New Delhi, March 19
Doctors at Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre have removed the one-feet-long iron rod that had penetrated the leg of a 30-year-old autorickshaw driver when his vehicle rammed into a loaded truck in Greater Kailash yesterday.

A 21-year-old girl, Rajni, who was sitting in the autorickshaw also sustained injuries. Her condition is stable.

Medical superintendent of AIIMS Trauma Centre Dr M.C. Misra said, “A 12-mm iron rod pierced the driver’s leg above his ankle. The fire people cut the rod at the accident site, but some part of it was left out. He was brought to us at 4: 46 am. Earlier, a woman named Rajni was brought with a rod in her chest.”

The driver’s surgery was planned in a way to ensure no further damage to him. “We planned the operation in a way to prevent any injury to the neuro vasular bundle. Then, an external fixation device was applied through the bones of leg to stabilise his foot and leg. Both the fibula and the tibia bones were fixed with a wire and two screws respectively,” said Dr Misra.

Saying that the patient’s prognosis depended upon the time the wound takes to heal, he added that the grafting might be carried out after a week when the driver’s condition was better.

Dr Misra said that the challenge for the team, which comprised Dr Vijay Sharma, consultant orthopaedic surgeon; senior residents Dr Mohit, Dr Manoj and Dr Shakti, was to save the driver’s limb which could have been amputated.

In Rajni’s case, about 400-ml blood from the chest cavity has drained and she should be able to go home after 10 or 15 days, he said. 

New Delhi, March 19
After holding a meeting with the administration and the university community, the board of management of Delhi Technological University (DTU) reiterated that the upgradation of Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) was in the larger interest of the students, ruling out any possibility of restoring its previous status as demanded by the agitating students.

In an effort to break the deadlock between administration and students of the college, the management met on the college campus today and appealed to the students to sit for the mid-term examinations that had been rescheduled to March 29.

However, protesting students refused to budge from their stand and many of them barged into the meeting midway. The protesting students have been camping near the Jantar Mantar ever since the agitation started in the beginning of this month. Hundreds of students gathered at the Central Park at Connaught Place today.

The management did try to hold out an olive branch to students and decided that no penal action would be taken against the agitating students. However, it asked them to resume their academic activities.

“The board members were apprised of the situation prevailing on the campus and an assurance was given to the students that genuine suggestions about academic environment will be considered,” said Rashmi Sablania, spokesperson, DTU.

The management desired that an appropriate consultative mechanism be put in place so that timely action is taken on the grievances of the students and faculty.

“It was also advised that two members of the students and faculty be invited as special invitees in the meetings of the academic council,” said Sablania.

On the issues concerning the teachers, the management decided that service benefits of the faculty like pension and provident fund would be resolved by the Delhi government by treating them on deemed deputation.

New Delhi, March 19
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the Union government was planning to form model codes for preventing beggary in India and that the Delhi government would also implement the codes.

“If need be, stricter laws will be introduced to stop beggary in the national Capital,” she said.

Replying to questions in the assembly, the Chief Minister said that the issue of beggary was not Delhi-specific and existed is other states too. As far as Delhi is concerned, beggars from Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and other neigbouring towns come to the city in the morning and return to their respective cities in evening, she said.

When asked about the steps being taken to stop begging, social welfare minister Mangat Ram Singhal said the government had two mobile courts to nab beggars. He informed that more mobile courts would be deployed soon in all areas of the Capital.

The government has 11 homes for beggars with a capacity of 2,100.

The minister said that women, men and children beggars are kept in separate homes. “They are provided beds, food and clothes. They are given training in carpentry, shoe- making and other works so that they can be rehabilitated,” he said.

On action that has been taken against criminals who force poor children into begging, the minister said this was the job of the police and not the social welfare department.

Faridabad, March 19
Cheesed off by the alleged apathy of the government coupled with the continued “disobedience” to law by a large number of schools on the issue of fee hike, parents have decided to renew their agitation in the state on a larger scale.

A decision to this effect was taken here at a meeting of the executive committee of the Haryana School Abhibhavak Ekta Manch, a parents’ body which has been spearheading the agitation.

In order to draw a roadmap for the fresh struggle, the committee has convened a meeting of the office-bearers of all its district units in the state here on March 28.

A state-level office-bearer of the manch alleged that the parents did not get justice even after meeting thrice the Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and a positive intervention by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The grouse of the parents is that the private schools raised the school fees by 30-45 per cent last year in utter breach of the rules. The parents have been protesting against this “unilateral” move of the private schools since March last year. The guilty schools are affiliated to C.B.S.E as well as the Haryana board.

During the last parliamentary and assembly elections in the state, the parents had even taken to the streets.

Taking note of the agitation, the commissioner-cum-director general, school education, Haryana, had on July 6 last year issued notices to the schools, directing them not to raise the tuition fees.

The order particularly said that in case any school had to meet their expenses for paying the salaries of the teachers as per the recommendations of the 6th pay commission, it must do it from its surplus fund. The order also said if any school had shortage of fund, it could raise the fee, but only up to 20 per cent of the tuition fees prevailing in the academic year 2008-09. But such schools must submit the annual statement of its income and expenditure to the government so that its true financial status could be ascertained.

Some of the schools had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court urging for a stay on the implementation of the order. But the court did not grant the stay. However, the private schools continued charging the hiked fees and allegedly remained insouciant with regard to the court’s stand and intervention by the government. There were cases when the parents and their children were harassed by the school management for not paying the hiked fee.

The parents allege that the government is not pursuing the case because a number of private schools are owned and run by bigwigs and friends and relatives of politicians. Making the schools follow the rules would affect their incomes.

They alleged that the parents had met the MLAs of the ruling and the opposition parties, requesting them to take up the issue in the just-concluded budget session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, but their request went unnoticed.

The parents wants that not only the schools be reigned in to follow the rules, but also must return the extra fee paid by them.

The leaders of the manch allege that the private schools are once again planning to raise the fees at the start of the coming academic year. 

New Delhi, March 19
The division in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration over the implementation of the OBC quota in senior posts in the faculty came to the fore at the meeting of its Academic Council last night.

University sources said vice-chancellor B.B.Bhattacharya and historian Aditya Mukherjee were criticised by council members, following which Bhattacharya adjourned the meeting around 11.30 pm.

Most members agreed that introduction of OBC reservation at the entry level was good, but opinion was divided on reservation at the professor level, maintained the sources.

Another controversial matter of the process of implementation of OBC reservation in admissions was on agenda in the meeting. “Maximum members of the council believed that the implementation of the OBC reservation should be done in a way that all seats reserved for the section go to OBC students,” said sources.

JNU students are on fast, demanding that the university administration change the process of OBC reservation in admissions as hundreds of seats from the quota were being converted into general category.

The administration maintained that both the Supreme Court and MHRD’s directives had to be taken into account in the implementation of OBC reservation.

The Academic Council decided to transfer the matter to a university level committee comprising deans and chairpersons of all schools. “The committee would take opinion from legal experts on the matter,” said sources. This committee would make recommendations on introducing a pre-fixed cut-off for the OBC admissions. 

New Delhi, March 19
A Delhi court today ordered a station house officer of the Delhi police to file an FIR against a woman, Pooja Saxena, and her parents for allegedly giving dowry to her husband, Sameer Saxena. The court has also directed the police officials concerned to investigate the case.

The order came after Sameer, through his counsel, Gaganpreet Singh, moved the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate, Sanjay Bansal, against his wife and her parents.

The husband has an FIR registered against him by his wife under various sections relating to cruelty against her and criminal breach of trust.

In the FIR the wife has stated that a huge amount of dowry was given to Sameer’s family at the time of their marriage. She also alleged that demands were made by her husband and in-laws.

However, Pooja’s complaint created problems for her also, as Sameer’s counsel, based on Pooja’s complaint, submitted that “if dowry was given to Sameer’s family, Pooja and her parents are also guilty under the Dowry Prohibition Act.”

He referred to a Delhi High Court judgment given in a similar case where the court ruled, “A girl and her parents also become accomplices in dowry cases and action should be taken against them also.” He also refereed to a circular issued by the commissioner of police, Delhi, wherein directions have been issued to lodge cases against the girl and her parents if allegations regarding giving dowry are made and if the girl is well-educated.

The cour said, “In my view, at this stage, it appears that the accused are also accomplices under Section 3 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.”

New Delhi, March 19
The Delhi police has managed to get hold of 17-year-old juvenile gang leader Santosh (name changed) once again, four days after he escaped from a juvenile home.

Santosh, who allegedly heads a gang of juveniles involved in burglaries, was apprehended this morning from Pillanji Village in Sarojini Nagar.

According a police official, Santosh along with another minor was on his way to “take revenge” from the woman from whose house he was arrested on March 9 during a robbery attempt.

“He was arrested with his friend near the woman’s residence, where he tried to commit burglary on March 9, at Pillanji village in Sarojini Nagar around 7 am. A stolen motorcycle and a knife have been seized from them,” the official said.

Both the minors had escaped with 25 others from a juvenile home in north-west Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar on March 15. 

The 17-year-old gang leader has escaped from police custody at least five times in the last seven years.

Santosh was last caught on March 9 when he allegedly attempted to burgle the house of one Lalita in Pillanji Village. When resisted by Lalita and her son and the police drawing closer, he allegedly hit himself on the head with a brick to terrorise the complainant and flee. He was arrested and sent to a juvenile home.

The police believes that Santosh and his gang has been involved in more than 100 theft and burglary cases.

They allegedly set on fire eight houses after burglary and theft in the past one year. While six incidents were reported last year, two took place this year.

The group was allegedly involved in burglaries and setting of fire houses in Laxmi Bai Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, Kotla and R.K. Puram.

New Delhi, March 19
Two girls of Kirori Mal College have accused two teachers of the college’s Urdu department of sexual harassment. The victims are pursuing graduation in Urdu.

The teachers Khalid Ashraf and Md Yahya allegedly took undue advantage of the students while marking their internal assessment.

However, a complaint against Ashraf has not been filed, as he is in Pakistan. The girls have already registered a compliant against Yahya with the College Complaints Committee (CCC).

According to sources in Delhi University, Yahya allegedly asked one of the girls to attend a party with him. He had also sent her a friend request on social site Facebook. According to sources, the college has already conducted a meeting to look into the complaint against Yahya.

The DUSU leaders have taken up the issue. “I have put a representation before the university proctor and asked him to conduct an enquiry into the matter,” said Kriti Wadhera, vice-president, DUSU.

Noida, March 19
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is now focusing towards Hemraj’s death to solve the double murder mystery that rocked the national capital region in 2008.

Having failed to get positive clue from the narco analysis test of Aarushi’s doctor parents, the investigating agency is trying to probe some other facets of the case.

Two officers of the CBI had interrogated Usha Thukar, a social activist, in Sector-31 on Wednesday. Hemraj is reported to have met Usha Thakur a day prior to his death. It is learnt that he told her that he was scared and requested her to save his life.

“Hemraj had come to me a day prior to his death. I was busy as my daughter-in-law was sick. Hemraj told me that he was perceiving danger to his life. I was in a hurry, so I asked him to wait. I told him that I would talk to him after returning. But when I returned, he had already left,” said Thakur.

When I learnt about his murder on May 17, 2008, I felt sorry, she said.

The CBI officials met the social activist for 45 minutes. They said that she might have to come to the CBI headquarters for further questioning.