J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

7-year RI for rapist
Tarn Taran, September 6
Sukhdev Singh (35), a resident of Verowal, 30 kms from here, was awarded 7-year rigorous imprisonment for sexually abusing a two-year-old baby, who was the daughter of his wife’s sister.

Man strangles wife to death

Jalandhar, September 6 A man allegedly strangled his wife to death after heated arguments between them at their residence in Dhobhi Mohalla, near Makhdoompura, falling under Number 4 police station, today. The police has registered a case under section 302 of the IPC against Rajinder Singh, alias Bittu, on the statement of Surjit Singh, father of deceased Aarti, resident of Maqsoodan locality here. The accused is absconding.

Aarti, the victim, in a file photo.

Gang of swindlers busted
Hoshiarpur, September 6
With the arrest of Sonu Saroya, son of Mahesh Saroya of Bheem Rakah, Muzaffarnagar district (UP), the district police has claimed to have unearthed an inter-state gang of swindlers which used to purchase various automobile vehicles on fake bank drafts.

Rs 7.5 lakh, gold ornaments looted
Hoshiarpur, September 6
After breaking skylights of the shop of Gurmit Singh, son of Kartar Singh, of Ward 11, Dasuya, some miscreants entered the shop and decamped with Rs 7.50 lakh and gold ornaments worth Rs 2.5 lakh on the night of September 4 at Dasuya town.

Teachers slam PSEB for postponing exams
Nawanshahr, September 6
Terming the postponement of semester examination of Class X and XII at the 11th hour as a great shame to the education system, Bhupinder Singh Warraich, state president of the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), said instead of making “lame excuses”, the Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board should own moral responsibility for the inconvenience caused to the students and tender an apology.

Anti-sport teacher of govt school
Hoshiarpur, September 6
Instead of encouraging students to participate in sports activities, a science teacher of Government High School, Nangal Kalan, in the district is allegedly harassing her girl student who was recently selected for the national football camp not to participate in the game.

Tenants protest outside Sidhu’s office
Amritsar, September 6
Members of the Shahiri Garib Majdoor/Kirayedar Union held a protest and briefly blocked vehicular traffic in front of MP Navjot Singh Sidhu’s residence-cum-office on Mall Road. The agitators held a sit-in to impress upon Sidhu to fulfil his promise of providing low-budget flats to the labourers living on rent.

Swine flu claims one more life
Pathankot, September 6
Neetu Prasad (26), a migrant from Dibrugarh, Assam, died of swine flu in the Civil Hospital today. Senior Medical Officer Achla Bhatia here said the victim was admitted to the hospital three days back with suspected swine flu symptoms. His sample was sent to the Chandigarh laboratory and the report was awaited.

Man drowns in canal
Hoshiarpur, September 6
Aroor Chand (50), son of Kesh Chand of Bassi Balon, was drowned in the Kandi canal (Phase I) near his village last evening. According to police sources, he went to the canal for washing his hands. But his foot slipped and he fell into the canal.

7-year RI for rapist
Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, September 6
Sukhdev Singh (35), a resident of Verowal, 30 kms from here, was awarded 7-year rigorous imprisonment for sexually abusing a two-year-old baby, who was the daughter of his wife’s sister.

Handing out the sentence, the Additional District and Session Judge, Asha Kondal, also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on Sukhdev Singh.

The incident happened in December 2008 when taking advantage of her mother’s absence, Sukhdev brought the baby to his home in the village. After sexually abusing her, he wrapped the baby in a piece of cloth before leaving her at her house.

The baby’s mother smelled some foul play and told the matter to her relatives. She was medically examined at the local Civil Hospital. She spent more than a week at the hospital for her treatment. Sukhdev was booked under sections 376 and 511 of the IPC by the Verowal police on 15 December, 2008.

Gang of swindlers busted
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, September 6
With the arrest of Sonu Saroya, son of Mahesh Saroya of Bheem Rakah, Muzaffarnagar district (UP), the district police has claimed to have unearthed an inter-state gang of swindlers which used to purchase various automobile vehicles on fake bank drafts.

According to SSP Rakesh Aggarwal, on the complaint of a local dealer of Maruti cars a case under sections 406, 420, 465, 466, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against Preet Kumar, his wife Monika Rani, Pankaj, all of Ludhiana, Kranti, Sakinder, Nandu, Nepali and Munish, all of Sumali Sihara, and Sonu Saroya at the Model Town police station last evening.

The modus operandi of the gang was that the members first used to go to the agency showroom of any of the motor vehicles and enquire about the cost of the vehicle, mode of payment and name of their bank, etc. After getting the required information they would prepare a bank draft in the name of the agency holder for some nominal amount from the bank branch disclosed by the agency holder and later scan the draft and change the amount on the bank draft. After getting a fresh print from the printer with the help of computer, would deliver it to the agency holder against payment of the vehicle.

During preliminary interrogation Sonu Saroya revealed that they purchased one Indigo car from Bathinda, two Eicher tractors from Jalandhar and two motorcycles from Ludhiana, said Rakesh Aggarwal, adding that efforts were being made to arrest other members of this gang.

Rs 7.5 lakh, gold ornaments looted
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, September 6
After breaking skylights of the shop of Gurmit Singh, son of Kartar Singh, of Ward 11, Dasuya, some miscreants entered the shop and decamped with Rs 7.50 lakh and gold ornaments worth Rs 2.5 lakh on the night of September 4 at Dasuya town.

The police has registered a case under sections 457 and 380 of the IPC in this connection and started investigation.

Teachers slam PSEB for postponing exams
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, September 6
Terming the postponement of semester examination of Class X and XII at the 11th hour as a great shame to the education system, Bhupinder Singh Warraich, state president of the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), said instead of making “lame excuses”, the Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board should own moral responsibility for the inconvenience caused to the students and tender an apology.

“In fact, it was the flood of complaints received by the board regarding erring supply of examination material and roll numbers to the candidates rather than the natural calamity of floods in some districts of the state as cited by the PSEB Chairman,” remarked Warraich.

“The board has been causing inconvenience as well as the mental harassment to the students and teachers from the very beginning of the current academic session - be it the dates of admission, registration or the conduct of examination,” further lamented Warraich.

“There seems a total lack of planning in the proper implementation of the semester system by the PSEB,” said Dr Devinder Kumar, an educationist, while interacting with The Tribune.

He added though the introduction of semester system for the Class X and XII from the session 2010 -11 had already been planned last year but the PSEB failed to overhaul its whole system to match it with the requirements of this new experiment.

However, the students are the worst hit due to the inefficient functioning of the PSEB as they are finding themselves in a quandary. “We have not been getting proper time for studies. Even, syllabus was completed in haste by the teachers as a lot of time was being wasted in the frequent tests. No revisions could be done,” said the students.

Anti-sport teacher of govt school
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, September 6
Instead of encouraging students to participate in sports activities, a science teacher of Government High School, Nangal Kalan, in the district is allegedly harassing her girl student who was recently selected for the national football camp not to participate in the game.

According to the representation to the District Education Officer (Secondary) today, Devinder Singh of Rajpur village stated that his daughter Paramjit Kaur, who was a football player, was studying in Class VIII in Government High School, Nangal Kalan. Instead of encouraging her to develop her game, the science teacher of the school always allegedly discouraged her and instructed her to stop playing. He approached the teacher for not discouraging Paramjit Kaur for playing, but she turned a deaf ear to his request and at her behest the PT teacher discontinued the game in the school.

Paramjit Kaur participated in a football training camp at Nawanshahr from where she returned on September 2. She was selected there for the national football training camp. After returning home, she refused to go to the school under fear of the science teacher. Somehow the family members persuaded her to go the school on September 4, 2010. In the school the teacher did not allow her to enter in the classroom during her period for not doing the school home work given by her despite Paramjit Kaur explaining to her that she had gone to Nawanshahr for participating in a football training camp. She had to stand outside the classroom during her period. He demanded action against the teacher and her immediate transfer from the school .

Deputy Education Officer (Secondary) Sukhwinder Kaur told The Tribune that she would look into the allegations against the science teacher and if found guilty, action would be recommended to the higher authorities of the department.

Tenants protest outside Sidhu’s office
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 6
Members of the Shahiri Garib Majdoor/Kirayedar Union held a protest and briefly blocked vehicular traffic in front of MP Navjot Singh Sidhu’s residence-cum-office on Mall Road. The agitators held a sit-in to impress upon Sidhu to fulfil his promise of providing low-budget flats to the labourers living on rent.

District president of the union Padam Kumar said even after an hour-long agitation, they failed to catch the glimpse of the cricketer-turned-commentator-turned-politician.

An agitator, Surjit Singh, said the labourers belonging to unorganised sectors received daily wage as low as Rs 100 to Rs 200. Keeping in view the spiralling prices of food items and other articles of daily use, it was next to impossible to provide two square meals to the family, he said. In this scenario the monthly rent on accommodation took away the lion’s share of labourers’ pay and their families had to subsist on the trivial amount left.

A member of the agitating group, Santokh Singh, said in the last meeting Sidhu had taken up the matter with Chairman of the Improvement Trust Sanjiv Khanna and told him to chalk out a plan to provide low-budget accommodation to the people residing in rented accommodation.

He said their demand remained unheard but the people from the wealthy segment were being offered plots in the posh Ranjit localities at a rate of Rs 16,000 per sq yard. He said the plots were out of reach for them.

Sidhu could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts.

Swine flu claims one more life
Our Correspondent

Pathankot, September 6
Neetu Prasad (26), a migrant from Dibrugarh, Assam, died of swine flu in the Civil Hospital today. Senior Medical Officer Achla Bhatia here said the victim was admitted to the hospital three days back with suspected swine flu symptoms. His sample was sent to the Chandigarh laboratory and the report was awaited.

He was on a ventilator for the past two days. He was employed with a private ply factory situated at Ghoo village, 10 kms from here.

The SMO said she would inspect the factory and examine other labourers and would send the report to the higher health authorities.

Man drowns in canal
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, September 6
Aroor Chand (50), son of Kesh Chand of Bassi Balon, was drowned in the Kandi canal (Phase I) near his village last evening. According to police sources, he went to the canal for washing his hands. But his foot slipped and he fell into the canal.

When he did not return, his family members searched him everywhere. His body was found floating in the canal this morning. Villagers fished out the body from the canal and informed the police in this connection. After taking the body in its custody, the police sent it to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination.