The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Groups clash on campus over bandh Kusum Arora Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 12 Utter chaos and tension prevailed on the local Lyallpur Khalsa College campus here today when a petty decision to declare a holiday at the behest of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) took a violent turn with a group of Khalsa College students indulging in a clash. The clash continued for more than two hours. The ABVP had demanded closure of the institution on an all-India bandh to protest against the failure of the UPA government to check the invasion of Bangladeshis in India. The police had to resort to a mild lathi charge to bring the situation under control. The incident took place when a group of more than 50 ABVP activists on 18 motorbikes forcibly entered the college premises at 11.50 am, raised slogans and indulged in an open fight with college boys, a majority of whom were members of the student council. Both the groups kept threatening each other in front of the police and some even indulged in a clash. Though the police had been deployed since morning to prevent any untoward incident, both the groups created ruckus and the situation turned violent. As per the initial reports, the ABVP activists first came to the college at 9.15 am to discuss the matter of holiday with the college principal. But the Khalsa College students were against this decision and started protesting in retaliation. Leader of the student council Chandan Sharma while talking to The Tribune said, “The college authorities have taken this decision under political pressure from the ABVP activists. We will never accept their demands. This is an educational institution and not a place to showcase political might.” Meanwhile, the college authorities put up a notice declaring a holiday at 1 pm in lieu of the nagar kirtan, but the students refused to budge. And before the police could have brought the situation under control some of the ABVP activists along with college students led by the district president Bharat Malhotra virtually entered into a brawl. A majority of them carried weapons as well. Though SHO Nirmal Singh tried to solve the issue amicably between both the groups, the matter became all the more serious. Such was the scene that the entire college campus turned into a police cantonment with the police chasing the students toward the college exit. It was only after SP S.K. Kalia and DSP Naresh Kumar along with a battery of cops reached the spot that the issue came to an end. Meanwhile, the police locked up a group of ABVP activists from the college inside the college hostel and somehow managed to vacate the college premises. During the course of action the police rounded up four students, including Chandan Sharma and ABVP activists. Till the filing of this report a compromise was struck between both the groups.
	Dowry victim’s parents ‘falsely’ booked Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Kapurthala, November 12 Instead of providing justice to a newlywed dowry victim, the Punjab police lodged a “false” FIR against her parents without investigating the complaint submitted by her in-laws. This is what newlywed Pooja alleged while talking to The Tribune here on today. Pooja alleged that her in-laws had been harassing her since her marriage with Amandeep Duggal of Parsram Nagar in Bathinda on June 24, last year. They demanded that her Kapurthala-based parents should give them a car as dowry and for that they started beating her now and then, she added. Pooja, a teacher by profession, said her father Dharampal went to her in-laws house in Bathinda on October 31 and expressed his inability to give them car. Following which, her husband and in-laws beat her on November 2 as they did not want her to stay there without providing them car as dowry, she alleged, adding that she informed her parents about the incident and her parents went to Bathinda to take her with them to Kapurthala. Pooja said her parents admitted her to the Kapurthala civil hospital and her mother Sita Devi submitted a formal complaint to the Kapurthala SSP. To a query, she said her parents did not want to lodge an FIR against her in-laws as being the parents of the girl, they wanted to reach a compromise with her in-laws with the intervention of the police. However to their surprise, they come to know that a “false” FIR was lodged at Kotwali police station in Bathinda on November 3 against her father Dharampal Maria, brother Billa, mother Sita Devi and sister Raj Kumari on the complaint of her husband Amandeep Duggal, that, too, without any investigation. Amandeep alleged in the FIR registered under sections 452, 384, 324, 323, 427, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC that the accused forcibly entered his house and beat him on November 3. Terming the allegations in the FIR as baseless, she questioned the Bathinda police that how the entry of her parents into her in-laws house to meet their daughter be termed as forcible entry. Pooja alleged that the FIR was lodged at the behest of her husband’s uncle Satish Kapla, a reader in Patiala courts. When her parents came to know about the “false” FIR against them, Pooja decided that she would not tolerate injustice any more and submitted a complaint to the Kapurthala police on the basis of which an FIR against her in-laws was registered on November 8. The FIR was registered against her husband Amandeep Duggal, his mother Raj Rani, his sisters Poonam and Seema, his brother-in-law Vishal Chhatalwal, his aunt Darshana and his uncle Satish Kapla under sections 323, 506 and 498-A of the IPC at Kapurthala city police station. Now Pooja demanded that the “false” FIR registered against her parents and relatives should be cancelled after proper investigation and stern action should be taken against her in-laws who had allegedly beaten her several times for more dowry. Pooja also faxed a letter to the Bathinda SSP in this regard. However, when contacted, Bathinda DSP said he had not got any request for the cancellation of the FIR.
	Highway Hunters Gang of truck looters busted; 3 arrested Our Correspondent Pathankot, November 12 The Gurdaspur police unearthed a gang of robbers here today. SSP Lok Nath Angra said three members of the gang had been arrested and one member was still at large. Angra said with these arrests, the police had solved a case registered at Gurdaspur police station on January 3 in which these accused had looted a truck, near Mann Kaur Singh Pur. The gang used to loot trucks laden with grains at gunpoint and tie up the drivers and cleaners to some nearby trees. The would shift the grains to their own truck and abandon the looted truck at some secluded place. They would also take away the tyres, batteries and other valueable spare parts of the trucks, said Angra. He identified the arrested persons as Harpreet Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Harinder Singh, all residents of TarnTaran district. Angra said during preliminary investigations it was revealed that the gang had recently committed two such incidents in Makhu area of Ferozepore. Three trucks (HR-37-7343, PB-0SK-9778 and PB-0SN-9806), 150 bags of rice, one country made .32-bore revolver, six live cartridges and one pistol had been recovered from their possession.
	Dengue Cases Attendants face problem in arranging blood donors Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, November 12 Due to decrease in platelet count in suspected cases of dengue fever, the attendants of the patients have to face a lot of inconvenience and hardships as they were told by the treating physicians to arrange at least seven to eight blood donors of the similar group of their respective patient for providing them platelet-rich plasma. Civil surgeon Dr S.K. Gupta said here today that as many as 220 suspected dengue fever cases having low platelet count had been reported in government health institutions in the district, of which 155 in the local civil hospital. The DMC, Ludhiana, had informed about the confirmation of 65 dengue patients reported from various medical institutions in Hoshiarpur. Besides, 32 cases of dengue had also been confirmed in the local civil hospital. No death from dengue had been reported from any corner of the district so far. There were five suspected dengue patients in the local civil hospital. Dr Gupta said due to availability of cell separator in the local civil hospital, patients were able to get platelet-rich plasma at a nominal rate of Rs 80 per unit, whereas thousands of rupees were being charged for this in private health institutions. It is worth mentioning here that there are three blood banks in the city where sufficient stock of blood is available. But it is of no use as in such cases only fresh blood is required. Though, the city has a number of voluntary blood donors, but due to lack of ignorance, majority of the patients were unable to approach them. A medical specialist of the civil hospital, Dr Sat Pal Gojra, said platelet-rich plasma was to be given to the patient when his platelet count was reduced to 20000 cubic milimetre. The epidemiologist of the district health department, Dr Sardool Singh, said the platelet count could also decrease in other cases of fever. There was a dire need to find out the cause of decrease in platelet count if the present cases were not dengue fever.
	AERB team orders closure of X-ray centre P K Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, November 12 A two-member team of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) from Mumbai today conducted a surprise check at X-ray centres opposite government-run hospitals here and found glaring shortcomings in terms of infrastructure, precautions and safety code. Scientific officers of the board VS Iyar and R Kanan, who conducted checks at Bharat X-ray centre, Real X- ray center, Raj X-ray centre, Hindustan X-ray centre and Punjab X-ray centre situated opposite Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and TB Hospital, said the conditions at the X-ray centres were very unsatisfactory. They are least bothered about the rules, said the duo. Astonishingly, two units - Raj and Hindustan X-ray centers - were being run in medical stores without any proper space, they added. The conditions were worst at Real X-ray center and Mumbai officers immediately asked the owner to shut down the unit. As per the rules, the size of the room where the X-ray machine is installed should be less than 25 sqm, besides having lead-shielding in the four walls which do not allow the dangerous X-rays to penetrate the walls. Iyar said it is also mandatory that X-ray should be conducted by qualified radiographers and radiologists, which was not the case at these centers. Some of these centers are running in residential areas, the inspecting members pointed out. The team further said notices would be dispatched to authorities concerned to ensure that the X-ray centres comply with the guidelines. “They have to mend their ways, otherwise we will have to order their closure,” said the duo. Notably, the cancer control cell under the directorate of health and family welfare, Punjab, had asked director research and medical education to take necessary action against the erring centers which were violating the safety code and AERB instructions, endangering the lives of nearby residents. A report regarding the violations was submitted by a committee of doctors constituted after the intervention of the Punjab Human Rights Commission.
	Councillors boycott house meeting Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, November 12 The six SAD-BJP councillors led by Param Singh Khalsa today boycotted the municipal council meeting over the issue of refund of sewerage and water bills charged from the residents owning houses less than five marlas. Khalsa had raised the issue in the previous meeting despite the fact that the previous Congress government had issued a notification regarding waiving the bills. He had demanded refund to the residents from whom the MC had wrongly charged the bills. MC president Rajinder Chopra had assured Khalsa to reply his query in the next meeting. But when the president and officials tried to evade the issue, the irate SAD-BJP councillors walked out of the meeting. The councillors expressed their resentment that no development work had been started by the municipal council headed by the Congress in the town. Interestingly, during the last meeting, the MC president had to face a tough situation as the Congress councillors had expressed their ire on the issue of virtual halt in the development works in their respective wards. Chopra, when contacted, said the issue would be brought on the agenda and sent to the senior officials concerned for approval. Regarding non-starting of development works, he said that till now the MC had not received any grant for the purpose.