New Delhi, July 14
Prosecution’s failure to secure presence of the deceased’s wife for deposition and doubtful testimonies of the victims’ relatives have led a court here to acquit four persons in a 12-year-old murder case of two brothers.

The prosecution could not produce Babli Hasija, wife of deceased Suresh and the complainant, who had recognised the bodies, additional sessions judge Narinder Kumar said.

The court also noted that the testimony of other witnesses, mostly the victims’ relatives remained doubtful about their presence on the scene of crime after the incident.

The court absolved Mahender (36), Satish (31), Ashok (34) and Rahul (33) of the charges under Sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.

According to the prosecution, two brothers Suresh and Naresh, who had gone to meet the accused in a restaurant here on the early morning of July 27, 1995 for the settlement of a previous dispute amongst them, were found murdered in village Barwala under Narela police station in West Delhi.

A case was registered with Narela police station here on a complaint of Babli, who had gone to Barwala village to identify the bodies. A total of seven persons ,including the four accused ,were arrested by the police.

The court, after the examination of 29 prosecution witnesses, noted that their testimonies with regard to the identification of the bodies were not in corroboration with the police version.

New Delhi, July 14
The Lt. Governor of Delhi Tejender Khanna, at a meeting held at Raj Bhawan, today announced that an integrated traffic management for the national Capital would be developed in a time bound manner.

The meeting was attended by the Delhi chief secretary Ramesh Narayanswami, principal secretary (Home) Shumsher Sheriff, commissioner, MCD, Ashok Kumar Nigam, chairman, NDMC, Parimal Rai and other senior government officers.

Special invitees on the occasion included director, IRTE, Rohit Baluja and professor at New York Polytechnic Raman Patel, who has played a key role in establishing the Traffic Management Centre in New York.

At the meeting, the Lt. Governor decided that a centralised traffic engineering co-ordination group would be immediately set up at the DDA headquarters for according technical clearance of traffic engineering design proposals with participation of civic agencies concerned.

He said individual traffic engineering cells would also be set up by various bodies like MCD, NDMC and PWD.

The LG announced that traffic management cell under Delhi Police would be strengthened having latest technologies and equipment to optimise surveillance and quick response mechanisms. He said that special arrangements would be made for pedestrians.

He solicited active citizen co-operation for better traffic management.

Addressing the meeting, he said road safety audit was the key to accident preventive mechanism.

State-of-art-techniques should be adopted to optimise traffic management. There will be firm enforcement to remove carriageway blockages aimed at efficient lane capacity management to optimise lane capacity.

In his observation, the chief secretary emphasised the need to carefully analyse each road accident and to draw lessons for appropriate remedial measure.

Dr Patel emphasised the significance of independent road safety audits to study the challenges posed in traffic congestion, road traffic safety and institutional co-ordination.

Dr Patel cited clear transport policy, capacity building and institutional coordination as the pillars of scientific management of traffic. Other suggestions that came up for consideration during the deliberations included implementation of centralised vehicle tracking system, strict licensing regime and central database and data sharing through networking.

New Delhi, July 14
As freshers prepare to begin their undergraduate degree courses from Monday, Delhi University has put in place a slew of security measures to check ragging and crack down on anti-social elements on campus. This year the university directed each college to frame rules for discipline, set a disciplinary resource committee and form vigilance squads.

In addition, closed-circuit television cameras have been installed, enhanced number of police force and mobile patrol vans deployed, besides setting up of joint control rooms to ensure that the freshers are not harassed.

Police personnel in plain clothes will also be posted at various locations, including DTC buses, to check ragging.

“We want the freshers to attend their classes from day one. Fear of ragging should not stop them and nobody will be allowed to indulge in ragging, which is a criminal offence,” Delhi University proctor Gurmeet Singh said.

The recent Supreme Court judgement on ragging will be followed in letter and spirit, he added.

“Indiscipline and ragging will be dealt with strictly under the university’s statutes and ordinances, which give legal authority to principals and wardens to take preventive as well as punitive action, wherever required,” he said.

He said the university will provide assistance to all colleges in tackling indiscipline.

“We should be timely informed and any sort of help or support will be made available.... Any distress call to take care of an emergency will be dealt very seriously,” he added.

Prof Singh said a 17-point advisory had been dispatched to college principals and heads of departments, laying down the guidelines for security measures.

“We want to instil confidence among the freshers that nobody will harass them and we are here to help them ensure that they are safe,” he added.

A few days ago, university officials during a meeting with the police top brass finalised the security arrangements.

“We have asked for more police personnel this year and they will be deployed at all strategic locations in north as well as south campus and hostels. We are sure that this year also, there will be no major ragging incident,” he said.

Police pickets will be set up outside every college with special assistance to women students, Prof Singh said.

“Assistance from police will be sought whenever a situation warrants direct intervention by them,” he added. Students have been asked to carry identity cards as entry to institutions will be governed on the verification of the cards.

Prof Singh said suggestion and complaint boxes have been placed across the university. “Provision of sealed complaint boxes in colleges and especially in hostels has been made. Fixing responsibility for looking into the complaints received will be done and immediate action, whenever required, will be taken,” he said.

“Our endeavour is to provide a safe and conducive atmosphere for students and we are confident that we will achieve it,” he added.

Other law-enforcing agencies and DTC are also helping the university to ensure safety of freshers Prof Singh said police personnel in plain clothes will be deployed in buses and outside colleges, particularly near women’s colleges.

“Buses are an easy target and anti-social elements also try to take advantage of the situation.

Plain-clothed police personnel are very effective in catching the people involved in ragging,” he added.

The proctor said additional mobile patrol vans will also be used to intensify vigil on and around the campus.

He said college hostels have been requested to restrict the entry of outsiders and to prominently display rules regarding prohibition of ragging.

New Delhi, July 14
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has said the government will spend Rs 150 crore to upgrade 200 schools in East Delhi. She said this today in a function at Dilshad Garden in East Delhi where she inaugurated a new school building with capacity of 68 classrooms.

Education minister Arvinder Singh, East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, local MLA and chairman, Trans- Yamuna Development Board Narendra Nath, MLA Baljor Singh and senior officers from the Directorate of Education were also present.

The Chief Minister said that the government schools in Delhi have earned a special recognition in the country only because of hard work and commitment of teachers.

The schools of Delhi have also been included in prestigious grading list of best schools in the country.

Dikshit said that the Delhi government would open more schools in the state. The government is committed to provide more facilities in the schools to equip them with modern facilities so that they excel in studies. “Education is the foundation of the progress for any nation that is why we will try that every school gets sufficient staff and teachers so that education of the children may not suffer,” the CM said.

The education minister assured the local MLA that the education department would construct a swimming pool in the school.

New Delhi, July 14
Members of the DUTA sat on a dharna at Kirori Mal College to register their protest against the severe action taken by the governing body of the college against three teachers – Dr S.C. Garg, J.P. Mahajan and S.P. Gupta. The members criticised the college authorities for ‘unjust’ action meted out to these teachers through a partisan disciplinary inquiry.

A DUTA delegation met the members of the college governing body. However, the college administration refused to revoke the decision. DUTA president Amar Deo Sharma condemned the behaviour of the governing body members. He spoke out against, “the growing instances of draconian and autocratic functioning of the authorities at the college and university levels.”

He also warned of, “the dangerous consequences of implicating teachers in partisan disciplinary inquiries that threaten the security and stability of the teaching community.” Sharma called for an end to the “repeated victimisation”.

New Delhi, July 14
With the admission season ending at Jamia Millia Islamia, one of the courses where admissions are still open, is the MA in Comparative Religions being offered by the Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilisations.

This course was launched last year and its first batch is now into their final year. The intake this year has been increased to 35. The last date for the submission of applications is July 20. Eligibility requirements include a graduate degree in any subject from a recognized university with at least 45per cent marks in aggregate. Admissions will be through a written test on July 31 followed by an interview on August 8.

Jamia is the only university in Delhi offering such a course, the other university offering an MA in Comparative Religions is Punjabi University, Patiala.

The course was started at Jamia as a need was felt for an inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural and inter-faith dialogue. A sympathetic and informed study of various religions and cultures is perhaps the need of the hour. Many societal misunderstandings or sheer ignorance about each other’s beliefs and practices can be removed through this course.

This MA course at Jamia covers all the major religions and civilisations of the world. It focuses on the nature of religious experience, traditional and modern theories, approach and methodology of study of religion, the use of comparative method, interdisciplinary approach, etc. Role of religious symbolism, myth, ritualism, animism, and totemism are some of the other areas taught.

The centre also offers both Ph.D. and M.Phil. programmes. It offers 20 seats in the M.Phil. programme for which the last date for submission of applications is July 30.

Gurgaon, July 14
Minister of Urban Development Savitri Jindal today ordered the suspension of secretary and the junior engineer of Municipal Committee of Pataudi for allegedly passing a building plan in an unauthorised area in September 2005.

The minister ordered for the action against

secretary and junior engineer, Jaipal Yadav and Narender Taneja, respectively ,during the monthly meeting of District (Gurgaon) Public Grievances and Redressal Committee.

The two employees had passed the building plan of Path Finder School in Pataudi which was located in an unapproved area.

A doctor presented a case to the committee alleging that while the building plan for his K.S. College of Pharmacy was rejected by the municipality in 2006 on ground that it was in an unapproved area, the same body passed a plan for Path Finder School, about a year back in the same area.

In another case, the minister directed for registration of a criminal case against a person for making a false complaint against a lady doctor of the health department.

New Delhi, July 14
Amity School of Insurance and Actuarial Science (ASIAS) has tied-up with 3i Infotech Ltd, a software products company, to set up PREMIA School of Excellence.

Through this collaboration, ASIAS and 3i Infotech aim at establishing a strong Industry-Institute interaction by forging long-term partnership in Institutional Development, R&D, Training and other projects. The association aims at integrating mainstream curriculum of the university with skills required by the industry at large.

R. R. Grover, director, ASIAS, said, “We have opened our university doors to the IT industry leaders to help us achieve great student satisfaction as well as continuous participation of industry in course design, faculty-practitioner interchange and even audit by industry experts.”

Padmanabhan Iyer, senior general manager, 3i Infotech, said, “3i Infotech is one of the top four Indian software products companies and for the last 2 years has had the distinction of being among the two fastest growing Indian software products companies. The company provides software solutions for banking, insurance, capital markets, mutual funds, government, manufacturing, retail and distribution verticals. The company services customers in over 45 countries across five continents. We are privileged to be associated with a reputed and respected institution like Amity.”

New Delhi, July 14
A Delhi court has sentenced two persons to three years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) for possessing heroin four years ago.

Special judge Neeraj Kumar Sharma held Ashok Giri (32) and Ramesh Kumar (35) guilty of possessing 2.5 kilogram heroin and also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them.

According to the prosecution, the duo was arrested by the anti-narcotics branch sleuths after getting a tip-off on September 8, 2003, at Zakir Hussain College near Ajmeri Gate here. They were allegedly involved in selling and distributing heroin since last four years, the prosecution further alleged.

New Delhi, July 14
The Delhi police has arrested four alleged dacoits following the dacoity committed in Kasturba Nagar on July 9.

According to the information, the dacoits had gathered at Sulabh Shauchalaya, Kalyan Puri, to sell some jewellery articles to a jeweller. The police team reached the spot and surrounded the four persons sitting near Sulabh Shauchalaya and succeeded in apprehending them.

Two gold chains, one pair of earrings, four lockets, and one necklace were recovered from them.