The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Pak scientist Chisti set free

Ajmer, April 11
After spending over 14 months in jail, 80-year-old ailing Pakistani scientist Mohammed Khalil Chisti was today released on bail from Ajmer jail in a two-decade-old murder case and said he wanted to return to his homeland soon.

"I am happy to be out of jail. I believe in God and thank Him. My wish is to see my family members in Pakistan as soon as possible," Chisti, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Monday, said his brother Jamil Chisti and cousin Aaiyad Anwar-ul-Haq along with others gave him a warm welcome on stepping out of Ajmer central jail.

Speaking in English, Chisti said, "I would also thank President Asif Ali Zardari for making efforts for me and for visiting Ajmer".

Chisti was granted bail on humanitarian grounds a day after his case was discussed between the authorities of the two countries during Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's visit to India. Activists in India and Pakistan have been demanding Chisti's release.

After furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two securities of 50,000 each in a fast track court, his brothers went to the jail where he was released after completion of formalities.

Dressed in a white Pathani suit and a skull cap and holding a 'bidi' in hand, a relieved Chisti said he was eagerly waiting to go back home.

When asked about the case of Indian convict Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan and is lodged in a jail there for 22 years, Chisti said he did not know about him but asserted that "every human being should get justice".

While granting bail, the apex court had directed Chisti not to leave the country without prior permission from the court.

An ailing Chisti had been lodged in the jail hospital.

A microbiologist by profession, Chisti had come to visit his sick mother in Ajmer in 1992 when he got embroiled in a dispute and, in the ensuing melee, one of his neighbours was shot dead while his nephew got injured.

Born in Ajmer to a prosperous family of caretakers of the shrine of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, Chisti was studying in Pakistan at the time of partition in 1947 and chose to stay back in that country.

The apex court bench comprising justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar considered his old age and the fact that he has been in India since 1992, after the murder case was lodged against him, and granted the bail. — PTI

Pak to free 34 Indian prisoners

Islamabad: Pakistan will release 34 Indian prisoners, including a Gujarat fisherman suffering from cancer, this week as part of steps to normalise relations between the two countries. The prisoners, including 26 fishermen and eight others arrested on charges like illegally crossing the border, are expected to be repatriated via the Wagah border on April 13.

HOSTAGE CRISIS
Maoists welcome steps taken by Odisha Govt

Bhubaneswar, April 11
The Maoists holding Italian Paolo Bosusco hostage today welcomed “certain” steps taken by the Odisha Government to meet their demands while the fate of BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka held by another Naxal group was still unknown as the deadline set by both sides ended yesterday.

In a fresh audio message to a section of the media, top leader of the Odisha State Organising Committee of CPI (Maoist) Sabyasachi Panda said contents of the joint statement signed by Odisha Government representatives and Naxal-named mediators for Bosusco’s release were now known to them.

In the first positive signal since the kidnapping of Bosussco on March 14, Panda welcomed some steps taken by the state government and said release of the Italian would be facilitated if the decisions contained in the joint statement were implemented in a democratic way. — PTI

Charge Afreen’s dad with murder: Child panel
Says 50% rise in child abuse cases across India between 2011 and 2012
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, April 11
The death of three-month-old baby Afreen in Bangalore today reignited the debate on the need for legislative purview to monitor
brutal violence that children face at homes.

The Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the apex child protection body in India, today called for a separate law to prevent child abuse at homes and at the hands of those charged with the responsibility of rearing children.

The commission said it would pursue the Afreen case to its logical end and demand that the father, who brutalised the infant to the point of death, be booked for murder.

"The Karnataka State Commission had earlier booked the child's father for attempt to murder. But it is a clear case of murder now. We will push for the father to be booked for murder. We also call for the society and the neighbourhood to be more vigilant in case of children. The police must have a separate beat for children," Shanta Sinha, Chairperson of the NCPCR said. She called for a law to protect children at homes.

"We need a separate law to ensure that children are safe at their homes. More and more cases of violence are now being reported from homes," she said after Afreen was declared dead at a Bangalore hospital where she was brought with cigarette burns all over the body and a dislocated neck. She died of cardiac arrest this morning.

Afreen's is not the only case of child abuse. An increasing number of children across India are falling victims to crimes.

The Tribune has accessed data on child abuse cases reported to the NCPCR since its inception in 2007 and found that the cases have been increasing with every passing year.

Between 2007 and March 31, 2012, the commission received 180 cases of child abuse (rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, murder and prostitution). The number has been rising - from nine in 2007; 23 in 2008; 27 in 2009 to 47 in 2010; 74 in 2011 and 180 in 2012.

The highest number of cases have been reported from Uttar Pradesh (44), followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu (18 each); Maharashtra (nine); Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (seven each); Haryana, Orissa, Jharkhand and Gujarat (five each) and Punjab (three).

Of the 180 cases received, 59 per cent (107 cases) are pending with the NCPCR.

Meanwhile, child rights lawyer Nandita Rao said penalties would not win the day for children. "We need better social alternatives to parenting. We need the state to come in and help parents in child rearing. The Right to Education and Right to Food should become tools in the hands of the state to reduce the burden of parenting for the poor. Crimes are also rising because of economic challenges being faced by people and the rising differences between the incomes of the rich and the poor," Rao said.

2G: JPC term nears end, probe at crucial stage
Faraz Ahmad/TNS

New Delhi, April 11
A year after it was set up, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the distribution of 2G Spectrum by the Department of Telecom may not be wound up by the monsoon session when its term comes to an end.

According to a member, the JPC had entered a crucial stage. The committee was to meet today to examine the testimony of former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura summoned by the JPC. But though Behura sought time till April 17 to appear and the committee had ceded to his wish, sources said Behura might not appear even on April 17.

“Under criminal jurisprudence, you cannot force an accused to testify against himself. His testimony before the JPC may have a bearing on the 2G case in which he is being tried in the CBI special court of OP Saini,” said a lawyer.

The committee has also summoned former Telecom Secretary PJ Thomas and it only seems he may appear on April 17. But the case of the other accused -- former Telecom Minister A Raja -- is different from Behura. Sources said Raja was keen to appear before the committee and present his side of the story and that the committee could not deny him the opportunity. Curiously, even Behura had sought permission by the CBI court to appear before the JPC on April 11 and 18 and was granted the same.

After Thomas’ testimony, the committee will take a call on whether former ministers should also be asked to appear before the JPC. Rival UPA/Congress members are only waiting for the BJP members to put forward their demand to seek summoning of all Telecom and Finance Ministers from the NDA regime, beginning with Sushma Swaraj, Jagmohan, Ram Vilas Paswan and Arun Shourie as also first UPA Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

Mughal emperor Jehangir lies buried at two places
Ranjit Thakur/TNS

Mughal emperor Jehangir’s grave inside Chingus Fort in Rajouri district.

Rajouri, April 11
Mughal emperor Jehangir, the rebellious son of Akbar, is perhaps the only person in the world to have two graves - one in Jammu’s border district of Rajouri and another in Pakistan. It’s a little-known fact that the intestines of Noor-uddin-Mohammad Jehangir, alias Salim, were buried at the Chingus Fort in Rajouri when he died in 1627 on his way to the Kashmir valley.

In Persian, word “Chingus” means “entrails” or “intestines”. While Jehangir’s intestines lie buried at Chingus, his body lies entombed in a northern suburb of Shahdara in Lahore, Pakistan.

Marajkar Singh, a local historian and a teacher at a government school in Rajouri who visited Shahdara in Lahore, Pakistan, said while the tomb in Lahore has been well- maintained by the Pakistan Government and is visited by a large number of tourists every year, very few people are actually aware of the Chingus Fort here.

“Even in Rajouri, not many people know about the historical importance of the Chingus Fort,” Marajkar said. Earlier it was used by the Mughal rulers as a rest house on their way to the Valley and back. The structure has huge gates, suggesting that even elephants used to enter the fort.

When Jehangir died at Chingus, his wife Noorjehan was told by her advisers not to declare the emperor’s death as it could lead to a war of succession. “The intestines of the emperor were removed and buried at Chingus along the Mughal road that later came to be known as the Chingus Fort,” Marajkar Singh said.

The intestines were probably removed to prevent the body from decaying before it reached Lahore. According to Marajkar, the Mughal emperor’s mausoleum in Lahore also houses the tomb of Noorjehan.

GRAVE REALITY

n There are two graves of Mughal emperor Jehangir - one in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir and another in Pakistan

n His intestines lie buried at the Chingus Fort in Rajouri, while his body lies entombed in a suburb of Lahore, Pakistan

n The Mughal emperor’s intestines were probably removed to prevent his body from decaying before it reached Lahore

Newly elected UP MLAs take oath

Lucknow, April 11
A clear change of guard was witnessed inside the Vidhan Sabha today as the new Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav personally went to greet the newly elected MLAs, Assembly staff and even the media in the press gallery on the first day of the 16th Vidhan Sabha.

Formally welcoming the newly elected members, senior Congress MLA Pramod Tiwari, who facilitated today’s oath-taking, expressed the hope that the present Assembly would set the highest traditions of parliamentary debates.

In a brief address, Tiwari noted that there were 196 new, mostly young MLAs in the present Assembly. He urged the senior members to help inculcate healthy parliamentary traditions so that the next generation could learn from their experience.

Tiwari assisted the first day of the two-day-long oath taking by administering oath to the ministers, who are members of the Lower House, and several MLAs. Among the prominent member conspicuous by her absence was former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti. The senior-most Cabinet minister, Mohammad Azam Khan, was also not present when the oath was being administered to ministers but came in later. — TNS

Non-bailable warrant against Nupur, CBI searches her home
Our Correspondent & PTI

Rajesh Talwar being produced in a special CBI court in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. — PTI

Ghaziabad, April 11
Murdered school girl Aarushi Talwar's mother Nupur faced arrest after a special court issued a non-bailable warrant against her today following which CBI carried out searches at her Delhi home.

The searches were carried out by a team of officials sporting blue jackets with bold CBI labels at the dentist couple Talwars' Azad Apartments residence in Hauz Khas in south Delhi.

The special CBI court judge Preeti Singh issued the warrant against Nupur for failing to appear before the court in Ghaziabad. The judge fixed April 18 as the next date of hearing and directed that Nupur be produced before it on that date.

The CBI told the police that she was willfully evading her appearance in the court and hence the non-bailable warrant should be issued against her to compel her appearance.

However, Nupur's advocate told the court that their review petition was pending in the Supreme Court, whose next hearing is scheduled for April 27. He requested that till the outcome of that case, Nupur's appearance should not be pressed. He further asked for next date after April 27 as by then he was expecting the SC order.

Battered baby Afreen dead
Tribune News Service

Reshma Bano wails after the death of her daughter Afreen in Bangalore. — PTI

Bangalore, April 11
Three-month-old baby Neha Afreen, allegedly battered and abused by her father who wanted a boy child, died at a hospital here today after suffering a cardiac arrest. The police has registered a case of murder against the father.

Afreen had convulsions at 10 am and later suffered a cardiac arrest, Dr Somegowda, Resident Medical Superintendent of Vani Vilas Hospital, said. Since Saturday, she had been under treatment at the intensive care unit where she was brought in by her mother Reshma Bano.

Reshma had said that her husband Umar Farooq, who had wanted a boy child, had physically abused the child, and had attempted to kill her. When the baby was brought in, she had suffered haemorrhages in her brain and retina, and had multiple bite marks and cigarette burns on her body. Afreen, who was already on ventilator support, went into a semi-comatose state following two convulsions on Tuesday.

Umar Farooq, who was arrested on April 8 on a complaint by Reshma, is currently in judicial custody. According to the police, he had confessed to having tried to kill his daughter as he did not want a girl child.

On hearing the news of her daughter’s death, Reshma, broke down. “He (Farooq) has killed an infant ... he should be given the strictest punishment,” she said while sobbing inconsolably.

Mamata upset over sales tax payment

Kolkata, April 11
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, protesting the Centre's "unilateral decision" not to pay central sales tax (CST) compensation to states for 2011-12.

Expressing surprise at the decision, Banerjee said in her letter to the Prime Minister that "We find such unilateral decision of the government of India as most unacceptable, and once again it will have a negative impact on the spirit of federal structure of our nation."

"I believe that the empowered committee of the finance ministers of all states had unanimously opposed this cutting of CST compensation and, therefore, urge you to kindly withdraw the order and give full compensation to the states," the Chief Minister said in
her letter.

Banerjee said, "The CST was at 4 per cent and the resources raised accrued to the states. The government of India decided to lower the CST from 4 per cent to 2 per cent from June 1, 2008, and an agreed compensation package for consequential revenue loss to the state was worked out."

"The Government of India continued to pay the CST compensation for 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 as per revised compensation guideline," the letter stated. — PTI

Gastro gurus to train CRPF cooks

New Delhi, April 11
Something is cooking in the country's largest paramilitary force, the CRPF. And its 2.5-lakh personnel, it seems, are in for a sumptuous treat.

To prepare delicious and nutritious food for jawans and officers, more than 12,000 cooks in the 200 battalions of the force will be trained under the chefs of five-star hotels run by the India Tourism Development Corporation.

An exclusive training centre - School of Catering - has also been created at Bangalore to train these men before they are deputed with the various battalions of the force. The CRPF is deployed for a variety of tasks ranging from conducting anti-Naxal and counter-insurgency operations to rendering law and order duties.

"A nutritious and delicious diet is the least that a trooper deployed in a far-flung area can expect. The school will train our 12,000 cooks to prepare healthy food and keep our men hale and hearty," said CRPF Additional Director General (Training) DK Pathak.

Pathak said the cooks will not only be trained with the chefs of ITDC-run five-star hotels but also renowned culinary masters will be invited to train the men at their campus in Bangalore.

In the CRPF, each battalion (arout 1,000 personnel) has about 10-11 cooks who prepare food for their units every day. The force, through its new school of cooking and catering, also aims to change the regular menu to a more healthy food platter. — PTI

Sahay vows to market NE destinations
Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS

Guwahati, April 10
Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay today prescribed for aggressive marketing of picturesque locations and unique ethnicity of the Northeast India to increase tourist footfall in the region in tune with its vast potential.

The minister said the Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) was preparing an NE action plan for tourism and the Centre would work on its recommendations and suggestions. A tourism mart will be organised in northeast towards the last quarter of the current year and the Centre will facilitate marketing NE India destinations outside the country.

He said the private sector needed to provide the desired thrust for promotion of tourism in the region which is known as a colourful ethnic mosaic, as tourism industry is basically a private-sector driven one while the government could only help by creating infrastructure and facilities in destinations.

Emerging out of a meeting with tourism officials of Northeastern states and other stakeholders here, Sahay said, “The NE has not been marketed properly. Tourism is a private-driven sector and I request the private operators and stakeholders to help in developing and promoting the region. On the Central government’s part, I promise all support to private tour operators as well as the state governments for development of tourist destinations and creating necessary infrastructure.”

He offered the Centre’s assistance in all fronts to the private sector in developing tourism in the region. He also urged the state governments of the region to include tourism in its politico-economic agenda and place it among the priority sectors.

The Union minister underlined NE’s advantage in pristine terrain and said promoting eco-tourism would add immense value to tourism asset sector in the region.

Sahay said the Union Tourism Ministry had already fixed minimum allocation for the region in its annual budget and more funds could be made available on request from private operators as well as state governments.

He asked the NE state governments to prepare detailed project reports for tourist destinations and approach private tour operators for development and promotion of these places on a private-public partnership (PPP) mode. The Centre government will bear the cost of preparation of the reports.