|
|
|
|
Gangrape victim identifies arrested accused, truck
CM reaffirms orders on safe-dropping of women staff
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Deploy more women officers for rape cases, top cop told
BPOs yet to learn their lesson
Around 1,000 illegal units running in Delhi
Illegal polluting plant sealed in Noida
Rs 10-lakh loot at retd engineer’s house
Lottery may decide nursery children’s future
‘90% Delhiites not vaccinated against Hepatitis B’
Hearing on IAS officer’s bail plea on Dec 13
2 UP-based contract killers arrested
Biker attacks girl with blade
Preventive policing must: Kiran
Sunny day after misty morning
11-km bicycle ride for climate
|
|
Gangrape victim identifies arrested accused, truck
New Delhi, December 4 Official sources said the two accused-Usman, alias Kale, and Shamshad-were identified by the victim during an identification parade.The parade was carried out at Tihar Jail. The victim, who is still recuperating, is also learnt to have said that the vehicle seized by the police was the one in which the five accused, including the two arrested, were travelling on the night of the crime, November 24. The men abducted and took her to a secluded place and raped her. The police said one of the remaining three accused had surrendered before a court in some other case filed against him and it would soon seek his custody from the court. All the accused hailed from Mewat in Haryana and have a criminal background. The success of identification parade could prove to be an important, though not conclusive, evidence in the court of law when the prosecution of the accused begins. The accused often claim in courts that their identification was prejudiced but the police believes that in a most sensitive case like this, it would go a long way in establishing their guilt. The police is also likely to collect the DNA profile of the accused and match it with bodily remains like fluid or hair, which they could have left on the person of the victim. A police official said if they could not apprehend the absconding two accused soon, they would go ahead and file the chargesheet against the three accused. "We would move court to get two absconding accused declared as Proclaimed Offenders while setting in motion the prosecution of the three accused. We would like to have conviction of the accused as soon as possible to send out strong message to such offenders," he said. |
|
CM reaffirms orders on safe-dropping of women staff
New Delhi, December 4 Besides, the government will consider setting up of a special court for rape cases as suggested by the representatives of northeast (NE) community, said the Chief Minister during a meeting held at her residence today. The meeting was attended by welfare of child development (WCD) minister Kiran Walia, Delhi Women Commission chairperson Barkha Singh, principal secretary to CM P.K.Tripathi, principal secretary (Home) G. Patnaik, joint commissioner of Delhi police Amulya Patnaik and director, WCD, and representatives of an organisation--NE Helpline. The meeting was convened to coordinate efforts of all the agencies concerned in this direction. She had held a meeting yesterday with NE MPs Forum. Dikshit stated that her government would publicise all the helpline numbers by displaying them on DTC buses. The helpline numbers of Delhi police are 100, 1090, 1091 and 23317004. Delhi police has assured that supervisors will remain available on helpline numbers to overcome the language barrier faced by NE women. Besides, the Delhi Commission for Women has a round-the-clock helpline on rape crisis -23370557 and a toll-free number 1800-11-9292. DCW has another helpline-23379181. The MCD is being requested to install proper signage and make functional streetlights in all those colonies where NE women have been putting up in large numbers. It was also decided to instruct RWAs and police stations to ensure entry on showing identity card by women while returning to their colonies in odd hours. Further the representatives suggested a speedy trial on day-to-day basis in the cases related to assault on women. |
|
Deploy more women officers for rape cases, top cop told
New Delhi, December 4 It further said that if due to any exigency, the women officers are not available, then women officers from other police stations in the district should be immediately put on the job rather than deputing male officers to handle the investigations. "It should be brought to the knowledge of the police chief so that he could examine why women police officers were not engaged for investigating the cases relating to violence against women despite a standing order in this regard," Lau said. The remarks came after noting that a male sub-inspector had investigated a case of rape against a minor victim and the senior police officers, including an assistant commissioner of police, had attributed it to non-availability of woman police officer. The court took a strong view of the fact that there are not sufficient women police officers at police stations to deal with the crime against women, particularly sexual assault cases. Terming it to be 'a matter of serious concern' the court said, "As per the guidelines issued to the Delhi police, as soon as a complaint with regard to sexual assault is received, the duty officer posted at a police station is required to call a lady police officer to make the victim and her family comfortable." It also required that the probe of the case has to be referred to the officer, preferably a lady, of not less than the rank of sub-inspector who is imparted appropriate training to deal with such victims. The court pointed out that the male officers investigating the cases involving crime against women was against the mandate of the apex court as well as the guidelines. |
|
BPOs yet to learn their lesson
The police has been emphasising several measures the industry needed to protect its women employees on the night shift. A recent survey on Facebook among the women working in the "graveyard" shifts showed that not much had changed after the incident. Most BPO companies continue to run cab services in a callous manner. They have still not deployed security guards on cabs ferrying the employees at night. A majority of 1,500 women employees said no additional security measures had been taken by their human resource departments. Drivers continue to take deserted and unsafe routes at night because they are shorter. And the plan to install the GPS system on these cabs in order to track their routes is yet to take off. Time to please the high command
Delhi ministers are falling over one another these days to please the high command in the Congress party. The ruling party is soon going to have a national session at Burari in the northwest part of the Capital and the arrangements made for the meet could make or mar some political careers. The fact that it would be a rare opportunity for local politicians to impress the high command has brought a spring in their steps. When Commonwealth Games projects were missing their deadlines causing much concern, each Delhi minister was given specific responsibility. Similarly, different tasks have been assigned to them for the meet. All the ministers and senior leaders will have their camp offices in Burari to ensure the success of the session. A senior party leader says there would be little governmental work till the meet is over as its success is the most important thing on their agenda. Some lessons
for top cop
The new commissioner of Delhi police, Brijesh Gupta, learnt some lessons in dealing with the media when he addressed his maiden press conference to announce the arrest of criminals involved in the sensational Dhaula Kuan gangrape. The jostling crowd of journalists eager to know the identity of the accused and the sequence of events found it difficult to keep patience as Gupta kept praising the investigating team headed by DCP, South, H.G.S. Dhaliwal. A reporter from a TV channel finally asked him to come to the point instead of wasting time in praising his officials in which the media was least interested. Taken aback a bit, Gupta quickly shared the probe details and then thought it prudent to let Dhaliwal take the volley of media questions. He was soon asked by journalists to move aside a little so that the DCP could be in the centre of their cameras. Mosquito-proof coolers
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has come up with mosquito-proof coolers to tackle the problems of dengue and chikungunya. The National Centre for Disease Control has developed these coolers after it was found that almost 70 per cent of breeding places for mosquitoes were in the stagnant waters of coolers. The civic agency plans to go to town with the new lot of coolers ahead of monsoon season next year. The number of dengue patients this season crossed the mark of 5,000 while
chikungunya, too, had afflicted many people. The MCD hopes it has finally found a way to control these viral diseases that plague the city year after year. AIDS awareness on-field and online
The World AIDS Day this week saw support pouring in from all the quarters with people and several organisations expressing their support to the cause through various events. The Hero Honda Indian Open golf tournament tied up with UNAIDS to donate the 'Shoot Out' prize money for the cause of HIV prevention and ending the discrimination against people affected by HIV and AIDS. The day was also marked by the coming together of the International Cricket Board, UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative in support of the cause. With the on-field display of support in full view, a song created digitally with 10 national as well as international artistes lending voice to it was released online and made available on
Facebook. The song was created in several languages targeting the younger generation across the country with the message of promoting safe sex. (Contributed by Jyoti
Rai, Syed Ali Ahmed, Sandeep Yadav, Himani Chandel, Ananya Panda) |
|
|
Around 1,000 illegal units running in Delhi
New Delhi, December 4 On the basis of the complaint, the department has done a survey of 396 units. Of them, four were found legal units, 58 dead units while 334 were illegal. The department has given 43 industrial units to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, 16 to Delhi Pollution Control Committee and 275 units have been handed over to the SDMs concerned for taking the necessary action. Giving a break-up of sealing the industrial units this year, the minister said that in north district, seven units, southeast six, northeast 41, east seven, central 16, west 199, south 21 and in northwest 17 units have been sealed. New Delhi district has no industrial units. The department conducted survey in only two villages of northeast Delhi - Pooth Kalan and Kirari Suleman. Now the government has planned to conduct survey in all the villages of the city. The minister said that he directed the department concerned to seal these factories in the villages. He said that in 1996, the Delhi government had made a plan to shift the non-polluting industries to Bawana and Bhorgarh industrial areas. Under the scheme, the government had allotted 22,763 plots in Bawana and the rest were shifted to Bhorgarh. But the rate of land in both the areas is different. Land in Bhorgarh is costly due to various reasons. The minister did not mention any plan to rehabilitate polluting industries in the national Capital. |
|
Illegal polluting plant sealed in Noida
Noida, December 4 The plant had been operating in the residential area, violating the pollution norms for the last one year. The residents had lodged a complaint against the plant with the District Magistrate and regional office of Pollution Control Board. Amit Garg, the owner of Mayasheel Construction Hot Mix plant had not obtained permission from the Pollution Control Board nor had he registered it with the District Industries Centre. The residents of the area complained that it was difficult to breathe as the smoke emitted by the plant was quite thick. On the orders of the District Magistrate, the plant was inspected in Bisnoli on November 12 and the complaint was found to be justified. The polluting unit was then sealed. SDM Dadri Somya Srivastava said hot mix plant was violating the environment ministry's norms with immunity. The owner Amit Garg did not even possess the documents of having deposited the commercial tax. Regional Pollution Control officer Parsnath said the hot mix used in road construction emits dense black smoke of charcoal burning which pollutes the atmosphere. So the plant has been sealed in public interest. |
|
Rs 10-lakh loot at retd engineer’s house
Noida, December 4 Chander Maneshwar Jaruhar, the retired chief engineer from government undertaking Project Development India Ltd, a resident of C Block in Sector-31, had gone out on Wednesday. On his return on Friday, the family found that their house had been ransacked and all the belongings strewn around. The thieves entered the house by breaking through a window grill and decamped with cash, jewellery and other valuables worth Rs 10 lakh. The police lifted some fingerprints and brought a dog squad also. According to the police, the thieves knew that the family had gone out. They examined and upturned every item in the house. The intruders broke open the almirah and removed the beds. They remained in the house for hours. Shops looted in Gt Noida
Bandits broke open the shutters of two shops and decamped with valuables worth Rs 15 lakh in Tughlakpur village under Kasna Kotwali. The victims lodged a written report with Kasna police. The first theft took place in Devender's shop, Dev Cloth House. The bandits decamped with hundreds of cloth bundles. Later, the thieves targeted Bhole Cloth House in the same market. Pants, shirts, jackets, suit lengths etc were taken away. Ironically, bandits had targeted these very shops last month also. |
|
Lottery may decide nursery children’s future
New Delhi, December 4 However, the replacement of the point system is being seen as a difficult if not impractical move by the school principals, educationists as well as a majority of parents. Sources within the Department of Education indicate that, "the guidelines should be out next week and the criterion for admissions is now going to be decided by the lottery system. It is plain luck which will figure in the admission of children to schools across the country." However, not everyone is happy. Ameeta Wattal, principal of Springdales School, said, "The point system had provided an element of stability to school admissions and this criterion was acceptable to both the parents and schools. With the lottery system, it is simple luck which will decide the future of children. There may be children who will lose out due to no fault of theirs. Luck has never been a fair deciding factor which makes the whole process a lot more complicated." Yet another principal L V Sehgal of Bal Bharati School, said, "The lottery system as the deciding criterion does complicate things for both the schools and children. With the point system, it was parameters like neighbourhood, siblings, alumni, girl child, among a host of factors that decided the selection of a child to school. Now only luck will count, this is not fair. This makes a child and parents insecure about admissions and creates many unforeseen complications for the school administration. The government should leave the details of the nursery admissions to the schools." The nursery admission process has been further delayed this year as the DOE has set January 1 as the date for the sale of forms by schools. Meanwhile, Sumit Vohra of nursery admissions.com speaks of increasing parental concerns with the new guidelines, "Many parents are worried that with the lottery system, transparency is going to become an issue. How will you check schools for keeping the lottery system fair? Many parents want the DOE to put together a monitoring mechanism for school admissions if the lottery system is to be instituted." Shalini Chopra, a parent who has to get her four-year-old daughter admitted to school this year, pointed out, "Luck is a fragile wicket to lean on for your child's admission. To cap it, how do we know that the lottery is fair and there has been no cheating. The government must look into all these issues while formulating their guidelines." |
|
‘90% Delhiites not vaccinated against Hepatitis B’
New Delhi, December 4 Doctors point out that hepatitis, involving inflammation of the liver, is five times more prevalent than HIV and vaccination may prevent the spread of the infection, which may lead to life-threatening condition resulting with liver failures. In such situation, transplantation, which call for high costs, is the only way out, say doctors. Stressing the need to generate greater awareness about Yellow Ribbon Campaign-a drive that aims to disseminate information about Hepatitis, she said, "Hepatitis should be given as much importance as HIV and more so as hepatistis kills more people than HIV/AIDS. Children should be inspired to spread awareness about hepatitis." "Hepatitis, despite being as perilous as HIV, receives inadequate attention in India. It is a manmade disease and infection rate of hepatitis is higher in adults. Among infants and children, it may become chronic," the minister said. According to estimates from the UNAIDS 2009 AIDS Epidemic Report, around 31.3 million adults and 2.1 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2008. "India after China, has the second largest number of population suffering from Hepatitis B virus, which is over 36 million. India needs to be made a Hepatitis-free country," said Naveen Jindal, MP. Director of ILBS Dr S K Sarin, said, "The concept of organ donation should be promoted . For ten years, 2.7 million children have already been vaccinated in Delhi." |
|
Hearing on IAS officer’s bail plea on Dec 13
New Delhi, December 4 "The officer has been sent to judicial custody after undergoing custodial interrogation for six days. The case is still at an early stage of investigation," public prosecutor Rajeev Mohan said. Singh, then working as a director, internal security, Ministry of Home Affairs, was arrested along with Vineet Kumar, CMD of Kolkata-based Temptation Food Pvt Ltd, by the Delhi police's special cell on November 23. Kumar was arrested for allegedly acting as a middleman between Singh and the receivers of the classified information. Singh has been accused of leaking information pertaining to a US-based telecom company, Telcordia. The special cell had kept Singh under surveillance for more than a month before his arrest. |
|
Held for kidnap, murder of 7-yr-old boy
New Delhi, December 4 "We felt that the crime was committed by someone known to the victim family. During investigation we zeroed down on Dheeraj, a friend of the family, as he was making contradictory statements. On interrogation, he broke down and confessed to the crime," said a senior police official. Dheeraj revealed that he was facing financial crunch. So, he along with his friend Aggarwal conspired to kidnap Tilak. He developed relationship with Tilak and his family. On November 29, he took Tilak to Jheel Park and called Manish over there. The two then strangulated Tilak with a string and crushed his head with a stone. Next day, the two met near Shahdara Metro station and made a ransom call for Rs 1 lakh to Tilak's father. The police has recovered the string used by the two to kill
Tilak. |
|
2 UP-based contract killers arrested
New Delhi, December 4 The accused were apprehended from near Sarai Kale Khan bus stand. The police has seized a country-made .315 bore pistol, two live cartridges and a stolen Santro car from them. A case under various sections of the Arms Act has been registered against the two. "The accused came to Delhi to kill Rajbir, a native of Muradnagar in UP. For this, they were paid by one Pappu Tyagi. Tyagi had allegedly killed Rajbir's brother Subhash and got Rajbir killed to stop him from pursuing Subhash's murder case. Tyagi is currently in Dasna Jail," explained a senior police official. Tyagi had promised to pay Rs 1.5 lakh for killing Rajbir. He was killed on November 14. |
|
Biker attacks girl with blade
New Delhi, December 4 She got down from a bus at Avantika Chowk and was waiting for another bus when an unknown person on a speeding red bike attacked her with a surgical blade. Locals rushed her to a nearby hospital where she got 23 stitches. According to the police, the girl could not see the attacker as it all happened within seconds. Eyewitnesses said the man was wearing a helmet and was on a red bike. However, nobody saw his face. This is the seventh case in the past 20 days where a girl has been attacked by an unknown person with a surgical blade, say sources. Though the Mangolpuri police station is learnt to have received seven such complaints in the last 20 days, the victims' families allege that there has been no response from the police. "The police says that it will investigate the case, but the cases are increasing and no one has been arrested yet," said Girdhari Lal, father of the latest victim. |
|
|
Preventive policing must: Kiran
New Delhi, December 4 She said in her Facebook account, "Crimes such as gangrape etc committed by repeat offenders is proof of absence of preventive policing. Supervisors must be held accountable for such re-offending". She said at a programme later that basic policing exercises like having beat constables, in which police officials are given charge of small areas and they are supposed to keep track on criminal activities especially those with a criminal background, were missing and it had abetted the criminals. Bedi, who quit after she was overlooked for the post of commissioner of police in Delhi, said the new commissioner, B.K. Gupta, had said in his first interview that he would restore the beat constabulary, which was a confirmation that this practice was no longer in use. She said they needed to have long-term solution to such things. Looking into a specific incident was all right, but preventive mechanism needed to be put in place for the long term, she added. |
|
|
Sunny day after misty morning
New Delhi, December 4 The humidity levels oscillated between a high of 95 per cent and a low of 50 per cent during the day. According to an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the weather on Sunday will be similar. "As there is no forecast of rain, the weather tomorrow will be sunny and the sky will be clear. The maximum and minimum temperatures will hover around 24 and 9 degrees," he said.
— IANS |
|
|
11-km bicycle ride for climate
New Delhi, December 4 The key objectives of the event are to raise awareness about climate change and rising vehicular pollution besides promoting cycling as the environment-friendly way of commuting within the city. |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Classified Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Many had thought that the BPO industry would plug the loopholes in its pick-and-drop facility for its female employees, which were brought to the fore by the gangrape of a Mizo woman recently.