Narwana (Singhwala), April 9
It is said in Haryana, women are only to be seen and never heard. Falling in love is a crime that “deserves” death penalty in this state. Here, marriages can invite ex-communication for entire families for years.

Holding everybody to ransom, these are caste panchayats or khaps, a “burdensome” reminder of history and 50-year-old Dhanraj, a peon at a local school, is its latest victim. He is burdened with the khap diktat - “sentencing” his only daughter for eloping with a man.

Dhanraj’s 16-year-old daughter, eldest of three siblings, went “missing” with a 30-year-old from neighbouring Matour village in Kaithal district a week before her marriage last month. The self-styled protectors of caste, the Bhanwala khap, saw it as a case fit for intervention and stepped in to sit on judgement, deciding that the couple should be “severely punished”. Translated into the language of the villagers, read men, it means and they admit “death for the erring couple”.

For a man weighed down by societal pressure as also worry about his only daughter, Dhanraj tries to put up a brave face. “I don’t know any khap or its sentence. All I know is that I want her safe,” he says.

The fact that he is intimated by the khap decision is evident from his next remark. “I cannot accept this marriage. For one, she is a minor. Also, the man is from our adjoining village, which means he is her brother. She can choose her husband, but he is not acceptable,” he remarks.

Villagers, however, are only bystanders when it comes to the meeting. Only on insistent questioning, one of them comes forward to admit, “The entire village attended the khap which is right in rejecting such marriages. These will breakdown the village fraternity,” says Bhim Singh and others join the chorus, almost threateningly.

The women in the village have no voice in the matter. They say little under the watchful gaze of their husbands.

While there is a certain degree of sympathy for Dhanraj, there is none for the runaway bride and the boy from Matour. The father, already anxious about his daughter’s whereabouts, is saddled with the additional responsibility of ensuring the villagers don’t organise the proposed roadblocks.

“I approached the police when my daughter went missing. The khap consisting of village elders summoned me and sealed her fate. I had no say. Now, I have even given in writing to the police that I have nothing to do with the khap and its decision,” he says as he tends to his wife, Dhanpati, ailing since the time her daughter went “missing”.

Dhanpati clutches the picture of the police constable her daughter was to marry, sobs but says nothing. She musters strength to get up and show the wedding shopping, but slumps on her “charpoy” before she is through, sobbing inconsolably.

For the family, the trying times have meant sleepless nights, a broken marriage, unnecessary public glare due to the khap’s intervention and the burden of accepting a decision thrust upon them without so much as a whimper. As for the “missing” daughter, time alone will tell her fate.

Gurgaon, April 9
A legendary name in the field of ghazal singing, Jagjit Singh, feels that the songs coming nowadays have weird music and goes over the head. He was in the city recently to launch his latest album “Intehaa” where he also interacted with his fans.

When one of his admirer asked him why one could not listen him in Bollywood movies, Jagjit was bold enough to say, “Today’s music is a nonsense and I don’t understand it and if I myself don’t get what it has, how can I sing?”

He even didn’t mind pointing out at Oscar winner music director AR Rehman for his compositions and asked one of them that did they understand the song “Masakkali” or “Jai Ho” and, if yes, just explain it to him.

Jagjit retreated, “Neither I understand nor I like the trend which is currently going on in Bollywood and I am happy singing ghazals that give relief to all as each and every poetry of it has a theme.”

When asked about his favourite ghazal, he replied, “My favourite ghazal has yet to come although I love all those which you like”.

When someone said his ghazal “Pyar Ka Pehla Khat” is his favourite, he said in a witty manner, “Now, it’s SMS time and khat have remained far behind so you should also move ahead”.

On being asked whether he likes recording in studios or performing live, the singer asserted, “I love giving live performances as one can take liberty on stage but not in playback.”

Jagjit has a different view point on political front as he mentions, “I am not interested in politics as I have no time,” but added, “One must know about the candidates’ background and only then vote for him and should not do just for the sake of voting.”

About his visit to the millennium city, he said, “I come to Gurgaon every month as I own a Chinese restaurant here.”

While talking to The Tribune, he said, “Ghazal is a music that comes out from heart and every ghazal singer is very choosy in picking up the words and this is the reason one loves listening to each and every word of it as it makes you feel relaxed mentally.” He maintained, “Ghazals have always survived although many other kinds of music have come and left, but ghazals remained at the same place.”

On being asked about his new album after a long time, Jagjit maintained that he was busy with devotional music for the past two years.

About the album, “Inteha”, he said, “It is romantic ghazal album which has six tracks and two ghazals seeped in life’s philosophy.”

“The word ‘Inteha’ literally means extreme, however, it has more colloquial implications to its usage which include terms like limits and boundaries. ‘Inteha’ can, therefore, include a diversity of expressions and variety of meanings - similar to the mesmerising ghazals that are part of the album,” Jagjit explained.

The maestro has composed and sung for all tracks while a team of young lyricists - Aalok Shrivastav, Payyam Sayeedi, Faragh Rushvi, Rajendranath Rahbar, Sanjay Masoom, Amjad Islam Amjad and Naseem Ajmeri - has penned the lyrics.

Panipat, April 9
The district administration has ordered recently the authorities of the banks and owners of other business establishments to install emergency alarm and siren systems on their premises.

Deputy Commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya issued the orders through the powers vested in him under section 144 of the IPC, 1973. The DC said not only this would enhance the security of these establishments but also enable the police to check any untoward incidents.

He said once these establishments would install these systems, it would also help in bringing down the crime rate and also provide protection to the banks, petrol pumps, cybercafes and other institutions against antisocial activities.

He said the administration had already made it mandatory for businesses to install the CCTV camera with a facility of maintaining camera recording for at least 30 days. Besides, all the banks operating within the district limits have been asked to put up hotline connections with the nearest police stations so that in case any attempt of robbery is made on the bank, the police is informed at the earliest.

The orders were put into force with the immediate effect and any laxity on the part of the business owners in implementing these orders would call for strict action as per the provisions of the law, the DC said.

The business establishments of the district become the target of antisocial elements from time to time and thus, it is believed that the installation of the CCTV camera and alarm systems would prove to be a deterrent for the miscreants.

In January this year, the administration had issued orders for installing the CCTV camera at 28 important places in the district. These included Naphtha Cracker plant of the IOC Panipat refinery, stores of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and VPCL plant, besides, the marketing division of the refinery, Panipat thermal plant, National fertilisers limited, power house of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), mosques of Bu Ali Shah Qalandar, Devi temple, Bhim Guarda temple, Jain temple, Gurdwara of Pehli Patshahi, 132 KV substation on the Gohana Road, main telephone exchange, local bus stand, civil hospital, flyover on the NH 1, under construction mini-secretariat on the NH 1, Sky Lark tourist resort on the NH 1, gas pipelines connection between Panipat to Mathura and Jalandhar, sugar mill, Kala Amb tourist spot, Panipat museum, PWD guesthouse, all hotels and railway stations in the district.

Sirsa, April 9
The stage is set for a multi-cornered contest in the Sirsa parliamentary constituency where all political parties except the Haryana Janhit Congress have announced their candidates.

The Congress, which won the seat during the 2004 parliamentary elections, has chosen to change its candidate this time.

Atma Singh Gill, who won the seat in 2004, has been dropped to make way for Indian Youth Congress chief Ashok Tanwar.

However, Gill has taken up cudgels against the party high command for denying him the ticket and has decided to contest the forthcoming elections as an Independent candidate.

Gill has also ruled out the possibility of joining hands with Bhajan Lal’s Haryana Janhit Congress.

The Indian National Lok Dal, which won this seat twice in 1998 and then again in 2000, has also changed its candidate this time.

Sushil Indora, who won the election on both of those occasions, has been dropped to make way for Sita Ram, a two-time MLA from the Dabwali Assembly constituency.

The Bahujan Samaj Party is also contesting this seat seriously this time and has fielded university don Rajesh Vaid in the election.

The party has been putting in its best efforts and has been trying woo the “A” category Scheduled Caste voters.

Rajesh Vaid belongs to the “A” category, while the Congress and the INLD candidates belong to the “B” category.

The BSP is trying to cash in on the hurt sentiments of these castes after Gill and Indora, both belonging to the “A” category, were denied the ticket by their respective parties.

The CPM has also fielded its candidate from Sirsa in Ram Kumar Bahbalpuria.

The Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) may also come out with its list of candidates in the next few days.

In the given circumstances, Sirsa is all set to witness at least a six-cornered contest between candidates of five national and regional parties and an Independent in Atma Singh Gill.

The results of the past 12 parliamentary elections held after 1967 show that the Sirsa seat has been won in the past either by the Congress or by the INLD or its earlier avatars.

The Congress won the seat on seven of the 12 occasions, with Dalbir Singh winning it four times, his daughter Selja winning the election twice while the last election was won by Atma Singh Gill.

Among those from the INLD, Sushil Indora and Het Ram won the seat twice each, while Chand Ram won the election in 1977 during the Janata Party wave.

Karnal, April 9
The recommendations of the Dixit Award Committee report to erect “sub reference pillars” (SRP) in the midstream of the river was the only solution to the riverbed land ownership disputes between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh that has been causing concern to both the states, Muzaffar Nagar District Magistrate Bhuvnesh kumar said recently.

Even the Britishers had made similar recommendations way back in 1825 to have the boundary marks in the midstream for avoiding land ownership disputes and the committee headed by the then Home Minister Uma Shankar Dixit almost dittoed the proposals.

Kumar, who was here to attend the meeting of a senior administrative and police officers of the districts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, said the SRP system conceived by the British government was still relevant and helps in reducing the land disputes.

He said the Yamuna, separating Haryana from Uttar Pradesh was frequently changing course and as a result the status of lands along the riverbeds keeps changing. In the process, UP had lost large chunk of land as the Haryana farmers have claimed ownership rights on the land reclaimed after the river water receded.

As there was no fixed boundary, the people in the state immediately get the “Girdawari” conducted and get the reclaimed land registered in their names by the patwaris and start cultivation, while the process was lengthy in UP due to enforcement of the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act and the farmers in the state have to suffer, he observed.

He said in the old Karnal district, 7,179 acres of land had come to the state, while only 1,634 acre land had gone to Muzaffar Nagar in UP, thus squeezing the area of the state and leading to numerous land ownership disputes.

All these disputes would not arise if the SRP were accepted as permanent boundary and the land ownership would not change even if the chunk of land was swayed to other side due to change in course of the river, he asserted.

Chandigarh, April 9
There are several officers in the Haryana Police, whose passion extends beyond wielding “danda”; instead they wield pen. One such officer is KP Singh, who is posted as director of the Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban, in Karnal district these days.

Considered as a “thinking policeman” by his colleagues, Singh has penned three books, which were released by editor of Jansatta Om Thanvi at a function held at the Fort Ramgarh in Panchkula district, recently.

Introducing the first book, “Human Rights and State Custody in India”, Upneet Lalli, deputy director of the ICA, Chandigarh, said more than 10 million persons were taken in custody by the police under various criminals laws in the country every year. State custody involved many issues relating to human dignity, liberty, morality and compensation to victim. The book examined the state custody laws in the light of the legal and constitutional rights of the person in custody.

The author had emphasised the need to ensure proper documentation and record maintenance qua all types of arrests being made by state agencies, which so far had been the most neglected area. The book critically examined the military, para-military, revenue and other laws relating to preventive detention care and correctness in detail.

Singh had earlier done his Ph.D. in “Human Rights and State Custody in India”. In fact, thesis for his doctorate forms the basis of the book.

The second book, “Haryana Police Basic Recruit Course”, written in Hindi, would prove to be a text book for trainees in police training institutes, particularly in Hindi-speaking states.

The third book written by Singh is a brief commentary on the Haryana Police Act, 2007. He has brought out special features of the Act with concise commentary.

Thanvi expressed the hope that Singh would continue his good work.

Singh said atmosphere of the academy had given him the opportunity to pursue his passion for writing. He regularly contributes to newspapers on various issues.

The books have been published by Bright Law House, Delhi.

Chandigarh, April 9
Incidents of mature crops catching fire at the harvesting stage in summer months not only result in loss of foodgrains but also cause misery to farmers.

To prevent such tragic incidents, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has advised the farmers to take certain inexpensive precautions.

A spokesman of the nigam said here today that by taking these precautions, the accidents could be avoided to a large extent.

The farmers should put the crop after harvesting at a minimum distance of 50 feet from power lines so that there was no possibility of fire due to sparking. Similarly, the crop should be kept away from the distribution transformers. Drawl of electricity in 
an unauthorised manner like through kundi connections could also lead to accidents.

The spokesman said the farmers should get proper power connection for thrashing of wheat. It should also be ensured that tractor-trailer carrying harvested crop should not touch electric wires.

There should be regular intervals between thrashing operations so that machines did not overheat.

On its part the nigam has directed its field officers to tighten wires and power lines passing over the fields as per specifications.