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35-yr-old murder case haunts Soren
11-yr-old TV dancer, Class VII student commit suicide
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Goa rape case: SC grills accused
Goa mulls ban on Sanatan Saunstha
Co-accused in Ruchika case seeks anticipatory bail
Reasons for judicial rulings can’t be sought under
RTI: SC
Police blames FRRO for ultras, escape
S-Korean Prez to be Republic Day guest
C’wealth Speakers’ Conference today
Pak’s woman Speaker remains elusive
SC refuses relief to Asaram
PM bereaved
Ragging Episode
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35-yr-old murder case haunts Soren
Giridih (Jharkhand), January 4 Soren, who will seek a trust vote in the Jharkhand Assembly on January 7, is the sole accused in the case in which eight others were acquitted in 1986. Soren was made one of the accused in the double murder case, which had occurred on April 15, 1974 over the killing of a goat at Kudko under Pirtand police station in Giridih. Two villagers, who protested against their goat being killed by a group, were beaten to death. Five witnesses in the case, including two doctors and two investigating officers went missing and have not been traced over the years. Additional District and Sessions Judge NN Singh’s direction came after Soren’s counsel Prakash Sahay pleaded for time. Soren took oath as the Chief Minister on December 30 at the head of a five-party coalition. MLAs take oath
Ranchi: A special session of the Jharkhand Assembly began with 70 newly elected legislators taking oath today. Chief Minister Shibu Soren is to prove his government’s majority Thursday. The first to take oath was Deputy Chief Minister and state BJP president Raghubar Das, followed by All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) president Sudesh Mahto. Among the prominent legislators, who took oath Monday was Geeta Koda, wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda who is in jail on charges of graft. “I feel nice to be a member of the Assembly. I am here to carry forward the agenda of my husband,” Geeta Koda said after taking oath. Jharkhand was under President’s Rule from January 19 to December 29. The Assembly session has been convened after a gap of one year as Governor K. Sankaranarayanan asked Soren to prove majority on the floor of the house. JMM chief Shibhu Soren has formed the government with the support of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the AJSU and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U). While the BJP and the JMM have 18 legislators each, the AJSU has five and two belong to the JD-U. Three independents have also extended support to the government, taking the tally to 46 in the 81-member Assembly. The 12 legislators who could not take oath included two jailed former ministers --- Enos Ekka and Harinarayan Rai. The third newly elected JMM legislator is jailed Maoist leader Polush Surin. The election of the speaker will take place Wednesday and Soren will seek trust vote Thursday. The governor will address the house January 9.
— Agencies
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11-yr-old TV dancer, Class VII student
Mumbai, January 4 Class VII student Shushant Patil of Sharada Ashram School, Dadar, was today found hanging in the school's toilet, police said. He arrived at school at 7 am but was not present in the classroom when the teacher was taking attendance, senior inspector Ashok Unde of Dadar police station said. "Preliminary probe suggests he was worried since he had failed in four subjects in the semester examination. This might have forced him to end his life," Unde said. In a similar incident, allegedly depressed for having failed in exams, an 18-year-old medical student ended her life by hanging at her residence in suburban Powai, police said. Bhajanpreet Bhuler, a physiotherapy student, was found hanging from a ceiling rod on Saturday.She had failed in a few subjects in the semester examinations and was upset. Parents wanted TV star to study
Class VI student Neha Sawant was found hanging by a dupatta from a ceiling rod in her house on Saturday morning, police said. The 11-year old, who lived in Sai Darshan Apartments in Dombivli in Thane district, lived with her parents and younger sister. Neha had participated in three TV dance reality shows - including the popular Boogie Woogie. She was also a student of a dance academy. The police suspect Neha girl might have taken the step after her family took her out of the academy, as they wanted her to concentrate on her studies.
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Goa rape case: SC grills accused
New Delhi, January 4 The Bombay High Court had cancelled the anticipatory bail given by the Sessions Court on the state government’s appeal, following which he moved the apex court. A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and AK Patnaik, while rejecting the appeal filed by Fernandes against the high court order wondered as to how the girl suffered so many injuries “proximate to her private parts,” if the allegations of rape or at least an attempt to commit the same were not true. “How do you explain the 12-13 injuries on her thighs, knees and arms. It changes the entire complexion of the case.“Injuries on the thigh and other areas are very proximate to her private parts,” the bench observed when counsel tried to submit that medical examination of the victim did not indicate any signs of rape. — PTI Clean chit to cop accused of cover-up Panaji: Preliminary inquiry into the allegations of harassment against a police inspector, who initially handled the rape case, has ruled out any dereliction of duty by the officer, an official said.The conduct of Colva police inspector Siddhant Shirodkar was investigated and he was given a clean chit.The 25-year-old victim had alleged that Shirodkar had asked her to tone down the complaint of rape to attempt to rape.
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Goa mulls ban on Sanatan Saunstha
Mumbai: The Goa government may recommend a ban on Sanatan Saunstha whose members allegedly tried to carry out bomb blasts in the state last Diwali. Two of its alleged activists died in the blasts after the explosives they were ferrying on a two-wheeler went off prematurely. The organisation, which counts several politicians including ministers in the Digambar Kamat cabinet, has since proclaimed its innocence. The central intelligence agencies, which have been investigating the blasts, have questioned several activists of the organisation in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The saunstha, which has major facilities in Panvel outside Mumbai, is headquartered at Ramnathi in Ponda, Goa. On Monday, Kamat confirmed that investigators have found clues indicting the Saunstha in the blasts. Sources say Kamat’s statement is a precursor for the government formally recommending a ban on the outfit.
— TNS
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Co-accused in Ruchika case seeks anticipatory bail
Panchkula, January 4 In his application lodged with the Panchkula police on Tuesday last, Ruchika’s brother Ashu Girhotra had alleged that he was picked up and kept in illegal detention by some policemen, including Sewa Singh, at the behest of former state DGP SPS Rathore. The police wanted to pressurise his sister to withdraw her complaint against Rathore by torturing him, Ashu alleged. Sewa Singh, who is additional SHO, Pinjore, these days, was booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 182 (giving false information with an intent to make a public servant use his lawful power to cause injury to another person), 195-A (threatening a person to give false evidence) of the IPC. Earlier, Rathore had filed an application for anticipatory bail in the same court against which the state had to submit its reply by January 6. Sewa Singh, who was head constable at that time, has stated that he had handled the investigation for one day only and arrested Ashu On October 25, 1993, following orders from his superior, Sub-Inspector Prem Dutt. He further pleaded that Ashu was arrested after Sandeep Verma, who was already in police custody, disclosed that Ashu was involved in automobile thefts along with him. Thereafter, Ashu also admitted that he, Sandeep and two other persons (Gajinder and Raghubir) were involved in vehicle theft cases, Sewa Singh has stated in his application. The statement of Ashu was recorded in the presence of a public witness, Satish, he added. Satish was one of the complainants whose vehicles had been stolen, he said. After the arrest of Ashu, the investigation was transferred to Sub-Inspector Prem Dutt, who applied for police remand of Ashu Girhotra in the court that remanded him in police custody, Sewa Singh said.
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Reasons for judicial rulings can’t be
New Delhi, January 4 Aggrieved by the lower court’s order, Khanapuram Gandaiah had approached the state Information Commission alleging that the court had possibly relied only on certain documents. He had wanted to know under the RTI the ground for the rejection of his petition by the court. The commission, however, ruled that such information could not be sought under the RTI. Subsequently, the HC also passed a similar order. Unrelenting, Gandaiah then approached the apex court challenging the HC ruling. Approach HC, apex court tells Sabharwal’s son
The Supreme Court today rejected a PIL filed by Himanshu Sabharwal challenging the acquittal of ABVP activists who had been accused of killing his father Prof HS Sabharwal in Madhya Pradesh. A Bench headed by Justice P Sathasivam asked the petitioner to approach the appropriate high court for remedy. Clarifying that the apex court was not “under estimating” the grievance of the petitioner, the Bench explained that no victim could file a PIL under Article 32. German couple’s
surrogate twins
The Centre has taken up with Berlin the problem of a German couple who had a twins through a surrogate mother in Gujarat, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium assured a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly. The litigation has cropped up due to the absence of surrogacy laws in India and Germany’s policy of not recognising children born to their citizens through surrogate mothers of other nationalities. The SG said the government was confident of finding a solution within a week, upon which the Bench posted the next hearing for January 18. |
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Police blames FRRO for ultras, escape
New Delhi, January 4 According to the police sources, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) has been held responsible for the escape of the three terrorists in the report. “It is logical only that the FRRO be held responsible, as the three terrorists were in its detention while awaiting deportation,” said a senior police official hinting at the contents of the report. The escaped terrorists Rafakat Ali (55), Abdul Razak (61), Mohd Saddique (54) were arrested by the crime branch of the Delhi police in connection with the blasts in Turkman Gate nine years ago. Gujarat on alert
ANAND/AHMEDABAD: Security has been beefed up across Gujarat as a precautionary measure after a woman claimed that she had seen the three Pakistani terrorists, who had escaped from Delhi on Friday, at a temple in Dakor town of Kheda district. Gujarat DGP SS Khandwawala said all police stations have been alerted following the information given by the woman who hails from Ahmedabad. “We have sent photographs of the three Pakistani terrorists to the police stations across the state and operations have been initiated to find the men,” he said and praised the woman for showing courage by informing the police. The woman had visited the Ranchodraiji temple in Dakor yesterday, when she saw three persons who seemed different from the regular crowd. Later, back at Ahmedabad, she saw the pictures of the three on television and immediately informed the police and gave them details of the people she had seen, police added.
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S-Korean Prez to be Republic Day guest
New Delhi, January 4 He is expected to arrive here on January 24 on a three-day State visit. Cooperation in the field of civil-nuclear energy between India and South Korea will be high on the agenda when the South Korean leader meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 25. Official sources said President Lee was quite keen to engage in nuclear diplomacy with India, now that India has got a waiver from the nuclear suppliers’ group
(NSG) to undertake nuclear commerce. The sources said South Korea’s state-owned Korea Electric Power Corporation
(KEPCO) was keen to export its reactors to India. The issue has already been discussed between KEPCO and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited
(NPCIL) during the past few months. KEPCO, with an installed capacity of 17716 MW, ranks sixth among the world’s nuclear conglomerates. A
KEPCO-led consortium had recently won a multi-billion contract to build four nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE). The South Korean President personally visited Abu Dhabi to do political lobbying for the
contract. KEPCO operates 20 units while eight are under construction. Ten additional units are planned to be built by 2030. Nuclear power accounts for 39 per cent of total electricity generation by South Korea. The sources said the South Korean company was keen to offer its advanced high power reactors to India. Ever since it got the nuclear waiver, India has signed nuclear deals with seven countries, including the US, France, Russia and Argentina. Meanwhile, the South Korean side has also expressed an interest in the President’s visit to the inauguration of Posco’s proposed greenfield project at Kujang in Jagatsinghpur district in
Orissa. However, no decision has been taken in the matter in view of the opposition to the visit from the CPI-backed Posco Pratirodh Sangram
Samiti.
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C’wealth Speakers’ Conference today
New Delhi, January 4 To be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the four-day conference will be attended by 50 Speakers and Presiding Officers from 42 Parliaments falling under the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Meeting today, on the eve of the inaugural, the standing committee of the CSPOC agreed to debate three issues - Speaker’s role as a mediator in times of coalition politics when razor-thin majorities and changing political equations make the functioning of the House difficult; use of technology to make parliamentary functioning smoother and the role of Speaker in administering the Parliament. Importantly, India, as the host, has decided to move a proposal whereby conclusions of the conference will be reported to the Plenary on the last day so that these can be referred to all parliaments, which can then adopt best practices. So far, there has been no practice of follow-up on the decisions taken at the CSPOC, which has thus remained customary. That apart, the need for office of the Speaker to be non-partisan is expected to dominate discussions, with an understanding fast brewing across nations that the Speaker should disconnect himself/herself from party politics. The convention has not been firmly established in India despite it being a constant matter of discussion at most conferences of presiding officers since 1921 and despite the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (Anti-Defection Law) guaranteeing protection to the Speaker from disqualification in case he/she chooses to resign from the party. Parliament records show that 14 of the 63 presiding officers’ conferences formally debated the issue of de-affiliation of the Speaker from party.
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Pak’s woman Speaker remains elusive
New Delhi, January 4 It later turned out that Dr Fahmida Mirza could only be contacted only through prior approval of the Pakistan High Commission in India, which was closely monitoring her schedule, given the roadblock which the Indo-Pak peace process has hit following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and India’s continued objection to Pakistan’s inaction against perpetrators of the crime. Interesting also is the strong exception that the brochure printed by Parliament of India (to mark the 20th Conference of Speakers of the Commonwealth) has made in case of Dr Mirza. While it gives out details and contact numbers of liaison officers attached to the visiting Speakers and Presiding officers of the parliaments of Commonwealth nations, it withholds the same in case of Pakistan, keeping all contacts under the wraps.
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New Delhi, January 4 A bench of justices Altamas Kabir and Swatanter Kumar found no merit in the plea of senior counsel Sushil Kumar that the accused had no role in the murderous attempt on his erstwhile follower Raju Chandak. The senior counsel claimed that Asaram Bapu was present in Delhi delivering a discourse when the incident took place. After the apex court refused to entertain his plea, the counsel sought permission to "withdraw the petition as dismissed". Bapu had filed the SLP challenging the registration of attempt to murder case against him by the Gujarat police on December 6. The criminal case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) IPC and 25 of the Arms Act was registered against him and two others for allegedly attempting to murder Chandak. A FIR was lodged after Chandak was shot at by two unidentified persons in Ramnagar locality of Sabarmati on December 5, 2009. Chandak had testified against Asaram before the DK Trivedi Commission probing the mysterious death of two ashram boys Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela. — PTI
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PM bereaved
Bangalore, January 4 Kaur is survived by her husband Harnam Singh, who runs a hotel and automobile business in Hubli, three sons and a daughter. After getting married to Harnam Singh, Harpreet had moved to Hubli 45 years ago. Harnam Singh chose Hubli to start his business in automobile spare parts 50 years ago and still manages his work from his shop in front of a swimming pool complex in Hubli along with his second son Manmeet Singh. The other sons — Harmed Singh and Parminder Singh -- run separate eateries. But they all live under a single roof. Notably, very few persons in Hubli knew that the Kohlis were related to Dr Singh until the media highlighted it in 2004 when he first took oath as Prime Minister. Simple and soft-spoken Kohlis had never tried to show off their high-profile connection. Harpreet Singh was the younger sister of Manmohan Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur.
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Ragging Episode
Mumbai, January 4 “We will ask the movie’s producer to submit its script as there are media reports that the Seth G S Medical College ragging incident was similar to the one shown in the movie,” Minister for Medical Education Vijaykumar Gavit told reporters here. “Also, we would write to the censor board that as far as possible such scenes should be avoided in the movies,” he said. As many as 18 students, including some intern doctors, of Seth G S Medical College and KEM Hospital were arrested yesterday for ragging freshers on New Year eve. Though they were released today on bail by a metropolitan magistrate, the authorities of the civic-run institution expelled them from hostel. One of the scenes of the film shows freshers, played by Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi and Madhavan, being ragged by seniors. The film got embroiled in a controversy after the ugly spat between author Chetan Bhagat, whose novel ‘Five Point Someone’ inspired the movie, and its makers over the credit for the story. Accused expelled from hostel
Eighteen students of a medical college including some intern doctors arrested on charges of ragging were today expelled from the hostel but escaped being rusticated from the civic-run institution. The students were released on bail on a bond of Rs 5,000 each after they were produced before the Bhoiwada metropolitan magistrate, a day after their arrest. "We have expelled the 18 students from the college hostel. But they will continue their studies," Sanjay Oak, the Dean of Seth G S medical college and KEM hospital at Parel, told PTI. The decision was taken after a meeting with civic body officials, he said. "We have also reported to police about this decision." Oak said the question of expelling the students from the college was discussed "extensively" but all the senior professors felt that it would "still be imprudent" to displace somebody from his academic career He also said the expelled students will not be eligible for any fellowships or freeships which they are entitled to. They won't be allowed to represent the college in any public forum, including sports, he added. The students, undergoing occupational and physiotherapy courses in the college, were arrested yesterday for allegedly ragging ten first year students on the New Year’s eve. The students, in the age group of 18 to 25 years, have been booked under various sections of the IPC and the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act.
— PTI
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