New Delhi, September 11
A day after the Delhi police claimed that it has recovered a "switch-like thing" from the blast site which could have been used to trigger the timer of the bomb, forensic experts said the "so-called switch could not have been used to trigger the timer of the bomb".

According to a senior police official, it has now been confirmed by the experts that the plastic piece which was assumed to be a switch is not actually a switch. "It was a piece of plastic that we thought could be a broken part of a switch or something. However, now it can be confirmed that it could not be a part of bomb and is not even a switch," said an official.

Meanwhile, four days after the blast, which killed 13 people and left 90 injured, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Delhi police are still looking for some definite leads to reach the culprits. With more than four different emails claiming responsibility of the blast, the investigators are not even too clear about the organisation that could be behind the incident and source of all the emails is being investigated.

The Delhi police has also not ruled out the role of a totally new outfit or module behind the Wednesday blast. According to information, there is a wide support among the investigators about the involvement of a new-module theory if seen in context of May 25 blast outside the High Court.

According to it, a new group got together and carried out a test-run on May 25 before final assault on September 7. "Since they were naïve in the use of explosive, they pieced together a bomb to carry out a dry run the first time on May 25. After the failure, they seems to have worked on to improve their technology for carrying out the blast and were very successful," said the official.

As of now, it is important to get the actual men involved in making and planting the bomb rather than worry about the organisation behind it.

Meanwhile, the security across the Capital city has been stepped up and all the important installments like railway stations, metro stations, malls and markets are under a strict vigil.

One of the mails received after the blast had claimed that they would carry out the next attack outside a shopping mall on coming Tuesday.

New Delhi, September 11
It may not be difficult to relate to the plight of the families affected by Wednesday's tragedy, which has left them with lifetime scars, but the government could assure them of employment during these hard times.

"My family, with two small kids who go to school, is dependent on me, but due to severe injuries, I would be on bed for months. We are thankful for the treatment here. The doctors are good, but the compensation is quite less. My wife is a matriculate and the government can offer her a job," said Tarsem Singh, who is recuperating in ICU and lives in Mehrauli.

According to most of the victims' families, the ex gratia ranging from Rs 4 lakh in case of death to Rs 10,000 for those who have sustained minor injuries is not enough.

The concerns expressed seem to be more in case of patients incapacitated for life, with many still battling for life in the intensive care units at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

Many injured persons are the only earning members of the family, such as in the case of Mridul Bakshi (34), a resident of Uttam Nagar, who sustained multiple injuries and is still critical in the RML's trauma ICU and Ratan Lal Saraf (64) who has a cloth shop in Chandni Chowk and whose prognosis seems to be unclear even after bilateral amputation of his lower limbs. Their families urge the government to give them a secured source of employment.

With not much improvement noticed in Ratan Lal's vitals, his son Deepak (21) is still to come to terms after the tragic blow and the compensation of Rs 3 lakh, which came from the Delhi government (Rs 2 lakh) and Prime Minister's Relief Fund (Re 1 lakh).

"The amount given is not much. It will be utilised in post-medication and rehabilitation. Both of his legs have been amputated above the knees and he'll be dependent for the rest of his life. He is the sole breadwinner. The government should give him a shop or some other job," appealed the final year engineering student in his message to the Prime Minister's Office.

Similar was the response of the relatives of many other victims, such as Mridul's family who stays in a one-room rented house in Uttam Nagar. His brother Vinod Bakshi, who lives nearby in another house, said, "The government should be kind and come up with more help."

New Delhi, September 11
Life in the city may have returned to normal after Friday's torrential rain but Delhi Zoo is still a virtually island, while the authorities pass the buc and accuse each other of mismanagement.

Zoo authorities blamed the civic agencies like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for the floods in the zoo, which its closure for an "indefinite period" as most of the animal enclosures are inundated.

"We have been repeatedly requesting the civic agencies to fix the drainage system and the storm water drains of the zoo, but they have not paid any heed to our pleas," complained a zoo official.

According to the zoo authorities, the National Zoological Park, which is in low-lying area, was flooded by water flowing in from neighbouring areas like Bapa Nagar, Old Fort and Sunder Nagar. Adding to this, the DJB sewer water gets mixed with rain water in few enclosures as the DJB sewer line runs parallel to the zoo boundary wall.

However, refuting the charges made by the zoo authorities, the DJB official said: "The DJB has no presence in the zoo, which has its own drainage system."—IANS

New Delhi, September 11
The Delhi High Court has upheld the life sentence awarded by a citycourt to a woman and her paramour who had conspired and killed her husband nine years ago.

A bench of justices B D Ahmed and Veena Birbal dismissed the appeal filed by Shama Parveen and Tauhid Raza, saying "the evidence showing the manner in which the murder was committed and thereafter the body was removed from the place of occurrence by keeping it in an auto clearly shows that there was conspiracy between both the appellants to commit the murder of deceased Mohammed Shameem."

The bench relied on the testimonies of Shama's three children who had stated that they had earlier witnessed their father Shameem quarrelling with their mother over her relation with Raza.

"The evidence clearly shows that appellant Tauhid Raza used to visit his house to meet his mother. He has categorically deposed that Raza used to come soon after his father left the house and used to leave shortly before his father was about to return," the court said, while accepting the statement of Afsar Karim (Shama's son).

"...All this shows that both the appellants had an intimate relationship with each other. The same constitutes motive of the crime also," the bench also said.

According to the police, on the intervening night of February 13-14, 2002, after killing Shameem when he was sleeping in his house in Nand Nagari area, Raza in connivance with Shama took the body with another associate Mohammed Khalil in a three-wheeler and threw it at a nearby bus terminal.

Raza had also parked Shameem's scooter near the body and left the key therein in order to conceal the facts and to give the alleged murder the shape of an accident, as per the investigation.

A sessions court in January, 2009 had sentenced both the convicts to life imprisonment. Co-accused Khalil, who was sentenced to seven year jail term for helping Raza to throw the body, has not preferred appeal against his conviction and sentence. — PTI

New Delhi, September 11
The Central Administrative Tribunal has directed a Delhi government hospital to disburse arrears to some of its nurses working on contractual basis.

The tribunal gave "another chance" for payment of arrears after the aggrieved nurses filed a petition seeking contempt action against Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital's administration and IAS officer Rakesh Mehta, the then Chief Secretary, for their failure to comply with its September 2009 order.

Mehta is now the State Election Commissioner of Delhi.

The principal bench of CAT, headed by its Chairman Justice V K Bali, also directed the Delhi Chief Secretary and the hospital's Director (Administration), to re-fix the monthly emoluments of the five petitioners.

"Consequently, the respondents (the chief secretary and hospital director) are directed to re-fix the monthly emoluments of the applicants (nurses) from their respective dates of initial engagement. However, the arrears arising out of such fixation shall be admissible only from the respective dates they have filed these original applications.

"Considering the above facts, we are of the view that another chance needs to be given to the respondents to make the payments to the petitioners, including the allowances as well," the bench said, adding it should be done within two months.

Five grade-A staff nurses -- Philo Seth, Molly Mathew, Madhu Khan, Prabha Abhey and Neelam Rani -- who are working on contractual basis in LNJP hospital, had approached CAT seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the hospital and the chief secretary for not implementing its earlier order.

The tribunal, in September 2009, had directed the hospital and the then chief secretary to treat these contractual nurses on a par with the staff nurses in terms of pay and allowances and also disburse their arrears from March 26, 2009.

Originally, 17 nurses who were working on contractual basis had approached the tribunal and five of them had filed a plea seeking contempt proceedings.

The five contractual nurses had also sought a direction for grant of salary on par with regularly appointed Grade-I staff nurses along with arrears since September 2002.

The nurses stated in their applications that they were being paid a consolidated salary of Rs 18,770 per month which is much less than their regular counterparts who were drawing Rs 29,000 per month.

The hospital, in reply, had said that these nurses are also being given pay and allowances as admissible to the similarly placed contractual nurses.

The bench also directed hospital and the chief secretary to give these contractual nurses all the benefits which are given to the staff nurses except promotion and annual increments.

"The applicants, who are working as contractual employees under the Delhi government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi are entitled for all the benefits as admissible to similarly placed regular employees of their respective categories except promotion and annual increments while they remain as contractual employees," the bench said. — PTI

New Delhi, September 11
Upholding the primacy of one's right to access natural light and fresh air, a Delhi court has ordered a woman to demolish a newly raised wall, blocking a sole window in her neighbour's house.

"It is a settled law that the elementary rights cannot be deprived of, if a person has no other access to that right. Apart from this window there is no other source of light and air to the room of the plaintiff which he is enjoying since almost 20 years," said senior civil judge Amit Kumar, while ordering the petitioner's neighbour to raze the wall in a month.

The court's order came on a suit by central Delhi resident Bhore Ram seeking demolition of a wall, raised by his immediate neighbour Kalawati, blocking the only window on the ground floor of his house.

He told the court that his window opens up in an open area between their houses with neighbour Kalawati using the space to enter her house.

Ram said that the window was essential for fresh air and natural light that he is enjoying for since 1992, when he had purchased the house.

Kalawati had raised a wall in 2007 blocking the window on the ground floor and she further intends to raise the wall thereby blocking the only window on the first floor, the plaintiff said. In her written reply, Kalawati claimed right over the open space and alleged that Ram intentionally wanted to grab it from her.

The court, however, noted that Kalawati was using the open space by way of possession and not by purchasing it.

"She is not the owner of this open space and further plaintiff has a right to light and air as acquired since almost 20 years and right to have a window in his room which opens towards the open space which is used by the defendant for access to her property.

"The right in favour of the plaintiff is enjoyed by him for 20 years and he cannot be deprived of this right by the defendant who herself does not have any right in this open space," the court said.

The court also further restrained her from constructing any wall in the space which may block the window of a room in Ram's house. — PTI

Delhiites are obsessed with WikiLeaks. In the cables leaked, governments globally are embarrassed at the information pouring out. Mayawati must be the only leader globally who decided to hit back at the owner of the site. Mayawati is well known for her love of designer bags and why not? The WikiLeaks story which got her angry was about her government plane being misused to fetch a pair of shoes worth Rs 1,000 from Mumbai.

Mayawati

Rahul Gandhi

They said she has an army of cooks at her service and also food tasters. The UP Chief Minister offered mental help to the owner of WikiLeaks after calling him a lunatic.

Another cable of WikiLeaks has commented on the Baba Brigade of Rahul Gandhi as they have been described as lightweights and mere scions of the powerful political families. Also that our former respected President Kalam's checking at America security was at the instruction of Hillary Clinton. Shame! Wonder, why the Indian government does not do the same to the US visiting dignitaries.

Also there is a cable which has shown that the Karnataka Chief Minister widower Yedyurappa has a woman minister Shobha Karandlaje as his girlfriend. The outrage over the leaking of cables has put numerous sources and lives to risk and also many scandals have come out. As in the secret files of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah who was claimed to be 82, but actually is 92 according to his medical reports. And the husband of four wives, the King regularly received hormone injections. But our own Behenji wants to know if Assange was a cleaning boy in her kitchen as he knew so many of her eating habits.

Prize acquisition

Wur members of Parliament are thrilled with their new toys. They have all been given Rs 50,000 to buy themselves a computer or an iPad. So, nowadays we can see a lot of iPads proudly tucked under their arms. The savvy ones like Kamal Nath and Chidambaram use it regularly for information, speeches and creating their own files. There are some who are still learning in the classes given in the Parliament annexe. It is a good start as old hands like Pranab Mukherjee and Janardan Dwivedi use it regularly. Some have Skype so that they can talk to their children studying abroad, some of them got their children to teach them while some are still wondering which one to buy. With the social media so powerful, now they have realized how important it is to be glued to the Internet etc.

A sober affair

The Lyngdoh Committee recommendations in 2006 on spending only Rs 5,000 for posters made the Delhi University elections much sober.

Girls dressed in salwaar kameezes and boys left their T-shirts and funky jeans for white shirts and sober jeans. Hopping to one college to another with chamchas, loud slogans and standing on tables in canteens to announce the nominations was a familiar scene. But the most hectic were the social network sites.

Gt Noida, September 11
Farmer leader Manvir Singh Teotia, who led a farmers' agitation against land takeover in Bhatta and Parsaul villages in Greater Noida in May, has been on a fast in Dasna jail for five days, his wife said.

Manvir's wife Nutan Teotia said he had demanded the withdrawal of all criminal cases registered against peasants, compensation for farmers facing criminal cases and a hike in compensation for land acquisition.

"I have posted about 20 registered letters apprising different authorities in the state and in the Central government, including the Prime Minister, about the ongoing fast of the farmer leader, but no authority has responded," she said.

"On his last visit to the court, Teotia had apprised us of his decision to go on fast. Later, former BJP president and Ghaziabad MP Rajnath Singh appealed to Teotia not to go on fast but he is adamant on continuing his fast," she said.

"We have decided to submit a request in court to order his medical checkup," said Teotia's counsel Ved Prakash Sharma. He alleged that the state government implicated him in more than 20 criminal cases.

Teotia was arrested in Delhi in July by the Uttar Pradesh police.

Four people were killed and at least 15 injured in a violent clash between farmers protesting against land acquisition and the police in May 7. — IANS

New Delhi, September 11
The police began a massive drive against vehicles with tinted windows, which were involved in a spate of crimes against women in Delhi. A total number of 37,231 people have been prosecuted for using tinted windows in their vehicles.

They have been prosecuted for violating the Central Motor Vehicles Rules of 1989.

"From January till March this year, 29,579 people were prosecuted for using tinted glasses on their vehicles.

The figure reduced to 7,652 from the beginning of April to August 15.

However, the number of people prosecuted last year was less. We had fined 2,971 people in 2010," said a police official.

The police assert that their drive has been successful and has discouraged people from using tinted windows.

"There have been lesser violations as compared to the past few months this year. This is an indication that our constant drive against violators is becoming successful," said the official.

The official added that the people whose vehicles contained tinted windows were asked to remove the films within 72 hours or collect their licences from the court.

"We have been asking vehicle owners to remove the tinted films within 72 hours and then present their cars at the police stations, where they can collect driver's licences and related documents," he said.

He mentioned that vehicle owners preferred to pay fines rather than remove the tinted films. This caused the same owner of a vehicle to be fined several times.