Chholi (Yamunanagar), February 2
An eerie silence prevailed in Chholi village last night where Neelam (17) and her “friend” Praveen (24) were allegedly killed to protect family “honour”. The two were allegedly beaten on Tuesday night. 

While Neelam died after a few hours, Praveen lost the battle of life in a Gabba hospital in Yamunanagar yesterday.

The police has registered a case of the murder of Neelam against her father and uncle and the father of Praveen under sections 302, 201, 120-B and 34 of the IPC. The police will have to carry out investigation without the vital postmortem examination reports as the bodies were cremated without postmortem.

The police registered the case on a complaint of Mohan, brother-in-law of the village sarpanch, who had allegedly led a “panchayat” on Wednesday which helped the two families “reach a compromise” and not to report the matter to the police.

Interestingly, Praveen’s family had told the police when it reached the village last night to investigate the case that Praveen was murdered by the girl’s family and yet the police chose to register the case on the complaint of Mohan. Regarding the alleged murder of Praveen, SHO of the Bilaspur police station Randhir Singh said investigations were on.

Till late hours yesterday neither anyone from the family of Praveen nor any villager was ready to speak on the two deaths as the “panchyat” had impressed upon the families not to report the matter to the police as both families had suffered.

This correspondent visited the village last night. After persistent efforts, the family of Praveen finally broke down and alleged that Praveen was beaten to death by the girl’s family.

According to Shanti Devi and Kusum Lata, mother and sister of Praveen, respectively, Kamlesh of Neelam’s family had called Praveen to her house on Tuesday night and later they found Praveen injured. “We did not report the matter to the police as the panchyat attended by two village panches and Mohan had helped the two families reach a compromise,” said Shanti Devi. “But now we want to report the matter to the police,” said Ashok Kumar, brother of the victim.

Dasaundi, father of Neelam, admitted that he and others had beaten up Praveen as he was found in their house with Neelam. “But it was just a mild beating resulting from sheer anger,” said the father.

According to him, Neelam died the same night but he did “not know how she died”. Asked why he did not report the matter to the police, he said: “The panchyat had impressed upon us not to approach the police as both families had suffered.”

Family members of Neelam fled today after they came to know about the registration of the case.

Superintendent of police C.S. Rao said the police was investigating the matter. 

Sonepat, February 2
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said unemployment had become a main problem, which could be solved only by setting up large industries and increasing the number of quality education institutions in the state.

The state government was contemplating to create employment opportunities for every family in the state and had taken a number of initiatives in this direction.

The CM was addressing a public meeting at Janata Vidya Bhawan Butana Educational Institute here on the occasion of the 105th birth anniversary of late Ch Dhajjar Ram, founder of the institute.

Listing the steps taken by the government for promotion of qualitative technical education in the state, he said the number of seats in the engineering institutes had been increased from 23,000 to 48,000 during the past two-and-a-half years. “I have set the target to increase the number of seats to 1 lakh within the next two years,” he added.

Paying tributes to Dhajja Ram, the CM recalled that he played a great role in spreading education in rural areas by establishing Janata Vidya Bhawan educational institutions about 60 years back.

He called upon the people to make united efforts irrespective of their party affiliations.

Hooda reiterated his commitment to provide at least 20 to 22 hours of power supply daily after the completion of three new power-generating units by 2010. “The target is to commission one unit every year and the construction works on these units is in full swing,” he added.

Criticising the opposition parties for making false and baseless allegations of supply of electricity to Delhi, the CM claimed that the government was purchasing electricity from other sources at the rate of Rs 7 to 8 per unit to meet the power demands particularly for the agriculture sector.

He also gave details of various schemes introduced for the welfare of farmers and claimed that these were aimed to unburden the farmers from bank loans.

The state government had set up the Haryana Rural Development Authority for providing urban facilities in villages.

Referring to the demands of the institutions presented by chief patron of the institution J.P.S. Sangwan, the CM announced a grant of Rs 21 lakh for the institutions and accepted the demand for naming a link road after Ch Dhajja Ram and to provide electricity in the institutes on the pattern of Navodya schools.

Education minister Mange Ram Gupta said the government was introducing vocational education in every school and the number of professional institutes had also been increased.

The number of engineering colleges, colleges of education and the polytechnics had gone up to 61, 100 and 83, respectively, he said and announced Rs 2 lakh for libraries of the institutes.

MP Kishan Singh Sangwan said Janata Vidya Bhawan Butana was one of the other half-a-dozen educational institutions, which had made significant contributions in providing education facilities in the region. He also announced a grant of Rs 10 lakh from his MPLAD fund for the institutions.

MP Jai Prakash said under the leadership of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Haryana had become a model state for Chief Ministers of other states.

Bhiwani, February 2
A delegation of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti has decided to meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda tomorrow, who is scheduled to visit Golagarh village in the district to offer condolences over the death of Mahavir Singh, brother of a former Chief Minister, the late Bansi Lal.

Two days ago, farmers of the Badhra area had announced to stop the payment of electricity bills after getting a negative response to their repeated demands for regular supply of electricity and water.

Following this, the farmers were invited to come for talks over their demands. Samiti district unit president Dharmpal Badhra confirmed the development.

Ambala, February 2
A CBI court here today dismissed three applications moved by the defence counsel of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The court also fixed February 23 as the next date of hearing in the case, during which arguments to frame charges against the dera chief are likely to be held.

During the court proceedings today, the CBI court dismissed three applications moved by the defence counsel seeking permission for production of several documents in the court, which the defence said were vital to bring out the truth in the case. The applications had been moved under section 91 of the law. The defence requested that the court should ask the CBI to produce documents related to Krishan Lal. It contended that Krishan Lal had been tortured by the CBI and the records that were available with the CBI could prove this in the court.

The defence also stated that key prosecution witness in the case, Khatta Singh, driver of the dera chief, was being provided monetary help by the SGPC and the Punjab government had made available other logistic support to him. However, the prosecution lawyers contradicted the claims made by the defence and stated that there was no such development.

The CBI counsel told the court that all documents related to the case had already been produced in the court. They said the issues being raised by the defence counsel were pre-determined tactics to delay the proceedings against the dera chief.

After listening to both defence and the prosecution lawyers, the court rejected the applications moved by the dera chief's lawyer and fixed the next date of the hearing.

Meanwhile, the dera chief appeared before the court amid tight security. He entered the court complex at around 10 in the morning and came out at 12.30 pm. As the court had withheld the verdict on the application moved by the dera chief, he held a spiritual discourse at the HUDA grounds near the court complex before the verdict was pronounced by the court. 

Fatehabad, February 2
The education department has postponed all training camps for its teachers till the completion of board examinations after resentment expressed by the teachers. The department, according to sources, received fax orders to this effect today.

The department had started elementary teachers training (ETT) camps for its teachers under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) from January 31 and these camps were to continue till February 6.

While training camps for teachers of social studies, Hindi, Sanskrit and drawing subjects started on January 31 and concluded today, those for teachers of science, mathematics, PT and Punjabi were to commence from Monday.

The annual examination for the middle and high classes are to start from February 18.

The camps were being organised in a number of senior secondary schools of this district and teachers from middle and high schools in the vicinity of these schools were directed to attend camps there.

The aim of these camps, as propagated by the department, was for updating the knowledge of teachers. A teacher, who attended these camps, told The Tribune on condition of anonymity that no training was being imparted to them in these camps.

He said during all three days of the camp, they were supposed to go to the school where the camp was organised, mark their attendance and come back home after “idling away time” and having a samosa and a cup of tea served to them as refreshment.

While the teachers were being made to waste their time in the name of camps, students idled away their time without teachers.

Resentment prevailed among the teachers attending these camps from the day these started. The teachers said on the one hand the state government boasted of making its schools on a par with public schools, while on the other students had been deprived of guidance from teachers and that too when their examinations were round the corner.

Nalini Mimani, district elementary education officer-cum-district project officer of the SSA, confirmed that the camps scheduled to be held from February 4 to February 6 had been postponed till further notice. She said the camps would now be held after the annual examination to be conducted by the Haryana School Education Board.

Chandigarh, February 2
Haryana has significantly made it clear that the state authorities, entrusted with the duty to register documents in property matters, shall not refuse to register the same merely on the ground that the rates finalised by the Collector are to be applied.

A statement to this effect has been made by state Additional Advocate-General M.L. Saggar before a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Taking note of the submission, the Bench comprising Justice M.M. Kumar and Justice T.P.S. Mann has observed that the state counsel’s statement would reduce unnecessary litigation and also serve as a guiding principle to all the registering authorities.

In their detailed order on a petition filed by Bhiwani residents, the Judges ruled: “We deem it necessary to send a copy of this order to all concerned through the Chief Secretary, state of Haryana, for circulation.”

Admitting the petition, the Judges observed: “The state counsel has cited the judgement of the Supreme Court and has argued that the state government or the Collector has no power under Section 47-A of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, to issue collector’s rate, which is against the express provision of Section 47-A of the Act.”

The Judges added: “The state counsel has taken a very fair stand by stating that the instrument belonging to the petitioners shall be registered, but the respondents shall also be entitled to impound such an instrument for its correct valuation or to find out the evasion of stamp duty by making reference as per the provisions of the Act.

The Judges further added: “In order to allay all the apprehensions, the Additional Advocate-General has categorically sated that no authority in the state of Haryana, entrusted with the duty to register documents, shall refuse to register a document merely on the ground that the rates finalised by the Collector are to be applied.” The case will now be heard within three months.

In their petition through counsel Atul Lakhanpal, Madan Singh and others of Bhiwani district had sought directions to quash the rate list issued by the Bhiwani Collector fixing the rates of various properties in Bhiwani for 2007-08 for the purpose of registering a sale deed.

Yamunanagar, February 2
Services of cellular company Airtel remained disrupted for more then three hours in several parts of the state today. Company sources, however, said the disruption was only partial.

The services were restored after 1.30 pm. An official of the company on condition of anonymity said the disruption was due to damage in a fibre cable and the same had been repaired.

People using services of Airtel could not use their phones during the disruption because of no signal. SMS and Internet services were also disrupted. Customer care services were also not available.

Bitu of Radaur said they received messages from Airtel welcoming them in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Some customers were able to use their phones but later they came to know that they were using signals of roaming circles.