Chandigarh, September 8
HPCC chief Phool Chand Mullana has asked Sirsa MP Atma Singh Gill to clarify his position on the sensational incident featuring the Lok Sabha member at Narwana recently.

Gill has come under cloud after his stopover at a rest house with two women at Narwana in Jind district got publicised.

The INLD and BJP, two main opposition parties in Haryana, have accused Gill of moral turpitude.

K P Gujjar, BJP leader and former transport minister, said Gill had fitted well in the long line of Congress leaders caught in scandals.

Earlier, a senior minister had figured in a late night incident at Mansa Devi Complex, Panchkula, Gujjar said. He demanded Gill’s dismissal from the Lok Sabha and a CBI probe into Gill’s stay at Narwana.

The INLD has been holding demonstrations in various parts of the state to protest against the alleged shielding of the MP by the government.

It issued a press statement today criticising the registration of cases by the police against INLD workers, including two former party MLAs, in connection with the incident in which INLD supporters had gathered in front of the rest house and barged into Gill’s room with journalists.

Mullana’s letter, sent to Gill today, asked the MP to clarify his position immediately with regard to the incident.

HPCC sources, however, refused to accept that Mullana had sought an explanation from the MP. “Gill has been asked by the president to present his version to him,” they said. Gill’s version of the story as to this date is that both women are related to him.

The SP of Jind, J.S. Lamba, while talking to this reporter, said the question of action against Gill did not arise as he was not involved in any crime. He said the mob that had gathered in front of the rest house dispersed after being convinced that nothing untoward was happening there.

On the cases registered by the police against the INLD supporters, Lamba said Gill had complained against them to the police.

On the half-empty liquor bottle allegedly found in Gill’s room, Lamba said the police did not find any liquor bottle.

Sirsa, September 8
The Punjab police today returned dissatisfied, stating that Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh did not cooperate during the questioning. He also did not provide the relevant evidence, including photographs and videos, in a case registered against him for hurting the sentiments of Sikhs by allegedly dressing like the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.

It was the fourth visit of the Punjab police to quiz the chief in dera.

After grilling the dera chief and three others for nearly three hours, the DSP, Bathinda, Surinder Pal Singh, told The Tribune that they were not satisfied as the dera chief did not answer many questions. Earlier too, he had not answered all queries related to the controversial dress. They repeated those questions again, but it did not yield much result.

“There is a need to question him again but we have not decided on the next date. Moreover, we did not get the photographs and video captured by the dera during the ‘Jaame Insan’ ceremony held at the Salabatpura dera in Bathinda. The questioning of the dera chief remained inconclusive,” the DSP added.

He said they had earlier confiscated the dress worn by the dera chief during the ceremony that led to row between Sikhs and dera. They had also seized copies of newspaper “Sach Kahoon” and its magazine from the dera, he added.

However, he refused to divulge further details of questioning.

Reliable sources said the dera chief was asked about the place from which his dress was stitched and also about the controversial advertisements that appeared in newspapers allegedly showing him imitating Guru Gobind Singh. He was also questioned on who made payments of advertisements. The dera management had denied that it had paid for the advertisements.

The dera chief, in the presence of members of the management, was quizzed in his official residence called ‘gufa’.

Three others --a member of the dera management P.R Nain, the editor of dera’s newspaper “Sach Kahoon” Tilak Raj and photographer Anil --were also questioned regarding the controversy.

Justice on fast track
Rapists convicted in 3 days
Suman Bhatnagar

Ambala, September 8
The additional sessions judge, fast track court, Ambala, A.K. Shori, delivered the judgement in a gang rape case within three days of the hearing and the victim got justice in a record time. The case was committed to this court on August 24 this year.

The court issued summons to both parties and witnesses on September 5. The hearing and recording of statements of witnesses was done on September 6. The accused were held guilty on September 7 and the quantum of sentence was pronounced on September 8.

The judge sentenced two of the accused Sanjay and Ramesh to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 20,000 each. The judge observed that half of the recovered amount of the fine be paid to the victim.

According to the prosecution, the victim was employed in a factory at Ambala Cantt owned by the accused. The girl had gone to the factory on June 24 as usual. Around 7.30 pm, the accused told her that she should wait for some time and she would be paid money toward her labour. In the meantime both accused consumed liquor in the other room and thereafter called her in the room. They raped her and wrongfully confined her in the factory.

In between Luxmi Devi, mother of the victim, and her sister Reena came to the factory and rescued her from the accused. The accused threatened her that she would be eliminated in case she dared to disclose anything to anyone. The victim disclosed in the court that one of the accused was carrying a camera and there was a possibility that he could have taken her nude photographs.

The judge observed that, “The law of the land states that the statement of the prosecutrix does not require any corroboration and the court should not look for corroboration even by medical evidence. The testimony of the rape victim is a wider connotation and in a way on much higher footing than the testimony of a injured witness as the rapist kills the very soul of the victim and a murderer just kills the body.”

Panchkula, September 8
The Haryana PWD (B&R) has decided to introduce e-tendering for the recently sanctioned Phase VII road projects under the Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojna. These projects involve the upgrading of 1,085 km of roads and involve a cost of Rs 456 crore.

“As announced by the Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, total transparency in our projects is the driving force for the initiative. Also, adopting e-tendering will reduce the time lost between the allotment of tenders and the beginning of work at the spot,” the secretary, PWD (B&R), K.K. Jalan, said.

At a workshop held at Red Bishop, the contractors of the state were familiarised with various aspects of e-tendering and steps involved in it and various pre-requisites to be fulfilled. Chaman Lal, chief engineer (Bharat Nirman), PWD (B&R), and various superintending engineers of the PWD (B&R) also attended the workshop.

The secretary tried to remove all misconceptions in the mind of contractual agencies regarding the secrecy of their financial bids and assured that security systems were one of the best and tampering if done ever in the process would be known. He assured the contractors that a help desk would be opened in the Haryana PWD (B&R) to solve problems that they might face initially.

“E-tendering facilitates the contractors to bid for the works from the comforts of their offices. They do not have to run around for various activities interacting with the officials of PWD for tender purchase, tender submission etc. Moreover, they do not have to bother if someone might not open and see their rates.”

“This will also reduce contact between the officials and the contractors, thereby reducing corruption as well. The contractors, too, have responded well to this initiative of ours. Since we plan to float our tenders next week, we wanted the contractors to be up-to-date about this new initiative for which we organised the workshop. If all goes well, we will switch over to the electronic transfer of payments to them in a couple of months,” Jalan said.

Rohtak, September 8
The globe virtually shrunk to a village, with foreign folklore exponents dancing to the tunes of Haryanvi folk music at the international workshop on folklore and theatre on the premises of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here today. The visiting professors performed in perfect sync with the local university students, making the moments memorable for both visitors and hosts.

The gaiety and spontaneity of folk music, the dramatic nuances of folk theatre and the magic of cross-cultural fusion were at their best on the concluding day of the workshop.

A number of MDU students gave their presentations on the occasion. A cultural troupe of the university presented cultural vignettes of Haryana under the direction of noted theatre artiste Dr Anand Sharma.

Foreign folklore experts Dr Jacques Rocha, Dr Anna Baros, Maria Nena and Prof Philip Zitowitz threw light on public speaking, presentations, stage presence and other tips of performance on stage. Stating that learning is a lifelong process, Prof Zitowitz emphasised upon regular practice to master the art of public speaking and stage performance.

The head, Department of English and Foreign Languages at MDU, Prof S.P.S. Dahiya, observed that folk music has no territorial barriers.

Prof Asha Kadyan of the host department offered the vote of thanks.

Chandigarh, September 8
More than six lakh children would be covered in Haryana under the special pulse polio immunisation campaign for migrants starting tomorrow in the state.

A spokesman of the Health Department said 2,586 teams would be deployed to go from house-to-house to immunise the targeted children.

The teams would be monitored by 500 supervisors during the three-day campaign. Independent monitors from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, would also be deployed.

He said there would be no booth for the drive.

The India Expert Advisory Group recommended that the migratory populations in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and West Bengal be identified and vaccinated in synchronisation with each pulse polio immunisation campaign in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Sirsa, September 8
BSNL’s underground telephone cable worth Rs 18 lakh were stolen from the middle of the city yesterday paralysing the communication network here.

The theft rendered thousands of landline telephones and Internet services dead in the city.

Banking services were also disrupted. A BSNL official said the services would be restored within two to three days.