New Delhi, August 18
Even as support for Gandhian Anna Hazare's movement against corruption touches monumental heights, there's been a consequent flipside. A number of people have been complaining of some fringe elements in the movement creating a nuisance -- harassing and misbehaving with women, raising vulgar slogans and picking pockets.

Shanta Sharma, a student of Delhi University, said she was harassed by a group of men returning from a protest site on Wednesday evening.

"My friend and I were on our way back to the hostel from Connaught Place. We de-boarded a Metro at the GTB Nagar station and were shocked to hear loud whistles and some nasty comments," said Sharma.

"When we looked back, it was a group of young men holding flags and wearing t-shirts with 'We support Anna' written on them. We really didn't know how to react... these people have no idea what Anna is fighting for. They have no respect for women and are out there only to have fun," she said with disgust.

Shikha Singh, a media professional, had a similar tale to narrate.

"The Central Secretariat Metro station was crowded even at 11 pm last night and most of the people had come from the rally at India Gate in support of Anna. All the men entered the women's coach and started passing obscene comments."

"I am sure Anna will be very unhappy if he hears about such cheap behaviour on part of his supporters. But the thing is, Anna cannot take the responsibility of all his supporters' behaviour...and if he doesn't, then who will," Singh asked.

Narrating yet another horror tale, Sudhisha Bhola, a young marketing professional, who was stuck in a traffic jam near Jantar Mantar during the rally on Wednesday, said, "You could see that most of the youngsters in the crowd were attending the rally just for fun and didn't even know what the Lokpal Bill is."

"They were passing indecent comments on women stuck in the jam," she said.

Outside Tihar Jail, even female journalists were not spared.

"Young, rowdy schoolkids and others shouting cheap slogans gathered around two female TV reporters and pushed them around. When they tried to get away, the crowd followed them. Finally, we had to intervene to shoo away the crowd, most of whom were minors," a police officer said.

He added that at least four-five incidents of pick-pocketing were being lodged every day.

Sanjeev Kumar, one of the protestors who went with his wife to support Anna's movement outside Tihar Jail, came back disgusted.

"I was really disappointed seeing the rowdy crowd...my wife was being jostled around and was harassed. There were lewd comments being passed at her... I was really disgusted. We left the scene immediately," said Kumar.

Raju, a street vendor outside the jail, said, "Yesterday, there must have been around 2,000 people here but today it is only a few hundreds...and that too it was mostly bawdy schoolchildren."

Rajnish Misra, a sociology professor, said, "Whenever there is a mass movement like that of Anna Hazare's, there is bound to be a few fringe elements who are just mischief makers. They are on a different momentum...it's more of a herd mentality and it's not so much of supporting the cause, as just being there for some adrenalin rush."

"It just ends up spoiling the atmosphere...and alienating chunks of people who may have otherwise wanted to be a part of the movement," he added.

Aayush Anand, who went to Tihar with his family, decided to return home in just five minutes after hearing the vulgar slogans.

"I had never imagined that we will have to hear such cheap slogans. I felt so embarrassed that I left immediately," said Anand, a software engineer.

Hazare, 74, had planned to begin his fast for a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal Bill from the JP Park in the ITO area on Tuesday. However, the Delhi police imposed certain conditions before allowing the protest.

Hazare refused to sign the undertaking, following which the police detained him and his other team members on Tuesday. This led to wide-scale protests and rallies in various places across the city.

He was arrested and subsequently released on Tuesday evening but refused to leave the jail until allowed to carry on the protest without any conditions. The social activist was finally allowed to hold the protest fast at Ramlila Ground for 15 days. -- IANS

New Delhi, August 18
After hearing that social activist Anna Hazare will reach the Ramlila Maidan in the afternoon, a large number of people rushed there today to see him. They kept waiting in the scorching sun outside the ground as the MCD did not allow people to enter it. Strong police force was deployed at all the entry points.

The supporters sang patriotic songs to express their solidarity with Anna. Wrapping the Tricolour around their necks, they shouted slogans. Besides youngsters, a group of Rajasthani women who sell artificial ornaments at Janpath turned up there.

Kalbagh, who sells bracelets, said she was not aware of the agenda of Anna. "As far as I know, he is raising the issue of inflation. We have come here as we are also bearing the brunt of rising prices. We heard that Anna would reach the ground at 3 pm and we reached here at 12 noon, hoping that we would get space to sit. We are disappointed after hearing that he will come tomorrow," she said.

The women were sitting on the footpath as the people working inside the park did not allow them to enter the ground.

A group of Miranda House college was also trying to enter the ground. In the morning, the students heard the news that Anna would come to the Ramlila Ground today. They bunked classes and rushed.

An old man who had come from Ghaziabad said that the authorities concerned should give actual information about the venue and timing of Anna's arrival. "It is very confusing. Once it was announced that he would reach here by 3 pm and now it is said that he would come tomorrow," he regretted.

New Delhi, August 18
As it was decided earlier that Anna Hazare would leave Tihar Jail for the Ramlila Maidan today for his fast, thousands of his supporters reached there in the morning.

Having seen the rush of his supporters, the jail authorities deployed 250 personnel of the Delhi police to provide security around the complex while 200 personnel were kept standby in case of any emergency.

People were raising slogans and singing songs, expressing their solidarity with the movement launched by social activist Anna Hazare.

Swami Agnivesh, another spiritual leader, also reached there and raised slogans, "Anna tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain."

There was a rush of local residents near DG of Prison's office as a majority of the vehicles of TV channels were parked there. The residents just watched how the TV journalists were broadcasting the information. Anna is on the first floor of DG office.

As a precautionary measure, the security staff along with the bomb disposal team and a dog squad frisked the area early this morning.

They conducted a surprise check outside Tihar Jail where Hazare supporters were camping around 3:30 am and sanitised the area.

New Delhi, August 18
With the Delhi University Students' Union elections around the corner, political parties are trying to gain the maximum from the anti-corruption uproar.

The two main contenders of the DUSU elections, ABVP and NSUI, have already locked horns over the issue of Anna Hazare and his Jan Lokpal Bill.

The Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad, the students' wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is following in the footsteps of it parent party and organising protest marches on the issue. The protests have increased the aprty's visibility on the campus.

Last year, the ABVP broke the NSUI's eight-year winning spell and won three out of the four seats in the council, including the president's post.

This visibility will pay a key role in the elections scheduled for September 9. The final nominations are to be submitted by this month-end.

The ABVP has been planning anti-corruption events across the country over the past few months.

Today, the party also called for a Delhi University bandh to protest against the UPA government's action against Anna, but most of the students still attended classes. It was only at a few colleges in North Campus and some off-campus colleges that some lectures were disrupted.

"The ABVP has been protesting against corruption and black money for the past many months. During the recent agitation, ABVP members along with hundreds of other students courted arrest at Chhatrasal Stadium. Students are coming to us and asking how they can be of any help to Anna's campaign. Be it candlelight vigils at India Gate or protests outside Tihar Jail, we have tremendously increased our support to the campaign over the past few days. But at the same time, we realise that for winning the elections, we would need to reach out to many more students. The publicity will definitely benefit us, but for elections, we will have to do much more," said ABVP state secretary Rohit Chahal.

The students' wing of the Congress, the National Students Union of India (NSUI), on the other hand, is absolutely quiet on the issue. Much like the parent party, it has no clue as to how to turn the recent events to its advantage. However, party leaders believe that their involvements with the issues related to DU are enough to win the elections.

"At the moment, there is emotional unrest among students over corruption and a lot of resentment and anger towards the UPA government. It is better for us to keep a low profile now. We have full faith in our party and we are hopeful that over the next week, the situation will be under control. Other political parties are not missing the chance to take advantage from the situation, but this will not go a long way. Our year-long efforts will win us the elections. We are not going in for any propaganda and will contest the elections with focus on students' problems. I don't see a reason for us to worry. Also, we are sure we will make the required impact on the students during the campaigning," said a senior students' leader of the NSUI, requesting anonymity.

New Delhi, August 18
Passengers were left stranded as a technical fault hit Delhi Metro's Gurgaon-Jehangirpuri line today, resulting in overcrowding at stations.

According to a Metro official, a track circuit failure near the Qutub Minar Metro station around 7.10 pm caused the trains to slow down. A track circuit is adevice used to detect the presence or absence of a train on rail tracks.

While Delhi Metro said trains were running at a frequency of 15-20 minutes, some passengers said there were no trains from Qutub Minar to Gurgaon.

Metro officials also claimed that services were "normal" on the other lines, whereas passengers complained of delayed services on most lines.

"The problem has been identified and will be rectified soon," an official said.

Delayed and crowded trains added to commuter woes at several stations, particularly Rajiv Chowk, the busiest inter-change, and some stations on other routes.

"There was so much crowd at the station that I had to come back to office," said Divya Gupta, who works in Green Park in south Delhi.

"The trains are jam-packed... There is no place to even set foot in the ladies coach. Getting into the rest of the train is near impossible," said Ritu Singh at the DU station. —IANS

New Delhi, August 18
The Yamuna continued to flow above the danger mark in Delhi today after water release from Haryana's Hathinikund dam, even as the authorities evacuated people from the neighbouring low-lying areas.

"The river is flowing at 205.46 metres, way above its danger mark of 204.83 metres. By the evening, the level is expected to reach 205.60 metre," said DP Singh, sub-divisional magistrate, Gandhi Nagar, east Delhi.

"We are trying to evacuate the farmers based near the river bed," Singh added.

"Employees of the departments concerned have been deployed in three shifts in order to make the relief services available to the affected people. There should be no panic," Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had said yesterday.

The authorities are keeping a close eye on the level ofthe river that was expected to result in a flood-like situation in the low-lying areas of east Delhi after 6,22,000 cusecs of water was released from Hathinikund on Tuesday.

The irrigation and flood department control rooms will be working along the marginal bundhs on both sides of the Yamuna, while 56 boats and many pumps have also been pressed into service. -- IANS

Ghaziabad, August 18
A class IX student was today run over by a roadways bus in Modinagar near here, triggering violent protests by a mob of students who set afire a police post and damaged over 40 vehicles, the police said.

Kapil Sharma (15), a student of K N Modi College, was killed when a speeding UP Roadways bus hit him while he and his classmates were participating in a march to express solidarity with Anna Hazare.

Another boy sustained minor injuries in the accident.

Enraged over the mishap, students from other colleges set on fire two buses and damaged over 40 vehicles on National Highway-58. Rail and vehicular traffic was also disrupted, the police said, adding that stone-pelting by the mob left at least two dozen people, including some policemen, injured.

The police post on Niwari Road was also set aflame. Over a dozen police officials, including SHO (Modinagar) Sudhir Tyagi, were thrashed by the mob.

Sub-divisional magistrate Gyanender Singh reached the spot and pacified the crowd. Singh assured financial help to the victim's family. A sum of Rs 20,000 was given to the family as an immediate relief. -- PTI

New Delhi, August 18
The Delhi High Court today reserved its order on a plea to disqualify Rajni Abbi as Delhi Mayor on the ground that she held an office of profit at the time of filing nomination for election to the post.

The plea was filed by Shambhu Dayal Sharma, a Municipal Corporation of Delhi councillor from the Budh Vihar ward.

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw after hearing the arguments on behalf of both sides said, "The order is reserved."

Sharma sought a direction to disqualify 49-year-old Abbi as Mayor, contending that she had applied for the post on April 13 without taking leave from Delhi University where she was employed as a law teacher.

The court, so far, has not issued notice to Abbi on the petition.

During the hearing, counsel for Sharma told the court that Abbi, who got elected as the Mayor on April 20, did not apprise the university about applying for the post in the civic agency.

"Abbi was a reader with the Faculty of Law at Delhi University and was drawing salary and hence, she was gainfully employed at the time of applying for the post," he said.

Earlier, Justice S. Muralidhar asked Sharma to modify his petition and insert a paragraph detailing the post of profit that the Mayor was allegedly holding on the date of her election.

The petitioner said that holding the office of profit at the time of the election was unconstitutional.

"A person holding an office of profit and simultaneously functioning as a councillor and subsequently as a Mayor has incurred disqualification as per the law laid down under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act," said the petition. -- IANS

New Delhi, August 18
A student of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) has been selected for 'Indian Universities Tennis Team' and will be representing the country in the World Universiade, also known as 'Little Olympics', being held in China.

Parul Goswami is a MA final year student at A.J.K. Mass Communication Research Centre (MCRC) at the university.

According to Jamia, World Universiade is being held in Shenzen, China, from August 12 to 23 in which 118 Asian countries will participate in 24 different sports and 306 events.

"Universiade, often called the 'Little Olympics' is a sports event where only students currently enrolled in a university or those who have graduated within the last two years can participate," a Jamia official said.

"They must be between the ages of 17 and 28," the official added. --IANS