Maid torture: Doc couple held
New Delhi, April 4
A doctor and his wife who flew to Thailand for a vacation last month after allegedly locking up a 13-year-old maid in their house with very little food were arrested here this afternoon, the police said. They were sent to two days' police custody by a court.

The Delhi police on Wednesday arrested the doctor couple accused of torturing its 13-year-old maid. Tribune photo

Gullible village girls easy prey of traffickers
New Delhi, April 4
"Each time we rescue a girl it's the same story. She has a jhola (bag) with a change of clothes and just hope that one day she can have a good life in the city," says Rishi Kant, media coordinator of Shakti Vahini.

MCD poll: 10 days to go, manifestoes not yet ready New Delhi, April 4 With just 10 days left for the municipal elections, the political groups are yet to launch their manifestoes. Though the parties have started campaigning for the poll, their policy handbooks are still under preparation. Masks of BJP senior leader LK Advani and posters of the party on sale in New Delhi on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

Cong, BJP locked in slanging match
New Delhi, April 4
The BJP and the Congress, the major political rivals in the municipal poll are out to malign each other's image. The BJP has levelled charges of communalism against the Congress. The Congress has also paid the 'saffron party' in the same coin.

Man dupes people by promising job in Gulf
New Delhi, April 4
A 30-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly cheating people by promising them jobs in Gulf countries, the police said today. "Rehan Khan was arrested on the complaint of Shishpal, a resident of Jhunjhanu in Rajasthan on March 31 that Khan had cheated him as he failed to provide him visa for job in Kuwait despite paying him demanded amount six months back," DC Srivastva, ACP Central district said.

Children and their parents protest at Jantar Mantar for better implementation of the Right to Education Act in New Delhi on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

IP varsity to add three new courses
New Delhi, April 4
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University is going to start three new regular courses - MTech in food processing technology, PG diploma in radiological physics and PG diploma in educational management from this academic year.

Delhi hot at 37.6 degrees
New Delhi, April 4
The national capital today witnessed yet another hot and sunny day, with the maximum temperature climbing 4 degrees above the average at 37.6 degree Celsius. City residents faced a hard time as piercing sun rays added to the heat.

Maid torture: Doc couple held
The couple had allegedly locked its teen maid in their house with very little food while leaving for Thailand on a vacation

New Delhi, April 4
A doctor and his wife who flew to Thailand for a vacation last month after allegedly locking up a 13-year-old maid in their house with very little food were arrested here this afternoon, the police said. They were sent to two days' police custody by a court.

"The couple was arrested around 1.30 pm from near Lifestyle Mall in (west Delhi's) Rajouri Garden where they were hiding since March 31, just a day after the incident came to light, after returning from vacation in Thailand," said deputy commissioner of police AK Ojha.

The Vermas were presented before metropolitan magistrate Ruchika Singla who sent them to two days' police custody.

A police official said several teams were trying to track the couple's relatives.

The police claimed that the couple had locked the minor girl in their flat in west Delhi's Dwarka on March 25 when they left the country for vacation.

The girl, hailing from Jharkhand, was rescued on March 30 after neighbours saw her crying in the flat's balcony.

A court on Tuesday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of the couple.

A first information report was filed against the couple under the Juvenile Justice Act, Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act and the Indian Penal Code. — IANS

Gullible village girls easy prey of traffickers
Shaurya Karanbir Gurung
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4
"Each time we rescue a girl it's the same story. She has a jhola (bag) with a change of clothes and just hope that one day she can have a good life in the city," says Rishi Kant, media coordinator of Shakti Vahini.

It is the same story for every girl who falls into the trap of human traffickers and is tricked into arriving at metros from remote villages mostly from tribal areas of the country. Recently, the plight of a 13-year-old girl bought from Jharkhand by a placement agency at Punjabi Bagh made headlines. Employed as a maid by a doctor couple, living in Dwarka, her nightmare began thereafter. The girl was locked up at the Dwarka apartment without sufficient food for about a week, while her employers were on a vacation at Bangkok in Thailand. After she was rescued, she narrated her story to members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of how she was physically and mentally abused by her employers.

Girls like her are lured into "starting a new and better life" in the big cities. "They belong to poor backgrounds and are tricked by traffickers into coming to Delhi and Mumbai for employment as a maid. Most of them are only 13-year old who fall to the bait of earning a princely sum of Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per month. The modus operandi of the traffickers is that local middlemen lure girls from villages and sell them to traffickers. They would then bring them to the city and decide whether they should be placed into the sex-trade or be employed as a domestic maid or sold as a bride in areas with a skewed sex ratio," says Kant.

The girls are sourced from states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Bihar. South 24 Parganas, a district in West Bengal is notorious in the trafficking of girls. Most of these girls are reported missing from their hometowns, while some arrive in cities with the consent of their parents, propelled by endemic poverty.

According to PM Nair, Additional Director General, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), "Children are most vulnerable as they know nothing about human trafficking. They can be subjected to exploitation. And the price at which they are sold depends on a certain criteria. For instance, the younger the girl, she will be more expensive to buy."

Most NGOs working in this field of child trafficking agree that most placement agencies are illegal. They make fake maid verification forms so that the girls can be hired. In Delhi, points out Kant, such placement agencies are mainly located at Shakarpur and Punjabi Bagh. "If they did a verification of a girl, who is missing from her village, the police would learn about this and prevent her employment."

Delhi is also a hotbed of missing children who are trafficked across the country.

To tackle and curb trafficking of children the government setup Anti-Human Trafficking Units across the country. The units ensure coordination between the police forces of different states in order to relay information to curb the menace.

MCD poll: 10 days to go, manifestoes not yet ready
Himani Chandel
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4
With just 10 days left for the municipal elections, the political groups are yet to launch their manifestoes. Though the parties have started campaigning for the poll, their policy handbooks are still under preparation.

Both the BJP and the Congress have planned to launch their manifestoes by this weekend, which is being seen as a mere formality as only few days will be left to distribute the same and will not be able to reach out to maximum number of people.

"Who has got the time to read out manifestoes? They are just meant for the media to get an idea of the policy of a party," said a senior BJP leader.

The Congress is expected to release its manifestoes on April 7, which would give them less than one week's time to dole it out. Whereas, the BJP has decided to launch its handbook even later than the Congress. Senior party leaders said that earlier only one manifesto was needed to be worked out but trifurcation of the corporation had led to focus on localised problems. "Three different manifestoes are being worked out. This has created a little delay in the finalisation of the policies," said a senior Congress leader.

However, the BJP has prepared a common manifesto for the three corporations.

While on one side the BJP has raised issues and scams involving the Congress-led state and the Central government like privatisation of water, power tariff hike, price rise, corruption in the CWG, etc., in its political agenda for elections, the Congress on the other has critically analysed the work done by the BJP in the MCD in the past five years.

"The BJP has wasted five years of people by remaining in the MCD. The party has not done anything for public. Not a single project has been given final shape all these years," Jai Prakash Agarwal, president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee.

The party had rubbish the claims of the BJP, saying that it is indulging in "negative politics" by picking those issues which had nothing do with the MCD polls. "The BJP is trying to mislead people by using useless issues. Why don't they talk about their performance in the civic body be it education or health," said Arvinder Singh Lovely, minister of state for transport.

Cong, BJP locked in slanging match
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4
The BJP and the Congress, the major political rivals in the municipal poll are out to malign each other's image. The BJP has levelled charges of communalism against the Congress. The Congress has also paid the 'saffron party' in the same coin.

Accusing the Congress of indulging in communal activities, the BJP has complained to the State Election Commission, objecting to one of its announcements which ask the Muslims not to vote for the saffron party.

Apprehending over a split in the Muslim mandate in the municipal election on April 15, the Congress had recently appealed to the Muslims not to divide their vote by voting against the party.

According to the news report, Congress state president Jai Prakash Aggrawal urged the Muslims to consolidate their vote bank and choose the right candidate.

"Congress is speaking on communal lines. How can they ask Muslims not to vote for us. Such statements should not be tolerated," said Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly.

"We have written to the State Election Commission to take strict action against those who have made the announcement," said Malhotra.

He said that such statements are not expected from senior party leaders.

The Congress party's Muslim votes in the minority-dominated areas like the Walled city had got divided in 2007 municipal poll by independents and other smaller parties.

Even after fielding 15 Muslims in the last election, the Congress had lost in Jama Masjid, Ballimaran, Janata Colony and Zaffarabad.

The Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta said that the present government has taken a lot of anti-people decisions during its tenure.

"The high level of corruption in the country has resulted in price spiral and total collapse of administrative system," said Gupta.

Man dupes people by promising job in Gulf
He turned to cheating after he himself fell victim to one such agent

New Delhi, April 4
A 30-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly cheating people by promising them jobs in Gulf countries, the police said today. "Rehan Khan was arrested on the complaint of Shishpal, a resident of Jhunjhanu in Rajasthan on March 31 that Khan had cheated him as he failed to provide him visa for job in Kuwait despite paying him demanded amount six months back," DC Srivastva, ACP Central district said.

The police raided the residence of Khan and his associates and seized 51 passports, passbooks of various banks, stamps and other article.

During interrogation, Khan said he got into the cheating racket after he himself fell victim to an agent called Wahid at Sarai Zulena from Delhi who duped him of Rs 1.35 lakh on the pretext of getting him a visa or job in Gulf countries.

After being cheated, he realised that it was easy to make money by taking advantage of gullible people on the pretext of getting job in foreign countries.

He then joined hands with Wahid and managed to get an office and started a firm at Wardman City Plaza. His friend Sajid also joined him and using their network, they started cheating poor people looking for lucrative jobs abroad from Delhi, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Nepal, the official said.

The police seized 21 passports, out of which 13 were Nepali passports following a raid at the Sarai Zulena office of one of his accomplices.

During investigation, it was revealed that Khan was the same person who was kidnapped two days back and was rescued by the police from Muradabaad in Uttar Pradesh, the official said. — PTI

IP varsity to add three new courses
Tribune News Services

New Delhi, April 4
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University is going to start three new regular courses - MTech in food processing technology, PG diploma in radiological physics and PG diploma in educational management from this academic year.

This was stated by vice-chancellor DK Bandyopadhyay today while releasing new admission brochures - seven for MTech regular/weekend and PG diploma programmes and eight for weekend programmes.

All new courses are being started seeing great demands in these fields.

"MTech has been introduced at the university's school of bio-technology keeping in mind the huge growing demand of skilled and technologically equipped manpower in the sector," said the vice-chancellor.

"PG diploma in radiological physics has been introduced in the school of basic and applied science. PG diploma in educational management has also been introduced in affiliated institutions. It will come under the preview of university school of education," he added.

Other admission brochures have already been released. The university is also going to start a new centre - centre for study and propagation of human values on April 13.

Delhi hot at 37.6 degrees
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4
The national capital today witnessed yet another hot and sunny day, with the maximum temperature climbing 4 degrees above the average at 37.6 degree Celsius. City residents faced a hard time as piercing sun rays added to the heat.

The minimum temperature also rose up three degrees above the average and settled at 21.9 degree Celsius. The humidity level stayed between 66 and 23 per cent.

The weather department has forecast similar weather conditions for tomorrow.

A senior meteorological department official said, "There will be clear and sunny sky tomorrow. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 38 and 21 degrees Celsius, respectively."