New Delhi, March 17
Bharatiya Janata Party legislators tried to disrupt Lt- Governor Tejendra Khanna address to open the budget session of the Delhi legislative assembly here today.

Wearing posters, BJP members rushed to the well raising slogans – “Sheela teri nagari, bijli, nahi hei pani ; We want water, not liquor; Resign if you cannot provide adequate water and General amnesty for sealing.’’

Two BJP members, Kulwant Rana and Vijay Jolly, hung their posters near their chairs, much to the chagrin of ruling Congress legislators.

When congress MLA Bhisma Sharma tried to remove the posters, he was pushed by Jolly. Amid pandemonium, Veer Singh Dhingan (Cong) and Puran Chand Yogi (BJP) were seen pushing each other.

The LG, meanwhile, continued with his address which lasted around 30 minutes.

The BJP members, led by Leader of Opposition Professor Jagdish Mukhi, continued raising slogans till the House was adjourned till tomorrow.

Bhartiya Janata Party MLA Kanwar Singh Tanwar sat near the speaker’s chair and drunk water from a bottle kept on his table.

Nationalist Congress Party’s only MLA ‘s Ramvir Singh Viduri tried to calm the tempers of the members with folded hands.

The Lt. Governor said that the government would give priority to improving health, education, houses ,social welfare, particularly of the underprivileged section.

The government would also introduce on-line tax payment facility, use of digital signature for online filing of returns and disaster recovery site for back up of data.

He said that 359 beds were added in this year and 1000 more would be added in the coming year. Work on the 750 bedded multi-speciality hospital at Dwarka and 200 -bedded hospital at Kokiwala Bagh would start. The gopvernment hasd introduced the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Mamta Friendly Hospital schemes.

For Commonwealth Games a multipurpose airconditioned indoor stadium and eight -lane 400 metre synthetic athletic track at the Thyagraj Sports Complex were under construction. The government had decided to introduce new buses in the city.

The second Dilli Haat at Pitampura would be opened to the public very soon.

The government has also appointed 17 protection officers in all districts of the capital, under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. Twenty seven service centres have been registered to provide services to aggrieved women.

Mentioning the government’s efforts to provide citizens potable water, he said that memorandum of understanding had been signed with the Uttar Pradesh government for Ganga water. The Delhi Jal Board had also constructed underground reservoirs and booster pumping stations in various parts of the capital.

New Delhi, March 17
An online signature campaign by exiled Kashmiri Hindus against militant-turned-politician Yasin Malik is receiving an overwhelming response from the community the world over.

Close to 550 signatures from Kashmiri Pandits have been registered at http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?ymalik8 seeking “just trial” of the cases pending against Malik, chairman of the pro-independent Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

A US-based Kashmiri Pandit is behind the campaign that was launched on Saturday when Malik was in Delhi to address the “Youth Forum - If I Could Change The World”, organised by the India Today media group.

Inviting Malik to address youth had apparently angered the Kashmiri Pandit activists, prompting them to also hold protests, besides the online campaign.

The JKLF chairman is accused of masterminding the killing of many Kashmiri Pandits in the late 1980s and the early 1990s that led to the exodus of around 300,000 ethnic Hindus from the terror- hit valley.

There are dozens of cases pending against him, which are currently being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The cases include the killing of four Indian Air Force officers in 1989 and the murder of Lassa Koul, director, Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, in 1990.

Malik is also accused of masterminding the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

The Kashmiri separatist leader, who gave up armed struggle in 1994 and re-launched the freedom movement from a political platform, was arrested in these cases but was set free for want of evidence against him.

However, the Pandit activists allege that the government has been too soft on Malik and no proper trial has been conducted to “give justice to the hundreds of families of the victims”.

“We believe the cases against Malik did not have a fair trial. We wonder how he is roaming free, travelling abroad on an Indian passport,” Rashneek Kher, a Delhi-based activist, told IANS.

“The families that fell victim to Malik’s await justice and in fact nobody listens to their plight,” said Kher, who also registered his signature in the online campaign.

Rahul Thathoo, the California-based student who initiated the signature campaign, said: “There is no crime known to mankind that Yasin Malik has not been involved in. You name it and he has done it all...killings, kidnappings, hawala, gun running.

“He and his JKLF goons are singularly responsible for the largest forced exodus of the modern history - that of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley,” Thathoo said inviting signatures.

Many others have also written their comments alongside their signatures on the website.

AK Raina said, “They (militants) meet the criteria laid by the UN as unlawful combatants, and not just ordinary criminals, who are involved in heinous crimes against peaceful citizens resulting in their ethnic cleansing and other worst crimes against humanity.”

“They need to be tried as warlords, criminals as in 9/11 (terror strike in the US), London blasts, Sydney swoop etc.”

SR Kaul said, “Yasin Malik and many like him would have been non-entities if the government (of India) had sincere intentions of eliminating the menace of terrorism in the country.”

“Yasin Malik should condemn terrorism and condone for being an agent of terrorism. He should apologise for having killed innocent Kashmiri Pandits,” Brij Krishen Moza said in his comments. — IANS

New Delhi, March 17
A city court today issued non-bailable warrants for arrests against six Delhi Police personnel for allegedly accepting a bribe from an associate of Amit Kumar, the international kidney racket kingpin. Additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) AK Kohar issued the warrants against six officials for March 26.

The court also rejected the bail plea of assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Ravinder Kumar, who is in judicial custody. Observing that the offence was serious and investigations continuing, the court rejected the ASI’s bail plea.

Delhi police arrested Ravinder last month and registered a case against him and six other police personnel. These men are now absconding.

The six police personnel are: head constables Devender Singh and Vijay Bahadur, and constables Naresh Kumar, Kaleem Beg, Surender Rathi and Rakesh Kumar. They allegedly extorted money from the kidney scam accused, Amit Kumar, who was nabbed in Nepal on February 7 and is now in the custody of the central bureau of investigation (CBI).

The police said searches were being conducted to nab the absconding policemen.

The kidney racket was unearthed on January 24 after Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police jointly raided a private hospital and a guesthouse owned by Amit Kumar in Gurgaon, the suburban town of Delhi in Haryana.

The international racket in illegal kidney transplants served clients from Britain, the US, Greece, Lebanon, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. — IANS

New Delhi, March 17
Rajbala cannot get a share of her father’s farm. The reason? She is married. the Delhi Land Reforms Act does not allow her to have a share of her father’s agricultural land. She approached the Delhi High Court, which has asked the Central and Delhi governments for their response.

According to the Delhi Land Reforms Act, a married woman cannot inherit the agricultural land of her parents.

Rajbala’s three brothers have inherited the agricultural property in Kapashera in rural Delhi.

Justice Sanjeev Khanna on Friday issued notices to the Centre, Delhi government and the deputy commissioner, North West, in Kanjhawala to file their replies by July 9.

“My father died in November 2006 leaving behind a piece of agricultural land in Kapashera. The names of my three brothers were included in the revenue records of the agricultural land, but that of my sister and mine were struck off stating that we are married and cannot inherit the property,” Rajbala told IANS.

Rajbala’s counsel Rakesh Prabhakar questioned the basis of the discrimination despite an amendment being made in Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act in 2005, which states that women are entitled to a share of the property left by their parents, whether they are married or not.

“When the government amended the Delhi Land Reforms Act in 2005, why did it ignore a section of the amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, which includes agricultural land,” Prabhakar asked in court.

He said that Section 4 (2) of the Hindu Succession Act, which deals with succession in case of agricultural land, had been ignored in the Delhi Land Reforms Act.

“I want to set an example so that other woman denied their right to inherit ancestral agricultural property can come forward and fight for it. Though there is no provision in the law, we should fight for our rights and ask the government to make the necessary changes,” said Rajbala, hoping for a favourable reply on July 9, the next date of hearing. — IANS

Faridabad, March 17
The Haryana vigilance bureau today arrested an ASI in Ballabgarh, near here, on charges of demanding a bribe of Rs 10,000. He had demanded the sum from Balakishan, a resident of the area, to solve a dispute.

Balakishan had complained about this to the vigilance bureau. As per the plan, he visited the city police station, where the official was posted and told him that he had brought only Rs 5,000. The official directed him to bring the entire sum.

A vigilance bureau officer who had accompanied Balakishan, then arrested the officer.

This is one such rare case, where vigilance bureau has taken action against a police official.

The bureau had conducted a similar exercise over a year ago in Gurgaon but faced stiff resistance from policemen.

New Delhi, March 17
Shocking as it may sound, most bails given to the accused in Delhi’s trial courts are through fake guarantors and forged documents that often help hardened criminals get away, say police.

Lawyers, courts and police finally seem to have woken up to what is known as the ‘fake surety network’, with many admitting that the system thrives due to the collusion of black sheep among themselves.

“We have caught hold of many gangs from which we have recovered a huge number of fake identity cards, stamps, seals and other documents that are used to provide surety bonds to bail out the accused,” said a senior police official.

A surety is a guarantee document furnished by a person known to the accused when the latter is released on bail by a court. Ideally, the guarantor should be a close relative of the accused.

The police has circulated photographs of a gang of 10 persons who virtually function as professional fake guarantors in exchange for money.

In December last year, the police had busted a surety racket and had arrested seven people from Seelampur in North East Delhi. On interrogation, they said that they came from impoverished backgrounds and wanted to make a fast buck.

“Fake surety has become a source of income for some. There are those who stand as surety even though they do not know the accused. As a result, hardened criminals also get released,” an official of Delhi Police’s crime branch said.

The increasing number of fake guarantors has not only made court proceedings more difficult but also resulted in an increase in trial time.

DB Goswami, a criminal lawyer, said such gangs operate through advocates who contact them when surety is needed for a client.

“The lawyers charge 30 per cent of the surety amount from the person, which also includes the share of the person who would stand as guarantee for the accused in court,” Goswami told IANS.

“Most cases of fake surety involve offenders who belong to places outside Delhi. As these people do not have any local address to provide to the court, they adopt the illegal route of fake surety, which is very easy to follow. — IANS

New Delhi, March 17
With joyous and often riotous festival of colours - Holi just around the corner, there is again concern over the effects of toxic colours, which are being increasingly used by revelers.

Traditionally, Holi was played with colours made from herbs and seasonal flowers. The fragrant natural colours also had therapeutic value and were beneficial for skin and health. The ingredients of Gulal were purposely chosen for their emollient qualities, which is a far cry from today’s toxic colours.

Skin care expert Shubhash Jha says, colours, in dry or liquid state, can cause rashes and redness, with intense burning and itching in the exposed areas. They can also flare up existing allergies.

It is suggested that revelers use more of red or pink colours, which look good and can be easily taken off. Gaudy purple, green, yellow, orange contain more harmful chemicals and should be avoided.

Hair exposed to colours can become dull, dry and brittle.

Accidental ingestion of colours can cause toxicity, as they are usually prepared from metal oxides like lead.

Jha suggests — Mix castor oil (for face, use almond oil) in rose water and a few drops of your favourite aroma oil. Apply over your whole body and scalp in the night at least three days before Holi.

Mix sesame oil with glycerin. Apply it daily.

A heavy dose of a favourite body lotion is also a good alternative.

Put vaseline around and under nails as well as soles, elbows or any dry area of the body.

Use UV block or sun block as sun and water can damage the skin.

Oil your hair well. If possible, just cover your hair with a scarf or a cap.

Do not use permanent dyes. If someone has applied it on you, do not rub especially when it is wet. Instead, use good quality cleansing milk for removal.

Take a bath much after the Holi celebration is over. Taking frequent baths, washing the face again and again, will ruin your skin and hair.

If you are not sure about the quality of colors, smear your body with coconut oil a moisturising cream before getting coloured.

Be careful while eating the tempting gujiyas, chaats and jalebis — you might swallow colour accidentally spilled on the food or from your hands.