New Delhi, August 31
With the situation remaining tense in Orissa, the Centre says it is ready to order a CBI probe into the communal violence in the state if the Naveen Patnaik government asks for it.

The Centre feels that the state government has not performed its constitutional duty by tackling the situation in the manner it should have, leading to continuing attacks on Christians in the wake of the killing of VHP vice-presdient Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently taken up the violence in the state with the Chief Minister and done some tough speaking over his handling of the situation.

Sources said since law and order was a state subject, the Centre would like the Patnaik government to take effective measures to ensure that all sections of society were protected and those behind the attacks on Christians were brought to book.

The issue had also figured prominently at a meeting of the Union Cabinet in which several ministers expressed concern over the spate of violence in the state.

Amid a national outcry over the violence in the state, home minister Shivraj Patil asserted that the Centre had provided all assistance to the state in tackling the situation. ''We have given them forces. They wanted four battalions, we sent them four-and-a-half battalions. We have given them helicopters too. We have been giving them information that's available,'' he told a television news channel.

On whether a CBI probe could be ordered into the violence as demanded by some Christian groups, Patil said ''whenever state governments, high courts and the Supreme Court have asked for a CBI inquiry, the government has always accepted it. In this case too, it will happen''.

Asked who could be responsible for the violence in the state, Patil said he would not like to sit on judgement but there were many people who were saying that propaganda against some sections about economic issues and many other things could be the reason for it.

Political parties, particularly the Congress and the Left organisations, have strongly demanded that the Centre take cognisance of the activities of the organisations belonging to the Sangh Parivar in the state.

The CPM has gone to the extent of alleging that the Centre had remained a “spectator when a bonfire was being made of the constitutional rights of the Christian community” in the state.

Christians all over the country have been agitating over the violence against the community in Orissa and pleading with the Centre to intervene in the matter.

Maoists warn of more attacks

Claiming responsibility for the killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati in Orissa, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) today warned the saffron oufit of "more such punishments if it continued violence against religious minorities in the country".

The CPI (Maoist) has decided to punish "anti-people, fanatical leaders like Saraswati" in the wake of "endless persecution" of religious minorities in the country, a party release said here.

The statement alleged that Saraswati was a "rabid anti-Christian ideologue and persecutor of innocent Christians and was responsible for the burning down of over 400 churches in Kandhamal district alone".

It warned the saffron outfit of "more such punishments if it continued violence against religious minorities in the country". — PTI

New Delhi, August 31
Central government employees, who are paying through the nose for the education of their children, would have some reasons to smile after the implementation of revised pay structure from tomorrow.

While salaries of central government employees would be increased by 21 per cent on an average following a notification issued on revised pay structure for them, children education allowance would rise much more.

According to the notification issued on Friday, children education allowance will be reimbursed up to maximum Rs 1,000 per child per month subject to a maximum of two children from the paltry Rs 50 per child currently.

Besides, hostel subsidy has been raised to the maximum limit of Rs 3,000 per month per child from Rs 300 currently.

Also, these reimbursements would be automatically raised by 25 per cent once dearness allowance on the revised pay bands become 50 per cent of the basic salary, the notification said.

As such, an employee getting Rs 1,000 would get Rs 1,250 per child per month and hostel subsidy would increase up to Rs 3,750 when DA becomes 50 per cent of the basic salary.

The revised pay structure would be implemented from tomorrow, which means that employees would get revised salary for their work in September.

Similarly, 40 per cent of the arrears would also be paid next month, depending on the time taken for calculating these arrears by respective account departments.

The revised pay awards would add the burden of Rs 15,717 crore to the General Budget and Rs 6,414 crore on the Railway Budget for 2008-09. — PTI

New Delhi, August 31
Observing that “there is no strong central authority” in Pakistan, National Security Adviser (NSA) says the threat from the ISI had become greater following the exit of Pervez Musharraf from the political scene.

''Intelligence agencies are like alsatians, they have to be kept under check,'' he said, wondering whether this could happen after Musharraf's departure.

In an interview to the CNBC TV 18 programme “India Tonight” to be telecast on Monday night, Narayanan said the notorious intelligence agency was not controlled to the extent India would have liked even during Musharraf's regime.

In the past few months, it had become “hyper-active” in many ways, and India was concerned that its activity could increase.

About Pakistan’s violations across the LoC, Narayanan said there had been at least 31 this year. However, he did not believe these violations represented a rollback of the 2003 ceasefire or a reversal of Pakistan's policy towards India.

''I don't think Pakistan is today really in a position to think of a major offensive. The point really is why is this happening. What does it mean? It's a question of the absence of a strong central control. People are doing many more things than they would do if there had been a tighter control.''

On the nomination of Asif Ali Zardari for the presidentship of Pakistan, the NSA expressed doubts whether he would be able to deliver on the promises he made to put the Kashmir issue aside and get on with improving relations with India by boosting bilateral trade.

''The question is the capacity of any leader in Pakistan to do exactly what he would like. Many of them come with pious intentions but fail to deliver. The system works in a particular fashion and if you are a democratic leader, you cannot but be a part of that system…well, I think Zardari would have to take people along (and compromise),'' Narayanan said. He, however, hastened to add that Zardari was very friendly to India and New Delhi has very good relations with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). So at one level, the relationship could be better or stronger than in the past.

Asked whether Pakistani army is likely to step in in the absence of a strong central authority and in the feud between the PPP and PML (N), Narayanan said he did not think the army would be interested in any such step at this juncture.

"I think the Pakistani army doesn't want to get back into the driving seat at least while Gen Kayani is at its head ... one of the things that happened in the final years of the Musharraf presidency is a certain disenchantment with the Pakistani army at least amongst the middle classes ... so I think it will take time before they (even) think of getting back in."

Gen Kayani was respected as a soldier and was not interested in running the affairs of the state. ''That’ s fine by us.The question is will Gen Kayani work against our interests or not? I don't think we have seen any evidence that he will work against our interests,'' Narayanan added.

He said India was not upset or rattled by Islamabad's decision to raise Kashmir at the UN. "I think there's nothing new in this. Whenever an opportunity has presented itself, Pakistan has raised the issue. It's not a setback. We're used to it. Whether it's the UN, the OIC or European Parliament or human rights or violence, we're used to it."

New Delhi, August 31
New Delhi waits with bated breath the outcome of the September 4-5 meeting of the nuclear suppliers group (NSG) in Vienna to consider the revised draft for giving waiver to India to start nuclear commerce with the world.

India and the USA have already finalised the revised text of the draft, which is understood to have been handed over to Germany, the current chairman of the NSG, for circulation among 45 members of the cartel.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself carefully went through each and every word of the revised draft and discussed it thoroughly with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and his top aides to see if it was in line with New Delhi's position.

Senior officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described the situation as "very delicately poised" and said that the NSG had a very large and varied membership, where decisions were taken by consensus. “So there is always an element of uncertainty”.

The officials, however, pointed out that Indian negotiators, particularly foreign secretary Shiv Shanker Menon and Prime Minister's special envoy Shyam Saran, had their homework properly done while negotiating the revised draft with the Americans to ensure that any waiver that comes from the NSG has to fall within the parameters laid down in the July 18, 2005, civil nuclear cooperation understanding between India and the USA.

"If the waiver is outside the July 2005 understanding, India may well walk away even at this late stage of the long and tortuous three-year journey of the nuclear deal, '' they added.

For India, the officials said the biggest hurdle was that it was not a member of the NSG. Therefore, it could not attend the NSG meetings and forcefully put forth its case for a clean waiver in view its unblemished non-proliferation record.

Due to this handicap, the USA, France, Russia, Britain and other friendly countries have to do lobbying for India. This, however, did not yield the desired results when the NSG met on August 21-22 and deferred a decision on giving its nod to the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The officials observed that the USA had apparently not taken the last NSG meeting as seriously as it should have done and thought the waiver would come without any obstacle. However, countries like New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria and Norway opposed a clean waiver for India on the grounds that it was not a signatory to the NPT and the CTBT.

Some 50 amendments had been proposed in the original draft. This time around, India and the US are hoping that the countries not satisfied with the text at the last NSG meeting might not raise any objection to the waiver so that it is adopted by consensus. However, their national concerns could be reflected in a statement by the NSG chair.

India has already stated that it was not averse to the NSG making certain suggestions as long as these are not laid down as conditions.

Mumbai, August 31
The government has dismissed high-profile police officer Pradeep Sharma from service, Mumbai police commissioner Hassan Gafoor announced here today.

Gafoor said the decision to sack Sharma was taken after a probe found his service record undesirable. Gafoor refused to elaborate.

Pradeep Sharma, who along with other officers like Daya Nayak, was responsible for killing several alleged criminals in various encounters. Though not from the IPS cadre, Sharma, Nayak and others were given celebrity status and they hobnobbed with industrialists and artistes after claiming to have killed people trying to extort money from them.

Sharma, who received numerous awards in the past, has been credited with killing more than 100 criminals. He headed the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) that was responsible for gunning down several members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang.

However, investigations into Sharma's assets indicated that he had amassed property some of which were in his name, police officials said.

The downfall of Sharma came when the Bombay High Court indicted him for the custodial death of Mohammad Yunus, a young computer engineer on leave from his job in the Middle East. Though the police said Yunus had escaped from custody, it later transpired that his body was burnt after he died of torture.

New Delhi, August 31
Smokers beware! The government is empowering school principals, postmen, railway station masters, even your boss to book you if you're caught smoking in a public place after October 2 , the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The health ministry has already sent the rule for gazette notification and will make it public in the second week of September.

"The government is yet to approve a fine of Rs 2,000 for those caught smoking in public," said a senior health ministry official. "So we are implementing the new Smoking in Public Places Rules--2008 with the old fine amount of up to Rs 200."

The new rule will also expand the definition of public places from government buildings to include all office buildings, hospitals, schools, colleges, railway stations, airports, bus stands, hotels and restaurants.

"With the public notification, we will empower principals of schools, colleges, station masters, postman, airport authorities to challan (book) those smoking in public places.

“Once caught, the smoker will have to pay Rs 200 or whatever he has if he is carrying less than that amount," the official said.

"These people have better access to public places and their involvement will work as community participation to reduce smoking in the country.

"The public notification will empower top officials in private firms to challan their employees. The challan money will go to the revenue department of the state government concerned," the official added.

The modalities will be finalised before the public notification.

Hundreds of thousands of people lose their lives due to smoking-related diseases in India every year. They are at risk from cardio-vascular diseases like heart attack and stroke and cancer.

Government estimates say though the tobacco industry brings a revenue of Rs 270 billion every year, the treatment of the disease costs the country at least Rs 300 billion.

Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss has been campaigning for years to stop smoking in public places and making India smoke-free.

The ministry said that with the new rules coming into force, all hotels with at least 30 rooms and restaurants with a sitting capacity of 30 will be barred from allowing their guests to smoke.

"They may come up with a smoking lounge but it will be mandatory that smoke from inside the lounge does not affect people outside it." — IANS

Guwahati, August 31
Army columns have been pressed into rescue and relief operations as flood situation in lower Assam districts has turned for the worse with rain fed rivers flowing down from Bhutan Himalayas to Brahmaputra basin in the state inundating vast areas of agricultural land and human settlements.

The swirling Puthimari river has breached its embankments in three places between Baihata and Rangiya in Kamrup district of lower Assam besides overtopping the arterial NH-31. The district administration has called for Army’s help in rescue and relief operation in the flood-affected areas.

The government has requisitioned MI-17 choppers from the Army for carrying out emergency evacuation of marooned people and distribution of food packets and other relief materials among flood-hit.

Official sources informed that swirling waters of Sankosh and Saralbahnga rivers have damaged standing paddy spread over 29,000 hectares of land only in the western most Kokrajhar district alone. About 20 villages in Gossaingaon subdivision of the district have been inundated by floodwaters of Sankosh river since last night affecting over 10,000 people.

Twenty-five villages have been submerged at Sipajhar in Darrang district by floodwaters of Nonoi river driving thousands of villagers out of their homes in search of shelter on highways and river embankments.

The flood situation continued to remain grip in Majuli river island in the bosom of Brahmaputra in Jorhat district of upper Assam. Extra assistant commissioner Arindam Bora said 140 villages out of total 180 villages of the river island was under water affecting about 1.40 lakh people out of total 1.80 lakh population in the island.

Seventy-four families at Misamara village in Lower Majuli and 43 families at Botiamari in Upper Majuli lost all their immovable property due to erosion by the river.

Most of the education institutions in the world’s largest inhabited river island have been closed down because of the floods while most of the government offices, circuit houses, police stations besides all motorable roads in Majuli were under floodwaters.

Panaji, August 31
Family members of a Goan sailor, who is on board the Somalian ship which has been hijacked in the Red Sea, have pleaded that the central government should intervene to free the hostages.

"We are worried. Last time we spoke to my brother was on August 21 when the ship was hijacked... He said the ship is hijacked but he is safe," Shery Themudio, sister of Anthony, who is on board the hijacked ship, told PTI.

The middle-class family, residing at Navelim village in South Goa, prominently known for its seafarers, is eagerly waiting for their son to be freed by the hijackers, who have taken the custody of M V Iran Deyanat.

According to the director-general of shipping, the ship has been taken to an undisclosed location off Somalia.

Anthony, in his early 20s, is amongst the three Indian nationals on board the ship. Kiran D'Souza (Karnataka) and Akbar Ali Juvle (Ratnagiri) are also reportedly on the hijacked ship.

"The central government should immediately intervene in the matter and try to free the hostages," Shery, who lives with her parents and another sister, said.

This is Anthony's first trip on board, who had boarded the ship in March, this year.

"He is the sole bread-winner of our family and my mother has been continously crying since the time we were informed about hijacking," Shery said.

The family which could talk to their son only for a few minutes on phone on August 21 is worried, as Anthony apparently had told his sister that the hijackers were equipped with modern weapons. — PTI

New Delhi, August 31
It was utter disrespect and disregard for a river that resulted in unprecedented havoc in Bihar, said environmentalists, blaming widespread embankment of the Kosi and narrowing down of its floodplains, total degradation of the catchment area and non-maintenance of the Kosi barrage as the main causes.

The devastation by the river has led to slew of blame games as to who is responsible for the calamity. It has even cast a shadow on India's ties with Nepal. India says it was Kathmandu's apathy towards maintenance of barrage that resulted in the breach. But that safety and maintenance of embankment was India’s responsibility is also a fact.

Thousands of people have been severely affected by the floods, which are showing no sign of abating. Terming Bihar floods a national calamity, Prime Minsiter Manmohan Singh announced Rs 1,000 crore for rescue and relief work and more than 1.25 lakh tonnes of foodgrains for the victims.

Environmentalists said Kosi, which breached eastern afflux bund at Kusaha in Nepal, was a disaster waiting to happen. The disaster was manmade and changing of the course not natural, they added.

Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abiyaan explained that the Kosi barrage was created over old channel of the river, thereby creating the new channel . "When the barrage burst the old channel was revived and the river just went back to its original course. Once a river is embanked, it takes the path of least resistance and this is what happened in Kosi’s case,” he said, adding, that it was a well-known fact that Kosi carried lot of silt and over the years its silt load had increased.“However, the way the river had been embanked, the disaster was waiting to happen. By saying that the problem is entirely at the barrage end, the administration is giving lame excuses. The river changed its course, but the way it behaved thereafter is beacuse it was unaturally contained."

It was a viewpoint endorsed by Medha Patkar, who said total degradation of catchment area and kilometres of embankment led to the devastation. “Treatment of catchment should be a pre-condition to building any big dam. Kosi floods and what followed also show complete lack of disaster management in the country.”

Another fact that environmentalists stressed upon was that floods were not a natural calamity but natural phenomenon. "Devastation is what happens when you do not respect nature and take your rivers for granted. During monsoon there will be floods that occur in cycles-a decadal cycle, 25-year cycle, 100-year cycle. For example, last time when Yamuna saw floods was in 1998. Since it runs in decadal cycle, 2008 floods were bound to happen. Nature gives sufficient signals, it is we who ignore them," said Misra.

So does the answer lie in not building embankments and barrages ?

"Floods have to be studied and rivers understood as ecosystems. The country needs a river policy in which flood plains are considered an integral part of river ecosystem. We also need to a flood-zoning system. For a 10-year cycle, no structure should be allowed in flood plains. For a 50-year cycle, temporary structures can be permitted and for 100-year cycle there can be permanent structures but at one's own risk," he added.

Ahmedabad, August 31
Twelve rescue teams, each equipped with a motorized boat and life-jackets, Sunday left Gujarat for Bihar to give a helping hand to victims of the flood tragedy, an official said here.

Two Indian Air Force (IAF) planes flew the rescue team to Bihar, said Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) CEO Rajesh Kishore.

“At least 61 trained personnel will be helping the flood victims in their hour of need. We are doing whatever is required in this regard and if need be we will dispatch more rescue teams,” he said.

The move comes after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 5 crore aid for the flood-ravaged state and assured all support in relief and rescue operations.

The central home ministry made arrangements for airlifting rescue teams following Modi’s request. As many as 125 life-jackets and ropes were being dispatched to Bihar as the state was facing a shortage rescue materials, officials said. — IANS

New Delhi, August 31
India’s second richest person Anil Ambani is a whisker away from his elder brother Mukesh in terms of annual remuneration after a fat package of over Rs 30 crore from his group’s flagship entity RCom.

Besides taking his total latest fiscal payout to over Rs 43 crore, the remuneration from RCom has also fattened his overall hike to more than 18 times over the previous year, which stood at about six times prior to the disclosure of payment from RCom.

Anil Ambani received a total remuneration of about Rs 43.43 crore in the latest fiscal 2007-08 from his five group companies - namely RCom, Reliance Capital, Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure, and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL).

This is just marginally less than Rs 44.02 crore of annual remuneration received by Mukesh Ambani from his group’s flagship entity Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). Mukesh did not take any remuneration from his other group companies Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd.

According to RIL’s annual reports, Mukesh got a total payout of Rs 44.02 crore in 2007-08, up from Rs 30.46 crore in 2006-07 and Rs 24.77 crore in the year before that. — PTI

New Delhi, August 31
In a ruling with wide ramifications, the Supreme Court has held that the police must get a man with a history of insanity medically examined, otherwise accused claiming to be insane at the time of committing crime will be entitled the benefit of doubt.

A Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and M.K. Sharma in their judgement pronounced on August 29 laid down parameters for those entitled to the benefit of Section 84 of the IPC and has ruled that a mentally unsound person has to be any of the following categories namely; an idiot, very ill, lunatic and drunk.

The apex court while maintaining the conviction and sentence of Hari Singh Gond, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, who had murdered his wife’s grandfather, said “an idiot is one who is of non-sane memory from his birth, by a perpetual informity without lucid interval and those who are said to be idiots can not count even till 20 or tell the days of the week or do not know their father or mother or the like”.

The Supreme Court also ruled out that the burden of proving his insanity is on the accused, who wants to take benefit of Section 84, which says nothing is an offence done by a person who at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law.

The apex court also said “mere abnormality of mind or partial delusion, irresistible impulse or compulsive behaviour of a psychopath affords no protection under Section 84.

If the investigating agency came across a history of insanity, it is duty-bound to subject the accused to a medical examination. If a medical examination is not done, the benefit of doubt has to be given to the accused.”

The court did not agree with the contension of the appellant, Hari Singh Gond, that he was an idiot when he committed the murder of his wife’s grandfather claiming the benifit of Section 84. The apex court, therefore, defined the conditions one has to fulfill for being declared an idiot. — UNI

Dehra Dun, August 31
Telephone number 108 has become a popular toll-free number being frequently used by people in emergency in Uttarakhand. It will be completing its 108 days in operation on September 1. Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) will get 15 more ambulances from Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj-Gen B.C.Khanduri (retd) on the occasion.

The free emergency services started by the EMRI, in collaboration with the Uttarakhand government, have come as a boon for people in medical emergencies in the state. Earlier, it was near impossible to provide any kind of medical aid to the sufferers in the far-flung mountainous regions. Since May 29 when the first batch of 10 medical emergency vans was launched in Uttarakhand, 8,000 emergency calls have been attended by the EMRI free services, saving hundreds of lives.

The EMRI set a precedent by starting operations in Uttarakhand with the launch of 10 ambulances in Byasi, Devprayag, Sirnagar, Guptkashi, Augustmuni, Karanprayag, Chamoli, Joshimath, Dharasu and Barkot on May 29. It added 10 more well-equipped vehicles on July 2.

The EMRI service will have 45 ambulances placed in various parts of the state from September 1. By 2008, a total of 90 ambulances will be covering the entire length and breadth of the largely hill state.

Over 4,000 victims have been provided free emergency medial care by the EMRI ambulance service. Over 1,500 exclusive police cases have also been routed through the EMRI ERC (Emergency Response Centre).

The EMRI has helped save over 750 victims involved in road accidents and helped with over 760 pregnancy related emergency till date, said Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Uttarakhand health minister. EMRI currently handles over 72 emergencies per day at an average, relating to road accidents, pregnancies, snake bites, fire victims and even natural calamities like avalanches and landslides.

On the night of August 3, in Jeolikote village of Nainital, four children were in a critical condition due to consumption of some poisonous fruit from a jungle. They were saved due to timely intervention of the EMRI services. In another emergency, the EMRI's emergency medical technicians Anil Rawat, Rakesh Kumar and Mukesh Meena walked 16 km when the Gaumukh glacier burst on June 3 and provided first aid care to five victims.

A sake bite victim was saved on the morning of August 8 in Ghari Mandir in Chamoli district.

Two landslide victims were given emergency services in the early hours on May 24 and transported to the Base Hospital in Srinagar.

The EMRI, in a short span, has added a new chapter in responding to the medical emergencies in one of the geographically toughest states.

Indore, August 31
Asaram Bapu’s ashram school has found itself in midst of fresh controversy after a hostel inmate complained of ill-treatment at the hands of its principal. The police has registered a case.

A complaint was lodged by parents of Gaurav Singh, a Class V student, against school principal Shashank Singh for alleged physical abuse and ill-treatment because the student wanted to move out of the ashram school. Earlier in July, a four-and-a-half-year-old boy was found dead in the premises of the ashram-run gurukul in Chhindwara (MP). — PTI

Roorkee, August 31
The ‘fair sex’, not getting a fair deal has become a familiar feature, and this observable fact doesn’t seem different in this educational hub of Uttarakhand, when it comes to crime against women.

The figure till July 2008 secured by the Roorkee police indicates that the women continue to face hostility within their house as well as outside. An increase has been registered in cases of crime against women.

The cases of cruelty by their husbands and in-laws, besides the number of abductions have gone up this year as compared to the past two years for the same period. In 2008, till the month of July, a total of 14 cases of heinous nature crime against women have been reported, exceeding the number of cases for the past two years that stood at 11 and eight in year 2007 and 2006, respectively, till July.

As per the figures, there has been a sharp increasing trend in cases of women kidnapping in the area.

From four cases of women kidnapping in the 2006, the number of such cases went up to six in 2007 and in year 2008 there have been nearly 10 cases of women kidnapping till the month of July.

Experts point out that many victims in such cases are young women lured by men who promise them good life and even marriage and then push them into prostitution.

Dowry death cases registered a minor increase from one in the previous year 2007 to three such cases in 2008, till July. The trends over the past few years have remained generally the same under this head, with two cases of dowry been registered in the year 2006.

The rape cases, however, have recorded a decreasing trend with only one case of rape being registered during the first seven months in the year 2008, while the four cases of rape were registered in the year 2007. 

Lucknow, August 31
Abu Bakar, the old paralysed father of Ahmedabad blasts 'mastermind' Abu Bashar, was made to sign on blank sheets of paper by the police raiding his house in village Binapara of Sarai Meer in Azamgarh soon after his eldest son was officially arrested in Lucknow on August 16.

The drama was repeated yesterday in Aminabad in Lucknow when policemen searched the house of the alleged mastermind of the Jaipur blasts Shahbaz Ahmad and made his father-in-law sign on blank sheets of paper.

Pointing out these parallels in the two cases, activist Teesta Setalvad hit out at the law-enforcing agencies for violating set legal procedural norms in the name of combating terror.

Speaking at a workshop on “Enforcement of Rule of Law” organised by the Movement Against Terrorism, Setalvad said there were many similarities in the procedural lapses in the two cases.

In both cases, she pointed out, the suspects were arrested without a warrant, the family had no idea where they were taken or the condition they were in, searches were repeatedly carried out by the police in their houses without search warrants. There were no independent witnesses to confirm what was taken away from their houses.

Incidentally, another common factor was that both families accused the police of taking away cash during these searches. While Abu Bashar's family charged the police of taking away Rs 10,000, the family of Shahbaz Ahmad said the police took away Rs 1,000 in cash from the purse and an account payee cheque of Rs 15,000.

Setalvad was also critical of the media of abdicating its duty to uphold the rule of law. "It is so surprising that the same media which had done an excellent work in exposing police encounters and custodial rapes is now ready to believe every word the same police is saying regarding these men who are being condemned as terrorists even before the trial has begun,” she said.

Former Lucknow University Vice-Chancellor Dr Roop Rekha Verma warned against the attempt of the state to create an environment of terror where citizens readily renounced their civil rights in the name of combating terrorism.

"We should not let this happen. This is what ultimately leads to a fascist state. We, as responsible citizens, have to continue to ask critical questions. Journalists should also gather more facts through investigative journalism rather than completely depending on official briefings,” she pointed out. 

New Delhi, August 31
Relying upon an extra-judicial confession, the Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence awarded to a man who smothered his wife and infant daughter after he grew suspicious about his wife's fidelity.

"An extra-judicial confession, if voluntary and true and made in a fit state of mind, can be relied upon by the court. The value of the evidence as to confession, like any other evidence, depends upon the veracity of the witness to whom it has been made," the apex court observed.

The apex court said it was not open to any court to start with a presumption that extra-judicial confession is a weak type of evidence.

"It would depend on the nature of the circumstances, the time when the confession was made and the credibility of the witnesses who speak of such a confession," a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Mukundakam Sharma observed.

According to the prosecution, Chattar Singh, an agriculturist, on February 16, 1993, smothered to death his 26-year-old wife Guddi and daughter Poonam at Sahlawas village of Haryana's Rohtak district and dumped their bodies in the village pond to make it appear as a case of suicide.

However, during the course of investigation, Chattar Singh is said to have confessed to certain people, including the village sarpanch Babu Lal and secretary of the Mahila Dakshita Samithi Viney Bharadwaj, that he had killed the duo as he suspected Guddi's fidelity.

On the basis of circumstantial evidence and the extra-judicial confessions, the trial court sentenced Singh to life imprisonment and the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the sentence, upon which he appealed in the apex court.

In the apex court, Singh, through his counsel, argued that there was no eyewitness to the crime and the entire conviction was based on circumstantial and extra-judicial confessions purportedly made by him.

Rejecting the plea, the apex court said extra judicial confession could be relied upon if the witnesses testifying the same appear to be "unbiased, not even remotely inimical to the accused." "After subjecting the evidence of the witness to a rigorous test on the touchstone of credibility, the extra-judicial confession can be accepted and can be the basis of a conviction if it passes the test of credibility," the apex court observed.

Upholding Singh's conviction, the apex court said it found no reason to discard the evidence of the witness as they had no previous enmity or compelling reasons to make false testimony to implicate Singh. — PTI

New Delhi, August 31
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani today said he was satisfied with the agreement reached between Hindu agitators and the Jammu and Kashmir government over the bitter Amarnath land row.

Advani said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had told him that the government would not succumb to pressure from Kashmiri separatists.

“I feel satisfied (over the agreement),” he said on the sidelines of a BJP rally organised at the Ramlila Maidan here today.

The BJP leader said he had written a letter to the PM that it was not a Hindu versus Muslim issue and that it was not a Jammu versus the Kashmir Valley issue. “This was a surrender to the pressure from separatists and therefore the problem had arisen,” he said.

“He (the PM) stated firmly that under no circumstances will the government take the decision under pressure from separatists,” Advani said.

The agitation over the Amarnath land row in Jammu region ended early Sunday after an agreement was reached between a government panel and a conglomerate of Hindu groups, giving exclusive rights to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) to use the 40 hectares of land at Baltal during the pilgrimage period. — IANS

New Delhi, August 31
His untimely and sudden death during a concert in the Maldives shocked the world of Indian music and his fans and well-wishers for whom this young and upcoming playback singer was a rare ''musical gem.”

A month after Star Voice of India winner and talented playback singer Ishmeet Singh was lost forever, a tribute to his memory is sought to be paid through a Punjabi film which represents the rich tradition of Punjabi culture, love and faith.

The tribute to Ishmeet Singh, loved by Punjabis and the rarest member of the community to make it to the winning post in a reality show, is 'Sat Sri Akal', a film representing Punjabi culture, values and tradition.

A joint production of Mata Triptaji Charitable Trust at Chandigarh and Frankfinn Entertainment Company, 'Sat Sri Akal', that commemorates the 300 years of Gurta Gaddi Diwas (coronation) of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, has one shabad rendered by the late Ishmeet Singh - his first and last.

At a function in the Capital to release the music of the film, which was unveiled by celebrated ghazal singer Jagjit Singh, glowing tributes were paid to the late singer.

Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singhsaid: ''He had a very good voice quality. His sudden death at a young age is a grave and irreparable loss to the music world and the Punjabi community.'' The secretary-general of Mata Triptaji Charitable Trust, Bhupinder Singh Bhoop, said: ''The shabad that he sang for 'Sat Sri Akal' was earlier to be rendered by Abhijeet, but we later decided on Ishmeet.”

Ishmeet sand the shabad with passion. Even though today Ishmeet is not in this world, I am happy that his voice in 'Sat Sri Akal' will continue to reverberate forever,'' Bhoop said. — UNI

Yavatmal, August 31
The relentless suicides of Vidarbha farmers have further intensified in the past three days as nine more suicides of farmers have been reported during the Pola festival from different parts of the region, according to sources in Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti.

All victims belonged to Dalit and tribal families who were debt-ridden farmers.

The credit-starved local co-operative banks failed to give fresh crop loans to the farmers even as finance minister P. Chidambaram claimed that loans were being distributed to all distressed and debt-ridden farmers.

More than 90 per cent cotton farmers are left out of the loan waiver scheme announced by the Union government, the Samiti said in a press release here today. — PTI

Raipur, August 31
Authorities from Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have not been able to trace the Bell-430 helicopter which went missing from Hyderabad on August 3, nearly a month after the incident.

“Despite deploying several helicopters for an intensified search operation, we have no information about the whereabouts of the missing Ranbaxy helicopter,” a state aviation department official source told PTI here.

Following several sorties and photographs taken by the flying machine of the National Remote Sensing Agency, authorities have failed to trace the copter’s location. All aerial search has since been withdrawn.

“But the ground forces, consisting of state and paramilitary forces, are on the job,” the source said. The helicopter was hired by the Chhattisgarh government to take its home minister Ram Vichar Netam from Raipur to Jharkhand but it never landed at Raipur and went missing after taking off from Hyderabad on August 3.

Forces searched various destinations in Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar, Kanker, and even Dhamtari districts but all efforts have not given any result, the sources said.

The copter was having chief pilot Capt V.P. Singh and co-pilot R. Gaur with flight engineer Santosh Kumar and technician Ashwini Kumar on board when it went missing, chief pilot of Chhattisgarh Sq Ldr Dibya Shankar Mishra said. The copter was to land at 1630 hrs at Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar region, on August 3 after its take-off from Hyderabad at 1500 hrs but lost contact and ever since all searches have yielded zero result, he said. — PTI

New Delhi, August 31
Hard bargaining is expected to be witnessed in the seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party beginning tomorrow for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.

The two parties which were foes till the other day, are coming together to form an alliance in the backdrop of resurgence of Mayawati-led Bahujan Samat Party which gained power in UP after shoring up a majority in the assembly elections last year.

Rahul Gandhi will himself lead the Congress team which will have party general secretary in charge of UP affairs Digvijay Singh and UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi as its members.

The SP is likely to be represented by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, general secretary Amar Singh and another general secretary and Yadav’s brother Ram Gopal Yadav.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the SP had spurned offers of the Congress for a tie-up and had emerged as the single largest party in the state by bagging 39 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress had managed just nine seats, including Amethi and Rae Bareli .

The Congress’ decline in the state has been rapid in the past 25 years after having secured all the 85 seats in the undivided UP in 1984.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has already expressed confidence that the seat-sharing arrangement will be pragmatic and realistic, implying thereby that the Congress would have to play a second fiddle and have to be content with a far lesser role.

Digvijay’s remarks about the seat-sharing arrangement was significant in view of Rahul’s reported comments in Allahabad recently that it is not a one-way affair and SP too needs Congress in the state as much as Congress needs it.

Recently, SP general secretary Amar Singh had lamented that while other political parties were working hard on forming alliances, the Congress was not moving fast on the issue. Soon after his comments, Rahul Gandhi had met Singh. But what exactly had transpired between the two is not known.

Mulayam Singh Yadav-led SP had favoured similar arrangements between the parties in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. But the Congress had clarified that tomorrow’s talks will only centre around UP.

In a related development, the SP yesterday refused to join the Union Cabinet, turning down the offer of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi during a coordination committee meet here.

SP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh “politely refused” the offer because of the party’s “deep and serious engagements” in strengthening its base in Uttar Pradesh. — PTI

Mumbai, August 31
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray today sought to clarify that he had not given any time frame to shopkeepers and owners of commercial establishments on the issue of Marathi signboards.

Thackeray, who called off his agitation regarding the Marathi signboard issue on August 28 after the Bombay High Court restrained him and his party workers, said in a statement issued here that no time-frame was given to the shopkeepers to put their signboards in Marathi language and would also not be given in future.

Thackeray said after he called the stir off, some traders' representatives had met him and there was news in the media that they had sought three-four months extension for putting their signboards in Marathi. However, he would like to clarify that he had not given any time-frame.

Thackeray has claimed that only after his party raised the issue, the state government and others woke up and Marathi signboards were being seen in every city of the state. This was first time, such a thing was happening so he asked his supporters to remain calm and added that he was keeping an eye over what the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the government were doing regarding the issue and then only he would decide his party's future course of action, the statement said. — UNI

New Delhi, August 31
A 70-year-old woman who has been married for 53 years has approached a court here seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty and adultery by her husband. She calls it her overdue “revenge”.

Bimla Devi wants to end her 53-year-old relationship with Rakesh Kumar, who she says has dumped her for another woman and now allegedly wants to grab her (Bimla’s) property.

The distraught woman has moved an application in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Manmohan Sharma against Kumar.

Bimla Devi and Kumar were married March 10, 1955.

The marriage turned sour after 23 years when the woman contracted tuberculosis (TB). Bimla Devi told IANS that her husband then threw her out of the house.

“My husband left me in the lurch. Only I know how I survived and got myself treated by visiting hospitals in the capital,” recalled Bimla Devi.

She went back to her home after being cured of TB but, according to her, her husband again forced her out of the house when she gave birth to a girl child.

“My husband refused to accept the child and asked me to take her to my parents’ home,” Bimla Devi said.

A few days later she learnt from a family friend that her husband was involved in a relationship with another woman. When she objected, he reportedly threatened her.

“There was nobody to help me. I wanted to get rid of this man many years back but I remained quiet because that would have spoilt my daughter’s life. — IANS

BRIEFLY

Apex court slams hospital for negligence
NEW DELHI: Sympathising with an Infosys engineer Prashanth S Dhananka, who was paralysed during a tumour removal surgery, the Supreme Court has slammed Hyderabad-based Nizams Institute of Medical sciences for “criminal negligence.” He has sought a compensation of Rs 7.5 crore from the institute as damages. The apex court observed that the institute was criminally negligent in not obtaining the consent of patient and for failing to consult a neuro surgeon before the surgery, which resulted in Dhananka being crippled for life. — PTI

Student dies after marathon
CHENNAI: A 22-year-old engineering student, who participated in Chennai Marathon organised here, for the cause of underprivileged children died due to cardiac arrest after reaching the finishing point on Sunday. According to the police, M Santosh, a student of Anna University here, fainted immediately after reaching the finishing point of the half marathon run of 21.09 km at the Gandhi Statue here and was rushed to the Government General Hospital where he died of 'cardiac arrest', the police added. — PTI

Nuclear scientist dead
CHENNAI: Eminent Nuclear scientist and former director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Placid Rodriguez (68) died here on Sunday after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. Dr Rodriguez, who had won several national and international awards, complained of chest pain on Sunday morning. He was immediately rushed to Apollo Hospital, however he collapsed. — UNI

8 train passengers killed
BULANDSHEHAR: At least eight passengers were killed and 12 injured after coming under impact of a JVC machine while travelling on the Delhi bound-Lachvi Express near Sikandarpur railway station, on Sunday. According to Senior Superintendent of Police Raj Kumar, the accident occurred when some passengers of the overcrowded train were standing near the doors and came under the impact of the JVC machine and died. — UNI