New Delhi, October 18
A 95-year-old woman, who was acquitted by a trial court for burning her daughter-in-law and her infant son to death in 1996, has been awarded life sentence by the Delhi High Court.

The division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Sunil Gaur said the accused, Sumitra, should be taken into custody, forfeiting her bail bond. The bench relied upon the dying declaration of Meenu, her daughter-in-law, while convicting the nonagenarian.

"Finding the dying declaration of Meenu to be inspiring utmost confidence, with no iota of doubt about her mental faculty, we unhesitatingly rely upon it to hold that the charge of murder stands proved beyond doubt against the accused, as she was instrumental in setting Meenu on fire," the court said in its 14-page judgment delivered on Monday.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Delhi police against the acquittal.

On March 20, 1996, Meenu and her infant, aged about seven months, sustained burn injuries in her house. She had married Sanjay, Sumitra's son, about one-and-a-half years before the incident.

After Meenu and her child died of burns, her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, who has died, were accused of murder. Meenu's statement, which was recorded in question and answer form, became the dying declaration and the foundation of the prosecution case.

Delhi police counsel Pawan Sharma said the trial court failed to take note of the fact that Meenu was declared fit for making a statement. The defence had claimed her statement was not trustworthy.

"It is contended that Meenu's mental fitness to give a statement...on the day of the incident stands firmly established from the evidence of sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) which has been illegally discarded by the trial court while relying upon the oral hostile testimony of Sudesh Rani, mother of the deceased, resulting in complete miscarriage of justice," the court said.

"We have found that Meenu's dying declaration is completely trustworthy and there is no valid basis upon which it could be reasonably said that she was not in a fit state of mind to give the statement...," the court said.

Pulling up the trial court, the bench said, "Such an approach of the trial court is not only patently perverse but has also resulted in grave miscarriage of justice." — IANS

New Delhi, October 18
The semester system that was implemented in Delhi University this year after much controversy and debate, is posing many unwarranted challenges to the students.

With less than two months to go before the students appear for their first semester exams, a considerable number of teachers and students say that the implementation of the system was hasty and could have been done in a better manner.

Elaborating on how the new system has constrained the annual academic calendar, a senior faculty member of the English department at Indraprastha College, requesting anonymity, said, "This year, though the classes began on July 15, the admissions are still incomplete and colleges are not clear about what to teach. While clarity on how to go about the system is lacking, the exams for the first semester have to be conducted in December. A vacation of 20-25 days prior to the exams will mean that neither the teachers will have the time to complete the course, nor will the students get enough time to prepare. Had the university been following the annual mode, both the teachers and students would have had ample time to do their works."

Adding to the problem is late admissions.

Ketki Dave, a teacher at Delhi College of Arts and Commerce said, "The implementation of the OBC quota and the already existing quota for the SC/ST and physically challenged students add up to 50 per cent. Most students in the reserved category require special attention. Moreover, the admissions for these categories went on till September. No college has yet conducted any extra or special classes for these students, which was a part of the annual mode of teaching. The strength of these students is half of the total strength, which is a significant number. They are thus bound to suffer."

Nandita Narayan, a maths and theatre faculty member at DU said, "In the annual mode of learning, the students got time to participate in co-curricular activities, which helped them hone their talents. But in the semester mode, only a handful of cultural programmes have been organised. Also, if students wish to participate in extra-curricular activities, they will have to miss classes. The university has not provided any relaxation in attendance."

Putting forth a stronger view academically, the head of the geography department, Baratullah Khan, said, "I feel that students are the worst victims of the semester system and not enough is being done for them. Besides, the hurriedly made syllabus for geography under the semester system has resulted in the removal of some vital portions like topics on human geography components which are extremely important and contemporary in nature,"

"There is a need to improve the learning process and in my opinion, the decision-makers should take a call and revisit the semester system," he added.

Greater Noida, October 18
Farmers of Greater Noida whose lands have been acquired for the construction of the Formula One race course are agitated. They have sent an open letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, threatening to disrupt the event if their demands are not met within in a week.

India's maiden Formula One race will underway in about a fortnight.

On Sunday, about 200 farmers of more than 20 villages along the Yamuna Expressway held a panchayat at Atta Gujran village. They alleged that the land being used for the Formula One event was acquired from them for industries. They have sought an increase in the compensation as has been done in some areas of Noida Extension.

The farmers have also expressed concern over the blockade of some passages because of the track.

However, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority officials claim that the land was acquired for a special development zone and the farmers have been paid for it.

"Steps are being taken to ensure that all the farmers get the rehabilitation benefits," said a senior authority official.

District magistrate Hridesh Kumar said, "Nobody will be allowed to obstruct the event. Additional forces are being deployed as a precautionary measure."

"There is no threat to the race. The farmers are only trying to browbeat the organisers and administration," said a senior official of Jaypee Sports International, the organisers of the mega race event. Jaypee Sports International officials said they were entitled to use a portion of the land for sporting facilities.

"The fact of the matter is that the event will help locals in terms of employment generation," said an official.

"Our demand is that Jaypee Group should adopt adjoining villages, carry out developmental works there and provide jobs to locals in its future projects," said Virendra Dhada, convener of the Rashtriya Kisan Union, a farmers' body.

"We also want the Authority to stop land acquisition till a new central law is enacted. Our next panchayat is scheduled for Sunday," he said.

Noida, October 18
A drunken DSP, driving a Scorpio car, has allegedly run over a youth near Gulawati village in Dadri. The victim has received serious injuries and is being treated at a private hospital in Dadri.

The DSP is reportedly posted with the security department of Delhi under the home ministry. He was returning from a friend's party in Dadri when the accident happened.

The victim's relatives alleged that the local police did not register their complaint after learning that the accused was a DSP.

According to SHO of the Jarcha police station Sharad Malik, the DCP, Mohinder Singh, is a resident of Jagatpur in Delhi.

He along with three friends was going to meet another friend in Jarcha. All of them were drunk.

Their vehicle hit a cyclist, Narinder, near Gulawathi. The DSP's car also lost control and turned turtle in nearly fields. Narinder was rushed to a private hospital by people who had gathered at the site.

New Delhi, October 18
Access to the city's healthcare system is not that easy for the poor. Be it the government hospitals or the private/trust-based hospitals here, none seem to be friendly to the segment which has to go through long negotiations even for the basic treatment.

In the recent past, there have been several instances which brought out the helplessness of the city's poor.

In one such instance-a young woman of the Nizamuddin area took her infant daughter, who was diagnosed with a congenital condition, for treatment to a government hospital in South Delhi. She was refused any help despite several pleadings and eventually she had to sell the family's two rickshaws for the baby's surgery.

Further, two young men who couldn't arrange Rs 20,000 each for prosthesis after treatment at a government hospital are now seen begging on the streets in the Nizamuddin area.

The above findings are the part of an unrealsed study conducted between January-August 2011 by community paediatrician and public health specialist Dr Vandana Prasad in association with Dil Se campaign.

The country's premier government hospitals do not have a prompt provision to make healthcare available to the poor on time, the situation is obviously no better at the private hospitals.

The study points out that Apollo, running on public-private partnership model, doesn't provide free beds with required drugs and consumables to the poor and this came to light when a homeless patient was told to pay Rs 15,000 for admission by the hospital and this along with the total stay and treatment incurring Rs 80,000. The cost was brought down to Rs 10,000-borne by two Delhi-based NGOs.

According to Dr Prasad, the fast-rising patient-care cost stands as the pronounced barrier between the poor and the city's healthcare facilities. There also seem to be a lack of willingness, especially on the part of those charitable hospitals which are set up on the lands purchased on subsidised costs from the Delhi Development Authority and Land & Development Office of the Delhi government.

"There is a severe denial of the basic rights of people, especially on the healthcare front. The government needs to support the public health system where the poor are actually going instead of giving subsidy to the corporate hospitals," Dr Prasad asserted while talking to The Tribune.

In the Capital, there are a total of 41 private/ charitable hospitals which are supposed to comply with the Delhi High Court ruling, 2007 which mandates them to provide 10 per cent of in-patient department services and 25 per cent of out-patient treatment to the poor, with annual income of Rs 6,084. However, many such hospitals have found an easy way-out for recovering the expenses, if incurred, in treating the poor patients by branching out into partnerships with larget set-ups.

They may be registered as trust organisations, enjoying the tax evasion under the Income Tax Act, 1961 section 12, but they have preferred to channel their resources by forging alliances with healthcare giants.

A pilot study over nine private hospitals in Delhi, "Free Treatment in the Private Sector: Myth or Reality?, it was found out that three such set-ups which started as charitable hospitals have entered into collaborations with larger healthcare chains though the hospitals involved in the study denied receiving any waivers.

In the absence of stringent monitoring by the government, there seems to be no proper accounts of the functioning of such hospitals and hence experts suggest annual audits for such so-called corporate/ charitable hospitals.

New Delhi, October 18
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra today opposed the proposal to enhance the circle rates by 50 to 200 per cent.

Malhotra said during the past few years, neither the Delhi government nor the urban development ministry of the union government paid any attention on controlling the spiraling rates of properties in Delhi.

He said that due to an unclear policy of the government in Delhi, many land disputes remained unsettled.

"Due to a delay in implementing the policies related to the construction of multi-storey buildings within 500 metres of Metro stations and houses within the Reserved Zone, the costs of the properties are escalating," he said.

Malhotra said the government should not shatter the dream of the poor man to have a shelter of his own by increasing the circle rates.

Instead, the government and the urban development ministry should jointly look into the sky-rocketing cost of houses in Delhi, he added.

New Delhi, October 18
Two persons were killed while two were injured in separate road accidents in Delhi last night.

In the first accident, a motorcyclist was crushed by one of the two trucks attempting to overtake each other in the northeast district, around 10 pm.

The victim has been identified as Shiv Dhalla (29). He and his brother Goldie were going home in Rohtash Nagar on two motorcycles when the incident occurred.

The trucks have been seized. However, the drivers managed to escape.

Infuriated locals had pelted stones at the trucks. The police had to lathicharge the mob.

In the second accident, a man was killed while his wife and son sustained minor injuries when a speeding truck rammed into them at the Mukunpur crossing in Adarsh Nagar around 10.30 pm.

The truck driver, Jang Bahadur, was thrashed by the public before being handed over to the police.

The deceased, Deepak (32), was a manager with a private firm.

New Delhi, October 18
With the arrest of two alleged robbers from Bangladesh, the south district police today claimed to have solved at least 50 cases of robbery and burglary.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Mizan Ali (28) and Amir Hassan (21). They hail from Khulla district of Bangladesh and lived in Mehrauli.

Stolen property, including gold and silver jewellery, 12 laptops, seven expensive mobile phones, LCD TVs, eight expensive watches and four digital cameras, worth several lakhs of rupees, have been seized from them. House-breaking equipment was also recovered from them.

The duo was arrested from the Lodhi Colony area two days ago.

"The accused used to enter houses after cutting grills or breaking locks. In some cases, they had overpowered the house members at gunpoint and locked them in a room," said a senior police official.

He added that after committing two or three big burglaries or robberies, the accused used to escape to Bangladesh with the booty. They would return after a few months when the police pressure would ease.

Both the accused have been arrested previously also, but had got bail and never attended the court hearings.