Police fails to arrest escaped undertrials
Amritsar, February 15
One day after the escaping of three undertrials from the district court complex, the police is yet to make any breakthrough in this connection and re-arrest them. The police authorities claimed that the raids were being conducted on their suspected hideouts, including the residences of their relatives, for their arrest. However, no success had been achieved so far.

Amritsar, February 15
Three gangsters - Abhijit Singh, alias Ankur Likhari, of the Likhari gang and Ramesh Kumar, alias Danny, and Jarnail Singh of the Cobra gang - were today booked for clashing inside the court premises while being produced for hearing in a case before the judge last evening.

The police team which was present at the spot got them separated and pulled them out of the court room.

The Civil Lines police has registered a case under Sections 160 and 186 of the IPC against them for scuffling and obstructing the public servant from discharging his duty.

According to information, Likhari was facing trial in a murder case, while Cobra gang leader Sanjiv Baba was also in Amritsar Central Jail and both the gangs have an old enmity.

Likhari was being produced in the court for a hearing in a criminal case. Rajesh Danny of the Cobra gang was brought from Amritsar Central Jail, while other members of his gang - Shama Don, Jarnail Singh and Kanhya - were brought from the Faridkot jail for hearing in the same case.

They were produced in the court of PP Singh, Additional Sessions Judge. However, they started abusing each other in the presence of the Judge and then attacked each other with chairs.

The police immediately swung into action, while additional police from the Civil lines police station also reached the spot.

Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa, SHO, Civil Lines police station, said a case was registered.

Amritsar, February 15
One day after the escaping of three undertrials from the district court complex, the police is yet to make any breakthrough in this connection and re-arrest them. The police authorities claimed that the raids were being conducted on their suspected hideouts, including the residences of their relatives, for their arrest. However, no success had been achieved so far.

Six Central Jail inmates had managed to dodge the guards and escaped through the Bakshikhana (a room where the prisoners are kept before being produced in the court) by breaking the iron grills of a widow of the room. Those who managed to escape are Sunny, Balraj Singh and Satnam Singh. The ones who were rearrested are Jaspal Singh, Sandeep Singh and Harpreet Singh.

Sunny of Chheharta had been booked under Sections 341 and 506 of the IPC for wrongfully restraining someone for criminal intimidation, Balraj Singh of Tarn Taran under Section 382 (theft) of the IPC, Satnam Singh of Nangli village under the NDPS Act, Jaspal Singh of Thande village under Section 457 (house breaking) of the IPC, Sandeep Singh of Islamabad under Section 452 (house trespassing) of the IPC and Harpreet Singh under the Excise Act. Out of these Balraj Singh was the most notorious criminal, who was wanted in many looting and robbery cases.

The police has suspended Inspector Manjit Singh and constable Jarnail Singh, who were deputed to take them for the court hearing, for negligence, while a case under Sections 223 and 224 has been registered against them.

Bakshikhana, in which over 80 Central Jail inmates were kept, is located on the fourth floor of the court complex. The accused undertrials cut the iron mesh before pulling down the four-inch wall constructed for permanently blocking the door. After pulling down the wall, they made their escape route through the balcony to reach the third floor balcony and then through the stairs.

Sukhwinder Singh, SHO, Civil Lines police station, said raids were being conducted at their suspected hideouts to trace and re-arrest them.

Amritsar, February 15
After a meeting between police officials and the District and Sessions Judge, the Amritsar Bar Association announced to call off its strike from today. In a press conference held after the meeting, Bar association president Pradeep Kumar Saini said Commissioner of Police RP Mittal assured them of taking action.

Terming it as a victory of the Amritsar Bar Association, Saini said, “It has been proved now that advocate Kuljeet Singh was not at fault and he was a victim.” He said those who had been propagating that agitation had been planned to harness political mileage for the upcoming Bar association election had been silenced.

The advocates had been protesting for the last few days demanding arrest of the accused in the attack on advocate Kuljeet Singh case. The advocate’s arm was broken in the incident.

Saini claimed that the revenue records as investigated by police officials had testified that the accused tried to illegally occupy advocate Kuljit Singh’s land.

The incident had taken a political turn with a few BJP councillors opposing advocates’ agitation. The BJP councillors had stated that the injured advocate was at fault.

Amritsar, February 15
Dejected by the insensitive attitude of the government towards preserving the house of Madan Lal Dhingra, the first Indian freedom fighter who was executed in London in 1909, located here, various student organisations today held a protest and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner for preserving the site as a national monument.

They also demanded to initiate efforts for revamping the martyrs’ statues and the park named after him, which are in a dilapidated condition.

Pargat Singh Jamarai, general secretary of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujwan Sabha, said the historic house was grabbed by the land mafias. “Even as almost the whole structure has been dismantled, yet the administration should appeal to the government to preserve the place and declare it as a monument. We have submitted a memorandum to the DC in this respect,” he said.

Located in Katra Sher Singh, this was the only “commemoration” of the martyr.

Lately occupied by his brother Mukand Lal Dhingra, who lived here with his family, the property has been sold off and the new buyer is dismantling the original structure.

It has been learnt that the house has been sold off at a lesser price than its market value as the ground floor of the house had been given on a rent for the past six decades and it was not easy to get the portion vacated.

One of the tenets, who has been running a clinical laboratory since 1955, had already knocked at the door of the court for obtaining injunction for vacating the place.

Though the road leading to the house has been named after the martyr eventually after rechristening the Sikandari Gate Road to Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra Road, but that, too, would now lose its significance when there wouldn’t be the original house, where Dhingra was born on February 18, 1883.

Almost a year back, the government had made an announcement that the house would be procured to be converted into a museum, but in vain.

Bhupinder Longowal, general secretary of the Naujwan Bharat Sabha, said the martyr’s statue installed in the Mall Mandi area was in a very shabby condition and on the verge of collapse for want of maintenance. “Even the park where the statue has been installed is in a very dilapidated state and the administration has done little efforts to maintain it,” he said.

Earlier, Luxmi Kanta Chawla, Minister for Social Welfare, who had constituted the Madan Lal Dhingra Shahid Smarak Samiti, too, expressed her resentment over the failure on the part of the government to preserve the house.

The history
y Dhingra came from an affluent family and had a strong desire to see his country liberated from the clutches of the Britishers. Dhingra had gone to attain higher education in London where he gunned down Sir William Curzon Wyle on July 1, 1909. After a trial lasting one and a half months, Dhingra was executed on August 17, 1909, at the age of 26 years. However, his father, close to the British government, had refused to accept his body. At that time, Dhingra’s body was denied Hindu rites and was buried by the British authorities. Dhingra’s body was accidentally found while the authorities searched for the remains of Shaheed Udham Singh and sent to India on December 13, 1976.

Amritsar, February 15
Jail inmate Kulwant Singh (35), who was admitted to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital with critical burn injuries four days back, died last evening. After postmortem the body was handed over to his family members, who cremated him here today.

The family members and relatives of Kulwant pointed fingers towards the jail authorities and termed it as a case of murder.

Earlier, the jail authorities had said Kulwant tried to commit suicide by setting himself ablaze under depression.

Various organisations, including Lawyers for Human Rights, Khalra Mission Committee, Khalra Mission Organisation and Dal Khalsa, have come forward to approach the high court to seek justice for Kulwant.

According to information, Kulwant was arrested by the Special Operation Cell of the Punjab Police in July, 2010, with two AK-47 rifles, automatic machine gun and 15 kg of RDX, which were purportedly smuggled from Pakistan to create disturbance during the SGPC elections held in 2011.

Kulwant was lodged in Amritsar Central Jail by the State Operational Cell and he was booked under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act by the State Special Operation Cell. He was kept in special barrack No 19.

On February 11, at about 4.30 pm, the jail staff heard him shouting in his barrack. Before they could reach him, half of his body was burnt.

During his treatment at the hospital, he had stated that since he was asleep, he could not recall the exact cause of the incident. Nevertheless, he had hinted that the electric wires might have caused short-circuiting after getting in touch with the “angithi” (traditional earthen cooking pot) placed in his barrack.

Jail Superintendent Rashpal Singh said it was a matter of investigation to know about the exact cause of the fire. However, the circumstantial evidences indicated that he had tried to immolate himself, as he was levelled with serious charges and he was under great stress.

Meanwhile, Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh Bittu said Kulwant had given a statement that he was asleep and did not know how the fire broke out in his barrack. “The jail authorities have twisted his statement to conceal the truth. We wil knock the door of the high court to get justice for Kulwant,” he said.

Lawyers for Human Rights’ activist VPS Bhatia said a case of torturous treatment meted out to Kulwant by the police was already pending in the high court. “The hearing for the case was fixed for February 16. The court has been intimated about Kulwant’s case and we would appeal to the court to initiate judicial inquiry into his death,” he said.

Amritsar, February 15
To give the residents’ actual breather from the stray dog menace, Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Animal Husbandry Department have decided to join hands to control stray dog menace.

A meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow where both AMC and the department would chalk out the logistics of animal birth control (ABC)-a central government funded project conceptualised to control stray canine population.

They decided to streamline the sterilisation drive through Advanced Minimally Invasive Vas Occlusion Technique (MIVOT), a least painful and cost-effective technique introduced in Amritsar on August 2009 for the first time but could not be utilised to its optimal value. The whole process of sterilisation, post operation care and diet of the dog would cost around Rs 420 each.

As many as five teams have been constituted for the purpose. Confirming this, Dr Yogesh Arora, Health Officer of AMC said the teams would be equipped with requisite infrastructure like dog catchers, cages and vehicles.

“Besides this, our liability would be to provide the required medicines and both pre and post surgical drugs to the Animal Husbandry Department. Experts from the department would perform the sterilisation process. After the surgery, the canines would be send back to the same place from where they were lifted,” he said.

Dr Jagdish Chander Shoori, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, said five clinics have been spared exclusively for sterilisation of the dogs at Polyclinic, Chattiwind, Khalsa College and two clinics at Hathigate area. The AMC has bifurcated its 26 sanitary divisions into five zones to catch and admit the dogs to these clinics.

The AMC’s official survey in 2008 states there are 25,000 stray dogs in the holy city.

The Department has taken this number into consideration before drafting the dog sterilisation schedule. However, sources said, the number must have increased manifold by now.

“We are taking 25,000 stray dogs into account. Three days, that is Monday, Wednesday and Friday of every week would be dedicated to this sterilisation drive. We have a team of five trained veterinary doctors who would collectively perform 1,200 operations in a month,” said Dr Shoori.

The AMC has announced a toll free helpline no 1800-1802-103 on which the residents can register their complaints related to stray dog menace.

Amritsar, February 15
Industrialists, wholesale businessmen and sales tax lawyers are relieved as the Excise and Taxation Department has withdrawn its order of making it mandatory for registered dealers to submit prior list of business transactions for getting C-forms.

Sales tax lawyer SK Sharma said as per the new rule registered dealers involved in inter-state trade would have to submit a prior list of transaction for getting C-form issued. “Prior list is supposed to enumerate to whom they were sending or importing merchandise, rates of these items and other details,” he added.

He said it was a wise decision on the department’s part to roll back the order as it would have involved exhaustive work.

Punjab Beopar Mandal president Amrit Lal Jain said it was a draconian decision and he was amazed that when an interim government was in place how came they made a policy decision.

He said the decision was bound to be taken back as it was against the provision of the VAT Act-2005 that there would not be any imposition of one-side rule on the registered dealers.

Jain demanded that on the line of the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat C-forms must also be available on the website of the Excise and Taxation Department of Punjab. He hit out at the bureaucracy for making rules to keep businessmen and traders enmeshed in rigmarole of paper work.

He said a new roadblock was created for business and trading community even before the complete resolution of the earlier problem of providing adequate number of C-forms in its office here.

He said when the department could provide e-filing, e-pass, e-billing and other facilities on its website then why not C-forms. He said so many rules were passed from time to time for C-forms, which cost a meagre Re 1.

As per the norms, an inter-state transaction could not be completed without a C-form. Businessmen involved in yarn, plastic powder, steel, iron and woollen trade were already ruing that their businesses were hit due to the acute shortage of the forms.

Amritsar, February 15
The Sikh Students Federation (Mehta) has released its first list of office-bearers for the Amritsar urban unit containing 243 names.

President of the federation’s district unit Amarbir Singh Dhot said the organisation strived to keep youth away from the clutches of drugs and worked to draw them towards Gurbani.

He said the next list of the office-bearers containing circle presidents and ward presidents would be released within the next 10 days.

Apparently following please-all policy, 13 senior vice-presidents, 41 vice-presidents, 39 general secretaries, 47 secretaries, 29 vice-secretaries, 36 organising secretaries, 25 joint secretaries, 3 propaganda secretaries, 3 advisers, 3 legal advisers, a chief spokesman, two spokesmen, a press secretary and a treasurer, were announced.

Among others, federation’s patron Rajinder Singh Mehta and national president Paramjit Singh Khalsa took part in the release of the list.