Karnal, May 28
The Sweety rape-murder case today took a new turn with family members of the accused claiming that their wards “are innocent and are being falsely implicated by the police to save the real culprits”.

Manjeet, mother of Virender, alias Vicky, one of the three accused who were arrested by the police, refuted the claim of the police that the Scorpio allegedly used by the culprits for abducting Sweety from a market in Kurukshetra on May 4 was recovered from Shahbad. She said the truth was that the vehicle was taken by the police on Thursday night from their house in Nagla village.

She said Virender was missing for the past 24 hours and the family came to know about his whereabouts only after the police announced his arrest. The family members alleged that the police had failed to arrest the real culprits and was making their children a “scapegoat” to save its skin.

Paramjeet, wife of Virender, was very upset about the arrest of her husband and threatened to commit suicide if her husband was falsely implicated in the case. There is no criminal record against them, she said.

Interestingly, the Haryana police which had no clue to the culprits for the past 22 days suddenly received critical information about the culprits just two days after the state government announced to hand over the probe to the CBI.

Randhir Singh, father of Sweety, said he had no idea of those who had been arrested in this connection. However, he expressed the apprehension that the arrested persons may not be the one the family was suspecting to be involved in the heinous crime.

Further, the arrests were made in the wake of strong protests from various social organisations and for over 20 days the family members of the victim were not provided any information about the progress of the investigation.

Another intriguing question that remains unanswered is why didn’t the police act immediately when the complaint about the abduction of Sweety was lodged and allowed the crime to be committed.

Kaithal/Yamunanagar, May 28
A 35-year-old married woman of Kharoudi village of Guhla subdivision here was allegedly kidnapped in a car from and raped by four persons last night.Later, the accused tied the woman’s hands and threw her into the Yamuna Canal near Yamunanagar.

However, the woman managed to crawl to safety because of the low water level. Locals spotted her and informed the Sadar police, following which a police party from Guhla accompanied by the Kharoudi sarpanch and some family members of the victim went to Yamunanagar and brought the victim back.

Simardeep Singh, Kaithal SP, said no complaint was lodged with the police till this morning. An FIR would be registered after the medical examination of the woman. The SP said the woman, who hailed from Bengal, was married in the village. She had two sons aged 10 and 5.

The woman, in her statement to the police, has alleged that she was abducted by four persons. They allegedly beat her up and raped her. They tied her hands and feet and threw her in the dry bed of the Yamuna river on the outskirts of the town. She said her husband’s nephew was among the accused.

The woman also told the police that her husband was mentally challenged. He had a property dispute with his brothers, who wanted to grab his land.

ASI Ram Chander said they had recorded the victim’s statement and informed their counterparts in Kaithal. The woman had been handed over to the Kaithal police, who had taken her back for treatment and further investigation of the matter. 

Chandigarh, May 28
The Haryana Government has suspended two anganwari supervisors for “non-performance” in Ambala and Kaithal while directing its field staff to carry out surprise checks at regular intervals. Besides, sugar supplies will replace jaggery at all anganwaris to ensure quality while the government is already in the process of procuring storage bins for the supplies provided.

The action came after The Tribune exposed the functioning of anganwaris in Haryana. The two reports had highlighted that even as the government continues to pump in finances into anganwaris, these have been reduced to community kitchens with piling stocks, no storage and no children.

Following the reports, the Women and Child Development Department, Haryana, suspended supervisors Krishna from Kaithal and Sangeeta Chawla of Ambala and sealed their registers.

Confirming this, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal said the department would work upon activating its field staff for monitoring the anganwaris.

“While the head office will carry out surprise inspections, I will personally go and check the functioning of the anganwaris. Besides, the pro forma framed by the department has an in-built component of monitoring, which the field staff will have to undertake,” she said.

She said sugar had replaced jaggery supplies at some places. However, the department would ensure that the same was implemented elsewhere also and storage bins for food items were provided.

However, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) Supervisors’ Association has criticised the government’s “knee-jerk” reaction to the reports. “The implementation of the entire scheme on ground is dissatisfactory. The suspension of the two supervisors is only a cover-up to hide the fact that the anganwaris all over the state suffer from the same ailments. The supervisors are not at fault because each of them has more than their share of anganwaris to monitor,” says Savita, president of the association.

She maintains that the pro forma circulated by the department is not going to check the rot and corruption at the top in the system. “The Kaithal supervisor monitors 80 anganwaris while the one at Ambala manages 32. It is not humanly possible to monitor such a large number. Further, they don’t have the authority to deduct a day’s salary of an anganwari worker where they find something amiss. The department itself has failed to get its act together and the supervisors, being easy targets, are made scapegoats while the “seniors” get away with impunity,” she adds.

Emphasising the need to reach out to the beneficiaries, the association president says the government has failed to not only provide basic facilities, but also does not bother with the feedback from them for better implementation. “We have met everybody to explain that the menu meant for children in one-and-a-half to three years of age group is not “attractive”, but the officials turn a deaf ear to our suggestions,” she explains.

Faridabad, May 28
The Haryana Sarv Karamchari Sangh has decided to intensify its agitation from June 15 if the government does not accept its demands related to the welfare of the working women.

A senior functionary of the sangh Subhash Lamba said here today that the details regarding the proposed agitation would be taken in the first week of June.

State convener of the women’s wing of the sangh Savita lamented that the working women had been resorting to agitation since January to press for their demands.

A delegation of the working women met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on January 12. This was followed by a resolution passed by the state convention of the working women held in Rohtak on February 6, in which the government was urged to consider the demands, but to no avail.

The women had been seeking a special cell headed by a female officer in all departments in the districts to monitor the cases of sexual harassment.

The sangh alleged that workers, including ASHA, those related to mid-day meals in schools, computer operators and other class III and IV categories of jobs, were not given minimum wages. Moreover, they did not have the benefit of leave, including maternity leave, which was against the norms, it added.

Besides, the women wanted the government to enforce a policy of reservation of seats for them in the Haryana Roadways buses. 

Chandigarh, May 28
With a view to putting Haryana on the world aviation map and scaling up the aviation infrastructure, the state government has a plan to set up two integrated helicopter hubs and three general aviation hubs in the state on the public-private partnership mode.

An official spokesman said today that the two integrated helicopter hubs were planned at Pinjore and Narnaul to provide aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, and fixed base operations. The three general aviation hubs, proposed at Hisar, Bhiwani and Karnal, would provide the same services for light and medium fixed wing aircrafts and helicopters.