New Delhi, November 12
The Supreme Court today declined to issue a direction to the Election Commission for putting a bar on the undertrial criminals on contesting elections on the ground that as they were not entitled to vote till in jail, it automatically disqualifies them for standing up for the elections as well.

A public interest litigation (PIL) to this effect was moved by an NGO “Lok Prahari” from Uttar Pradesh being run by retired IAS officer S N Shukla, who arguing in person said if a lesser right of casting vote was not available to a person who is in jail, how could he be given a right to contest the election.

He sought to invoke the provision of Section 62 of Representation of People Act (RPA) which prohibits prisoners from casting their votes and said this would eventually extend to their standing for elections.

But a Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and D K Jain said this was not the correct interpretation of Section 62 as it makes a distinction between undertrial prisoners, whose cases were yet to be decided by the court of law and the convicts already awarded sentence.

The court clarified that since the undertrial prisoners were only in judicial custody, their position could not be equated with that of convicted persons.

“We cannot give any direction to the Election Commission which is not in accordance with the law,” the Bench said.

But the ex-IAS officer insisted that the prime objective of RPA was to ensure free and fair elections and if persons with a criminal background facing several cases of murder, extortion, rape and other serious offences, were even undertrial prisoners, how could they be allowed to contest elections when they were deprived of the right of voting.

“A person (undertrial) who is not entitled to vote has been treated equally with those (common citizen) who have a right to vote. It is like giving visa to a person who is not entitled to passport,” Shukla argued.

He wanted to extend the bar to undertrial prisoners like it was applicable to convicted offenders under RPA if the sentence awarded to them was more than two years jail term.

Under the RPA provisions only those convicts are entitled to contest the elections, who are awarded sentence fewer than two years but as long as in jail, such a convict was not entitled to vote.

New Delhi, November 12
In continuation of the efforts to establish responsibility for repeated deaths on Delhi roads by Blueline buses and seek compensation for such victims, a petition was filed today in the High Court of Delhi on behalf of People’s Action.

“The petition is an attempt to fix responsibility for the criminal negligence that we have seen with regard to the rampant deaths literally every day by government licensed buses on Delhi roads. It is also an attempt to help hundreds of victims that have lost their family members throwing their lives into utter disarray and sometimes despair,” said Sanjay Kaul, president, People’s Action.

The petition seeks the dismissal of the Delhi transport minister for dereliction of duty and criminal negligence and seeks a level compensatory format for all Blueline victims.

Rajesh Verma, member of the Blueline Victims’ Association who survived a Blueline accident said, “We have been running from pillar to post seeking justice but we have found no help from the government. Many of our members have not been able to even get their cases moved to court due to slack investigations and many others who were promised jobs and compensatory relief have got nothing.”

The petition filed today also seeks to question the arbitrary award of compensation by the Delhi government to victims of the Badarpur incident while not acknowledging others who lost family members to Bluelines.

“This is a highly unfair situation and makes it look like we should all have to die together to count as worthy of compensation,” said S.N. Mishra, vice-president of the association.

Sandeep Kalyan, general secretary-elect of the association, who lost his brother to a Blueline, said that for people like him and countless others the only way out left was this petition. “I have no hope of justice from this government, except the petition filed today,” he said.

New Delhi, November 12
Witnesses are the most important actors in the criminal justice administration system, a court here has said while dismissing the plea of a convict sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for threatening a witness in court.

“I consider that it is a very serious offence. The witnesses are the most important actors in the criminal justice administration system. The functioning of the administration is already facing severe difficulty on account of the witnesses not supporting the case of the prosecution,” said additional sessions judge D K Sharma.

The court, while dismissing an appeal filed by one Vicky, said severe punishments were needed in the wake of a spurt in the incidents of intimidation of witnesses. Vicky was sentenced to jail by a magistrate in June for terrorising a witness in a court.

According to the prosecution, Vicky, a resident of Najafgarh here, had issued life threats to a witness who appeared in court to depose against him in a criminal case at Tis Hazari courts here. A case was registered against Vicky on the court’s direction.

Vicky was held guilty of intimidation on the basis of the evidence given by the magistrate and police officers who were present in the court when the convict threatened the witness. He was sentenced to a rigorous imprisonment for three years for his crime.

Aggrieved by his conviction, Vicky approached the sessions court challenging the punishment awarded to him.

New Delhi, November 12
Ever wondered what is common between school-going children and the high priests of judiciary? Saturdays, Sundays and “a lot of fun-days”, feel a section of lawyers.

As per the Supreme Court’s calendar for 2007, out of the 365 days a year, the Supreme Court has only 176 working days. The remaining 189 days—more than half the year—are holidays.

They include roughly 104 Saturdays and Sundays, nearly two-and-a-half months of summer vacation, a fortnight of winter vacation besides several other offs, ranging from a day to a week. And all this in the backdrop of a huge backlog of cases.

“Even the highest US court, where individual judges do not have to adjudicate more than 150 cases a year, does not have more than three to four months of holidays,” said senior advocate K.K. Venugopal.

The Supreme Court is currently on a weeklong Diwali vacation, which began on November 5.

The ongoing apex court vacation has come barely a fortnight after the Dussehra break from October 15 to October 20. Beginning on December 17, the Supreme Court will have the usual fortnight-long winter break till January 1.

The British legacy of a nearly two-month-long summer vacation—the mother of all vacations of the apex court—continuing year after year since Independence can leave even children bored to death. The apex court had its summer vacation from May 21 to July 8 this year.

Its holiday calendar compares well with the vacations of Delhi schools. For instance, Delhi’s Somerville School like most schools in the national capital had a summer vacation from May 15 to July 1, only a day’s holiday on Dussehra and a two-day break for Diwali.

As per the provisions of the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958, besides the apex court’s holidays and vacations, its individual judges are entitled to their own quota of leaves.

Depending upon the number of years a judge puts in the service, he—there is no female judge at present in the apex court—is entitled to certain days of leave on full salary, certain other offs on half salary and some more days off on one quarter salary.

“True, the apex court does have a lot of Sundays and fun-days. But what is worse is the fact that some judges have no qualms in going on foreign jaunts in the middle of hearings of important cases,” senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan told IANS.

The long vacations continue in the Supreme Court despite the fact that in recent times, the backlog of cases has registered a rising trend.

Data from the Department of Justice reveals that the total number of cases pending in the apex court had come down to 19,806 in 1998 from a whopping 104,936 in 1991. But it’s rising again. In the beginning of 2006, it had risen to around 29,000 and by the end of October 2007, it had gone up to 45,290.

Despite the rising number of pending cases in the Supreme Court, senior lawyer P.P. Rao defended the long vacations saying: “One has to remember that apex court judges have tremendous work pressure.

“Every day a bench of two to three judges hears around 50 matters. The cases listed on Mondays go up to 70 while it’s around 40 on Fridays. They also have to read the voluminous files every evening before hearing them the next day,” said Rao.

“They also need time to write judgements, which cannot be written in open courts. And they end up doing all this work during holidays or vacations, which they very much deserve.” — IANS

New Delhi, November 12
Expressing doubts over the authenticity of post- mortem reports of some of the prisoners who died in Tihar Jail, a rights panel has sought study of such cases of death during the past three years.

A five-member National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team, which visited the jail a few months back to study the condition of the inmates, has suggested the commission to conduct a study as in many cases post-mortem reports were fudged and reviewed several times at the instance of the police.

The findings were on the basis of interviews with the doctors.

The doctors who conducted the post-mortem alleged they are always under pressure to give a favourable report, which suits the police and in case a doctor doesn’t succumb to the pressure then there is a tendency to get the opinion overturned by setting up of a new panel of doctors in the name of review, the panel said.

Citing two such cases where post-mortem reports were improved upon, it said in one instance, the father of an ill prisoner had sought NHRC inquiry alleging his son died due to unnatural reasons contrary to the post-mortem report which declared the death natural.

To ensure that justice is not subverted while important legal documents are prepared, the members have suggested a study to find out whether the review is done by the same board or a new one.

The team also suggested that there was a need to find out in how many cases, after review, opinions on causes of death or any other point was upheld and in how many cases the opinion was completely reversed in the autopsy reports.

The team also wanted to find out that in how many cases original opinions were overturned by the review board and whether any inquiry was conducted to know the reason for the contradiction in the post-mortem report of the review board.

Ghaziabad, November 12
A young man was shot dead in Jahangirabad when some members of a marriage party had fired from their guns to ward off some robbers who, they said, had tried to loot the party.

It may be mentioned that the district administration has prohibited the firing of gunshots in celebration of marriages, birthdays, etc. but there is little compliance of the orders.

The members of the party, however, claimed they fired shots after some bandits had tried to rob the party. It was not clear whether the youth had died of the shot fired by the robbers or the party. Relatives of the slain youth have, however, described the victim as an innocent youth and lodged murder report with the police against the baratis.

Two marriage parties had proceeded from Jalilpur and Khanpur for the same house in Ahmedgarh town. While the parties were returning after solemnizing the marriages, some criminals near Chandok village had tied to rob the party.

The robbers were hiding in the bushes. The bandits had even assaulted with lathis and clubs one Barati, Ashraf who was on a bike. Seriously injured Ashraf was brought to Kotwali.

When police and villagers of Chandok reached the spot, firing was still on between robbers and party members.

One youth had reportedly died after being hit by a bullet allegedly fired by a barati.

The deceased was identified as Veer Singh of Chandok village and baratis said he was one of the robbers. Police are investigating.

Noida, November 12
Three criminals who boarded a Blueline bus at Laxmi Nagar stabbed two passengers travelling between Laxmi Nagar and Ganesh Nagar.

The passengers alleged that the conductor had connived with the criminals in their attack and loot of cell phone.

When passengers tried to nab the criminals, conductor beat them up. This helped the robbers to flee.

The bus was seized by Noida police near Gole Chakkar and driver and conductor are being interrogated. Jatinder Mishra and Ramesh Mishra, residents of Khora Colony were returning from Old Delhi Railway Station at 8 p.m. by Blueline bus No 347. They had gone to the station to see off some relatives.

Three persons had boarded the bus at Laxmi Nagar, one of whom had taken out a cell phone from Ramesh’s pocket. Ramesh, who had seen him taking his mobile phone, tried to resist.

At this the robbers stabbed him. When Jatinder tried to calm them, he too was stabbed. As the conductor stopped the bus after Ganesh Nagar stop, the three robbers started running away after getting down from the bus.

As Ramesh tried to catch the robbers, conductor beat him up instead of helping him grab the criminals.

Ramesh said the criminals appeared to be known to driver and conductor.

New Delhi, November 12
Divya Jaiswal, BJP municipal councillor from Ram Nagar ward of Shahdara (North), today filed his nomination for the coveted post of deputy mayor of Delhi.

Tulsi Ram Sablania, Congress municipal councillor from East Patel Nagar Ward of Karol Bagh Zone, also filed his nomination for the post.

Today was the last day for filling of nominations for this post. The election to this post will be held in the meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to be held on Thursday.

The post of deputy mayor fell vacant due to sudden demise of S. S. Bajwa who had been holding the post since April this year.

New Delhi, November 12
Eighteen-year-old Nitin was shot at by three boys following an altercation at his house in Maujpur Sabzi Mandi yesterday.

There was a minor fight between Nitin and three other boys in the Bajhanpur area in the afternoon.

Later, the boys chased Nitin to his house and shot him with a countrymade pistol.

The boy was rushed to Max Hospital.

New Delhi, November 12
In yet another case of road rage, motorcyclists became violent and beat up a boy after an argument on Sunday.

Akanksha and her brother were driving in the west Delhi area, when two boys riding on a motorcycle started teasing her.

When the brother reacted to the incident, the duo hit the car with the bike and started beating him.

The sister was also manhandled by the duo.

Meanwhile, a complaint has been registered in the case though no arrests have taken place so far.

New Delhi, November 12
K. Hanshingh, leader of the banned Kuki Revolutionary Army of the north-east, was killed in the Sunlight colony area late Sunday evening.

According to the police sources, the motive behind the murder is inter-group rivalry.

KRA is a Nagaland-based banned organisation that has close links with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland.

New Delhi, November 12
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today announced that modern, spacious and new Haj Manzil would be constructed at Dwarka in North-West district of the national Capital.

Bidding farewell to the first batch of 1,300 Haj pilgrims at Indira Gandhi International Airport, the Chief Minister said that the Delhi government would also strive hard to make it a permanent asset for Haj Yatris where all necessary amenities would be made available.

The Delhi Development Authority has agreed to allot a plot measuring one acre to revenue department of the Delhi government for constructing the Haj Manzil.

Delhi Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan presided over the function while other members of Delhi State Haj Committee were present on the occasion.

Dikshit conveyed her best wishes to the Haj pilgrims.

She expressed hope that pilgrims would pray for peace, prosperity and brotherhood. The new Haj Manzil that would come up near International Airport would be convenient to all pilgrims.

The Haj Manzil would also be designed in such a way as to accommodate maximum number of Haj Yatris, the Chief Minister announced.

Dikshit stated that the state government was committed to providing help to pilgrims of all the religions. It has been decided to provide all basic amenities near the Haj Manzil.

New Delhi, November 12
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation started its feeder bus service on a second route covering Pitampura Metro station from today.

According to the DMRC, eight buses will provide a ring service from Pitampura Metro station and pass via Durga Mandir, Rohini Sector 7 and 8 Xing, Sector- 7A Part-I, Naharpur Village, Ayodhya Chowk, Vikram Chowk, Rithala Mor, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital, Rithala Metro Station, Rohini Sec-11, Ambedkar Chowk, Rohini Sec-16, Sec-15, Sardar Colony, Pocket B2 and Manav.

Buses will be available at a frequency of 10 to 12 minutes.

Twelve buses are already plying between Shastri Park Metro Station and Vasundhara Enclave. The number of DMRC’s feeder buses fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) will increase to 120 over the next few months and they will be introduced on 19 more routes.

Each bus has a seating capacity of 18 to 20 with a standing capacity of 10 with fares of Rs 5 and 8.

New Delhi, November 12
Delhi Minister of Finance and Planning A.K. Walia today released ‘Delhi Statistical Handbook, 2007’ prepared by the Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Government of Delhi.

The handbook is bilingual and contains the latest information on various socio-economic parameters vis-a-vis Delhi. It is an excellent compilation for ready reference.

The information in respect of area and population, state domestic product, climate and rainfall, vital statistics, etc. has been included in the handbook.

The statistical handbook is a very useful publication for policy makers, research workers and NGOs to have an overall idea of socio-economic development of Delhi over a period of time.

New Delhi, November 12
Danseuse and accomplished artist not to forget photographer, Komala Varadan, feels that it was her years of training as a classical Bharatnatyam dancer that inspired her paintings.

Varadan is an artist of rare caliber and her creativity spills across mediums. She is not only a dance maestro but also an artist in her own right, a talented photographer and she has even experimented with writing short stories.

Varadan recently exhibited a canvas at a group show of paintings and sculptures at India Habitat Center.

The painting is impressionistic in style and extremely original. It pours over with vast energy as it shows the Goddess in action executing evil.

Though the theme may be traditional the treatment is not, the Goddess is shown as a young girl, her body caught in motion, long hair flying through a golden red haze of colour as she strikes at the very roots of evil.

Dynamic energy pours from this canvas, clearly a rare rendering of the cosmic battle between Goddess Durga and Mahishashur.

“It is my years of dancing that have inspired my art, though I began as a portrait painter and went onto painting landscapes, it is really in painting dance in motion that I have found my niche,” says Varadan.

Her canvases show dancers in motion, an Odissi dancer strikes a pose that glimmers through a golden yellow and greenish haze, a ‘Nartaki’ dances in abandon in yet another arresting painting where she holds a gentle pose hidden behind golden light.

Canvas after canvas is dominated by dancers in motion and the entire effect evokes massive exuberant energy. Varadan has held 18 solo exhibitions in different parts of the country over the years.

As a dancer, Varadan has excelled in various performances. “I began as a dancer and everything else has followed afterwards. Till today, I practise dance every morning for a few hours as this is essential and paint or do photography only if the mood comes on me,” she says. Varadan is perhaps best known for her rather singular solo performance of Tulsi Das’ ‘Ramcharit Manas”.

This massive effort was conceptualized, performed and choreographed by Varadan herself in pure Bharatnatyam. “I chose this theme after coming to Delhi and on seeing that dancers here tend to perform Bharatnatyam to Bhajans often not in the popular language and this escapes the audience’s attention.

This theme came to my mind because it is so popular in North India and is something the audience can relate to,” says Varadan.

However, clearly this was not an easy task as Varadan went to the masters of Bharatnatyam who advised her that the marathon exercise was ‘too difficult’.

However, Varadan rose to the challenge and composed this massive performance which has been a tour de force not only in India but abroad as well.

Varadan currently runs her own dance institute in Delhi and last September participated in the World Dance Congress and performed an item from ‘Prakritim Vande’, a composition on nature choreographed by her, the item was on the Monsoon showers and was widely appreciated by the audience.

In addition, Varadan has also photographed prolifically and had several exhibitions of photographs, two of which were chosen for international festivals.

Greater Noida, November 12
Three bandits, atop a Pulser bike beat up three employees of a petrol pump in Sirsa town and decamped with Rs 15,000 on Sunday night.

However, the petrol pump employees were able to overpower one of the three robbers who was handed over to the police.

According to Mukesh Kasna, the owner of petrol pump—Mukesh Attar Singh filling station on Sirsa-Kasna Road.

Three young men on a red-coloured Pulser had got petrol worth Rs 30 filled in their bike. Instead of making payment for petrol, they started beating up the employees and snatched cash from them.

New Delhi, November 12
A “Bunti Aur Babli” visual trick game, a ‘jadoo’ photograph that changes colour and a chaupal dice game — these are all part of a massive initiative to inculcate awareness about HIV/AIDS among villagers in a fun way. And it is showing results.

The initiative, launched by the central government’s National Literacy Mission in tandem with the Unesco, involves tactful weaving in of facts on HIV/AIDS and women’s empowerment through games during adult literacy classes in rural areas.

“The idea is to engage the people in lively discussions on HIV/AIDS through games. The games help conquer the initial shyness of people on the subject and encourage them to ask questions and learn facts about HIV,” Shankar Choudhary, programme officer of the HIV/AIDS department of Unesco here, told IANS.

Demonstrating the “Bunty Aur Babli” game, he shows how the simple and innovative method, consisting of two curved plastic pieces placed side by side with the pictures of a man on one and a woman on the other, helps people in realising that a man (Bunty) is thought to be bigger and superior because people are conditioned to think so. When Babli’s picture is placed on the left, she appears bigger.

“People in rural areas relate very quickly to the game. We introduce discussions on topics like why should a woman be considered inferior, her role in home building and on the need for men to be faithful,” said Choudhary.

The games, as well as easy-to-read storybooks, have been included in the kit of instructors of the Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) who impart vocational training as well as the State Resource Centre (SRC) who conduct literacy classes in the rural areas as part of the National Literacy Mission.

The chaupal game has questions on HIV/AIDS with every throw of the dice, which the participating groups have to answer correctly to be allowed to move forward on the chequered board. The magical photograph is a black-and-white drawing of a group—a worker, a doctor, a young man, a woman, housewife, and a well-heeled person.

With a flip of the back panel, the instructor changes the photograph into colour. The aim is to drive home the point that everyone falls in the risk category unless they take care.

According to Choudhary, JSS instructors — who teach vocational skills like radio repairing, mobile repairing and tailoring to young people — include the games and books in their syllabus.

“Much also depends on the instructor’s skills of communication and how lively they make the discussion. We are going to introduce it all over the country. The response has been very good,” he said.

Vandana Jena, director of the National Literacy Mission, said the games act like “ice breakers”.

“HIV/AIDS is a huge problem where prevention is the only solution. It is not socially acceptable to talk on the subject. Games help break the ice. People begin discussing the subject a lot through the games and their reservations are removed,” Jena told IANS.

“More importantly, the discussions have helped remove the feeling among people that those who indulge in risky behaviour get what they deserve.

“It is necessary to educate the high risk group, but what about the rest of the population? This is where the JSS and SRC workers come in and they have done a wonderful job,” Jena added.

There are 52 JSSs working on the initiative and 28 SRCs. “We have involved the more experienced JSSs and SRCs in the initiative. They work in the more vulnerable states. In the south, there is more awareness about HIV/AIDS, but in the Hindi heartland it is low,” she said.

Chaudhary said Unesco is also planning to include AIDS-affected people as resource persons in the initiative because when such people talk of their experience, it will have more impact.

Says Chaudhary: “The faces of the HIV/AIDS epidemic today are young women. Around 70 to 80 per cent get it from unfaithful partners or husbands who are migrant workers. So to get across our message to people it is necessary for a convergence between education and health.” — IANS

New Delhi, November 12
The Robotics Club of Delhi Public School R K Puram organized “Roboknights –2007”, the 2nd Inter School Robotics Symposium here last week.

Vinnie Jauhari, Head, University Relations Division, India, Hewlette Packard Sales Ltd. along with Shayama Chona, Principal, DPS R.K Puram, inaugurated the event by lighting the traditional lamp.

Roboknights had five different robotic events; which included Tough, Pick-Up and Robotics League all three with Lego and Non-Lego category; an architectural event named “Straw Bridge” and Robotics quiz.

DPS R.K Puram alumni—Rohan Mittal, Akshat Jain, Kumar Avijit and Pritish Singh Malik, Tejeshwar Singh— judged the event. They are currently studying at reputed engineering colleges around the country.

Hundred teams from top 19 schools of Delhi-NCR and The Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, participated with 194 participants aged between 10 and 17 years.

This event aimed at providing a common platform for enthusiastic school students and to acid test their technical skill.

Delhi Public School, R.K Puram, won the overall trophy by scoring the highest points. Being the host team, the overall trophy was awarded to Modern School, Barakhamba Road.