Karnal, June 25
Adopting pressure tactics, residents of Gagsina village last night held a Mahapanchayat of surrounding villages and threatened the police to refrain from taking any action against 24 villagers, booked under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC, for suspected honour killing of a minor girl.

The Mahapanchayat cautioned that if the accused named in the FIR in suspected honour killing of Neha were arrested, they would launch a decisive battle and take it to the logical end.

It also decided to deploy villagers at the borders of the village in order to stop the police from making arrest.

The villagers also constituted a committee to spearhead the fight against the police and accused it of torturing Narinder, parental uncle of the deceased, who was picked up by the police for interrogations.

The non-cooperative attitude of the police is hampering the investigations and with the villagers becoming aggressive and belligerent, the task of the police to bring the culprits to justice has become difficult.

It was one of the rare cases, in which the police had taken suo motu action on the basis of information given by the informer without any complaint from any quarter and the hush-hush manner in which the body was cremated further added to the suspicion of cops.

On the other hand, a delegation of the villagers met Rakesh Arya, SP, Karnal, today and assured that the villagers would not take the law in their hands and assist the police in investigations to bring out the truth.

The SP refuted the charge of Narinder being tortured and said the police would not succumb to any extraneous pressure, the rule of law would prevail and the guilty would be brought to the book. 

Karnal, June 25
The working of Haryana MLAs will soon go online. A software is being developed in Andhra Pradesh to access the constituency profile of MLAs and the works done in their respective constituencies. Once the software is developed, Haryana will also develop its own software on the same pattern to ensure greater transparency, Speaker Kuldeep Sharma said today.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said the software would provide details about the developmental projects, their current status, money spent and would also provide vital information about the number and status of BPL families, the eligibility criteria, the status of water connection and other basic amenities provided to people.

Relevant information about schools, the number of students and teachers, health institutions, veterinary institutions and staff and other infrastructure would also be available online. Moreover, the MLAs would also be able to send messages to the officials concerned with just a click of the mouse.

The MLAs would be provided laptops and imparted computer training and their working would go hi-tech, enhancing their efficiency, he said, adding that the initative would go a long way in reducing corruption.

Urging the people to discard “corrupt and non-performing MLAs”, he said tainted people should be barred from entering politics but at the same time the voters should discharge their responsibility by electing “right and honest persons”.

Lashing out at Anna Hazare for his attempt to undermine the democratic system and elected government, he accused Hazare of trying to run a parallel government without any accountability.

Referring to the fate of five HJC MLAs who had defected to the Congress, the Speaker said, “I am opposed to defections and the decision regarding the five HJC MLAs will be taken soon but not in a haste.”

Chandigarh, June 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled against granting 10 marks to MBBS or BDS candidates graduating from institutions in Haryana for admission to MD courses in the Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) category.

The ruling by a Division Bench came on appeals by Dr Pooja Gahlot and others.

The appellants - HCMS doctors and aspirants for admission to postgraduate degree courses conducted by the Rohtak-based Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences - had graduated from institutions in “areas other than the state of Haryana”.

They had challenged a Single Judge’s holding that HCMS members graduating from institutions in Haryana could not be denied the benefit of a criteria in the prospectus, “which laid down that 10 marks are to be given to those who have acquired the degree of MBBS/BDS from Haryana”.

The Division Bench has now set aside the Single Judge’s order. The Tribune on June 24, in a brief news item on the issue, had inadvertently mentioned “HC upholds single judge order”.

University counsel Ramesh Hooda, during the hearing, argued that the marks for institutional preference were meant for open-category candidates alone. The university Registrar’s affidavit was also filed saying “only for open category” was left out due to an accidental omission.

The Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Ritu Bahri ruled: “Marks for institutional preference cannot be given to HCMS members, for whom there is reservation of seats…. “The order of the Single Judge directing to grant benefit of 10 marks to the candidates, who have graduated from the institutions situated in the state of Haryana is not legal. Consequently, we allow the appeals and set aside the judgment”.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, June 25
The Union Government’s decision to hike the prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG has evoked angry protests from opposition parties throughout the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party today held a demonstration and blocked the Delhi-Sirsa national highway for over half an hour at Fatehabad.

Led by Mahipal Dhanda, president of the Yuva Morcha of the party, BJP workers started their procession from the Jat Dharamshala and marched towards Lal Batti Chowk raising slogans against the government.

The BJP activists blocked vehicular traffic at Lal Batti Chowk for some time and dispersed after the police arrived and regulated vehicular traffic.

CPM workers burnt effigies of the UPA government at Fatehabad, Bhuna and Bhattu Kalan.

In Sirsa, activists of the CPI and the CPM burnt an effigy of the UPA government at Subhash Chowk here today.

ROHTAK: Women activists of the BJP and members of Left Front organisations held a demonstration here on Saturday in protest against the hike in the prices of petroleum products. They have demanded a rollback of the price hike.

Seeking the dismissal of the UPA government, the protesters claimed that the hike in the prices of LPG, kerosene and diesel had hit the comman man hard.

Meanwhile, reports of similar protests were also received from Sonepat, Faridabad and Rewari.

Chandigarh, June 25
In a much-expected administrative reshuffle the Haryana Government today promoted eight IAS officers, belonging to the 1986 batch, as Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (FCPS). The officers, who have been promoted are Rajni Sekhri Sibal, Sanjeev Kaushal, VS Kundu, PK Das, Shashi Bala Gulati, RR Jowel and Dheera Khandelwal. Alok Nigam, being on the Central deputation, has been given proforma promotion.

The government also transferred 19 other IAS officers with immediate effect.

Gurgaon, June 25
Surender, a 20-year-old youth employed at a private travel agency owned by Mukesh in the Rajiv Nagar locality of the city, has alleged that he was illegally confined and physically tortured by his employer.

“I was held captive for nearly 36 hours, during which I was not only brutally thrashed, but also branded with a hot iron rod by my employer and two others,” said Surender.

Asked why he was tortured, Surender maintained that he was charged with embezzling Rs 2 lakh in connivance with some petrol station attendants.

Surender alleged that he had to face humiliation and harassment in getting his medical examination conducted and the police complaint registered.

Meanwhile, according to sources, two of the accused have been arrested by the police, while the third is stated to be at large.

Kurukshetra, June 25
A village strongman allegedly burnt an old woman alive for tilling a piece of panchayat land against his wishes at Guldera village in the district.

The administration had auctioned the panchayat land and Dhanpati, whose bid was accepted, was given the possession of the land on June 23. However, when she went to the field to plough the land yesterday, a village strongman, Sukhvinder, who was in the possession of the land prior to the auction, reached there with some persons and waited there for Dhanpati.

When Dhanpati reached the field on her tractor to plough the land, Sukhvinder tried to stop her, but she ignored him. An enraged Sukhvinder, joined by his wife and daughters, allegedly started beating up Dhanpati. They then allegedly poured kerosene on her and set her on fire and fled.

Dhanpati was rushed to a private hospital in Pehowa with 65 per cent burns and succumbed to her injuries in the hospital.

The police has registered a case under Section 302, IPC, against Sukhvinder, his wife, two daughters, a son and three other relatives. It has arrested Daljit Kaur (Sukhvinder’s daughter) and has launched a manhunt to nab the other culprits, according to SHO Yashwant.

The investigating officer, Amar Nath, said according to preliminary investigations, Dhanpati had got the panchayat land in an auction, but Sukhvinder, who was in the possession of the land earlier, did not like it.

Sirsa, June 25
A man killed his wife by strangling her at his Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar residence on Rania Road in the town last night. The police has registered a case against the husband, Subhash.

According to the police, Subhash was addicted to liquor and usually quarrelled with his wife after drinking.

He came to the house in an inebriated condition last night and had an altercation with Krishna. He throttled her after she went asleep at 11 pm.The accused escaped from the scene after telling his elder son, Sanjay, that he had killed his mother.

The family members rushed the woman to the General Hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead. — TNS

Fatehabad, June 25
The police has registered a case after kin of a girl attacked and injured a youth, whom she had married against the wishes of her family at Tohana town in the district.

The victim, Parvishan, a resident of Bhatia Colony, had married Amandeep Kaur from the Rajnagar area of Tohana in February. Parvishan and Amandeep had eloped as their families were opposed to their inter-caste marriage.

Amandeep’s cousin Gulzar Singh and six others went to Parvishan’s houseand called him out. When he came out, Gulzar and others attacked him with swords and sticks. The victim was rushed to general hospital with multiple injuries.

A case under Sections 323, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC has been registered against Gulzar and the others.