Sirsa, September 25
Mystery shrouds the death of a couple, whose bodies were recovered from cotton fields at Phoolkan village in this district late last night.

The body of the girl, Maya (19), a Class XI student at the village school, was found beheaded, while the body of the boy, Inder Pal (21), was highly decomposed. The bodies were lying together.

A bottle of celphos, a poisonous substance, was found near the bodies.

The condition of the bodies and the statements of the victims’ kin, who were in the general hospital for postmortem of the bodies today, have raised suspicion.

According to police sources, the two were missing since September 17 and the girl’s family had lodged a report with the police in this regard the next day.

The two were reportedly in love for a long time. However, Inder Pal got married to some other girl two months ago.

The girl’s uncle, Sham Lal, said they searched for her everywhere, but could not find her.

He alleged that Maya was murdered, but did not name anybody for that.

Her brother, Brij Lal, said the family had gone to attend a religious function on the night of September 17 and Maya was alone at home.

She was missing since then, he said, and alleged that some youths had kidnapped his sister.

The boy’s grandfather, Surja Ram, was tightlipped on the issue.

He said he was away from the village, and came back only after learning about his grandson’s disappearance.

The police has registered a case under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the IPC against the boy, Inder Pal, and four others - Subhash, Vinod, Surjeet and Atma Ram - on a complaint of Maya’s father Amar Singh.

Ding SHO Devender Nain said the police was investigating the case from all angles, including honour killing.

Sirsa, September 25
The Indian National Lok Dal and organisations associated with the party today observed the birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister late Chaudhary Devi Lal by organising prayers, blood donation camps, sports events and a community lunch.

The late leader’s son and former Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, today paid floral tributes to his father’s statues in Jan Nayak Chaudhary Devi Lal (JCD) Vidyapeeth, Chaudhary Devi Lal University and Town Park.

Chautala also inaugurated a blood donation camp in the JCD Vidyapeeth. Later, he inaugurated a function organised by the Indian National Students’ Organisation (INSO) on the CDLU campus. A kabaddi match was also organised in the university on the occasion.

Later, Chautala served food to people in the community lunch organised by the party in Town Park. Workers of the party distributed fruits among differently abled children.

The former Chief Minister said the struggle by the late leader always motivated him to work hard for the poor and the peasantry.

He said certain welfare schemes like old age pension and loan waiver started by Devi Lal had been adopted by other states as well as by the Centre.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Chautala alleged that the policies visualised by Devi Lal for the welfare of the farming community had been reversed by the successive Congress governments at the Centre and in Haryana.

He alleged that fertile lands of the farmers were being grabbed at throwaway prices to set up SEZs on their lands.

He alleged that due to the policies adopted by the Congress, a lopsided development was being witnessed, where the rich were becoming very rich and the poor were finding it hard to make their both ends meet.

Chautala accused the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government of not providing suitable compensation to farmers, whose crops had been damaged in floods.

“When I was the Chief Minister, the Congress demanded a compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre for the crop loss. By that standards, the government should pay at least Rs 25,000 per care as compensation to farmers,” Chautala demanded.

REWARI: INLD activists of the Kosli segment celebrated the birth anniversary of former deputy Prime Minister and INLD patriarch late Chaudhary Devi Lal by organising a blood donation camp at Baba Mukteshwari Math (hermitage) in Kosli on Saturday.

As many as 36 party activists, including Yuva INLD chief Ashok Panch and general secretary Kailash Rao, donated blood in the camp, which was inaugurated by Baba Shivpuri Maharaj, head of the hermitage.

Karnal, September 25
The Karnal District Bar Association was the first to launch its website here today. Launching the website developed by advocates Abhishek Nagpal and Dheeraj Sachdeva, Chief Minister BS Hooda exhorted the lawyers to help the poor to get justice by charging less fees from them.

The website provides information of all advocates practicing in the district with their names, address and constitution.

The CM accepted the demand of the Bar association to link the Bar complex with the lawyers’ chamber and directed the DC to look into the connectivity problem.

Local MP Arvind Sharma announced Rs 10 lakh for the local Bar Association from the MPLAD funds. One of the residents - Shamsher Singh - said the list of area magistrates of the police stations of the district was a unique feature on the website.

The Haryana Employees Welfare Service Safety Organisation felicitated Hooda for adjusting 11,000 employees in state government departments, which were terminated by the erstwhile INLD government.

Sirsa, September 25
Efforts by a woman Assistant Professor of Chaudhary Devi Lal University to get a copy of the report of an inquiry into her allegations of harassment against a Professor have failed to yield results, though nearly two months have elapsed since the completion of the probe.

Even her application filed under the Right to Information Act has failed to move the authorities, who have refused to deliver her a copy of the report citing confidentiality.

“The authorities have been frustrating my attempt to seek justice ever since I complained against the chairperson of my department regarding harassment on May 1 this year,” the complainant alleged.

She said two inquiry committees were constituted by the university, but her predicament continued due to the attitude of the authorities.

After receipt of her complaint, the university authorities had constituted a committee of three senior professors to look into her complaint.

However, the committee that held its first meeting on May 13, had refused to decide the complaint on the plea that Para 4 of the complaint hinged on “sexual harassment” and hence the matter should be probed by a women complaint committee constituted to probe such cases in the light of the Supreme Court verdict in the Vishakha case.

The Haryana State Women Commission also directed the university authorities to get the complaint inquired from the women complaint committee and the case was finally handed over to a committee headed by Dr Reicha Tanwar, Director of the Women Studies and Research Centre, Kurukshetra University.

The Reicha Tanwar Committee, which recorded the statements of the complainant, the accused as well as some others, has already submitted its report to the university on August 4, but it is still lying under wraps.

The woman Assistant Professor alleged that earlier she was told that the report would be made public only after it was discussed at a meeting of the executive council (EC) of the university. However, the EC has also met on September 18.

In his reply given on September 21 to a complaint in response her application under the RTI, the state public information officer (SPIO) of the university said, “The report file is declared as confidential till it is considered by the competent authority. The report is still under consideration.” VC Dr KC Bhardwaj said the report file had not yet come to him for consideration.