Chandigarh, January 14
Against the backdrop of around 3,900 missing children in the region, including over 1,800 in Haryana, an amicus curiae appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court has recommended the introduction of a child-tracking system with a view to prevent their exploitation and trafficking.

“A child-tracking system should be a part of the national database to prevent trafficking and exploitation of the missing persons.The database should be established at the state and central level to facilitate countrywide exchange of information for tracing missing children,” Chandigarh-based amicus curiae and advocate Anil Malhotra in his report to the high court said. On December 8, 2011, the high court had directed Malhotra to frame guidelines in the case so that the court could issue appropriate directions to the respondents.

The current method of collecting information about missing children should be modified and the network should be web-enabled and updated regularly. “All instances where children are rescued from places of exploitation, including places of sexual exploitation and exploitative labour should be updated in the national database.

Stressing the need for setting up a centre for missing children by the Union government, Malhotra contended that such a centre would be a repository of all the data on the missing children.

Besides, the police help centres should be established under the jurisdiction of all police stations in the state as well in public places such as malls, amusement places, bus stations and railway stations so that information on missing children could be disseminated to the public or possible clues and information exchange.These centres should be integrated with closed CCTVs to be put at all public places to assist the police in tracing the missing persons.

The report also suggested the setting up of state commissions for the protection of child rights under the Commission for the Protection of Child Rights Act (CPRCA), 2005, to “galvanise the entire machinery under its regime.”

Meanwhile, it suggested that the missing persons offence should be made a cognisable offence and it should be mandatory for the police to register an FIR promptly.

The police should also forward both by email and by post a copy of each FIR registered with regard to missing children to the respective State Legal Services Authority or its district-level chapters.

A strict vigil should also be kept at the railway stations, bus stands, airports, sea-ports and such other places which act as transit points for missing children. Meanwhile, to evolve a comprehensive rehabilitation mechanism after the child is traced is also the need of the hour.

Chandigarh, January 14
Nearly 70 per cent of Haryana’s milk samples may have failed the Food Safety Standards Authority of India test, but the state is in no mood to take these results lying down. Refuting the report, Haryana’s Department of Food and Drug Administration maintains these numbers are too high to be acceptable.

Speaking to TNS, the Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, CR Rana, said the department carried out its own sample testing from time to time and the figures told a completely different story.

According to the data available with the department, only 27 per cent samples have failed the test so far. Thankfully most of the failed samples were found to have been adulterated with water rather than synthetic milk.

The Joint Controller, responsible for compiling the data of failed samples, says that most of the samples failed the test primarily due to addition of water. In 2008, over 32 per cent samples failed the test while in 2009 and 2010, 35.54 per cent and 33.79 per cent samples, respectively, failed the test.

Official sources maintain that the number of failed samples has been consistently around 30 per cent while the claim of the report by the FSSAI that nearly 70 per cent samples have failed is drastically high.

The department maintains that they are ready with the figures in case the Haryana Government will want to clarify its stand in the matter, adding that the figures of the FSSAI are very inflated given the fact that the department gets its own testing done.

Also, now, in an attempt to strengthen the staff and the infrastructure available with the department, a proposal to recruit more hands and enlist a larger number of labs to test food samples is with the Finance Department.

“The court has directed that we should be able to give results of samples collected for testing within two weeks. This has prompted us to tie up with a larger number of labs to be able to meet the time stipulation set by the court. We are also concentrating on recruiting more staff so that testing of samples can be made a regular feature,” explains Rana.

He admits that nearly half of the state does not have Food Safety Inspectors and work is being carried out by giving additional charge of districts to officers available. 

Palwal, January 14
A newborn baby who was declared dead by doctors of a private nursing home here, turned out to be alive just before the burial.

Meena of Tumsaru village delivered a baby girl at Bansal Nursing Home here. The doctors declared the baby dead when their efforts to make her breathe failed.

Members of the family took the presumably dead baby to the burial ground in the village. The mother stayed in the hospital for treatment.

The family members were preparing for the burial when someone noticed that the newborn baby was breathing.

Shocked by the doctors’ negligence, the members of the family decided to obtain documentary evidence from the nursing home so that they could initiate legal action against the doctors.

They told the doctors that a certificate regarding the baby’s death was needed for the village panchayat to allow a burial. The doctors, though initially reluctant, were taken in.

Residents of Tumsura along with the members of the family then took up the matter with the Civil Surgeon of Palwal.

Aditya Chaudhary, CMO, said a committee headed by the Deputy CMO had been constituted to look into the complaint. He added that stern action would be taken against the nursing home if the allegations were found to be true. He said the girl’s family had shown him the “death certificate” issued by the nursing home.

The doctors of the nursing home were not available for comments. 

Rohtak, January 14
The parents of a predominant number of unmarried girls, who have attained the age of 18 years, do not show any interest in getting their voter identity cards made. This is perhaps the reason that there has been a decline in the percentage of applicants for this facility as compared to the total number of residents who were eligible to get their voter cards.

This was the conclusion drawn at a recent meeting of the district election officials, who have launched a drive to enrol fresh voters in the voter lists. While the department is preparing to observe the National Voter Day on January 25, the authorities have invited applications from the applicants who have attained the age of 18 years on January 1 to get their voter cards prepared.

But officials claimed that adequate awareness and initiative on the part of the parents as well their wards who had attained the prescribed age limit had been missing and perhaps this was the reason that a large number of persons especially the unmarried girls did not approach the authorities to get their cards prepared. It was disclosed at the meeting that while around 59 per cent of the total population was eligible for such facility but it was at least 1 per cent of this population, which did not care about getting their voter cards prepared.

“The parents perhaps wait for their daughters’ marriage and avoid this responsibility treating it unimportant,” it was added. The voter cards of unmarried girls could be transferred later at the address of their husband or in-laws after the marriage also, said the officials.

It is learnt that those applicants who had applied in the period between October 1 and November 1, 2011, will be given their cards on January 25. The voter id cards had not only been an important document at the time of polls but also at the time of getting passport, opening a bank account or when producing a proof of the residence, it is stated.

Karnal, January 14
The Karnal police today claimed to have solved the Balbir Singh murder case and arrested all five accused. Balbir Singh (45), a farmer from Gobindgarh village in Kurukshetra was shot near Bhadson Sugar Mill in the Indri area by some unidentified persons when he was going to the mill in his tractor, loaded with sugarcane on the night of January 3.

The assailants shot Balbir Singh on his head, detached the trolley and decamped with the tractor, leaving behind no clue. The incident created a sense of insecurity among the farmers who also staged demonstrations under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) on January 9, demanding immediate arrest of the culprits.

The breakthrough was achieved following a tip-off that some people were planning to loot the petrol station of Farmers Service Centre at Bhadson and the police raided the place and arrested five persons, identified as Babli, Amit Kumar, Lokendra, Shabbir and Sanjeev Kumar.

The cops also recovered an Alto, a country-made pistol, cartridges, iron rods, a knife and a battery. During interrogations, the accused confessed to having shot Balbir Singh near Bahdson Sugar Mill on January 3 and that they fled with his tractor.

The police, which had registered a case under Sections 396 and 34, IPC, against unknown persons at Indri police station on January 3, booked the culprits under Sections 399 and 402, IPC, and relevant sections the Arms Act.

Karnal SP Rakesh Arya said the arrested persons would be produced in the court for their remand in police custody to find out the involvement of the gang in other cases of crime.

Karnal, January 14
Hundreds of farmers, enraged over the utter shortage of urea fertiliser, held demonstrations outside the offices of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (PACS) and locked the premises yesterday.

The protesting farmers dragged the staff from the offices. Their anger turned into rage when they were informed that only 400 bags of urea were available in the stock. The farmers targeted the offices of PACS at Kachhwa, Sayedpur and Dabri and made the staff run from the offices before locking them.

The farmers were not satisfied by the offer of Pale Ram, Manager, to take two or three bags each and said they were not sufficient as their requirement was 10 to 30 bags. They added that their crop would be affected if adequate supply of urea was not made on time. The requirement of urea was about 4,000 bags in Kachhwa alone where the number of society members was 805 and the farmers had sent Rs 13.30 lakh to HAFED for supply of urea, Jagjish Gahi, a member of the society said.

A large number of farmers alleged that they tried to contact the senior officials of HAFED and the Central Agricultural Cooperative Society but they did not pick up the phone. 

Karnal, January 14
It was a mini jamboree of newly born girl child as hundreds of parents, braving cold wave conditions, turned up to participate in the “Mass Lohri celebrations for girl child”, specially planned for girl child born during the past one year.

The objective of celebrating Lohri of girl child was to end gender discrimination, which was leading to social crimes like “female foeticide” and “dowry deaths” and to send a clear message that “age-old traditions” perpetuating exploitation of women must end.

The function organised by the National Integrated Forum of Artists and Activists (NIFAA) in collaboration with Haryana chapter of Indian Academy of Pediatrics and the Haryana Medical Representative Association at SBS Senior Secondary School here evoked overwhelming response and hundreds of newly born girls claded in woollens and resting in the lap of their parents was a rare spectacle.

All parents were honoured by Harmohinder Singh Chatha, Haryana Finance and Planning Minister, who performed the Lohri rituals, lit the fire for Lohri celebrations and distributed commendation certificates.

Karnal Deputy Commissioner Neelam Pardeep Kasni was honoured by NIFAA for her relentless campaign to save the girl child and conferred the Dr Kalpana Chawla Award for promotion of gender equality. Kasni dedicated the award to all those who have joined the campaign to “save the girl child” and taken pledge to root out the inhuman practice of female foeticide.

Rewari, January 14
Sneh Prashar, District and Sessions Judge here, has sentenced a village youth, Sombir, to rigorous imprisonment for three years holding him guilty of making an attempt to rape his neighbour’s wife (25) at Bohka village on the night of December 5, 2010.

The judge has also imposed a fine of Rs 6,000 on the convict. According to the prosecution, Sombir tried to rape the woman when her husband was away on duty and she was sleeping alone in her bedroom. However, when the victim raised an alarm, her family members rushed to her rescue and nabbed the accused who was then handed over to the police.

Kaithal, January 14
A newly wed couple was provided security by the district police on the directions of DS Sheoran, District and Sessions Judge, Kaithal, here today.

A boy, Lakhvinder, of Chaba village in Kaithal district, and a girl, of Sirkapara village in Patiala district, got married at the Hanuman Vatika against the wishes of the parents of the girl. The couple today brought to the notice of the court that they met at a wedding function in Patiala and fell in love following which they decided to marry. An application seeking police protection was accompanied by age proof and other documents.