New Delhi, June 6
The Supreme Court today directed the Centre, the Delhi Government and the city police commissioner to provide all details relating to the forcible eviction of yoga guru Ramdev and his followers from the Ramlila Ground here.

Taking suo motu congnisance of the midnight crackdown on the fasting yoga guru and his supporters yesterday, a vacation Bench of Justices BS Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Union Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary of Delhi, besides the city police chief. The court directed them to file their response within two weeks.

“Considering the gravity of the police atrocities and the brutal force that was used by the police to disperse the innocent people who had gathered at Ramlila Maidan in furtherence to the permission granted by the state is a matter of concern for the court,” the court said.

The court took note of articles and reports published in national dailies depicting the “sad state of affairs and brutality of the state in dealing with its innocent citizens”.

“Thus, we, suo motu, issue notices to the Union Home Secretary, Chief Secretary, Delhi and the Police Commissioner of Delhi to show cause and file their personal affidavits within two weeks from today explaining the circumstances in which such power with brutality and atrocities was asserted against a large number of people who had gathered at Ramlila Maidan,” the Bench said. The court listed the matter for the next hearing in the second week of July.

The Bench passed the order immediately after the court proceedings began in the morning. The court had agreed to hear an advocate-petitioner’s plea on the issue. But when the advocate made a mention of his PIL, the Bench said it was not willing to hear his pleadings as the details of the petition had been leaked to the media before it was taken up by the court.

The petitioner had sought a white paper on the episode, providing all details of the negotiations between Ramdev and the government, the reported deal between them and the police action. 

Haridwar, June 6
Baba Ramdev, who was caught in a dramatic fashion while trying to flee in a woman's attire from Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, today justified his act. "It was not a weakness to be in woman's dress. A mother gives birth to a man," Ramdev said when asked at a press conference here about his act of shedding the saffron attire and posing as an injured woman in trying to escape from the protest site following the police crackdown. He also reiterated that his ongoing agitation would not stop until Central government accepted his demands with serious intent.

After taking on Congress president Sonia Gandhi today Ramdev lashed out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for keeping mum on the whole issue despite being at the helm of affairs. He said despite being at such a high constitutional post Singh failed to carry out his duties appropriately.

He said though he respected the PM at a personal level, he had no good feelings for him anymore as the PM was leading a government that carried out brutal attacks on innocent people. He even alleged that police personnel didn’t try to extinguish the fire at the pandal in Ramlila Maidan deliberately, which hinted at their intent to burn him inside.

When asked about his movement being labeled by some Congress leaders as pro-BJP, he said the fact was that barring the Congress, all other parties were supporting his satyagraha, be it in respect of bringing back black money or the menace of corruption.

He also took a dig at the Congress government saying, “ The Congress government tries to suppress the voice of peaceful activists, while sides with those who take away hard-earned money of the Indian people stacked in foreign banks.”

Later addressing the media in the evening Swami Ramdev said the second phase of his satyagraha will be carried out at Patanjali Yog Peeth in Haridwar till he got permission to organise the main agitation in Delhi. 

New Delhi, June 6
A Congress press conference aimed primarily at berating Baba Ramdev and his associates took a dramatic turn when a person posing as a journalist tried to attack party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi with a shoe in full view of TV cameras.

Identified as Sunil Kumar of Nav-Sanchar Patrika from Rajasthan, the man in a red and grey striped T-shirt was sitting at the left of the podium from where Dwivedi, accompanied by party spokesman Manish Tewari, was busy slamming Ramdev, the BJP and its fountainhead the RSS.

Kumar then got up and went close to the exit door near the dais and asked Dwivedi whether the Congress was happy that the Opposition was weak in the country. Dwivedi answered that nobody should ever be under the misconception that there was no Opposition. While the query left mediapersons in the room wondering about his identity, Kumar could be heard murmuring that his question had not been answered.

As the press conference was about to conclude, the attacker took out one of his shoes and climbed on the stage and rushed toward Dwivedi, but stopped short of hitting him.

As Dwivedi pushed him away, AICC staffer Ashok Kaushik and journalists present at the conference pounced upon him. Kumar was then dragged from the briefing hall, kicked and beaten up by the visibly angry group. Meanwhile Dwivedi, who was called by party president Sonia Gandhi to brief her about the incident at her residence, described the incident a “pre-planned” attack.

Hyderabad, June 6
The Congress is all set to reward the actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi with a Cabinet berth at the Centre in return for his decision to merge his 30-month-old Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) with the ruling party.

Apart from this, three of the PRPs, 18 legislators in the 294-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly will be inducted into the state Cabinet. Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi and some of his senior party colleagues are scheduled to attend a dinner meeting being hosted by AICC general secretary in charge of AP Ghulam Nabi Azad in Delhi. The date and venue for the formal merger of the PRP with the Congress is expected to be decided at the meeting.

“The inclusion of the PRP nominees into the Kiran Kumar Reddy’s Cabinet will be done as per the merger agreement reached between the two parties. The Cabinet expansion will take place anytime from now,” a PRP source said.

For the ruling party, the entry of megastar into its fold is expected to bolster its efforts to checkmate YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has been poaching on its legislators. Congress leaders perceive twin advantages in a new relationship.

Chandigarh, June 6
Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS), New Delhi, set up as a welfare measure to cater to the wards of armed forces personnel, may soon have to open its doors for its MBBS course to civilian candidates.

The Supreme Court has ruled that reserving all seats in the college for wards of Army personnel was illegal and unconstitutional. The institute would be amenable to the reservation policy as applicable in Delhi under the relevant statute and provisions enshrined in the Constitution.

In their 164-page judgment delivered a few days ago, Justice B Sudershan Reddy and Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar, while acknowledging the difficulties faced by defence personnel and their wards, have held that notwithstanding such issues, it was not permissible for the ACMS to dedicate itself only to wards of Army personnel.

The bench, however, clarified that admissions already made by the ACMS “are saved and shall not be affected in any manner whatsoever”.

The ACMS had been established by the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) on April 1, 2008, and is affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi. There are 100 seats for the MBBS course. It is described as an unaided private college, financially aided by AWES in addition to the tuition fee collected from students.

New Delhi, June 6
Sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, arrested for his alleged role in awarding a Games contract to a Swiss firm at an exorbitant rate, was today denied bail by a Delhi court.

Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh dismissed Kalmadi’s bail plea along with that of Games organising panel’s Joint Director-General (Sports) ASV Prasad, saying “the offences are of serious nature”. The court also said that they might try to influence witnesses, if enlarged on bail at this juncture.

The court also said that “Prasad was close to Kalmadi” and had a key role in awarding the contract which caused huge loss to the exchequer.

The CBI prosecutor had opposed Kalmadi’s bail plea, saying his “conduct (in resorting to corruption in holding the 2010 mega sporting event) has tarnished the image of the country.” - PTI