Ratia (Fatehabad), June 9
Tragedy struck a family from Bareta town of Punjab when the car they were travelling in fell into the Bhakra Main Canal near Bhunderwas village here today.

The bodies of two children have already been recovered with the car, while their mother is feared to have been swept away by the water current.

Dharam Pal, who was driving the car, managed to come out of the vehicle moments before it slipped down into the canal.

The family was coming from Delhi.

The police said the incident took place when Dharam Pal dozed off, following which the vehicle collided with the bridge before nose-diving into the canal.

While Dharam Pal managed to escape unhurt, his wife Murti Devi (35), son Satnam (14) and Sonia (12) drowned into the canal with the vehicle.

Dharam Pal, who later raised the alarm, said he tried to pull out his wife sitting on seat next to the driver’s seat, as he could get hold of her hand. However, she could not be saved.

Villagers worked for several hours to fish out the bodies. They managed to take out the car with the two children, who died on the rear seats of the car. Search operations were on to look for the body of Ram Murti.

K Makarand Panduranga, SDM, Ratia, and other police and administrative officers were on the site to oversee the rescue operations.

Chandigarh, June 9
Chiranjiv Rao, son of Haryana Forest and Environment Minister Ajay Singh Yadav, was elected president of the state unit of the Youth Congress today.

Rao defeated his nearest rival, Anil Dhantori, MLA from Shahabad, by 130 votes. As per the party’s constitution, Dhantori will now be the vice-president of the Haryana Youth Congress.

Bhupinder Beniwal, Chetan Chauhan, Pramod Sehwag, Rahul Rao, Raj Kumar Rani and Shish Pal Singh were elected general secretaries by returning officer Sachin Naik. There were 31 candidates.

Gaurav Singh, son of former minister Sampat Singh, and Amit Sihag, son of former OSD to Haryana Chief Minister KV Singh were elected presidents of the Hisar and Sirsa Lok Sabha constituency committees, respectively. Sihag defeated the son of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera.

Others elected presidents of various Lok Sabha constituency committees are Himmat Singh (Ambala); Ajit Phogat (Bhiwani-Mahendragarh); Kuldip Rana (Karnal); Amit Sonu (Rohtak); Ravi Mehla (Kurukshetra); Pankaj Kharbanda (Gurgaon); Neter Pal Badhana (Faridabad) and Gudu Kumar (Sonepat). The elections were held at a banquet hall in Zirakpur.

This time, intense interest was generated in the Youth Congress elections because of the direct supervision of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Wards of several bigwigs in the Haryana Congress had jumped into the fray as they saw the Youth Congress as a jumping board for launching their political careers.

The scene outside the election venue was something never witnessed before. It was for the first time that the party witnessed transparent elections in the true sense.

In the past, the office-bearers would be nominated by the high command. However, this time Rahul decided that all office-bearers should be elected in a transparent manner so that the Youth Congress could be strengthened at the grass-roots level.

Supporters of various candidates had reached Zirakpur in large numbers. The supporters parked their vehicles on the Zirakpur-Kalka road, disrupting traffic.

The Punjab police had a tough time to restoring order. Tents had been pitched along the roadside and on the road divider too.

Jhajjar, June 9
The husband of a contestant from Ward 8 of the Zila Parishad polls went missing from Lohari village last evening under mysterious circumstances.

When the police could not succeed in tracing his whereabouts today, a large numbers of residents of Lohari, Machhroli and Patoda villages that fall under Ward 8, blocked traffic at Kulana Chowk on the Jhajjar-Rewari road.

Hoshiyar Singh, husband of contestant Rekha Chauhan, who was out canvassing, did not return home. His family members searched for him the whole night but in vain.

A “ missing person” complaint was lodged with the police this morning but the police was unsuccessful in finding him.

The police officials made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the protesters to lift the blockade.

Jhajjar SSP Sourabh Singh could not be contacted despite several attempts. The blockade was on till the filing of the report.

Sirsa, June 9
Owing to a snag in an EVM, nobody has been declared elected to the post of sarpanch of Bappan village.

The engineers summoned from Chandigarh today could not retrieve the data from the EVM. Now, the authorities have decided to refer the matter to the State Election Commissioner, though Subhash Chawla, with an unassailable lead of 225 votes, is a clear winner, irrespective of the votes trapped in the snag-hit machine. Counting of votes for the post of sarpanch was stopped at Bappan village in the district after votes of two EVMs were counted on June 6 as one EVM failed to display the votes polled by the candidates.

The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Pankaj Chaudhary, decided that the counting for the remaining five EVMs would be undertaken once the engineers retrieved the data from the snag-hit machine.

Rohtak, June 9
The condition of the 19-year-old girl, who had attempted self-immolation on May 31 in protest against the failure of the police to arrest her alleged rapists, continues to be critical.

She had been admitted to the PGIMS here with 80 per cent burns. The girl hailing from Panipat was allegedly gangraped on May 23 and the accused had been reportedly pressurising the victim and her family to drop the charges against them.

Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, who visited the hospital here today to enquire about the victim’s health, offered to bear the expenses of the treatment.

The victim, who belongs to the Backward Classes (BC) category, had recently passed her class XII examinations with distinction.

She was allegedly abducted and raped by four youths. Though the police had registered a case on the complaint of the family, it had failed to arrest the accused of which two had been identified by the victim, said a kin.

Girl’s father Subhash, driver with a private company, claimed that his daughter attempted self-immolation following harassment by the accused.

The girl was shifted to the PGIMS on June 4, but her condition failed to improve, said her father. Two of the accused have been identified as Kuldip Sharma and Ravi Chawla.

Subhash said his daughter’s condition had been critical and doctors attending her had revealed that she had become a victim of acute stage of internal infection following the burns.

Bishnoi condemned the police for its failure to arrest the accused and to provide safety to the girl and her family.

10-year-old raped

Sonepat: A 10-year-old girl was raped allegedly by Manjit, a youth of Saragthal village, on the premises of the village temple on Monday night. He was caught by people when he tried to escape after committing the crime and was handed over to the police.

The victim from Deewana village in Panipat district had come to her maternal uncle’s house in the village.

She went to the temple in the village along with other family members. While the family members were offering prayers, the accused allegedly took the girl to a deserted place on the temple premises and raped her. — OC

Faridabad, June 9
Ashoka Arora was unanimously elected Mayor of Municipal Corporation of Faridabad here today.

Mukesh Sharma, son of Haryana minister Shiv Charan Sharma, and Rajender Bhamla were elected Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively. All three are first-time councillors. While Arora is the vice-president of the Faridabad District Congress Committee, Mukesh Sharma is a former president of the Faridabad Block Committee of the party.

Two factions, each comprising Congress MLAs, ministers, and councillors, had met the Chief Minister yesterday to decide on the candidates for the three posts.

Before the councillors took oath, they assembled at a restaurant here where they were told by Kuldip Sharma, working president of the Haryana Congress, and Prof Virender, political adviser to the Chief Minister, about the names for the posts. The names were finalised by the Chief Minister. The two emissaries asked the councillors if they had any objection to the names. It was only after all councillors expressed their approval that they left for the MCF Auditorium, the venue for oath-taking.

Arora, a Punjabi, represents a ward falling in the Badkal assembly constituency. Sharma is from the NIT assembly segment and Rajender Bhamla is a Gujjar representing a ward in the Ballabgarh assembly segment. After being elected Mayor, Arora said his efforts would be to give a push to development.

He said he did not belong to any faction, but the Congress. Former Home Minister Subash Batra expressed happiness over a Punjabi being elected to the Mayor’s post as Faridabad is a Punjabi- dominated belt.

Chandigarh, June 9
Mohit Singh won’t have to fend for himself anymore. Left with grandparents after his mother remarried following the death of his father, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has injected compassion to the rigid legal framework for coming to his rescue.

Without bending rules, Justice Ranjit Singh has persuaded his mother and grandmother to hand over their share of benefits to the now 10-year-old boy.

In an order of its kind, Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “The death of Bijender Singh of Hisar district, who was serving in the Army medical corps, has left a bitter battle between his legal representatives for getting benefits on account of his death. What a tragedy! People are mainly concerned with the money, forgetting the loss of their dear one.

“The sufferer in the process is the young son of the late Bijender Singh. He is now aged 10. At the time of his father’s death, he was aged two. His mother received various benefits accruing on account of the Army Group Insurance Fund and Army Provident Fund, totalling Rs 5, 07, 720.

“The appellant-mother, Sunita Devi, has since remarried on February 1, 2004. Remarriage may not be a reason enough to view her with prejudice. Being young, she has every right to start afresh in life and seek rehabilitation, but the interest of this young child left without parental care cannot be lost sight of….”

In his detailed order, Justice Ranjit Singh ruled: “The prime concern of the court is to ensure the welfare of this young child, who is left alone in his journey of life. It is a bit heartening to notice that the child is being looked after by his grandparents. Interaction with the parties, has revealed that the child has been put in a central school at Pune, where his uncle is serving in the Army. Arrangements have now been put in place so that the benefit and rightful dues of this young child are protected for his future needs.

“Persuasion has made the parties see reason. The grandmother as well as the mother of this young child has agreed to leave their share in favour of the child. The grandmother has agreed to leave her share without a murmur.

Appellant mother also agrees to follow suit after deliberations….

“Since the appellant has willingly agreed to transfer the amount in her name to her son Mohit Singh, a direction is hereby issued to the Union of India to transfer the amount in the name of Mohit Singh”.

Karnal (Madhuban), June 9
Inspired by the rare feat of Kaithal girl Mamta Sodha, who recently scaled the Mount Everest, the Haryana police is toying with an idea to send an expedition to Mount Everest.

Indicating this at a function to honour Mamta Sodha at Madhuban Police Academy, Haryana DGP Ranjeev Dalal said a mountaineering team of the Haryana police had been coordinating with the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) and as soon as the team was registered, training of members of expedition team would commence.

“The day is not far when the flag of the Haryana police will fly on the Everest,” he said. Congratulating Mamta for her achievement, Dayal said it was the result of determination and willpower which helped Mamta overcome all obstacles in achieving her goal.

Sodha said it was her cherished dream from the age of 18 to scale Everest and finally she had done it. She said sincerity, honesty of purpose and consistency were the keys to success and no task could be fulfilled without it.