New Delhi, February 1
In a twist to the sordid tale of the baby, Falak who was admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre by a 14-year-old girl, the police today claimed to have arrested three persons, including the teenager's allegedly abusive father and a couple who forced her into the flesh trade.

A key accused, Rajkumar was reportedly the person who married the 14-year-old girl, thereby pulling her away from prostitution and who was being labelled as a rescuer of sorts.

The police started its investigations into finding the 14-year-old girl after a missing person's complaint was lodged by her father at the Sangam Vihar police station on June 2 last year.

The girl was later located in January after she admitted Falak to hospital. She was presented before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on January 20. The next day, her statement was recorded.

"She stated that she had run away from home as her father used to beat her. The girl then went in search of a woman who used to come to her residence. She met the woman near the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, who then took her to a woman, Pooja who sent the girl to Etah, Uttar Pradesh. When she returned to Delhi, she went to Munirka where she met another woman. It was here that she met Rajkumar, alias Dilshad. The girl went with him to Mahipalpur, where she stayed as his wife," said Additional Commissioner of Police (South-East), Ajay Chaudhry.

Since the girl was a minor, IPC Section 376 (punishment for rape) was registered against Rajkumar and added to the FIR that was lodged at the Sangam Vihar police station.

Police teams were formed and sent to apprehend Rajkumar. He is married and lives with his wife and a son at Dwarka.

Yesterday, the girl was again presented before the CWC, where she revealed fresh allegations.

"In her earlier statement, she didn't reveal much. Yesterday, she said that after running away from home, she met the woman who took her to Pooja, who is a resident of Sona Gachi, the red light district in Kolkata. Pooja is involved in human-trafficking. She took the girl to Etah where she was asked to marry an old man. However, she refused. The girl was brought back to Delhi and kept at Pooja's house in Tughlakabad, where she was sexually exploited by Sandeep, Pooja's husband. Pooja forced the girl into human-trafficking and sent her to Munirka, where she was again sexually exploited," added the ACP.

The girl thereafter married Rajkumar who placed Falak in her care and left for Mumbai, where his son was to be operated upon.

"She is a minor and could not take care of the baby. The 14-year-old girl admitted the baby in a bruised and battered condition to hospital," said the officer.

It is unclear whether Rajkumar was planning to come back to the 14-year-old girl, after his son's operation.

New Delhi, February 1
Two-year-old Falak, who was brought to AIIMS in a battered condition, is fighting a grim battle for life as has been affected by an infection, an AIIMS doctor said today.

"Her condition is very critical as she has developed infection in the brain. This has brought down her chances of survival to less than 50 per cent," neurosurgeon with Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre of AIIMS Dr Deeepak Agarwal said.

Admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital since January 18, this badly battered baby girl has already undergone three life-saving surgeries till now.

"In the wee hours today, doctors drained out the rest of the water that had accumulated in her brain through the spine. The fluid sample was sent to the laboratory for culture and after the reports came in, we started administering appropriate antibiotics for fighting the infection," he said.

"The next 24 to 48 hours are crucial. All will depend on how she responds to the treatment," Dr Agarwal said.

Baby Falak was brought to the hospital with severe head injuries, both her arms broken, bite marks all over her body and her cheeks branded with hot iron.

She was brought to the hospital by a teenage girl who claimed to be her mother and had cited a fall from the bed as the reason for the child's pathetic state.

Doctors said, "Though she is deeply unconscious and on the ventilator, she opens her eyes and makes limb movements only when given painful stimulus.

"This is part of the treatment module to check her brain functioning time-to-time," they said.

A case of sexual abuse has been ruled out after a gynaecologist carried out test on her a few days back, they said.

Forensic scientists are yet to verify if the marks on Falak’s body are that of human bite, Dr Agarwal said. — PTI

New Delhi, February 1
Even after many private schools declared their first cutoff list for nursery admissions over the last two weeks, the rest of the schools came out with their first list today. City schools were initially supposed to bring out their first list on February 1, however, the Directorate of Education of Delhi said soon that if any school was capable to release a list prior to February 1, it wouldn't be noted as a violation.

Parents had gone jittery after the lists favoured candidates with sibling or alumni points; however, the list today put much of the anticipation to rest.

For those who made it to the list today, schools advised them to book their seats immediately and take admissions since postponing it till all the schools release their lists, wouldn't be a wise move. For those who didn't make it to the list, schools have advised them to look forward to the second list since there are chances of withdrawal in the general category.

"Among the children whose parents had applied to multiple schools, there are many students who have got admissions into several schools. School principals today advised parents to wait a day or two, when such families finally make their choice, as a few seats may open up and the parents in the waiting list may still have a shot," said DR Saini, Principal, DPS, RK Puram.

"Generally, not many private schools will come out with a second list. However, this time, most parents had applied in as many as 10 to 20 schools. There will be a lot of repetitions. Parents shouldn't get much anxious. Many students will withdraw names when they choose their best options. Also, seats may open up if economically weaker section (EWS) seats aren't filled by March end," he added.

However, the EWS lists for several schools are yet to be released. While most private schools have filled up to 95 to 100 per cent of their seats in most cases, many government schools are still up for grabs.

The schools are likely to publish their second list of selected candidates by February 28 and the entire process of admission will have to be completed by March 31 as per the guidelines issued by the Directorate of Education.

New Delhi, February 1
After submitting repeated memorandums and complaint letters to the university regarding the semester results declared early January, many teachers of Delhi University have now decided to file an RTI and seek their answers.

Most teachers are of the opinion that the results have been moderated to such an extent that they are unrealistic and defy all logic. Referring to the discrepancy as a "marks scam", examiners said that such high-marking pattern has raised serious doubts in the minds of students and teachers about the evaluation and moderation process.

Just yesterday, the Delhi University Teachers Association launched a protest against the administration which will continue till March-end.

Probe into the "marks scam" is one of the major concerns that the teachers cited at the DUTA General Body Meeting yesterday.

According to Abha Dev Habib, professor of physics and member of Delhi University Teachers' Association, the devaluation of degrees is due to the marking pattern of the first semester exams.

"The marks scam happened at three levels. Meetings were held in many departments to unofficially decide a reduced syllabus for setting exam papers. The question papers were made easy as the format of the papers was changed. Then the examiners were instructed to mark leniently. The last act was to moderate all marks similarly," said Habib.

"Earlier, moderation used to be done as per the case. This time, a mindless method of moderation was done. Marks were inflated by 7 to 8 per cent. A student of Miranda House got 98.70 per cent in Physics (Hons) paper, which is unheard of," she said.

Teachers of the Germanic and Romance Studies department had written to the examination branch, stating that they did not believe in moderation of marks across the board. Fourteen teachers from the history department have also written to the department head, expressing their dismay over the issue.

A group of examiners then wrote to the Controller of Examinations to register its protest over the "unacademic way of moderating results".

The memorandum of protest, submitted to the Controller of Examinations, says that the faulty method has "diluted" the academic standards and made a "mockery" of the evaluation process.

"We have gone through the results, and analyzed them thoroughly. We have compared them to the result patterns over the last three years. And we are sure that all is not well. If the administration refuses to give answers, we have no other choice than to resort to an RTI. It's our right to know as teachers as to what has gone wrong," said a senior SRCC faculty member, planning to file an RTI in the matter.

Noida, February 1
Chief executive officer of the Noida Authority SK Dwivedi today launched a sealing drive in Noida. The drive started with the sealing of a branch of Vijaya Bank in Sector 19.

Under the drive, which follows a Supreme Court order, all commercial units operating from residential and the non-conforming areas will be sealed.

Scared of the drive, nursing homes and shops running from residential premises today kept their shutters down. At Sectors 20, 19, 27, 22 and other areas, even small shops selling milk, bread, egg, butter etc remained closed

"We do not want cancellation of the lease deeds of our houses. We have told the buyers to now arrange for milk on their own," said a shop owner at Sector 20.

"The Supreme Court had ordered closure of banks and other commercial activities from residential and non-conforming areas. The Noida Authority had been given the responsibility for execution of the order. Apart from public notices, we had given individual notices to the banks. Today, we started the sealing drive from Sector 19. It will continue till all the commercial units operating from the non-conforming areas are sealed," said SK Dwievdi, CEO.

Police and PAC forces accompanied the Noida Authority team to prevent any resistance.

"The Noida Authority should have given us a few months for shifting. Banks cannot be shifted in few days," said an officer of the Vijaya Bank that was sealed today.

Reacting to the sealing, a 74-year-old man said, "Where should we keep our jewellery. We had kept them in bank lockers, but now banks are being sealed."

"Like Delhi, the Noida Authority should change the byelaws and allow mixed land use to solve the problem. Banks should be nearer to the residents. Banking should not be treated as a commercial activity. It is essential to people," he said.

New Delhi, February 1
Criticising the Delhi police for shielding its erring officials, the Delhi High Court today decided to monitor a probe against 33 policemen identified for allegedly taking bribe and allowing liquor smugglers to do business.

According to a report submitted by the police today, 33 policemen out of 54 individuals involved in the case had been identified so far.

The report said that no action had been taken so far against the identified policemen.

The division bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice R.S. Endlaw said: "There is total lack of action on the part of Delhi police and the courts are forced to monitor such type of cases."

"They are going to shield their own people as the allegation was against their own officials. There seems to be no serious effort to complete the probe," the court said, seeking the original police file pertaining to the investigation.

Petitioner Chetan Sharma sought the court's intervention to monitor the investigations and alleged that the police commissioner, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the home ministry were not showing interest in the case even after the court's order.

Sharma said that in July 2010 the court had viewed some CDs that he had presented after filming policemen and officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) taking bribe from liquor smugglers in various parts of the city and had directed the CVC and police to take action against the erring officials.

Advocate Manish Khanna appearing for petitioner Sharma told the court that the police had failed to register a case against the officials in compliance with the court's earlier order.

Sharma had named 54 policemen, including 10 traffic policemen and seven MCD officials for their alleged involvement in taking bribes and allowing the liquor smugglers to carry on their business in the city. — IANS

New Delhi, February 1
The National Green Tribunal has sought the stand of the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) on a plea to ban setting up of new industrial units in "critically polluted" Noida till its environment quality is improved through a "remedial action plan".

A bench of justices A Suryanarayan Naidu and GK Pandey has also issued notices to pollution control boards of Uttar Pradesh and the Centre, besides the UP State Industrial Development Corporation, and sought their responses by February 23.

"We find that substantial question relating to environment is involved in this case. Issue notice to the respondents," the bench said after hearing advocate Rahul Chaudhary, who had appeared for the petitioner Sanjay Agnihotri, a Noida resident.

Gupta had sought directions to restrain "concerned authorities from granting fresh permission/ sanction/ consent for establishing any new units or expansion of existing units until the complete implementation of action plan for improving the environment quality of the area in question".

He sought constitution of a monitoring commission to "ensure effective, time-bound and transparent implementation" of provisions of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 in Noida.

Agnihotri also sought directions for prosecution of "all concerned", found breaching provisions of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.

He told the tribunal that the MoEF, in August 2010 had imposed a moratorium on environment clearances or consideration of projects to be located in "critically polluted" Noida and some other places.

The MoEF, however, later in a review of its decision, lifted the embargo in respect of 25 industrial clusters, including Noida, in September 2011, he said. PTI

New Delhi, February 1
A woman's plea, seeking maintenance for herself from her former husband has been dismissed by the Delhi High Court on the ground that she had "sufficient means to maintain herself".

A Bench of Justice Suresh Kait gave its order on a plea by central Delhi-resident Neelam Khanna (name changed), against a Sessions court order, which had set aside a magisterial court order to her former husband VP Sharma to give her an interim maintenance of Rs 5,000 per month.

"During her cross-examination, in the petition seeking maintenance, the petitioner, while asserting that she is living on mercy of relatives and friends, has failed to name even a single person from whom she had taken debt or loan. This proves that she has sufficient means to maintain herself," said Justice Kait.

Khanna had told the high court that the Sessions court had failed to consider that she is unemployed and is not earning her livelihood.

She had further said the lower court had also ignored her submission that her husband is having rental income from various properties.

Sharma, however, opposed his former wife's plea pointing out that she had made him part with a flat and shop in south Delhi in 2002 as per a deal for divorce with mutual consent and she was having sufficient income to maintain herself.

As per the deal, she was not to claim any maintenance for rest of her life after the divorce, which she gave him after securing a major chunk of his properties, said Sharma.

"With mutual consent, we both separated from each other in 2003. The petitioner was even given equal shares in the property," said Sharma's counsel. PTI

New Delhi, February 1
An eve teasing incident led to a major brawl between two groups late last night at Tilak Nagar Metro Station. Two brothers identified as Saurav and Gaurav, aged between 20 and 25 have been arrested in the case for misbehaving with a woman inside the metro train. However, they got bail today. Allegedly, the incident took place soon after the girl along with her fiancé, Ravinder Singh, and her six-year-old nephew were returning to her home in Tilak Nagar.

As the argument continued, both sides called their relatives to the station in large numbers resulting in a fight between them.

Some glasses at the Metro station were broken by both groups and they also damaged other property on the premises, the police said.

"It was basically an eve-teasing incident. But both the parties converted into a riot-like situation and damaged the Metro property," a senior police official said.

Two brothers, who allegedly misbehaved and teased the woman, were identified and arrested this morning, the official said.

They have also been booked for acting with intent to create riot and other sections under the Delhi Metro Act.

New Delhi, February 1
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today instructed PWD engineers to concentrate on the maintenance of roads, streetlights and signages. Dikshit instructed senior engineers to visit the localities under their control at least once a week to assess the deficiencies in the restoration work. The superintending engineers concerned would be held responsible for any lapse in the maintenance work, she said.

While underlining the importance of maintenance, Dikshit stated that it is a regular process. The government has earmarked four per cent of the project amount for the proper upkeep. The percentage on maintenance can go up.

Dikshit held a meeting to review the maintenance of roads, streetlights and signage.

The meeting was attended by PWD Minister Rajkumar Chouhan, chief secretary P. K. Tripathi; principal secretary to CM, M M Kutty; principal secretary, PWD, Nutan Guha Biswas; secretary (Environment) Keshav Chandra; and engineer-in-chief V K Gupta.