NEIGHBOURHOOD

Child dies after falling into swamp
Was chasing a kite
Tribune News Service

Kalka, January 29
Resentment prevailed among hundreds of devotees, who had to face inconvenience today due to the closure of main door of the historic Kali Mata temple for more than two hours in morning hours.

The eye witnesses said the main door of the temple was opened for the devotees at 5 am daily, but today the door remained closed till 7 am.

Subsequently, hundreds of devotees, who had come to pay their obeisance, had to wait for more than two hours.

Man Mohan Aggarwal, a resident, informed Sajjan Singh Hooda, secretary of Mansa Devi Shrine Board, about the mismanagement at Kalka Temple, who said since the duty of the priest at Kalka Temple was shifted to some other temple, which caused inconvenience to the devotees.

Following which GD Datana, executive officer, of the Shrine Board visited the temple. A delegation of residents also met Naresh Kumar, tehsildar Kalka.

The residents have also urged the district administration to make adequate arrangements for the permanent priest in the temple to avoid any inconvenience.

Chandigarh, January 29
Taking note of the tendency of police personnel to suppress the truth in custodial death cases, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has called for “responsible and satisfactory investigation”. The Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel has asserted: “While care has to be taken to see that police force is not demoralised by false implication, case of a custodial death cannot be brushed under the carpet, having regard to the acknowledged tendency of suppressing the truth by the concerned police personnel, who alone know the circumstances in which custodial death took place.”

The assertion came in Kapurthala district resident Roor Singh’s custodial death case. The Bench ruled: “Death in police custody is a serious matter and it will be unrealistic to expect direct evidence. To uphold the rule of law, image of the police in estimation of public has to be maintained by responsible and satisfactory investigation.”

The Bench added: “The malady of custodial death has been noticed in 113th report of the Law Commission recommending amendment to the Evidence Act to provide for a presumption against concerned police officers for any injury to a person in custody and also in various judgments.” Quoting the National Police Commission’s fourth report of June 1980, the Bench observed “nothing is so dehumanising as the conduct of the police in practicing torture of any kind on a person in their custody. The Bench also referred to other judgments saying the foundations of the criminal justice delivery system would be shaken and the civilisation itself would risk the consequence of heading towards total decay resulting in anarchy and authoritarianism reminiscent of barbarism, unless stern measures are taken to check the malady.

Zirakpur, January 29
Two unidentified miscreants snatched a Maruti swift car from Navjit Singh, a resident of Mohali, at gunpoint outside a marriage palace on the Zirakpur-Kalka highway near Panchkula barrier late on Friday.

Police officials said the accused fired in the air and at the rear seat of the vehicle to intimidate the couple before fleeing towards Zirakpur. The police recovered an empty shell of .32 bore from the spot, the police added.

Narrating the incident, the victim, Navjit Singh, said he had come with his wife to attend a wedding party at Zirakpur. He parked his car near a marriage palace at 9.30 pm.

When he came out of the marriage palace around 12.15 am, he saw that a white colour Maruti car was parked near his car.

When the victim started his car, the accused blocked his way by parking their car in front of his vehicle. One of the accused came out of the car and put the pistol on the victim’s temple and told them to leave the car. When he resisted, the accused started firing in air and Navjit along with his wife left the car to save their lives.

The accused fled with the car under the cover of the darkness. The accused also took along his mobile. He immediately informed the police about the incident.

SHO, Zirakpur, Yogi Raj said a case had been registered against unidentified robbers. He said police teams had been dispatched to various places.

Mohali, January 29
The Mohali police today nabbed three youths and recovered 40 kg of poppy husk from their possession near Cosmo Hospital here this evening.

The accused have been identified as Om Parkash, Suresh and Vipin, all residents of Ludhiana. A police official said on the secret information, a police team laid a naka near the hospital in the evening. During checking, it was found that the accused were carrying 40-kg poppy husk in three bags.

Chandigarh, January 29
Guru Nanak Public School (GNPS), Sector 36, lifted the Cremica Cup after thrashing DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, by nine wickets in the final held at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium here today.

Along with the trophy, the winning squad also pocketed Rs 75,000 as the cash prize, while the runner-up were given Rs 31,000 as the cash award.

Earlier, electing to bat first, the DAV team accumulated a total of 132 all out in the allotted quota of 20 overs. Shahbaz Ali was the top scorer of the team with 31 runs, followed by Abhishek Verma, who hit 22 runs.

For GNPS, Arpit Singh made things tough for DAV batsmen with his clinical bowling spell. He returned with the figure three for 16 in four overs. Kshitij Sharma supported Arpit well and claimed three for 22.

In reply, GNPS hit 133 runs, losing one wicket in 19 overs. Their win revolved around the top class unbeaten knock of 75 runs by Abhishek Verma. He slammed nine boundaries in the course, while facing a total of 60 balls. Jaskaran Vij was the other notable batsman with chipping in 38-run knock.

Scores:

DAV-8: 132 all out in 20 overs (Shahbaz Ali 31, Abhishek Verma 22, Aman Bharti 19, Krishan Khatri 10; Kshitij Sharma 3 for 22, Arpit Singh 3 for 16, Sanjog Singh 1 for 19, Simranpreet Singh 1 for 26, Veer Karan Goel 1 for 28).

GNPS-36: 133 for 1 in 19 overs (Shivam Bhambri 75 not out, Jaskaran Vir Singh 38, Simranpreet Singh 15 not out; Aman Bharti 1 for 26).

Individual prizes: Rakesh Rawat from DAV-8 was declared as the best bowler of the series for taking total 10 wickets in the tournament.

Jaskaran Vir Singh from GNPS-36 won the best batsman of the series.

The man of the series was awarded to all-rounder Simranpreet from GNPS-36 for accumulating 120 runs and taking 10 wickets and won the CBZ bike.

Mohali, January 29
Chandigarh lifted the FC Mittal Trophy of the Inter-District Cricket Tournament for one-day limited overs, by beating Jalandhar by 114 runs in the final match, which concluded at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today.

Earlier, the Chandigarh team got off to a good start, as the openers, Amit Prashar and skipper Vishwas Bhalla, put on 31 runs for the first wicket in 4.1 overs before Bhalla became the victim of medium pacer Navdeep Singh at his individual 10 off 13. After losing four more quick wickets of Gurkirat Walia (four), Amit Prashar (24), Simrat Bawa (four) and Gaurav Gambhir (nine), Chandigarh was tottering at 93 for five in 20.3 overs.

Gaurav Gupta hit 67 off 88 balls laced with six boundaries before his return to the pavilion. Bipul Sharma was joined by Amit Uniyal and the duo added 43 runs for the seventh wicket before Bipul’s wicket was claimed by Navdeep Singh. Bipul slammed 74 off 65 with the help of six boundaries and one towering six. After that, Karanveer (32 off 22) and Amit Uniyal (44 off 36) steered the team to a respectable score by scoring 53 runs for the eighth wicket in just 5.2 overs.

For Jalandhar, the bowling honours were shared by Navdeep Singh (two for 47), Gursewak Singh (two for 43), Taruwar Kohli (two for 46) and Rahul Sharma (two for 70). In their reply, Jalandhar started on a dismal note when their opener Ishan Malhotra sent back to pavilion by Amit Uniyal when the team’s total was zero.

The winners trophy and cash prize of Rs 21,000 was handed over to the Chandigarh team by Chaman Lal Malhotra, chairman of senior selection committee, PCA.