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Court puts Ajay Chautala’s men on trial for graft
3 held for supplying girls for marriages
Cheap fakes prove costly
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DU agrees to admit law aspirants
Sarna accepts party defeat in SGPC poll
500-bedded ward at GTB Hospital
next month
Man who duped NRI wife refused time for surrender
Confirmation of death to 3 sought
He mans traffic as Samaritan at Gzb-Noida highway
Dikshit wanted to be a nurse
Centre asked to withhold Haj scheme for pvt tour agents
BJP criticises Centre’s
stand on minority status to Jamia
Delhi’s biggest arts fest faces fund crunch
Upset by brother’s death, girl kills self
Old woman stabbed
RWAs to protest power tariff hike
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Court puts Ajay Chautala’s men on trial for graft
New Delhi, September 20 Special CBI Judge P S Teji also decided to put the state former chief minister's son on trial in the corruption case but could not formally frame charges against him due to his absence from the court. The court, however, asked Chautala to appear before it on September 23, the date fixed for framing charges against him. Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Chautala had taken exemption from personal appearance today before the court on the ground of his illness. The five, whom the court put on trial as abettors of Chautala's alleged corrupt act, include Abhimanyu Singh, Chet Ram, Om Prakash, Rajendra Kumar Godara and Netra Ram Godara. According to the charge sheet filed on December 24, 2009, against Ajay Chautala, the CBI claimed he was in possession of assets to the tune of Rs 27.74 crore -- 339 per cent more than his income Rs 8.17 crore during the period of 1993 to 2006. The court had earlier ordered trial against Om Prakash Chautala and his son Abhay Chautala on the same charge of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. - PTI
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3 held for supplying girls for marriages
New Delhi, September 20 According to SK Jain, DCP (northeast), the accused have been identified as Randhir Singh (32), Aashiya (50) and Sanjeeda. While Singh and Aashiya are residents of Kurukshetra, Sanjeeda is from Patel Nagar in central Delhi. The arrest comes after a complaint filed by the father of a victim girl on July 1. In her statement to the police, the girl, a resident of Shastri Park, said on the day she went missing, she had gone to meet a friend in Khajuri Khas, but lost the way. While she was enquiring about the address, Sanjeeda saw her. On the pretext of taking her to the said house, Sanjeeda locked the girl in a room. She then took her to Shahbad in the Kurukshetra district, to her conduit Aashiya. The two then sold her to Ranbir, a divorcee, for marriage. On the girl's disclosure, Aashiya was arrested from Shahbad. "Due to a skewed sex ratio, resulting in non- availability of girls for marriages, the practice of purchasing girls is prevalent in Haryana. However, after marriage, these girls are treated as domestic servants and not given the dignity of a bride," said Jain. Sanjeeda was nabbed from Sonepat yesterday. She disclosed that earlier, her husband Jaipal used to supply girls to Haryana, but after his murder six months ago, she took over the business. She confessed that her husband had sold more than a dozen girls. "They used to look for vulnerable and defenceless girls whom they could easily allure through false assurances or threats. Most of the victims were illiterate, poor or destitute. They used to visit bus stands and railway stations to look for lonely girls," said Jain. |
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Cheap fakes prove costly
New Delhi, September 20 Hordes of consumers daily throng markets such as Nehru Place computer market, Palika Bazar and Sadar Bazar to purchase counterfeit items. Shopkeepers at Nehru Place computer market claim that there are numerous methods of distinguishing a counterfeit product from an original one. "If you want to buy an original CPU, the serial number pasted on the parts within the object should match the serial number on the packaging. Another way to discover a counterfeit CPU is by calling the helpline number and giving the executive your serial number. If the executive cannot find a record of the serial number on the packaging, the product is duplicated," said a shopkeeper of Boffin Computer. Shivam, an employee of a hardware store, Cost to Cost, located at the computer market, said that if the seal on the packaging of laptops is broken, the product is fake. "HP (Hewlett-Packard) laptops will be packaged in a black box and the tape (seal) will be either black or white. If the tape is broken, the laptop is probably duplicated. DELL laptops probably come in a blue or green packaging and will be sealed with a blue tape," said Shivam. Amit, the shopkeeper of Hina Imported Shoes at Palika Bazar, said that shoes are smuggled from China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Korea. "I have branded shoes such as Caterpillar, Timberland, Reebok and Lacoste. They are made in the US. The rejected products are sent to Asia and then smuggled into India. I will sell you a Reebok shoe for Rs 1,500, but in a showroom you will get it for not less than Rs 4,000. They are cheap as no duty is paid for these products," said Amit. There is widespread selling of counterfeited watches of brands such as Rolex and Emporio Armani in Palika Bazar. "A Rolex watch will cost you Rs 250-300 and an Armani will cost about Rs 400. These watches are imported from China. There is no duty to be paid on these watches. If the customs official sees that the cost of the watch is only Rs 100, he will not ask for tax. The originals, however, will be worth lakhs," said a shopkeeper in Palika Bazar. Harsh Yadav, a student of Delhi University and consumer at Sadar Bazar said, "At this market, you will find duplicate products of brands such as Colgate which will be named Calgate. Even Parachute hair oil will be called Parachoot. Such products are harmful for your health." Sameer Barde, assistant secretary general of FICCI, said that since January, FICCI has established CASCADE (Committee on anti-smuggling and counterfeit activities destroying the economy). "The aim of CASCADE is to create awareness in the public. To distinguish a counterfeit product, you need to be able to read the make, get a bill and buy the product from an authorized store. If a shopkeeper is selling you a counterfeit product, he will not give you a bill. Second, the committee will educate industries such as using barcodes and special printing inks. Third, it educates the government, police and customs officials. Fourth, it will suggest the government to make modifications in the laws, making them more stringent and foolproof," said Barde. "Counterfeit products are smuggled from porous borders of Bangladesh and Nepal," he said.
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DU agrees to admit law aspirants
New Delhi, September 20 These students had suffered due to delay in the declaration of their final year results. The students in turn agreed to withdraw their writ petition that they filed in the high court this morning. A group of students had met the vice-chancellor yesterday who had assured them of appropriate action in the matter. Today, the vice-chancellor accepted students' demands regarding their admission in LL.B. The Dean, Law Centre was given the notification in this connection. It said that the students of other state universities who had cleared the entrance and missed their admission deadlines due to delay in their results should be given admission. The university had earlier advanced the last date for admission to the Faculty of Law to August 31. And since colleges of these students had not declared their results by August 31, they couldn't get admission at the university. Over the past few days, these students supported by some leaders in the university had been pursuing the matter with the university officials. The students became angry when they found out that the university had agreed to admit its 29 SOL students who also received their results after August 31. The students from other state universities then accused the authorities of "partiality". "Initially, several officials even refused to meet us, but with regular protests and media exposure, the matter came to the fore. They had to finally agree to listen to the students. We are glad that the future of almost 150 students is now safe with the university agreeing to admit them," said Deepika Deshwal, student activist who had been highlighting the issue over the past few days. "We had to write many applications, submit memorandums, approach the student council and even try meeting the vice-chancellor, the dean of Department of Law and the registrar. Our efforts have borne results," said Arti Mathur, one of the affected students from Agra University.
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Sarna accepts party defeat in SGPC poll
New Delhi, September 20 Sarna said, "Badal has won the elections with the votes of apostate and non-Sikhs only. The probability of such results was confirmed as the officials had registered 36 lakh bogus voters last week at the instance of Badal at such a point of time when their verification was impossible." He said at every centre voter forms from the members and leaders of Badal Dal were accepted by the officials whereas even the countable forms submitted by the Panthik Morcha were rejected on one pretext or the other. "We informed the Union home minister and every official about the registration of bogus voters, intention of Badal and apprehensions of unfair practices during the elections, but no action was taken," he said. Sarna said this was proved correct when the deputy commissioners of various districts had requested the deployment of Centre Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the state to conduct free and fair elections, but the plea was rejected by Prakash Singh Badal. Sarna said he had visited almost every part of Punjab to see what measures could be adopted to save the Sikh youth from getting addicted to drugs and turning apostate.
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500-bedded ward at GTB Hospital
next month
New Delhi, September 20 "It is the only building in the Capital where the base isolation technology has been used for construction. The block is almost fit to be commissioned," said the minister. Walia has instructed the officials concerned to complete the finishing touches by this month-end. The new block is being connected with all floors through corridors and ramps. The building is designed by using the green building concept. For general illumination, CFL, T-5 and LED energy- saving lamps have been used. All four floors are centrally air-conditioned and have CCTV and LAN network provisions. The block will have five operation theatres, including a modular one. There will be a substantial number of private rooms and sprawling general wards with all basic amenities. |
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Man who duped NRI wife refused time for surrender
Ghaziabad, September 20 The case came to light on Friday, when the 22-year-old woman from Muscat accused Bharti, the owner of a professional studies college here, of enticing her over Internet. After she came to India, Pulkit gave her a job in the college and married her on August 16. He then kept her in a hotel for 20 days. On September 9, when she insisted on visiting his house, Pulkit - son of a steel trader - told her to wait at the hotel while he went out to convince his parents to accept her as his wife. However, he never returned. The police registered a criminal case against the culprit under penal provisions for rape and demanding dowry. -- IANS
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Confirmation of death to 3 sought
New Delhi, September 20 Delhi police standing counsel Pawan Sharma sought confirmation of death sentence for the three Jammu Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF) militants, arguing before the bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and M L Mehta that the trial court had rightly convicted them and awarded them the capital punishment as there was ample evidence to prove their complicity in the terror act. A city court had in April 2010 convicted six JKIF militants, awarding death sentence to Mohd Naushad, Mohd Ali Bhatt and Mirza Nissar Hussain and sentenced their fourth accomplice Javed Ahmed Khan to life term. The remaining two convicts, Farooq Ahmed Khan and his woman accomplice Farida Dar, who had been held guilty for minor offences under the Explosive Substances Act and the Arms Act, were sentenced to imprisonment for seven years and four years and two months, respectively. Appearing for city police, Sharma said basing on the prosecution evidence and the testimony of witnesses in the case, the trial court had rightly held convicted all the six. Sharma pointed out to the high court that the trial court had convicted all the militants also on the basis of judicial confession of Javed, who was also involved in the Jaipur blast. The matter was adjourned for tomorrow. -
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He mans traffic as Samaritan at Gzb-Noida highway
Noida, September 20 Meet Sanjeev Trehan, a 52-year-old catering firm owner from Indirapuram in Ghaziabad. Every morning from 8.30 am to 10.30 am for the past three years, Trehan comes to this narrow underpass, hardly 12 feet wide, to help regulate traffic. Though a couple of police personnel are present on most days, the sheer volume of vehicles proves more than a handful for the hapless cops. But why would one embark on a mission to drill sense into unruly motorists, even if their death race to cross the narrow underpass has converted the entire area into a daily commuting nightmare? "I started this as a social service after I was stuck here for 40 minutes a few years back and was shocked that no one cared to manage it for a while. And then I thought something should be done about it and here I am," Trehan shrugs. According to daily commuters, the first thing he does is to put up barriers - while these are police barriers, sometimes there are no cops around to make use of them - to block the few cars coming from Noida, which can use an alternate road. This leaves the underpass open for commuters from Indirapuram, Vasundhara, Vaishali and other adjoining areas to use to reach their offices in Noida. This simple traffic management trick -- giving preference to the office-bound traffic, which vastly outnumbers cars coming from Noida -- has benefited both sides as the entire area is free of bottlenecks. Anubhav Sinha, a manager in a multinational firm, who has been using this pass for last two years, said: "First, I thought he must be a cop, but later I came to know about him through my neighbours. Whenever I see him, I always thank him and tell him that he is doing a great job for society." Traffic policeman are more than happy to have someone like Trehan around. "He has been doing this for quite some time. And we appreciate that. Like him, more people should come forward," said a constable on duty at Indirapuram. Seema Chaudhary, a lecturer, too is all praise for Trehan. "Hard to believe that in this age such a man exists; otherwise who cares. Hats off to him," she said. Most of the commuters feel a sense of relief when they see him at the pass as they know they will not have to wait for long. When asked how he feels about these words of praise, Trehan said: "Please, I don't need any thanks for this. I just want people to follow the rules." May be he could teach people the value of humility next. -- IANS
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New Delhi, September 20 "Nurses who care and comfort for the ill should be recognised for their exemplary performance and invaluable contributions to the quality of health care. We should institute an award to honour them," Dikshit said. -- IANS
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Centre asked to withhold Haj scheme for pvt tour agents
New Delhi, September 20 Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw gave the direction after assistant solicitor-general A. S. Chandiohoke told the court the matter is already pending before the Bombay High Court which has stayed the government's notification. The ASG also assured the court that the order would be implemented "across the board." The Bombay High Court had yesterday stayed the Ministry of External Affairs' September 14 notification which had authorised 568 private tour operators to take 45,491 Haj pilgrims to Mecca. The Bombay High Court had stayed the government's notification on a plea by some other tour operators, whom the government had not given Saudi Arabian visa to conduct the Haj tour. The Delhi High Court too had yesterday issued a notice to the Cenrte on a similar plea by some private tour operators accusing it of denying them the Saudi Arabian visa to Haj pilgrims to take the pilgrims to Mecca. The private tour operators had explained in their plea that Saudi Arabia issues a limited number of visas to each country, including India, which, in turn, hands over part of them to Haj Committee of India and part of them to private tour operators to take pilgrims to Mecca on the basis of those visas. In their plea, the tour operators have challenged the Centre's notification in which their names as tour managing firms to facilitate the Haj pilgrimage have not figured. They sought the court's direction for allotment of visas to them as well. They had said that on the basis of previous year's practice, they had made bookings for pilgrims and taken advances from them to make arrangements for Haj pilgrimage like booking of flights and hotels. - PTI
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BJP criticises Centre’s
stand on minority status to Jamia
New Delhi, September 20 He said minority status to Jamia Millia Islamia will harm the interests of students from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes. The Centre yesterday had told the Delhi High Court that it supports the minority status granted to Jamia Millia Islamia by NCMEI. In an affidavit submitted to the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) said it respects the NCMEI's decision. The court had sought the government's stand on a plea challenging the NCMEI's declaration. -- PTI |
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Delhi’s biggest arts fest faces fund crunch
New Delhi, September 20 Modelled on the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the fifth edition of DIAF will open on October 31 at the historic Purana Qila, the 16th-century Old Fort, with an international tribute to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore by performers from Hungary, Spain, China, South Africa, Israel, Bangladesh and Santiniketan in West Bengal. A grand opera from Italy, "La Cenerentola", composed by Rossini, will bring the curtains down on the festival on November 15 at the Siri Fort theatre. "But we find ourselves going around asking for small money from corporate houses and the government despite the fact that DIAF has one of the best images as a festival in the country. We can't commission our own programmes because we do not have the financial health to do so. We are handicapped in response and funding," Prathibha Prahlad, director and founder of DIAF, told IANS. With a tentative budget of Rs.25 crore or over $5 million, Prahlad is "finding the task a financial challenge and a logistical riddle". "The estimate is frugal compared to the festival kitties in the west, which are around $40 million on an average," Prahlad said. "The ministry of culture, the tourism department, the hospitality sector and the government of NCT (National Capital Territory of Delhi) should cash in on the international profile of the festival, push cultural tourism, let DIAF grow and throw their might behind the festival. "A estimate said this year the festival will grab at least five million footfalls - but there is rarely any foreign visitor. It does not feature prominently on the Incredible India website," she said. Prahlad has put together a formidable line-up for the festival. The panorama includes popular western and ethnic musical acts from the US, Australia, Latin America, south Asian neighbourhood and the Arab world, arts and design extravaganza and a children's entertainment cache to complement the diversity of Indian classical arts, which is the lifeline of the festival. "You have to create permanent equities - that is how I view culture...equity that lasts longer than you do. Only then you have made an impact in your own lifetime. A great deal of transfer of culture - from generation to generation and people to people - takes place in a festival," she added. Prahlad senses a tilt to the more popular culture of Bollywood on the part of the government. But "Bollywood is a parasitic culture," she said. "If the government does not promote its original classical culture, where will the parasite draw its strength from? "The culture ministry does not have a permanent performing arts festival cell unlike other countries, but there is a permanent film festival cell (under the information and broadcasting ministry)," she said. She has been trying to bring the vital stakeholders of culture and its promoters under one platform at the festival, she said. This year DIAF has come out with another special initiative -- a "Colloquium" which will make the India International Centre a hub of activity every morning from 11 am through lunch, seeing journalists, writers, artistes interacting with the performers of the previous evening. The deliberations will be thrilling, Prahlad said. -- IANS
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Upset by brother’s death, girl kills self
New Delhi, September 20 Tabussum drank acid at her residence. When rushed to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, she was declared 'brought dead'. "Tabussum was very close to her brother Sikander and was depressed since his death. Around 10 pm, she was found unconscious by her parents with an acid bottle beside her," said a police official.
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Old woman stabbed
New Delhi, September 20 "Mehrunissa is resident of Surya Vihar in the Badarpur area and was visiting her relatives here. It was during a quarrel over some petty issue at the house of her relatives when one person stabbed her and fled from the spot," said a police official, adding that the accused has been identified. |
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RWAs to protest power tariff hike
New Delhi, September 20 The main features of the festivals will include showcasing Durga killing the demons of DERC and discoms, fast running meters, blackouts, etc. These will be presented at the pooja pandals, most of which are set up in Chitranjan Park, Mayur Vihar and Dilshad Garden, said PK Roy, secretary, Federation of Chitranjan Park RWA. The RWAs after holding meetings in different colonies have decided to force the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) and the Delhi government to roll back the recent 22 per cent hike in power tariff. "We have gathered enough support across Delhi by holding awareness camps with residents, traders and business establishments against the hike. We will utilise the coming festival season to protest and demand its rollback," said Rajiv Gujral, president, Defense Colony RWA. "Hundreds of RWAs had filed objections with the DERC during public consultations, which were just ignored by the regulatory body set up for the benefit of consumers," he said. The members said that they are getting in touch with various Ram Lila committees to erect and burn the effigies of meters, DERC, Delhi government and private discoms along with those of Ravan. "Corruption and inflation are becoming today's Ravan," said Rajiv Kakria of GK-I RWA. "We at walled city have held various meetings against the hike. We plan to take out candlemarch in the bylanes of the Jama Masjid and nearby areas to create awareness and protest against the hike which is totally unjustified and should be rolled back," said Mujibur Rahman, president, Jama Masjid Aman Committee. The members said that the privatisation model of power is flawed and designed to benefit private companies. "The entire process of inviting public consultation by DERC was a farce. The Chief Minister had hinted at tariff hike even before the public hearing. When every thing was predecided, why call public hearing," asked Anil Bajpai of RWA East Delhi. |
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The Delhi police has arrested three persons for their alleged involvement with a gang of human traffickers that sells girls in Haryana for marriage purpose.
