New Delhi, January 19
Priyanka (not her real name), a 21-year-old NRI woman based in the US, underwent an ordeal while she was staying at a five-star hotel in Vasant Vihar from January 12 to 14.

After falling asleep while a male masseur, Sanjay, was giving her a head massage at the spa of the hotel, she awoke to find that he was allegedly molesting her.

"On January 13, I went to the spa of the Jaypee Hotel to receive a head massage treatment. Although there were five chairs available in the room where my mother was, I was instead taken to a separate enclosure. The man started massaging my head and since I was extremely exhausted and suffering from a headache I fell asleep. I woke up to find that the masseur, Sanjay was all over me," said Priyanka.

She immediately asked him to stop and thereafter reported the incident to the hotel management.

Priyanka said that the reactions of the lobby manager, Amit and the general manager of the hotel, Anil Mohan, were "unsatisfactory".

"They fired the masseur, which was an appropriate action. But, they said that I should have taken precautions. I did not see any concern on their part, instead they pinned the blame on the spa, claiming it to be an outsource company. If a woman in Delhi is not safe in a five-star hotel with her parents, what will happen to a woman by herself in the streets," she said.

With her friends and family by her side, who consoled and supported her, Priyanka mustered the courage to inform the police about the incident.

"I first reported the incident to the Women and Child Development Minister, Kiran Walia, since I am acquainted with her through one of my friends. With her support I went to the Vasant Vihar police station on January 16 and informed the SHO about the incident. I received a good response from them," said Priyanka.

The police registered the case under Section 354 of the IPC. On January 17, police arrested the accused.

Sanjay said that he was merely massaging her head and shoulders, which he did with most of the customers. The woman believed that she was being molested and immediately asked him to stop, said a police official.

The official said that matter would be presented before the court.

Meanwhile, Priyanka left for the US, where she is studying. "I hope that if stringent action is taken in response to crimes against women, it would act like a deterrent against such men to not perform shameful acts," she said.

New Delhi, January 19
Students at Jawaharlal Nehru University are unhappy with the recent turn of events regarding the students' union elections.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the electoral process is yet to be kicked off even as the Supreme Court has already given its nod to the elections.

After students participated in a mass deputation to the vice-chancellor in large numbers this afternoon, the joint struggle committee at its emergency meeting decided to go on an indefinite hunger strike on the issue.

"It is very unfortunate that in the discussion with representatives of the committee, the rector refused to give any commitment whatsoever on the constitution of the grievance redressal committee, so that the election process can be initiated. The rector further hinted that the administration of the university was thinking about following the DU model of elections, which would mean a rejection of the election committee's role in conducting elections," said Roshan Kishore, student leader, SFI.

"This shows the attitude of the JNU administration which is willing to take over the entire election process even bypassing the SC's order (December 8) and destroy the unique character of JNU students' union elections. By showing such an attitude, the administration has forced the student community for a confrontation, making all means of persuasion futile. Immediately after the deputation, the SFI-AISF proposed that the joint struggling committee should go for an indefinite hunger strike from tonight itself, which has been accepted in an emergency meeting," he added.

"Students will begin their strike with a massive procession which will start from Ganga Dhaba at 9.30 pm and would culminate at the administration block. The students would demand that the administration accepts the mandate of the union general body meeting held on January 9 and immediately constitutes the grievance redressal committee, so that the election committee can initiate the process of the elections," said another AISA leader.

The meeting on January 9, attended by all the students' organisations in the university, had put the matter to vote and resolved that the elections be conducted with the relaxed recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee that was a pre-condition set by the Supreme Court for lifting its ban, at least, for the time being.

According to the resolution, the elections were to be conducted within one month and the struggle against the Lyngdoh recommendations and the restoration of elections according to the university constitution was to be continued.

New Delhi, January 19
The weather conditions in Delhi continued to be tough as residents shivered throughout the day and braved the cold waves, which have thrown life out of gear here.

Dense fog enveloped the national capital this morning. As the visibility fell to the near-zero level, several flights and trains were cancelled and delayed. The maximum temperature was recorded at 17.7 degree Celsius, three degrees below normal, and the minimum was recorded at 4.8 degree Celsius, which is again two degrees below normal for this time of the season.

On Tuesday, the maximum temperature had plummeted to 14 degree Celsius, making it the coldest day of the winter.

Several domestic flights to and from Indira Gandhi Airport were delayed today due to the fog. More than a dozen flights were delayed and 10 cancelled due to bad weather at Delhi airport, said airport authority officials. The visibility at the runaway was around 220 to 370 metres.

Also, at least 17 trains were reported to be running behind schedule.

According to officials of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), not much respite can be expected in the coming days as well.

The minimum temperature tomorrow will hover around 5 degree Celsius and the maximum will be near 19 degrees.

"There will fog in the morning and mainly clear sky in the afternoon," said the official.

New Delhi, January 19
The Crime Branch of the Delhi police busted a call girl racket with the arrest of six persons. The police said that the girls are from Jharkhand, Uttrakhand and Nepal.

The police was informed of the racket being run by a pimp, Gaurav Anand (30). He is a resident of Geeta Colony.

On January 18, a constable was sent as a decoy customer. When he reached Madhu Vihar, Mandawali, he met Anand, who took him to a Hyundai Accent car.

Another pimp known as Sonu Bangalan was waiting with four girls inside the car. The two pimps told the constable that the girls would be available on a payment of Rs 7,000. They struck a deal and the amount was paid.

Thereafter, the police immediately apprehended the six persons. A case was registered under appropriate sections of the law by the Crime Branch.

They learnt that Sonu belongs to West Bengal, but was residing at Madhu Vihar. The police interrogated both the pimps.

Anand said that he was employed as a driver with a call centre. He became acquainted with Sonu and then both started operating the racket.

They had been running it for the last three years, according to the police.

New Delhi, January 19
The adage that love is blind holds true for 21-year-old Shruti Khosla, who has been arrested for allegedly helping her boyfriend to burgle her relative's house in order to help him financially.

Shruti wanted to help her boyfriend Rohit (25), a BSES employee, to tide over his financial difficulties and get his sisters married off.

She allegedly hatched a conspiracy with him and her relative's servant Pradeep (20) to burgle the house in central Delhi.

The trio was arrested after she was questioned following her relative Rajesh Puri raising suspicion about her conduct.

Shruti, who is doing her BCom from Delhi University through correspondence, works in a private company at Gurgaon. She is the adopted daughter of Jyoti Khosla, who is the aunt of the complainant's wife.

Puri had on January 16 approached the police and claimed that his house was burgled the day before when he and his wife were in Ambala to attend a marriage ceremony, additional commissioner of police (central) Devesh Srivastava said.

"His father, mother and son were present at the house. He received the call about the incident of burglary from his brother at Ambala. He found that jewellery worth about Rs 15 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and laptop were missing.

"During investigation, it came to light that there was no access to Puri's house except through the stairs of his own house or through the terrace of the adjoining house of his sister-in-law. Puri raised some suspicion over the activities of his niece Shruti," Srivastava said.

Surveillance revealed that Shruti was in continuous touch with Rohit and the servant during the night of the incident.

"Shruti told us that she had fallen in love with Rohit. Her boyfriend's financial condition was not good and he has three unmarried sisters.

"She wanted to help her boyfriend. Hence, she along with Rohit and Pradeep hatched a conspiracy to commit theft in the house of her uncle," Srivastava said.

On January 15, the trio went to the roof of her house and after scaling the wall, they cut the wire mess of the door, broke open the ventilator and opened the door of the complainant's house.

"They then stole jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh, cash about Rs 10 lakh, one laptop and other silver ornaments," Srivastava said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 19
The Commonwealth Games (CWG) village developer Emaar MGF and the city's land owning agency DDA were asked today by the Delhi High Court to jointly check all CWG village flats for damages, seepage and other deficiencies before issuance of completion certificate for them.

"The flats in the complex remained unoccupied since December 2010. It is directed that the DDA and Emaar MGF will carry out join inspection in each flat, including the basement, and file the status report within three weeks," said Justice Hima Kohli in an order.

The court order came after DDA counsel Ajay Verma told it that the agency had proposed to issue completion certificate to the builder and the same was cleared by the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAT) on December 16 last year.

The lawyer said the DDA would issue the certificate once the developer cleared all dues and took care of the objections raised by the housing body.

He said the DDA would issue the certificate to only 32 towers and kept two towers with it to accommodate allottees in case any difficulty cropped up in getting some flats regularised due to construction in them beyond the sanctioned area. - PTI

Noida, January 19
The election officers in Noida are in a fix as videographers hired by them have fled. The videgraphers say they cannot spare themselves for two months for the polls as it is marriage season and wedding functions are more paying.

The videographers have been hired to record all meetings of the candidates and their banners and posters, which will help the administration in ascertaining the expenditure made by each candidate.

Bobby, a videographer of Rabupura who has been listed by election officers for the polls, said," I don't have a video camera. I do only passport size photos. I have already told the police that I will not be able to do videography."

Another videographer Bijju of Badalpur too said similar things.

"I don't have video cameras, but the police has told me that I have to do it and should arrange a video camera. Moreover, I have told them that I will not be available in February due to marriage season."

However, some videographers claim they have already started working for the election, but were not sure if they would be paid for it.

Ravinder, a videographer at Greater Noida, said," So far, I have done two shoots. I am not sure whether I will be available for the whole two months."

Another videographber Shree Bahadur of Jarcha said," I have so far videographed an election meeting of a candidate at Pioli village and two police inspections."

Videographers claim that they earn Rs 5,000 at a marriage function, but are paid just Rs 810 for one election-related shoot.

Officials, meanwhile, feel that the district administration should have purchased video cameras from the Noida or Greater Noida Authorities funds and these cameras could have been used by the staff members during the election and there would have been no need to hire videgraphers.

The district administration, however, is not depending on the listed private videographers alone.

"We have prepared a list of other available videographers also. If needed, they will be called. There will not be a shortage of videographers even if the listed ones are not available," said Hridesh Kumar, district magistrate.