NEIGHBOURHOOD

1 killed, 14 hurt in mishap
Our Correspondent

Ambala, August 7
A newly married woman, Gurdeep Kaur, a resident of Ambala City, reportedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan today morning.

Gurdeep was married to Gurpreet Singh a month back. She was staying with maternal grandparents as her parents live abroad.

According to information, Gurdeep went to take bath in the attached bathroom of her bedroom and when she did not came out even after an hour, her maternal grandmother got suspicious. When her grandmother went to her bedroom, she found Gurdeep hanging from a ceiling fan. The police took the body to the civil hospital for post-mortem.

Meanwhile, Gurdeep’s parents accused her in-laws of forcing their daughter to take the extreme step.

They alleged that she was being harassed for dowry.

Patiala, August 7
On the second day today, the banking business remained paralysed due to the nation-wide strike call given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) having strength of more than 10 lakh employees and officers.

A demonstration was held in front of State Bank of Patiala, head office, in Patiala. Clearing houses remained closed and cheques and other transactions worth thousands crore of rupees remained suspended resulting into halt of banking business.

Addressing the rally, NK Gaur, vice-president of the All-India State Bank of Patiala Employees Federation (AIBEA) and general secretary of the Punjab Bank Employees Federation, congratulated the bank employees and officers for successful first-day strike.

He said employees were angry and steps would be taken to force the IBA to talk reasonable.

He added that when wages of the employees of Central government and other sectors have already been revised, why the overdue settlement being delayed in this case.

SK Gautam, secretary of the AIBEA, while addressing the rally informed that though the profits, deposits and advances per employee had increased manifolds, the offer being given by the IBA was decreasing, which was non-acceptable.

Vinod Sharma, secretary of the AIBOA, Punjab State Committee, said the wages were due to be revised since two years. He informed that the UFBU would meet at Bangalore to decide further course of action.

The rally was also addressed by Yadvinder Gupta, treasurer of the AIBEA, Parveen Setia, president of the PBEF local federation and Yog Raj Gupta, vice-president of the PBEF.

Ropar, August 7
The engineers of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant took out a rally in front of the main gate of the plant here today, seeking action against the outgoing general manager for downgrading their Annual Confidential Reports(ACRs) on personal grounds.

They also said ACRs for 2008-09 be considered as ‘non-existent’.

An emergency meeting of the general House has been called on August 11 to take stock of the situation and decide further course of action.

Meanwhile, engineers at Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat have passed a resolution seeking early acceptance of their demands. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 7
The verdict is clear! The Chief Justice designate of the Rajasthan High Court, Justice Jagdish Bhalla, is holding the scales of justice against malevolent societal forces striving hard to outweigh social interests in the desert state.

“Sorting out social problems prevailing in the incredible state of India will be on the top of my agenda,” pronounced Chief Justice Bhalla soon after he relinquished the charge as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

Halting briefly in Chandigarh this afternoon on his way to Jaipur for the swearing-in ceremony scheduled to take place at 10 am in Raj Bhawan there, he said: “My efforts, among other things, will be directed at ensuring that society parts way with the practice of child marriage.”

“My motto is not just judgments, but ensuring justice to the downtrodden. You see, a common man must feel secure in the hands of the judicial system,” he said.

Spelling out his other priorities, he said: “The focus will be on wiping tears from the eyes of the poor, putting the courts on the fast-track, environment protection through timely judicial intervention, setting up alternative dispute redressal mechanism and organising legal literacy camps in rural areas”.

Judicial intervention could go a long way in maintaining ecological balance and “making the sky blue again”, he added. The emphasis would also be on fast-track courts and the process of mediation as an integral part of the campaign for providing speedy justice. “A substantial number of cases can be disposed of if the judges mediate like mothers,” he added.

During his stay in Shimla, the Himachal Pradesh High Court did something it had never done before. It started the first-ever mediation centre in the state to help rival parties sit face to face for resolving their disputes, even at pre-litigation stage. 

Chandigarh, August 7
Following the recent orders of the District Consumer Forum to penalise a practicing lawyer at the District Courts for deficiency in services, the District Bar Association has moved a resolution against forum president Jagroop Singh Mahal.

An emergency meeting of general House of the District Bar Association was organised today and it was decided that a representation and a complaint would be filed before the administration authorities under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, against the president of the District Consumer Forum on behalf of the DBA (District Bar Association).

It was also decided to file an appeal against the order passed by the president before the State Commission through a committee of five to ten senior advocates practicing at Chandigarh.

Notably, the forum had directed Advocate Jatinder Mohan Bajaj on July 17 to pay Rs 25,000 compensation to complainant Rajendra Singh, a resident of Uttrakhand, and refund Rs 4,600 charged as the fee for harassing him and not filing his writ petition promptly and pursuing the same before the High Court.

In his petition, the complainant had paid a sum of Rs 4, 600 to advocate Bajaj for filing a writ petition in the High Court, but neither he filed the writ petition nor refunded Rs 4,600 and falsely stated that he had filed the petition on which notice had been issued by the High Court.

When the complainant filed a complaint to the Chandigarh SSP against him, he wrongly stated in his defense that he had filed the writ petition in January, 2006, whereas the complainant approached him for the first time in February, 2006. The complainant also filed a complaint with the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, but the same was dismissed.

In his reply, advocate Bajaj pleaded that initially he and another advocate were engaged by the complainant and the petition was drafted. Subsequently, he handed over the case to another advocate as he was the regular visitor to the High Court and the same was dismissed on merits by the court. It was pleaded before the forum that advocate was engaged through Bajaj and the fee was shared by the counsel.

The DBA also decided to boycott the court of Jagroop Mahal on August 12 and all members of the association would get together on the same day to proceed for implementing the said action at the forum.

Panchkula, August 7
The Additional Sessions Judge Ritu Garg dismissed the anticipatory bail application of Dr Sumit Sofat as infructuous following Panchkula Police denying any move by it to arrest him here today.

Dr Sofat had moved the court, following which the police started searching him when he allegedly avoided to be present before it after Pashan family claimed to be innocent in the Morni shootout case alleged that Sofat had attempted to frame them in a criminal case.

It was on July 19, when Dr Sofat lodged a complaint with the police, stating that he was robbed of Rs 33 lakh by Ramesh Pashan and his sons from Ludhiana at Morni hills and shot at his driver Nelson, injuring him seriously.

The Pashans also told the police that they were busy in a family function in Ludhiana on the day of the incident.

The counsel of Sofat said the Panchkula Police had stated that no criminal case was pending against Sofat, following which the application was dismissed as infructuous.

The police questioned Nelson who was accompanying Sofat on the day of incident and suffered two bullet shots in his chest, said the sources.

However, nothing substantial was revealed by him so far, the sources added.

Meanwhile, Uttaranchal Police has conducted raids, along with local police to nab Sofat in the rape case registered against him last week when a woman allegedly informed them that Dr Sofat planted her to fix Ramesh Pashan in a rape case.

Chandigarh, August 7
Three persons were killed in separate incidents in the city while the decomposed body of an Air Force clerk was found hanging at his rented accommodation in Behlana village today morning.

The Sector 31 SHO said the deceased has been identified as Mahanandan Dass (26), an Air Force clerk. He said the incident came to light when the owner of the house, Nirmal Singh Mann, noticed water coming out of Dass’ room. He knocked at the door but there was no response. He peeped through a window and saw Dass hanging.

Mann informed the police which broke open the door recovered the body. No suicide note was recovered from the spot. Ruling out the possibility of foul play, the police termed the incident as a suicide.

The police said Dass hailed from Assam. The police shifted the body to the Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for post-mortem.

In another incident, 15-year-old Lal Chand, a hawker, was electrocuted at his residence late last night. He was living with his uncle and an elder brother in a rented accommodation at Maloya.

The police said Lal Chand came in contact with a live wire when he was putting the wire of a fan into a socket. He was rushed to the PGI where doctors declared him brought dead. The police had informed his father about the incident.

In a separate incident, Harbhajan Singh, a cyclist, was severely wounded after being knocked down by a car near the Tribune Chowk last evening. The 59-year-old resident of Hallo Majra, was rushed to the GMCH. He later succumbed to his injuries during treatment. The police has arrested the car driver and registered a case in this regard.

Sharanpreet Singh of Hallo Majra died after falling from rooftop at his residence in the wee hours of today. The incident took place around 3 am. The victim, who was in his mid-30s, was rushed to the GMCH, where he was declared brought dead. 

Chandigarh, August 7
The police today arrested a 16-year-old boy on charge of raping a six-year-old girl at Darua village here on August 1. According to the police, the accused had fled after his father beat him up on learning about his act.

The victim’s mother was working at the junkyard of the accused’s father.

The police said the victim was going home with her mother on August 1 when the accused stopped them on the way and offered to drop the girl at her residence on his motor cycle.

The victim’s mother initially refused to allow him to take the girl along, but later agreed when he insisted.

He allegedly took the girl to the nearby jungle area and allegedly raped her before dropping her at her residence in Mauli Jagran.

When the victim’s mother came to know about the incident, she told her employer, boy’s father, about it.

He reportedly thrashed the boy believing that the victim’s mother would not report the matter to the police.

The mother, however, later filed a complaint with the police on which a case of rape was registered.

Chandigarh, August 7
The Chandigarh Police today released a sketch of a suspect involved in a car theft case. The police said Tirath Singh of Sector 18 reported that a silver colour Toyota Innova (CH-04-C-0031) was stolen from outside his residence on Thursday afternoon.

An eyewitness told the police that he had seen a man taking away the car, but did not suspect him to be a thief. On the basis of details provided by the eyewitness, the police prepared a sketch of the suspect.

In a separate incident, Surjit Singh of Burail reported that someone had stolen his Indica car (CH-04-C-5084) from near Jang Ghar in the village on August 4. Similarly, Sahil Tripathi of Sector 45-C filed a complaint alleging that someone stole his Hero Honda motorcycle (PB-06-D-6070) from a parking lot in Sector 17 on August 3.

Chandigarh, August 7
St Xavier’s School, Sector 44, defeated St Xavier’s School B Team of Panchkula by one run in a quarterfinal match of the first Clive Shear Six-A-Side Cricket Tournament for Under-13 at JR Institute for Cricket Technology in Barwala (Panchkula) today.

Batting first, St Xavier’s School scored 41 for 5 with Simarjeet topscoring with 20 runs. For Panchkula Xavier’s School, Shubham took three wickets for 17 runs. In reply, St Xavier’s-B were bowled out for 40 runs while Yash made 13 runs.

In second quarterfinal, Little Flower Convent School of Panchkula beat St Xavier’s, Mohali, by 44 runs while LFC School piled up 71 runs for 3 wickets.

Shubhaner contributed a winning knock of 32 runs. Ravhav took one wicket for 28 runs. Facing the challenge of 72 runs for victory, St Xavier’s of Mohali were dismissed for 27 runs. Chiranjeev waged a lone battle for 15 runs.

In the third quarterfinal, Delhi Public School ‘A’ team of Pinjore snatched a one-run verdict against Sports Complex of Panchkula. Delhi Public School made 58 for one whereas Vihalp scored 20. Kamal bagged 1 for 19 while Sports Complex, Panchkula, scored 56 for 4.

Earlier, Andrew J Gosain, chairman, St Xavier’s School, Chandigarh, inaugrated the tournament in which 16 schools from Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali and Pinjore will participate.