New Delhi, January 5
Amid the controversy over Ruchika Girhotra suicide case, the Supreme Court today ruled: “It is impossible to lay down any straight-jacket formula” for dealing with cases of abetment to suicide.

“Abetment involves a mental process of instigating a person or intentionally aiding a person in doing of a thing. Without a positive act on the part of the accused to instigate or aid in committing suicide, conviction cannot be sustained,” a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and AK Patnaik said.Further, each person’s tendency to suicide was different from others. Each person had his own idea of self-esteem and self-respect. Therefore, “each case has to be decided on the basis of its own facts and circumstances,” the Bench said while acquitting a person from Andhra Pradesh.

The trial court had sentenced Gangula Mohan Reddy to 10 years in jail, but the High Court had reduced it to five years. He had been charged with abetting the suicide of his employee, Ramulu. Reddy had accused Ramulu of stealing gold ornaments in the house.

The Bench said the lawmakers’ intention for inserting Section 306 IPC (abetment to suicide) was clear. In order to convict a person under this section, there “has to be a clear mens rea (intention) to commit the offence.”

New Delhi, January 5
The VIP lounge at the high-security Vigyan Bhavan building in the capital today witnessed bonhomie between the Speakers of India and Pakistan, with the two discussing the possibility of inter-parliamentary exchanges between the two nations.

India-Pak tension post-26/11 Mumbai terror attacks notwithstanding, both Meira Kumar, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and her Pakistani counterpart Fehmida Mirza talked peace, with Mirza urging upon the former to look at the possibility of instituting a regional women’s parliamentary caucus to further the cause of exchange in the times to come. Pakistan has one such caucus in existence.

Meira, for her part, downplayed references to India and Pakistan as “traditional adversaries”, saying the two were neighbours and wanted to be “good neighbours”. She took the suggestion of Mirza well, saying she would look into the idea of a caucus.

The two today went an extra mile to greet each other, holding hands and smiling for the cameras, which didn’t stop clicking. While Mirza described Meira Kumar as a sister, the latter said she was very excited to have Mirza over for the 20th conference of Speakers of Commonwealth nations, on at the Vigyan Bhavan.

The Pakistan National Assembly Speaker was in fact very vocal about the need for people -to-people contact and said parliamentary diplomacy was very important for peace, progress and stability. “We need to revive the friendship groups that existed and have more parliamentary exchanges especially among women. Women who comprise 50 per cent of our population can’t be ignored. They are peace-loving and should be brought into the fold,” Mirza said on the sidelines of the conference, adding that there was consensus among all political parties in Pakistan to support the democratic process.

“Dictatorship is the worst of all. In Pakistan, there is support for democracy, which is the best way to govern. We now also have 23 per cent women in our Assembly,” Mirza said, stressing the need for greater political representation of women.

In reference to the challenges of being Speaker in Pakistan, Mirza said the House had been functioning well since she assumed charge. “I am told the House has never seen such smooth sessions,” Pakistan’s first woman speaker said, when asked if her presence had had a calming effect. 

Mumbai, January 5
The CBI today said it would file a chargesheet against Sarabjot Singh, son of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairman Buta Singh, within five days in a corruption case.

“Sarabjot alias Sweety and another accused Anup Begi will be charged under criminal conspiracy and various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act,” director (western region) Rishiraj Singh told reporters here.

He, however, refused to divulge whether the statement of Buta Singh, recorded by the CBI in September last year as a witness, would be included in the charge-sheet. Sarabjot was arrested on July 31 last year. — PTI

Mumbai, January 5
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan today axed a proposal by his cabinet colleague Vijaykumar Gavit to submit the movie 3 Idiots for re-censorship on the grounds that it glorified ragging in educational institutions.

Speaking to reporters here today, Chavan said the Censor Board officials would have already applied their minds before issuing a certificate to the producers of the film.

Chavan, who seemed to be appreciative of the film, in fact asked officials of the medical education department of the state to watch the movie. “Films have always depicted social evils and created awareness about them in the

society. The officials of the department concerned can watch the film and check for themselves,” Chavan said.

Gavit told reporters on Monday that the state government would ask the producers to submit the film’s script to officials who would then verify whether the movie glorified ragging. The statement by Gavit followed a complaint by junior medical students of the Seth GS

Medical College that they were ragged by their seniors. Since then, the authorities have thrown out the 18 senior students from the hostel and prohibited them from availing scholarships and fellowships.

Jaipur, January 5
The Rajasthan High Court order declaring the NN Mathur Commission illegal has put the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in a tight spot. The commission was formed to probe an alleged Rs 22,000 crore scam during the previous BJP regime headed by Vasundhara Raje.

The court verdict has left merely one option for the Gehlot government - to refer all cases to the Lokayukta to prove that it is serious about corruption charges against the previous government. Any unwillingness on its part would put a big question mark against its “motive” for initiating an inquiry against the previous BJP regime. According to legal experts, the government will now have to file a fresh complaint with the Lokayukta, who is also competent to take suo motu cognizance of the matter.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justice RC Gandhi and Justice Mahesh Bhagwati had on Monday held constitution of the Mathur Commission as illegal. The court directed the state government to hand over all cases, which were referred or were likely to be referred to the Mathur panel, to the Lokayukta for fresh probe. The Lokayukta will now draw its findings, recommendations and follow-up action based on its own investigations.

In its order, the bench said: “The existing commission, under such circumstances, will not generate the desired confidence in the public view. To inspire confidence in justice and obliterate the impression of the general public that the constitution of the commission is with a view to wreak vengeance against the earlier government, we feel a fair agency be directed to investigate the cases, (an agency) capable of bringing the culprit to book and to do justice to the public at large.”

The court order following a PIL filed by Kashi Purohit and Krishan Murarilal Asthana, who contended that the panel was appointed without any proper procedure of debate being conducted in the Assembly and, further, there was no resolution of two-third majority of the Assembly as is required under the Commission of Enquiries Act, 1952. The petitioners also dubbed the order for appointment of commission as “totally vague”, pointing out that it did not specify any individual against whom corruption charges were to be probed.

Upholding the petitioners’ argument, the court observed: “The government, if it was not having any evidence prima facie to form an opinion for investigation of the charges, it was not within its right to appoint the commission. There should have been prima facie evidence of allegation against the officers/officials, which need to be probed. If the government was not having any evidence and the state wants to collect information and thereupon appoint a statutory commission, it is not advisable as it will be a burden on the state exchequer and an unfair exercise of power.”

The Mathur Commission was set up by the Gehlot Government after coming to power on January 23, 2009 under Justice (retd) NN Mathur.

New Delhi, January 5
The much-hyped all-party meeting convened by the Union Home Ministry on the formation of a separate state of Telangana remained inconclusive, but Home Ministry officials said it was just the beginning of the process.

It was the first meeting of political leaders and would be followed up with student leaders and other bodies, who had a stake in the process, they said.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram clarified that it was a misconception that the centre had acted in haste or the political parties were not consulted. He said, “…none of these misconceptions is supported by facts, but I shall not waste your time refuting these misconceptions.” He asked the parties to exhibit goodwill.

He said there must be a halt to agitations and bandhs. Law and order must be maintained. Children must go to schools. People must be allowed to carry on their normal day-to-day activities.

AP legislators breach security cordon

Earlier, in the day, nine MLAs and an MP from Andhra Pradesh along with 100-odd supporters breached the security cordon and managed to reach the gates of the Home Ministry and raised slogans. The MLAs and MP, besides 21 other protesters were taken into preventive custody by the Delhi Police.

Security officials at the North Block were taken by surprise as supporters of both groups emerged from nowhere and started raising slogans and displaying placards.

TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters, “We are waiting for the final response.” Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi said he stood for a united Andhra Pradesh. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi suggested that a high-powered committee of senior bureaucrats or national leaders should be set up.

Hyderabad, January 5
Transport services across Andhra Pradesh were thrown out of gear today with agitators for and against creation of Telangana vying with each other to stop trains and buses in support of their respective causes.

The South Central Railway (SCR) cancelled 88 trains passing through the state in view of the ‘rail roko’ called by joint action committees of Telangana and coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. The state-owned Road Transport Corp (RTC) also partially suspended bus services.

Anti-Telangana agitators in Guntur district stopped the Thiruvananthapuram-New Delhi-Kerala Express and Macherla Express. The police said rail blockades were being held at almost all railway stations in the district.

The busy Vijayawada railway station wore a deserted look as agitators stopped trains while railway authorities cancelled 14 trains passing through the city. In Kadapa district, agitators fighting for an integrated state stopped Venkatadri, Rayalaseema and Jayanti Express trains. In Anantapur, the Guntakul-Hindupur train was detained. A large number of protesters, including leaders of various political parties and student groups, were arrested across the state for resorting to transport blockades in the three regions.

The pro-Telangana groups resorted to road and rail blockades in the region. Shops and business establishments were closed and educational institutions were also closed in parts of Hyderabad and majority of nine other districts of Telangana. The blockade was called by the JAC of students fighting for a separate Telangana. At Kazipet junction in Warangal district, protesters stopped the Gorakhpur Express. Three passenger and three express trains were also detained at Vikarabad in Ranga Reddy district near here.

In Nalgonda district, protesters blocked vehicular traffic on Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway-9. The SCR has announced the cancellation of 63 local trains in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad, January 5
Billed as the second biggest entertainment industry in the country after Bollywood, the Telugu film industry is facing the heat due to the ongoing Telangana turmoil.

The pro-Telangana agitators have been targeting film personalities and attacking the shooting crew at several places, triggering fears that the industry may move away from Hyderabad.

Traditionally, the Tollywood, as the Telugu movie industry is called, is dominated by people from the coastal Andhra region. All the leading heroes, producers, directors, writers, financiers and distributors hail from the prosperous coastal belt.

The instances of attacks on film shootings involving leading heroes and theatres screening their movies have come as a major embarrassment to the government.

“The film industry is feeling scared now. Art knows no political boundaries and we should not drag artistes into the political disputes. If the attacks continue, there is a danger that the movie industry shifts its base from the state,” the Chief Minister K Rosaiah said.

The actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, his actor-son Ramcharan Teja and other popular stars Mohan Babu and junior NTR have been facing the ire of Telangana supporters. Several theatres across Telangana region were forced to stop screening of Ramcharan Teja’s “Magadheera”, Mohan Babu’s “Saleem” and “Arya-2” starring Chiranjeevi’s close relative Allu Arjun.

The political unrest and violence has forced the film makers to postpone several movies scheduled for year-end release.

“There is lot of confusion and nervousness. We are basically here to entertain people and we can feel comfortable only when there is peace and normalcy around,“ noted film producer D Suresh Babu said.

“We are losing Rs 7 crore a day on account of postponement of releases, rescheduling of shootings and logistics,” said KC Sekhar Babu, film producer and secretary of Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce.

Lucknow, January 5
Putting all speculations of his return to the BJP at rest, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh marked his 77th birthday today by announcing the formation of Jan Kranti Party (JKP). While Kalyan Singh would work as “a patron” of the party, it would be led by generation next. “I will work as a patron to strengthen the new party that would be led by Rajvir Singh, alias Raju Bhaiyya.”

Rajvir Singh, his son was till recently the national general secretary of the Samajwadi party and had quit after his father parted ways with Mulayam Singh Yadav after the humiliating defeat of Yadav’s daughter-in-law in the Firozabad byelection. Both father and son had extensively campaigned in Firozabad, but to no benefit to the SP.

“Tomorrow, I along with Rajvir and others will visit Ayodhya and pay obeisance to Lord Ram,” said Kalyan Singh, who was chief minister when Hindu fanatics brought down the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992.

A leading light of the mandir movement, Kalyan Singh today promised that the JKP would have a "new agenda" on which he refused to elaborate, turning to his son to take the media questions.

According to Rajvir Singh, “Hindutva would be the party’s ideology, in fact, both Hindutva and nationalism would be our ideology.” Rajvir even claimed that he would try to induct Hindutva leaders who favour their ideology into the party, like for instance Uma Bharti.

Stating the formation of the new party to be the consensual choice of his supporters, the senior Singh said, “I formed JKP as it was the suggestion of thousand of my workers, who did not want me to join any political outfit and wanted me to float a new political party.” Preparing to contest the 2012 Assembly election was the top priority of his newly floated party, said Kalyan, who would soon start statewide tours to establish the party.

Spelling out JKP’s concerns, Rajvir Singh said the party would mainly work for upliftment of the poor, slum-dwellers, women empowerment and social justice. Asked whether it will work for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, Rajvir said: “Though we want the temple to be constructed, we do not want to politicise the issue.”

In 1999, Kalyan Singh had first quit the BJP to float the Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP). He worked in tandem with Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav, even supporting him to become the chief minister. But he returned to the BJP fold just before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

However, in January 2009 he once again left the BJP to become friends with Mulayam Singh Yadav with whose help he won the Etah seat as an Independent during the 2009 general election.

Guwahati, January 5
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a sister of the fugitive chairman of proscribed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) Ranjan Daimari at her residence yesterday at Harisinga in Udalguri district of Asam's Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) areas.

SP A P Tiwari said unidentified gunmen stormed into the residence of Lilawati Basumatary (45), a school teacher and the sister of the anti-talks faction NDFB leader and shot her dead around 7.30 pm this evening. The miscreants fled the scene immediately after the incident that took place about 22 km away from Udalguri town.

Police rushed to the village on hearing about the incident. Investigations were still on. 

New Delhi, January 5
India today took a big step on road to inclusion of differently abled, with the Ministry of Social Justice (SJ) and Empowerment making its official website fully accessible to them. With this, the ministry became the first to comply with global norms to make public information available to the differently-abled. The move is in line with India’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Armed with assistive technologies to enable people with total and partial blindness and hearing impairment to access data, the SJ Ministry website has been enabled to pick up commands from screen reading and voice recognising softwares for the visually and hearing challenged, respectively.

From now on, anyone who has screen reader software can access the website and have the text converted into speech. Persons facing difficulty using a mouse could use voice recognition software that enables working on the computer with verbal commands.

The website also provides features like iconic learning for the mentally retarded and autistic. Keyboard support for those with visual or upper limb impairment, navigation facilitation for those with visual and learning disabilities, transcripts for audio-video content for the hearing impaired and changes in colour schemes in the backdrops for those who are colour blind. The website would further read special software designed to increase the font size for those with low vision.

Speaking to The Tribune today, Deputy Chief Commissioner (disabilities) TD Dhariyal said the website features would be equally helpful for the older persons and were likely to benefit a large number of the disabled, who could arrange softwares and get information on the various schemes for their benefit.

India is home to 2 million disabled, with one thirds believed to have access to assistive softwares that are available free of cost on the web world. With the Social Justice Ministry today taking the leap, other central ministries are also likely to follow suit. In another major move, the government has decided to conduct a special recruitment drive to clear the backlog of vacancies reserved for the disabled. The Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Prithviraj Chavan, who launched the website, confirmed that a recruitment drive for the disabled was on the cards.

New Delhi, January 5
Announcing a major shift in its industrial policy, the Delhi Government today said the Capital, for the first time, will have special economic zones (SEZs) for the high-growth potential IT industry. The shift in the industrial policy has been made to make the city a hub of clean, high technology and skilled economic activities.

These SEZs will be spread across 26 acres and dedicated for IT/ITES industry and will be located in Baprola in West-Delhi. The land has been acquired and these will be built by the Delhi State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation in the public-private-partnership mode, said industry minister Haroon Yousuf.

Yousuf said the SEZs would be functional within 30 months. This is the first major review of the industrial policy of 1982. A decade ago, the Supreme Court had ordered industries causing pollution to be shifted outside the Capital, and thus, it lost out on huge business to Rajasthan and Haryana.

The SEZs is expected to provide direct employment to over 36, 000 persons and indirect employment to nearly one lakh people.