets is not only a very costly proposition but it leads to a lot of pollution also.

New Delhi, May 17
Auto ride in the Capital is going to cost more. The Delhi government is expected to make an announcement within this month. The fare hike has been a long pending demand of the drivers. Will it make the auto ride any smoother for close to 10 lakh users?

Consider this-As per Nyay Bhoomi activist Rakesh Aggarwal, who has been fighting for the rights of auto-drivers, there are about 53,000 autos in Delhi. On any given day, 10,000 are not on roads because they are either in workshops or have gone for some clearance to the Transport Department. But the remaining 40,000 plus make 12 trips and carry close to 22 to 25 persons on an average daily. Which means on an average close to 10 lakh persons depend on autowalllahs .Now another fact- There are close to one lakh auto drivers in Delhi. Most of the 53,000 autos are driven 24X7. Which means that there are two drivers per auto. But Rakesh says that out of one lakh drivers, hardly 1000-2000 are trained from an institute like the ITDR. The rest learn tricks of the trade on the job.

Rakesh says that the government needs to do much more to make the auto ride safe for an average passenger. " The government needs to focus much more on the training. At present there is no system and a driver has to spend Rs 1700 from his own pocket if he wants to get the training, an amount most of them are reluctant to shell out from their pockets. What the government can do is give them a loan to pay for this training," he suggests. But he is hopeful that with the hike, whenever that happenes, things will become smoother for passengers. " The hike will make drivers more honest and passengers will not have to go through the usual problems of haggling, over-charging etc".

Right now the situation is that auto drivers often over-charge, misbehave and at times plain refusal, and give alibis like rising CNG prices, vehicle maintenance costs and police highhandedness.

There must not be a single commuter who doesn't have a horror story to recount as far as Delhi autowallahas are concerned. There have also been several cases where passengers had to suffer because neither the government nor drivers are particularly concerned about ensuring safety standards.

A commuter narrates how an autowallah was forced to take him after the intervention of a traffic policeman. "But as soon as we reached a secluded spot, he took out a pen knife and told me to get out of his vehicle or else..," he says, remembering his day of horror when he had to walk miles on a cold winter night to reach home.

Even pre-paid auto booths run by the Delhi Traffic Police have not helped. Autorickshaw drivers have found ways to beat the system and most of the 28 booths, except the ones at New Delhi Railway Station and the Old Delhi Railway Station, are largely deserted. Even at these two relatively successful booths, drivers can be seen haggling with passengers. In fact, some auto drivers themselves narrate how they fleece foreign tourists.

Most of these autorickshaws are registered under fake addresses. So even if they refuse to go by the meter, misbehave, overcharge or simply say no to a passenger, commuters cannot really do much about it.

But Rakesh says there is this other side as well. He says autowallahas along with passengers are victims of government's policies, political dishonesty and touts of scores of auto-unions operating in the Capital. "The last time the fare was revised was about four years back. On August 17, 2006, the government constituted a fare fixation committee which till date has not held a meeting with a single autowallah," he says. He is hopeful of the ongoing talks of fare revision but the big question is when because "such talks have been on for quite some time now". Autorickshaw drivers also have reasons for their "behaviour". Try telling the value of honesty to autowallahas and they will tell you how the community has been suffering all this while. The exhorbitant increase in the price of the CNG and spareparts and the maintenance cost of the engine of a vehicle fuelled by the CNG.

"The rise in fares has not been proportionate to the increase in the CNG costs. In March 2001, the price of CNG was Rs 12.21 per kg. It increased to Rs 16.83 in 2002 , Rs 18 in 2005 and at present it is Rs 19.20.

New Delhi, May 17
Delhi education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely today launched Yuva helpline, a toll-free phone line to benefit all students to sort out their problems by talking to education counsellors. This would also improve quality of education.

The helpline number is 1800116888.

He claimed it would be India's first helpline service for students. It would be a confidence-building exercise for the students that would improve extra curriculum activities.

The minister appealed to cellular operators for toll-free connectivity, keeping in mind the broad interest of students.

Launching the helpline, he said the main objective was to build confidence among students to ensure scholastic achievements, work out adjustment problems at home and in schools, overcome group pressure on smoking, drug and alcohol etc.

The helpline has been started in the beginning of the session so that the students can consult the counsellors if they are in stress.

A feedback from counsellors disclosed students from public schools generally talked for a longer time while government school students did not talk much.

It was believed students of government schools were not financially well off and they could not spend much on the telephone.

Thirty-five education counsellors had been trained for this purpose. At present, eight phone lines were available for students and these would be increased further, if necessary, he said.

Rina Ray, secretary, education, Vijay Kumar, director, education, and education counsellors were also present.

Greater Noida, May 17
A deputy collector, who during his tenure in Gautam Budh Nagar in 2002 was found involved in a land scam, has been dismissed by the state government.

Dy collector, Ashok Kumar Singh, is alleged to have issued an order causing Greater Noida Authority a financial loss of crores of rupees. He has been dismissed from service on the recommendation of the commissioner who had conducted a probe into the matter, it is learnt. He had been under suspension for a long time. Ashok Kumar Singh was Dy District Magistrate Sadar in G.B. Nagar in 2002. In this case, some land mafia had got invaluable land of the Noida Authority transferred to their name in lieu of some barren land.

Ashok Kumar had sanctioned this transfer of land on July 10, 2003. He had illegally approved the transfer of barren land of Amarpur Jagir village under Land Revenue Act section 161 to Chaharpur Khadar village in Greater Noida. Ajay Kumar Kasna of District Bar Association, G.B. Nagar had filed a suit against this decision. —OC

New Delhi, May 17
The Special Cell of Delhi Police today claimed to have arrested one Shankar Prasad Sinha (27), an assistant attached with a judge of Tis Hazari, for allegedly sending a threatening SMS to a metropolitan magistrate of the court demanding an extortion amount of Rs four lakh. The mobile phone and SIM card used in the crime have allegedly been recovered from him.

During interrogation, he allegedly revealed that he was earlier posted in the court of that metropolitan magistrate. He had taken a mobile connection on the name of one of his friends' wife and since then he was using that number. He sent the threatening SMS thinking that his friend's wife would be caught in case a police complaint would be made, said a police officer.

Gurgaon, May 17
Four labourers died when a wall of a building under construction collapsed in the complex of Industrial Model Township (IMT), Manesar, about 20 kms from here.

The four died on the spot as they were covered under a huge pile of debris.

The four of them were migratory labourers and their native places were being ascertained by the police. The police have registered a case against the contractor.