Chandigarh, February 21
The UT police received a major setback today when a woman refused to identify her husband’s killers in court and turned hostile.

Jahan Ara, wife of an NRI who was killed in front of her eyes in Manimajra on Holi last year, failed to depose against the killers. Two more key witnesses in the case turned hostile, making the murder case fall flat in the court.

Interestingly, Jahan Ara was on a walk with her husband on the fateful day when the killers had first attempted to rob her of jewellery at knifepoint. Mubarak had resisted the attack on his wife and was stabbed while trying to save her wife.

“It’s a sorry state of affairs that the woman has retracted from her statements given to the police and failed to support the murder case of her husband who died while saving her. She was the key eyewitness in the case,” said public prosecutor Manu Kakkar.

Two other witnesses, Shafatullah Hassan, the deceased’s brother-in-law, and Sohan, a watchman, too, turned hostile in the court today.

The case is now reserved for final orders on the next hearing.

The accused in the case include Pardeep Rai, alias Kala, Pawan Kumar, alias Gutti, and Ravi Kumar, alias Chepu. They were arrested two months after the murder occurred. All three accused have a criminal past.

While deposing, Jahan Ara stated that she could not recognise any of the three accused who were present in the court.

Hassan, who used to work in Saudi Arabia, was killed on March 21 last year.

All accused are residents of Mauli Jagran and below the age of 25. They are involved in criminal activities in Panchkula and Chandigarh, and hooked on to drugs.

Chandigarh, February 21
The UT Police today nabbed Sandeep Singh, a Mohali resident, for crushing a four-year-old girl to death under his Tata Safari in Sector 38 here yesterday.

The police said Sandeep was unable to produce his driving licence and was under the influence of some intoxicant. He was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Sections 279, 337 and 304 of the IPC.

Sandeep, a father of two children who had returned from Australia two months ago, was nabbed from his residence and taken to the Sector 39 police station.

The news of his arrest, meanwhile, led to a high drama at the police station where residents of Sector 38-A demanded him to be handed over to them “so that they could take revenge of the child’s death”.

“The neighbours and relatives of the deceased were up in arms and tried to thrash him, but we got the situation under control. Sandeep has confessed to his crime and his medical has been conducted. Further investigations in the case are on,” said Charanjeet Singh, SHO, Sector 39 police station.

Sandeep had hit Gehna yesterday with his over-speeding Safari when she was on her way to buy a chocolate. He had fled from the scene without even looking back at the girl. An onlooker had noted his vehicle number and informed the police.

Chandigarh, February 21
Taking accident death toll to three in the last three days, a 38-year-old youth Vikas Swani, a resident of Zirakpur, was killed at the airport lightpoints today.

Vikas was returning from his printing press in Makahan Majra on his Honda activa, driven by one Munish Yadav of Uttar Pradesh.

Vikas, who was rushed to a hospital, was declared brought dead. The incident comes a day after an over-speeding Safari killed a four-year-old girl in Sector 38 and a man sitting on the back seat of a Bolero was killed after it collided with a Cielo car coming from the opposite side at the Sector 29-30 light-points.

In addition, Assistant Estate Officer Rahul Gupta allegedly hit three motorcyclists, leaving them seriously injured. The same day a motorcylist was also injured near Hallomajra when a car hit him from behind.

Meanwhile, five accidents in last three days raise a question on the relevance of the traffic awareness campaign being carried out by the UT police which involves college students in door-to-door campaigning and release of books and pamphlets.

Chandigarh, February 21
Having no examples to impress students for its policing skills, Chandigarh Police SSP Naunihal Singh borrowed extensively from Bollywood hit films to prove his point regarding efficient policing, at a community interaction in Panjab University today.

Definitely an attempt towards connecting with the public using examples they could identify with, the top cop gave a fitting tribute to the superheroes of the Bollywood, in particular, by choosing stories and even scenes from many super-hit flicks.

The highly popular image of Amitabh Bachchan as the angry young policeman in “Zanjeer” and the firebrand performance of an angry police officer by Ajay Devgun in recent hit “Singham” were just two examples that Naunihal Singh gave while trying to prove his point on the police role during the interaction.

“I find it very funny that even the police had no real examples to show youngsters the grit of serving officers who had set examples worth quoting while on duty. Instead, the city is full with cases of policemen caught in unlawful activity. Anyone can give examples of corruption, which keep coming up very often,” a student of MA(philosophy) said.

The interaction, organised by the Centre of Police Administration, witnessed interesting queries from students, which the SSP preferred to respond by talking about film scenes.

On being told that policemen, in general, are not friendly towards people and the police doesn’t have a close bonding with the community, thereby inspiring fear in people, the SSP replied that they (students) must have watched Amitabh Bachchan’s “Zanjeer” or other Hindi movies, where the police reached at the end of the scene. On seeing the police, the criminals never dared to move.

This was because there was a fear among the people that law-enforcers had arrived and there was no way out except surrendering.”

The SSP told the students to watch Hollywood movie “Minority Report”. “The movie focuses on police system which was so efficient that they used to catch criminals before they committed crime.”

Naunihal even advised the coordinator of the Police Department to have some movies as part of the syllabus so that the students understood police functioning. Answering to one of the questions, the SSP said that sometimes there were some flaws within the system that needed to be rectified, which takes time. He gave the example of latest movie “Singham”, starring Ajay Devgan. He said the movie showed how the officer fights within the system to bring reformation.

“There is a need to bridge the disconnect between the police functioning on the one hand and the perception of the community about the police on the other.”

Chandigarh, February 21
Setting a deterrent in the case involving the kidnapping of a two-year-old child for ransom, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal today sentenced two persons to life imprisonment. A fine of Rs 14,000 was also imposed on the convicts, Amarpal and Suresh.

They had kidnapped two-year-old Prince from the Bapu Dham Colony last year and demanded Rs 3 lakh as ransom. The trial in the case began in October last year and the prosecution evidence was recorded in just four hearings.

Prince was kidnapped for ransom from outside his residence on February 8 last year and then recovered by the police within six hours of being informed.

The police, which had learnt a lesson from its mistakes in the Khushpreet murder case, acted swiftly. It had even arranged a helicopter for the purpose. Two other accused were juveniles and their case was pending in the juvenile court.

The police had arrested the four kidnappers following an intensive operation in Siswan village, near Kurali. As per the prosecution, Prince’s uncle Amarpal, a vegetable vendor, had kidnapped the child.

He had roped in three vegetable vendors known to him.

Four hours after the boy went missing, Prince’s father Dinesh received a call on his mobile phone from a landline number, asking him to arrange a ransom amount of Rs 5 lakh for the release of his son. The worried father rushed to the police station at Sector 26 and informed the police, which in turn, swung into action.

Around 4 pm, the police laid a trap near Mullanpur, where over 60 policemen in mufti were deputed along a 10-km stretch on the highway from Siswan to Kurali. Two kidnappers were nabbed when they came on a motorcycle with the child to collect the ransom.

Chandigarh, February 21
The auction of four parking lots today evoked a poor response for the third consecutive time. The bids quoted by contractors were lower than those quoted on January 11.

One of the parking lots, that in front of the office of the municipal corporation’s health officer at Sector 17, failed to attract even a single bid.

The contract for these paid parking lots in the city expired on December 31 last year and the auctions held in December and on January 11 elicited a poor response. Following this, the authorities decided to put the parking lots under the hammer again.

Bids for parking lots in front of the CMC in Sector 17 and one at Sector 34 were today quoted at Rs 17.05 lakh and Rs 21.62 lakh, respectively, against reserve price of Rs 16.67 lakh and Rs 21 lakh, respectively.

The sharp decrease in the prices quoted put the authorities in a quandary again. During the auction on January 11, the highest bid for the parking in front of the CMC was quoted at Rs 21.50 lakh. The price for the parking at Sector 34 was then quoted at Rs 21.35 lakh.

The parking lot of the Lake Club was auctioned today at Rs 14.90 lakh against a reserve price of Rs 14.29 lakh. This amount was much lower than the price of Rs 18.10 lakh quoted on January 11.

The conditions of contract did not find favour with the bidders, said a contractor. The contractor was supposed to employ workers who were at least matriculates and depute them at every 50 metres.

This had led to a sharp increase in expenditure and fall in profits, he said. The contractor was also asked to instal CCTV cameras on the entry and exit points, which would increase the cost of management further.

MC Commissioner Prerna Puri could not be contacted for comment. MC Additional Commissioner Sunil Bhatia said auction proceedings were placed before the Commissioner for her approval.

Chandigarh, February 21
Reserving its order in the Suman case, involving the alleged negligence by doctors at the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, the UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Smriti Dhir, counsel for the GMSH, to produce original records of the labour room and laboratory, relating to the requisition and receipt of blood, within two days.

The commission today heard final arguments in the case relating to the compensation claim of Rs 98 lakh, filed by Pankaj Chandgothia, president of the Consumer Courts Bar Association, on behalf of Suman’s family.

The incident dated back to December 16, 2010, when wrong blood transfusion to Suman at the GMSH resulted in the death of her nine-month-old foetus and damage to her kidneys.

Concluding the arguments, Chandgothia contended that the Chandigarh Administration had accepted the inquiry report submitted by Kavle V Parshuram, SDM, after associating two medical experts, the then medical superintendent of the GMCH, Sector 32, and the head of the gynaecology department at the GMCH.

None of the doctors had challenged the inquiry report submitted on January 3, 2011, though more than a year had elapsed. The report had attained finality and the three guilty doctors, Dr Kirti Sood, Dr Manpreet Kaur and Dr Navdeep Kaur, could not find fault with the report now, contended Chandgothia.

He contended that not only should monetary relief be granted to cover the loss to the victim, but special damages should also be awarded as a measure of punishment to the institution and its doctors.

He further contended that the hospital or employer institution was always vicariously liable for the negligent acts of its employee doctors as the patient went to the hospital or institution and not to any individual doctor.

The commission, comprising its president Justice Sham Sunder and members Jagroop Singh Mahal and Neena Sandhu, reserved the orders and directed Dhir to produce the original records within two days.

Chandigarh, February 21
The Administration today gave its consent to the implementation of the Right to Privacy Bill in response to a communication from the Centre.

Confirming the development, Home Secretary Anil Kumar said the Bill was yet to be cleared by Parliament. “The Centre has just sought a response from different governments on the issue before the Bill is tabled in Parliament,” he said.

The Bill was being introduced in the background of the Centre’s assurance in the Supreme Court that the publication of Niira Radia tapes violated the right to privacy.

The petition, alleging violation of his right to privacy, had been filed by industrialist Ratan Tata. The Bill aimed to keep the name of certain categories, including of the accused not proved guilty, to be kept a secret.

It also prohibited the police interception of communication between any two individuals, except with the permission of a Secretary level officer.

The agencies concerned were also required to destroy the material collected during interception two months after it was recorded and the service was discontinued.

The Bill categorically stated that every individual would have the right to confidentiality of communication, confidentiality of private and family life, protection of honour and good name, protection from search and detention, privacy from surveillance, confidentiality of banking and financial transactions, confidentiality of medical and legal information and protection of individual data.

Chandigarh, February 21
A two-day seminar on human rights commenced at The Government College of Education, Sector 20, today. Delegates from various institutions and colleges of the region attended the seminar.

On the first day of the seminar, various key issues related to human rights were deliberated upon in three technical sessions.

Prof Pam Rajput, Executive Director, Women’s Resource and Advocacy Centre, inaugurated the seminar. She reiterated the need for human rights culture on all the platforms of society.

She also elaborated on the impact of globalisation and development paradigms on human rights and emphasised the need for education to act as a catalyst for ensuring human equality.

The resource person for the first technical session was Dr SS Dahiya, Director, State Institute of Education, Chandigarh. The theme of the session was “Right to Education” in which he explained that the Right to Education Act received considerable impetus during the last decade as a result of the concerted effort of many groups and agencies that made determined efforts to ensure that all the children in India received at least a minimum of education.

Dr Balram Gupta, former head, Panjab University Law Department, headed the afternoon technical session. He threw light on various legal rights, concepts and causes of child labour and various laws pertaining to the eradication of this menace from society. He also emphasised the need for putting the best of our efforts to protect the rights of the weaker sections of society.

More than 100 delegates will be presenting their papers during the seminar.

Chandigarh, February 21
Bharatnatyam danseuse Suchitra Mitra brought alive varied manifestations of womanhood, be it girl, sister, beloved, daughter or mother, in her dance choreography ‘Rabindra Srishta Naari’ on the second day of ‘Natyanjali’ at Tagore Theatre here today.

Subhashish Hazra and Nasreen Imam excelled on the vocals. Agnibha Bandhopadhya delineated the musical dexterity and composing skill of Gurudev in his vocal recital of Rabindra sangeet before the Mumbai-based dance ensemble ‘Lasya’ took over.

Five accomplished dance disciples of Guru Rajashri Shirke presented a slice of dance theatre based on the story ‘Khata’ by Gurudev. The dance drama with narratives was an exploration of an innocent and talented girl to outshine through her writings, but failing to get family support even after her wedding to a prolific writer.

The event opened yesterday with Kolkata-based Srabeni Sen enthralling the audience with a melodious rendition of Rabindra sangeet. Thespian Usha Ganguly stole the show with the immaculate staging of Tagore’s classic ‘Chandalika’, which had the potent theme of untouchability.

Mohali, February 21
High tension prevailed in Sector 70 when Shamsher Phurkhalvi, husband of a former Mohali councillor, fired three rounds from his licensed weapon after another prominent person of the area, Surinder Singh Rajput, allegedly attacked him.

The councillor’s husband claimed that he had fired in air in self-defence on being attacked.

The incident happened after the children of Purkhalvi and Rajput entered in to argument and the parents of both the children joined the argument.

Soon, both the families exchanged blows, resulting in injuring Purkhlavi and Rajput.

On seeing being over powered by the supporters of Rajput, Purkhlavi allegedly fired in the air. The DSP, city-I, Sharanjit Singh, said both the injured persons have been admitted to the hospital. An FIR against both would be registered on the basis of medico legal report.

The police has seized the weapon from which Phurklavi had fired. Sources said that the husband of the former councillor was in possession of three-licenced weapons.

While he had submitted two with the police in wake of the election, one was still in his possession.

Panchkula, February 21
Failing to provide information to an applicant proved costly for the land acquisition officer (LAO), Panchkula, as the Haryana State Information Commission slapped a penalty of Rs 5,000 on the official. The commission issued directions to the Urban Estate Department to deduct the penalty amount from the official’s pay of February and March in two installments.

Coming down heavily on the state public information officer-cum-land acquisition officer, Satish Bhardwaj, for the delay, commission in its order says, “There has been inordinate delay on the part of the respondent SPIO in furnishing the requisite information to the appellant. His representative is unable to explain the reasons for delay satisfactorily.”

“Commission in its interim order of February 12 had directed the respondent SPIO to be personally present during hearing but he fails to attend the hearing personally and has also not filed a detailed reply explaining the reason for delay. There is nothing on the record to show as why he is unable to attend today’s hearing and no authorisation letter has been produced by him. It clearly indicates that the respondent SPIO has not discharged his obligations diligently under the RTI Act, 2005.” Order further reads,

Applicant Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Bhainsa Tibba village had sought information about the acquired land in Bhainsa Tibba village under the notification issued on January 10, 1983.

When contacted, Sukhdev Singh said he had some land in the village but he was not aware about whether any part of his land comes under the acquired land or not. Therefore, on February 2, 2011, he had sought information under the RTI from the land acquisition officer, Panchkula. “As they had failed to provide me the information, I had filed an appeal before the commission. Finally, on January 13 this year, the department had provided me the required information, he said.

The commission in its order has also directed the respondent SPIO to pay Rs 1,000 to the applicant as compensation.

Chandigarh, February 21
Seven doctors and scientists with the mycology division of the Department of Medical Microbiology of the PGI have received awards at the 9th National Conference of the Society for Indian Human and Animal Mycologists at Siliguri (West Bengal).

Dr Pratibha Kale, a junior resident, received the prestigious GP Agarwal Young Scientist Award. She presented her work on fungal rhinosinusitis, which is prevalent in agricultural workers of this country. Her work showed that fungus responsible for the disease in India is different from the Western world and the causative fungus has a high count in the air in our country.

Prasanna Honnavar, a PhD student, received the prestigious Kamalam Glaxo Award. He presented his work on seborrhoeic dermatitis, a disease highly prevalent in Indian population. He highlighted the difference in epidemiology of the disease between north and south India.

Mr Hansraj Choudhary, a technologist, received the second best poster prize among all doctors and senior scientists. Dr Anup Ghosh (Assistant Professor) and Kapil Mukesh (a research fellow) shared the 3rd best poster award between them. Dr Lakshmi Sree, a junior resident, received the mycology quiz award. Dr Gagandeep Singh, a pool officer, received the Dr Padhye Travel Award.

Chandigarh, February 21
The second day of the 30th National Workshop on Clinical Pharmacology held in the department of pharmacology, PGI, began with a lecture on multi-centre clinical trials today.

Prof PL Sharma spoke on various issues in multicentre clinical trials, which are conducted at several hospitals and across nations. The basic purpose of conducting trials at multiple centres is to gather huge information about the drug action and side effects in patients, who are enrolled for trial.

During the workshop, Dr AK Mitra from New Delhi shared his experience and discussed established guidelines on good laboratory practices. He spoke on the need and importance of standard operating procedures and instrument calibration and validation procedures. “The compliance to these guidelines will ensure the credibility and integrity of the results obtained through experiments in laboratories,” said Dr Mitra.

He also spoke on bio-equivalence studies, which are conducted to prove that a new drug product, generic product developed by pharmaceutical companies is similar to the available marketed drug product, the innovator product.

Prof SC Chopra from Aadesh Institute, Bathinda, spoke on Basic Pharmacokinetics, which deals with how the body handles the drug that is administered on a patient. A drug that is consumed, say in the form of a tablet, has to enter blood circulation from the gastrointestinal tract and through the blood reaches the various parts in the body.

Dr Urmila Thatte, KEM, Mumabi, ended the lecture session with an elaborated talk on therapeutic drug monitoring.

Officials of IDS Infotech Limited visited Swami Devi Dyal Group of Professional Institutions, Barwala, for a campus placement for the Final Year students of BPharma and DPharma. A total of 62 students from both the courses participated in the campus recruitment and 15 students got placements.

Chandigarh, February 21
There is something for the students of Panjab University (PU) to cheer about as an exclusive hostel for international students and research scholars apart from another girls hostel, both in Sector 25, would be coming up during the coming financial year. The classrooms will also be converted into smart classrooms equipped with audio-visual aids.

Meeting the long-pending demand of the international students and research scholars for a separate hostel, the university has allocated a fund for the construction of the hostel, the construction of which would be completed this year.

The Board of Finance has also approved a scheme for giving interest subsidy to the students of partially self-financed courses out of merit-cum-means corpus. However, the amount is yet to be worked out.

Earlier, it was planned that a student could get Rs 16,000 once as loan-interest subsidy throughout the course. However, the members of the board stated that the amount to be given to the student was less and it needs to be worked out.

The Vice-Chancellor has been authorised to finalise the scheme for giving interest subsidy.

The PU also has something to offer to sports persons as funds have been allocated to complete the stalled projects. Special funds for completing the laying of Astroturf in a hockey field and construction of an indoor shooting range have been allocated in the budget.

Replacing the chalk and blackboards with hi-tech e-learning paraphernalia, the university also plans to convert all the classrooms into smart ones. Last year, a budget allocation for 15 classrooms was made. However, this year PU plans to convert all the classrooms into smart ones according to the demands of various departments. The PU has sanctioned Rs 65 lakh for the project.

To curb the cases of the use of unauthorised means during the examination, i.e. the use of mobile phones and other communication devices, funds have been sanctioned for the purchase of metal detectors.

President of the Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) Pushpinder Singh, however, said he had also proposed a synthetic track for athletics which had not been considered by the board.

Chandigarh, February 21
While Panjab University has a lot to offer for the students, the authorities also have various schemes in the next budget for the employees of the university.

A new Assured Career Progression Scheme for the employees has been passed, ensuring at least three financial upgrades throughout the service tenure of an employee, i.e. after 10, 20 and 30 years of service.

One of the members of the Board of Finance said the employees who have no scheme for promotion would be benefited with the new carrier progression scheme.

The board also approved revised benefits for its employees. The employees of the PU have been allowed the benefits of revised pay scales, conveyance allowance, secretarial pay, special pay and mobile allowances, etc., according to the Punjab Government Notifications.

The pensioners of the university will also get all the benefits as admissible under the Punjab Government rules and notifications.

The university has also sanctioned a budget of Rs 60 lakh for setting up a fire-hydrant system and smoke-detection and fire alarms in various buildings of the university.