New Delhi, May 19
The Delhi Government has again sent back the file of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru to Lieutenant Governor Tejender Khanna after incorporating some changes in its comment.

Khanna had yesterday sought clarifications from the government on certain points. The move came after the Sheila Dikshit government cleared the file yesterday almost four years after the MHA had sent his mercy petition file to it for its response.

Dikshit was learnt to have backed Guru’s death sentence but had added a rider, saying the law and order implications should be weighed if he were to be hanged. The government had agreed with the Supreme Court’s judgment that Afzal’s was an act of terror that merits death sentence, sources said.

The Chief Minister refused to disclose the clarification sought by the Lt Guv’s office. “I will clarify everything on Saturday”, she told the reporter.

The government, while backing the death sentence to Guru, expressed concern about the law and order situation following the execution of the parliament attack convict. Some anti-social element in some parts of Delhi may foment communal problem.

The sources said the Prime Ministe’s Office also had fears that the death sentence might cause eruption of communal riot in Jammu and Kashmir, as Afzal belonged to Sopore district in the valley, the sources said.

Kashmir-based Guru was convicted of plotting the December 13, 2001, Parliament attack and was sentenced to death by a trial court in December 2002. The Delhi High Court confirmed the death penalty in October 2003.

New Delhi, May 19
While officially the Congress has steered clear of the clemency issue of Afzal Guru, saying the matter would be decided by the President, the Centre and the Delhi Government, a senior party leader indicated that henceforth the procedure of deciding the fate of the Parliament attack convict would be on a faster track.

“Whatever delay had to happen has happened. Now it (decision on hanging of Afzal Guru) will not go beyond eight to 10 months,” he said, adding that some sequence will still have to be followed before Afzal is sent to the gallows.

“If there are 10 persons on the death row, the government cannot randomly pick up Afzal Guru and hang him. Some procedure has to be followed for clemency petitions already pending with the President,” he asserted.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi, however, refused to say much when asked to comment on party’s views on the mercy petition of Afzal Guru. “There is no need to comment... It is outside our purview,” he said, adding that it was a Constitutional process and decision had to be taken by the President, the Centre and the Delhi Government that had “all the facts”. There are competent people in these institutions who will take the decision, he said.

Though the Delhi Government has backed the Supreme Court verdict upholding his hanging, it has been accused of sitting over the issue for years. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had sent Afzal’s file to Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna, who sent it back to the Home Department on Tuesday, seeking its opinion on law and order implications. But the Congress does not foresee any problem on the law and order front in Delhi following the decision. 

Guwahati, May 19
In a landmark judgment, the Gauhati High Court has awarded “imprisonment for the rest of the life”, to 24-year-old rickshaw-puller Sujit Biswas on charges of rape and murder of a three-year-old girl. The incident took place on October 17, 2007, in the Paltan Bazar area of the city where the victim had gone with her elder sister to enjoy Durga Puja festivities.

The Division of Bench of the high court comprising Justice Amitava Roy and Justice PK Mushahari gave the verdict in connection with an appeal (13 (j)/2010) filed by the accused against the earlier verdict of the Sessions Court that had sentenced him to death, convicting him under Sections 376(2)(f) and 302 of the IPC.

After hearing both sides, the Bench decided to do away with the death sentence awarded earlier to the accused by the lower court, and replaced it with the “sentence of life imprisonment meaning imprisonment for the rest 
of life”.

Public Prosecutor Ziaul Kamar said, “The judgment of imprisonment for rest of the life (whole life) is a landmark one besides being first of its kind by a Gauhati High Court Bench. Now the accused will be prisoner for the remaining part of his life and will not be able to come out of the jail after serving 14 years or so as in case normal life imprisonment.”

The judgment reads, “As we revert to the aspect of sentence to be awarded, we are left unconvinced that death penalty is the inevitable option in the facts of the case and life imprisonment cannot by any measure be construed to be an alternative. The accused appellant is young and belongs to the weaker section of society. He lives from hand to mouth and is otherwise denied of even minimum reasonable essentials of human existence. No similar criminal antecedent has been brought on record. He, however, needs to be isolated from the society, being otherwise formidably risky for its healthy and orderly sustenance. We are, therefore, of considered view that sentence of life imprisonment meaning imprisonment for rest of life as expounded by the apex court in Swami Sraddhananda versus State of Karnataka, 2008 AIR SCW 5110, would meet the ends of justice. Ordered accordingly. The death reference is answered accordingly. The appeal is rejected.”

New Delhi, May 19
After BJP attack on the government’s strategy against Naxal violence, the Congress today retaliated with a counter-offensive against the saffron party. While finally voicing words in support of Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the grand old party questioned BJP’s Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh’s ability to handle the Naxal problem in the state.

“Law and order is a state issue. Why is the BJP not questioning Raman Singh on his handling of the situation?” senior party leader Digvijay Singh said, adding that even though the Centre sends paramilitary forces, their deployment was the responsibility of the state. “Raman Singh should also explain why 70,000 people are still living in camps and villages in Naxal-affected areas of his state are deserted,” he added.

Chidambaram “limited mandate” statement in dealing with the Naxal problem to a TV channel following the deadly attack in Chhattisgarh gave the Opposition BJP fresh opportunity to hammer the ruling Congress.

Attacking the UPA over its Naxal policy, BJP leader Arun Jaitley yesterday said the Home Minister's “limited mandate” comment was a telling commentary on the state of affairs. Terming Chidambram’s statement an expression of “helplessness”, Jaitley also called him an “injured martyr”.

“How can the fight against Maoism be crippled by the Cabinet Committee on Security’s inability to give a larger mandate to eliminate Maoism? A limited mandate effectively means that our security apparatus must fight Maoists with one hand tied? The half battle against Maoism can never succeed. A half battle is a losing battle,” Jaitley said yesterday.

Commenting on Jaitley’s statement Chidambaram said referring to him an “injured martyr” which is a bad choice of words. “I would appeal to all political parties, especially BJP to have a bipartisan approach,” he added.

In fact, the Home Minister said by “'limited mandate” he was referring to the state governments. “It's the state governments which have the primarily responsibility to tackle the menace of Naxalism. It is in that context that I said that our mandate is a limited mandate,” he was quoted as saying.

New Delhi, May 19
The CBI has refused to make public the details of recommendations made by its former Joint Director RM Singh in Ruchika molestation case citing exemption clauses of the RTI Act.

RM Singh had alleged that Rathore, convicted for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika, managed to get the charge of abetment of suicide dropped from the chargesheet besides making attempts to bribe probe officers.

Replying to an RTI application filed by Abhishek Shukla, the agency said: “It has registered three cases. The investigation is under progress. Disclosure of this process may impede the process of investigation and apprehension and prosecution of the offenders.”

A sessions court in Chandigarh would pronounce its verdict tomorrow on Rathore’s appeal.

The former CBI Joint Director, who was then in-charge of the probe, had claimed that he had recommended bringing molestation charges, the charge of abetment to suicide, forging of document in his report and alleged that Rathore had made attempts to bribe him to influence his recommendations. — PTI

Kolkata, May 19
Within 48 hours of Dantewada massacre, Maoists targeted a CRPF patrolling van with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), killing four jawans at Ramgarh, near Lalgarh police station in West Midnapore district on Wednesday.

Three CRPF personnel, including two deputy commandants, were also injured in the attack that came on on the second day of the two-day five-state bandh called by the Maoists. They injured have been admitted to Midnapore hospital where the condition of two is said to be very critical.

“Four CRPF jawans were killed and three injured in an IED blast set off by the Naxals at around 11.30 am today,” M Nageswar Rao, CRPF Inspector General of Police, said.

The deceased were identified as V Babul (29), Savant Vishal (24), BL Singh (32) and Rakesh Kumar (31). The injured deputy commandants are: Nav Kumar (39) and VP Singh (31). The vehicle in which they were traveling was badly damaged in the blast that left a five-feet-deep crater on the road.

The explosion comes a day after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram asked the Naxals to abjure violence and come for talks.

DGP Bhupender Singh said a large contingent of paramilitary forces has been rushed to the place and an intensive combing operation was on in the entire jungle area.

The state Home Department spokesman said additional 12 battalions of the paramilitary forces would be soon deployed in the Maoists-infested areas bordering Orissa and Jharkhand.

The Maoists had on Monday blown up a bus in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, killing 36 persons, including 12 special police officers.

Earlier, rebels triggered a landmine blast on a railway track near Jhargram in West Midnapore district today, injuring two drivers of a goods train and leaving its engine badly damaged.The attack disrupted train services on the Kharagpur-Tata Nagar section of South Eastern Railway. The incident took place at Khatkhura halt station when the landmine was detonated as soon as the engine of the goods train passed over it.

The engine and windshield of the train were damaged by the blast. The driver and the assistant driver of the train were injured by shards of glass. The police and railway officials said several rail sleepers were blown up and the overhead power cable cut on both tracks due to the impact.

Rail services were halted in both tracks with several long-distance trains either diverted or stranded at various stations since 2 am. Railway officials along with the police and the paramilitary forces have reached the spot and repair work has begun.

New Delhi, May 19
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said The Lancet, an international medical journal, had acknowledged that India had shown a systematic decline of 4 per cent per year in maternal mortality. Addressing the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the minister said India had revised its policies to achieve millennium development goals (MDGs) related to health.

“Over 7,00,000 community health workers and nearly 1,00,000 doctors, nurses and paramedics have been added during the last five years in rural health care,” he said, speaking at the Plenary Session of 63rd World Health Assembly, Geneva.

Azad added that under infectious diseases control programme, India had managed to avert over 2 million deaths on account of TB.

Against the MDG target of mortality reduction by 50 per cent by 2015, India has achieved 68 per cent reduction, he claimed adding that India’s prevention strategy 
was universally acknowledged as being the most cost-effective.

The minister said Indian vaccine industry was producing high quality vaccines at affordable prices for the domestic and global market. He underlined that in this context it is important for WHO pre-qualification process to be expedited to further facilitate Indian vaccine manufacturers in playing a vital role in assuring global security of vaccines.

“Similarly, low cost good quality generic drugs make medical treatment a viable option for many countries,” he said, further emphasising the need to steer clear of commercially motivated debates over counterfeit drugs that have hampered public health by preventing access to good quality low cost generic drugs.

“We need to urgently resolve the deadlock over sharing virus, vaccines and other benefits. We believe virus sharing and benefit sharing must be on an equal footing,” the minister stated, guarding India’s interests.

New Delhi, May 19
After dithering for over a month, the Centre today appointed Shanta Sinha as the chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for the second term. She will hold office for three years, beginning May 18.

With Sinha back despite a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the appointment of the same person for two terms, other former NCPCR members - Sandhya Bajaj and Dipa Dixit may also come back for the second time.

Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath is said to be in favour of the second term for the two. Their appointment was earlier challenged in the high court by Padma Seth, a child rights activist and daughter of former Speaker of Lok Sabha M Ananthasayanam Iyengar. She claimed that they did not meet the eligibility required to hold the stated positions which require specialised jobs.

Ahmedabad: An IPS officer and an inspector accused in the Sohrabuddin Shiekh fake encounter case of 2005 have been sent to CBI custody for four days by a local court today.

New Delhi, May 19
In a rather belated reaction today, the CPM slammed government’s decision to dissolve the Medical Council of India (MCI), saying the move was undemocratic and smacked of over-centralisation.