New Delhi, February 12
The JNU authorities might have cracked the whip by expelling two students and rusticating the third for a year, all found guilty on different counts in the case of leaking an MMS of a student couple, but any police action against them would have to wait as the cops have decided to seek a legal opinion to decide their next course of action.

The JNU had earlier taken the action against them after finding their replies to the show cause notice "not satisfactory".

The absence of the girl's version from the entire drama has made the case complicated for the cops as their case, if any, may not stand legal scrutiny without the supporting evidence from her.

She was, however, withdrawn from the university by her family soon after the MMS was circulated and there is no possibility of her ever speaking on the matter.

Official sources said the action of the accused was grave enough to send them behind bars but absence of any testimonial from the victim has come as a shield for them.

After conducting investigation for 10 days, the proctorial report submitted to the vice-chancellor had found Janardan Kumar of School of Languages and MCA student Balbir Chand responsible for making the MMS.

While these two have been expelled, the third accused, a student of Periyar hostel, Rahul Kumar, also found to be involved in the incident has been rusticated. The MMS was filmed in his hostel room.

"All the three students found guilty were asked to file replies to the show cause notices. However, we found the replies, not satisfactory. Orders for their expulsion have already been issued.

“The case has now been handed over to the Delhi police. A copy of the report has been given to the ACP Vasant Vihar. The cyber cell of the Delhi police is also likely to investigate the matter, as to how the objectionable clip was circulated," said JNU chief proctor HGS Bohidar.

Senior JNU officials said that there was no room for leniency in the matter as the probe report successfully established that blackmail was the motive behind circulating the video clip.

"The girl was planning to get married and Janardhan Kumar was annoyed at this. He blackmailed her using the video to prevent the marriage. The girl however found out about the video much later when she demanded all the copies of the video and destroyed them. We have received one copy of the video from his possession in a pen drive. The evidence will be submitted to the police, if asked," said Bohidar.

"Rahul from Periyar Hostel did not know that the film was being made in his room. But the fact that he allowed the couple inside is in violation of the hostel manual," he added.

Speaking further on the revision and tightening of the hostel rules on campus, Bohidar said, "Circular has been issued and hostel wardens have been briefed.

New Delhi, February 12
Growing tendency among young doctors at the private as well as government hospitals to prescribe drugs with proprietary names instead of their generic versions has compelled poor patients, especially visiting the OPDs of government hospitals to purchase costlier medicines from outside many times.

"The drug name is usually a part of the chemical formulation and so doctors tend to prescribe it. Also, when a drug is brought into the market, the company presents it vigorously in order to have maximum share. So, one has to get into the habit of prescribing drugs by generic names," said Dr R N Das of Directorate of Health Services.

As medicines for the city hospitals are procured through the central procurement agency of the Directorate of Health Services as per the NCT Delhi government's approved list of essential drugs, there are several medicines such as augmentine (antibiotic), which are available only for the IPD patients and all patients visiting the OPD have to purchase them from outside if the doctor prescribes.

Further, many times the hospital's pharmacy runs out of stock even as the hospitals are supposed to store a buffet stock of essential drugs for three months. Besides, many times the doctors end up prescribing branded drugs, which may be combination types.

"The doctors should prescribe the medicines that are available in the hospital rather than going for branded ones. Usually JRs and SRs prescribe medicines by brand names. In this regard, we have issued a recent circular asking doctors to prescribe drugs by generic names. A law should be put into place regarding this," said Dr Rajpal, the medical superintendent of Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital (GTB).

"We have a comprehensive list of essential drugs as approved by the government and we store medicines accordingly. We also have a contingency plan under which in case any drug is unavailable, the hospital gets it through local purchase. It may happen that, the supply order may be delayed, but normally the drugs are available in the hospital," said Dr R Dayal, in-charge of the drugs section at GTB.

However, many maintain that memorising drugs by their generic formulation is not practicable for doctors who are already stressed given the high footfall at a majority of city's government hospitals' OPDs, others feel that a provision of mandating prescription of generic drugs is a must.

In this regard, the Union health ministry had issued an order last year for the dispensaries covered under the Central Government Health Scheme, but the move has not been binding to other hospitals with concerns being raised by multiple quarters, including the pharmaceutical giants.

"The government had advised all the doctors practising in government hospitals to give prescriptions with generic names but there hasn't been any specific notification towards this. Moreover, all tenders floated by the hospitals are generic-based and the hospitals' pharmacy sells medicines according to that," the medical superintendent of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital Dr T S Sidhu observed.

The MMS scandal at the JNU is going to make life difficult for student couples living on the premises. They used to spend time together, even for days on end, mostly in boys' hostels without inviting any questioning gaze from the authorities who would prefer to look the other way.

The filming and leak of the steamy MMS has come in handy for them in cracking the whip while the liberals have been silenced, at least for now, by the embarrassing episode.

New Delhi, February 12
The Delhi state Congress has left the appointment of secretaries, general secretaries, vice-presidents and other office-bearers on the AICC chairperson. These appointments have been due for four months.

Party sources said that the reason for the delay in these appointments is differences among the senior party leaders. Hence, it was decided unanimously that appointment of all the office-bearers in Delhi should be left on Sonia Gandhi.

Mahesh Joshi who looks after the Delhi affairs in the party said that election of the block level in the Congress had been completed. As far as secretaries, general secretaries, vice-presidents and other office-bearers, it would be done by the high command as there was some misunderstanding over the selection of the candidates.

When asked that there was some rigging during the election of block-level office-bearers, he said it was not a major case. A few cases which came to light were rectified.

DPCC president Jai Prakash Agarwal said that appointment of secretaries, general secretaries and vice-presidents was beyond his jurisdiction. It is done

by the in-charge of state affairs - Mahesh Joshi. As far as rigging in the block elections is concerned, there are 140 blocks in the Capital. If any particular block is pointed out, it will be rectified.

He said the party is still committed to getting all the unauthorized colonies regularized by providing basic facilities.

He called upon the party workers to stand up and make the people aware of the 'anti-public' policies of the BJP in the MCD.

New Delhi, February 12
The economic offences wing of the Delhi police has claimed to have busted a gang allegedly preparing fake blood glucose monitoring strips and selling them as One Touch Ultra, the brand name of such strips manufactured by Johnson and Johnson company. Three persons have been arrested.

The police said the act of the accused is a very serious health hazard as it gave false results to patients, resulting in dose modifications with possibility of fatal consequences.

K.K. Vyas, DCP, said the accused-- Sanjeev Kumar (34), who has a shop in Bhagirath Place; Rajesh Aggarwal (22), who has a shop in Chandni Chowk, and Surender Prasad (65), who too has a shop in Chandni Chowk-on a tip-off.

During a raid conducted at their shops, the police seized numerous fake blood monitoring strips.

Though the market value of the seized strips is only a few lakhs of rupees, they would have caused serious health damages to people, said the police.

New Delhi, February 12
To motivate beat officers, Delhi police commissioner BK Gupta today rewarded 17 constables from different police stations for their exceptional work.

Gupta said he had decided to reward the best beat officers from each police station every month so as to encourage them. The various deputy commissioners of police will select the recipients.

The constables were given a commendation certificate and Rs 2,000 each.

The commissioner said the 17 were selected from all districts after assessing their performance on a quarterly basis.

"This initiative is one of the steps aimed at strengthening the beat system as well as to motivate staff at police station level for better policing," he added. - IANS

New Delhi, February 12
The police has claimed to have solved a string of robberies with the arrest of four persons and seized 2,850 mobile phones valued at more than Rs 1 crore.

The gang committed its recent crime on February 1 when it intercepted a vehicle carrying mobile phones in Paschim Vihar and escaped with 57 cartons of Chinese phones. The police said it received information that that the members of the gang would come to Jalebi Chowk, Sultanpuri, in a white Hyundai car. A police party intercepted the vehicle and arrested the three occupants-- Dharmender (26), Sachin (22) and Pravin alias Chhotu (22), all residents of Jhajjar in Haryana. Two cartons of mobile phones were recovered from them.

They admitted that the mobile phones seized from them had been robbed by them on February 1. They also said the remaining 55 cartons were kept in a godown owned by their gang leader, Amit, who also hailed from Jhajjar.

New Delhi, February 12
The World Philatelic Exhibition began today with a special postage stamp on the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, being by far the most sought-after.

The stamp priced at Rs 250 and made from khadi, the fabric of choice for the Bapu, was a collector's delight and its premium limited edition in a miniature sheet format was seeing enthusiasts lined up to buy it at Pragati Maidan, the venue of Indipex 2011, which was inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil.

The high point of the stamp is that it was made from khadi and Harpeet Singh, the director of Indipex, said India had never issued a stamp on a material other than paper. Other countries have used materials like silk, gold and even diamonds and they decided to choose khadi due to the Mahatma's fondness for the comfortable fabric.

He said they were expecting a good response to the stamp but it has been much better.

There was disappointment all round when the sale was stopped after the stocks ran out but it was resumed after fresh stocks were brought in about half an hour later.

Many philatelist said Gandhi was unarguable the most popular choice among them and it was but natural that they would go for a rare stamp like this.

Indipex is also selling the stamp online on its website and an individual can order a maximum of 10 stamps.

An India Post official said they had printed one lakh special khadi stamps especially for the event and they might order more going by the demand.

The exhibition also offered visitors a chance to personalize a stamp with their own photographs.

Officials said as many as 595 collectors from 60 countries were taking part in the exhibition organised in collaboration with the Philatelic Congress of India under the auspices of the Federation Internationale de Philatelie and the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately.

Ghaziabad, February 12
A youth has been allegedly castrated by some unidentified eunuchs here, the police said today.

Nadim, a native of Faridpur district, was emasculated last night by some unidentified eunuchs and was left profusely bleeding, superintendent of police (Rural) M M Beg said.

The victim has been admitted to a hospital where his condition is stated to be critical, he said.

A case has been registered in this regard and investigations are on to trace those guilty, the official added.--PTI