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Bathinda prepares for PM’s visit
Centre hand in glove with oil firms: CM
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Damaged wheat to be liquidated
FCI: Fresh stocks being moved out
Capt: Wait for court decision on Sadique
Bad timing: Engg test is on April 29
More women taking to drug trade
‘Dead’ get pension in Muktsar dist
Job fraud
Dairies in residential areas
MC poll: Voter’s photo on poll lists sought
Govt seeks data on RO installation in schools
BSF jawan ends life
Only few claimants for scholarships
Abolition of punjab quota
Self-employment training centre
DGSE sets time-frame for English syllabus
Open toll system challenged
Contempt of Court
Same sex couple approaches High Court for protection
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Bathinda prepares for PM’s visit
Ramsara (Bathinda), April 25 More than 300 labourers are working round-the-clock to meet the deadline of constructing a helipad and fire and waterproof hangars to accommodate about 15,000 invitees for the occasion. Material for these hangars has been brought from Delhi by a Mumbai-based company that has been awarded the job. The inaugural ceremony will be attended by several dignitaries, including Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil, Union Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy and Union Ministers Ambika Soni, RPM Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Preneet Kaur and top officers of the petroleum ministry. Besides, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal would also be present. Steel tycoon Laxmi Narayan Mittal will receive the dignitaries. Rahul Kalra, who is handling the preparations, said tomorrow was the deadline for completing the work of the inaugural ceremony. Three hangars of 100 m x 150 m were being erected. Several JCBs and road-rollers were engaged in levelling sand dunes and constructing a helipad for three helicopters of the PM's entourage. A road was also being constructed towards the venue of the inaugural ceremony. Sukhchain Singh Gill, SSP, said elaborate security arrangements had been made for the ceremony. About 2,000 policemen from Bathinda, Mansa, Fazilka, Faridkot and Ferozepur districts would be deployed. A joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Mittal Energy Investment Pvt. Ltd, the refinery has already begun trial run to produce various petroleum products. The foundation stone of the refinery was initially laid by the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on November 13, 1998. However, the project remained in limbo till July 2007, when Parkash Singh Badal after returning to power took an initiative and roped in Laxmi Narayan Mittal in the joint venture with a stake of 49 per cent. HPCL has an equal share and the remaining 2 per cent stake is held by various financial institutions. Moiz Tankiwala, chief operating officer, said the Nelson Complexity Index that indicated the value addition potential of a refinery, among other things, was the highest for this project amongst all refineries in the country. It is expected to generate a sizable number of jobs directly and indirectly, besides a source of assured supply of petroleum products in Punjab and the North India. A study has indicated growth in the state GDP in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 crore, if the associated downstream industry comes up. A 1,017-km-long pipeline to flow in crude oil from Mundra in Gujarat has been laid. A 14-km stretch of the pipeline is under the sea. Besides LPG, petrol and diesel, the refinery will also produce value-added products like polypropylene, food-grade hexane, solvents, nathpa and aviation fuel. Refinery at a glance
INAUGURATION ON APRIL 28
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Centre hand in glove with oil firms: CM
Hinting that the UPA had struck an underhand deal with oil companies, Badal said the decision would unleash inflationary forces. Maintaining that the decision smacked of a scam, the Chief Minister said that in a single stroke the government "has swelled the pockets of rich oil companies by robbing the already beleaguered common man, especially the farmers." The Chief Minister said the rise in diesel prices would seriously retard economic growth.The impact on the transport sector would mean an escalation in transit costs and, therefore, a steep jump in the price index. Badal said the biggest losers would be farmers all across the country. BKU (Ekta) general secretary Sukhdev Singh and Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union have also opposed the Centre's decision. Rajewal said if the government failed to withdraw the decision, farmers would resort to a road and rail blockade.
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Damaged wheat to be liquidated
Chandigarh, April 25 Nearly 10 lakh quintals of wheat, procured over the past five years and stored at different places in Punjab, will soon be liquidated as the FCI has acceded to the request of the Punjab Government to relax conditions for its disposal. Though efforts were made in the recent past to sell these stocks to poultry and cattle feed manufactures, the FCI terms and conditions for bank guarantee for the actual value of wheat stocks had been putting off potential buyers. As such, these stocks had been deteriorating at open storage sites. Last week, the FCI Chairman-cum-MD, Siraj Hussain, was in Chandigarh to hold meetings with senior officials of the Food and Supplies Department. The Punjab Government took up its grievances against the FCI, including the mounting recoverables. State officials said the FCI owed the government as much as Rs 14,000 crore, maintaining that incidentals, including transportation of foodgrain from the markets to storage sites, had not been paid since 2003-04. The FCI says that Punjab’s demand for increasing “in storage” charges for wheat at the Amritsar silo has been placed before the Central Government. At present, nearly 200 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, paddy and rice is stored in Punjab, only one-fourth in covered space. Foodgrain Storage
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FCI: Fresh stocks being moved out
Chandigarh, April 25 It was, thus, decided that the new wheat procured by the agencies would be lifted and transported first. A senior FCI official said they had started moving the fresh produce to other states. “On an average, 35,000- 40,000 tonnes of wheat is being transported directly from the mandis everyday. We are using 15-16 rakes for transportation,” he said. Till date, various government agencies in the state have procured 43.82 lakh tonnes of wheat, with 86.7 per cent of the wheat being procured by state agencies and the remaining by the FCI. Private purchase has been a negligible 648 tonnes. Punjab expects that 115 lakh tonnes of wheat will arrive in its mandis this year. But the godowns are already full with last year’s produce. The total storage capacity in the state is 200 lakh tonnes. Already, 51 lakh tonnes of wheat and 67 lakh tonnes of rice are lying in the state’s godowns. With the state expected to procure another 115 lakh tonnes, it will have no space to store 32 lakh tonnes of the new wheat.
Sukhbir: Allow wheat export
Chandigarh: Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has requested the Centre to take an early call on allowing the export of wheat to Pakistan and other CIS countries through the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari to help farmers get remunerative price for their agriculture produce. Sukhbir said Punjab was facing storage problems for keeping its wheat safe as the Centre had failed to activate the Railways to move last season’s paddy stock from warehouses.
Making an impassioned appeal to the Union Government to make optimum utilisation of the Attari ICP, Sukhbir said wheat export to Pakistan and other CIS countries could solve the twin problem of storage and extra production besides helping the hard-working farmers of the country to get remunerative prices for their produce. Chandigarh: The government has issued a notification allowing the sowing of paddy from May 1 in 11 districts. The government has allowed early sowing of paddy as demanded by farmers.There will be no change in the date for paddy transplantation and that early sowing had been allowed in districts where long-duration varieties were being sown. These are Ludhiana, Moga, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Muktsar, Faridkot, Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala, Sangrur & Patiala — TNS
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Funds approved for potable water scheme
Chandigarh, April 25 Sanctioning another instalment of Rs 350 crore for the completion of water supply facilities in various towns, Badal said the government had already provided Rs 306 crore under this project and the rest of the amount would be provided soon. The committee gave the nod to constituting a ‘Designing & Planning Cell’ comprising five experts to carry out the entire Municipal Infrastructure Development work in a comprehensive manner. Badal instructed Local Government officers to complete the entire water supply work in two years. Local Government Minister Bhagat Chuni Lal said HUDCO had sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore for Infrastructure development of which Rs 373 crore had been disbursed. Principal Secretary, Local Government, Suresh Kumar, said to constitute the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Fund and to provide financial aid to municipalities for development, the government had enacted the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Fund Act: 2011 under which the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company was formed for fund-raising from various sources. Also, 20 per cent of additional tax levied and collected under the Punjab VAT Act: 2005 was to be credited directly to this fund.
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Harsimrat takes up turban issue in Parliament
New Delhi, April 25 Replying to a written question given by Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD) in the Lok Sabha, he said: “ Our embassy in Paris is in regular touch with the French Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry.’’ He said it had been clarified to France that New Delhi’s intention was to seek a practical solution to the problem that involved the sensitivity of a minority community in India. Krishna said the government was aware that the French law contained a provision prohibiting “symbols and clothes which involve ostentatious display of religion’’ and as a result turban was not allowed to be worn in public schools. The issue had been raised with the French Government regularly, including at the highest level by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in September 2008. Krishna said he, too, had raised the issue with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe in October last year.
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Capt: Wait for court decision on Sadique
Chandigarh, April 25 Reacting to the “illegal and unauthorised” recommendation to the Ludhiana DC, he said this was done at the behest of the ruling SAD-BJP alliance. He said the Akalis were in the habit of subverting constitutional and legal procedures to meet political ends. Amarinder said Mohammad Sadique’s case was subjudice and the Akalis, particularly DS Guru, should wait for the court decision. “We will use all legal and democratic methods, including mass protests, in case the government resorts to any such arbitrary and unconstitutional practice once again to disqualify a duly and democratically elected legislator”, Amarinder warned. The SAD alleged it was the PCC chief who was trying to subvert constitutional practices. It said on the one hand Amarinder was calling the issue a purely legal matter and on the other threatening mass protests.
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Bad timing: Engg test is on April 29
Bathinda, April 25 With these two major events scheduled one after the other, city hotels are seeing a surge in bookings for rooms. Already more than 150 hotel rooms across the city have been booked for guests attending the refinery inauguration. Besides hotels, the district administration has also booked rooms at the Circuit House, Thermal Colony guesthouse, Giani Zail Singh Engineering College's guesthouse and Canal guesthouse. Bungalows at the refinery colony are also being given finishing touches to host VVIPs and HPCL and HMEL officials. "Ever since the refinery inauguration date was announced, we are seeing a considerable rise in our business," said a hotel owner. On the other hand, AIEEE aspirants are also getting hotel rooms booked. Their bookings had started two weeks ago. Satish Arora, president, Bathinda Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association, said the hotels were trying to adjust both, students as well as refinery guests. "For students, we are lending rooms to groups of two to three students. For this, we have added extra beds in the rooms,"
he added. The hoteliers, however, are preferring refinery guests as there is no bargain for the room rent. "For refinery guests, rooms are being booked in bulk, and hence there is no downsizing of the room rent," said a hotel owner.
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More women taking to drug trade
Faridkot, April 25 Three days back, the Faridkot police arrested a 21-year-old woman and her father-in-law and recovered a huge quantity of sedative drugs from them. "Preliminary investigation revealed that as her husband was a drug addict, she chose the drug trade to meet her husband's needs and earn money," said Balwinder Singh Bassi, SHO, Faridkot. Veena Sharma, former vice-president of the PPCC in Faridkot, her husband and son were awarded 10 years' rigorous imprisonment last year. A police raid at Veena's residence had led the police to three peddlers, including Basanti from Bareli in UP, who would transport opium to Veena. In the past eight years, 185 women in Ferozepur district and 158 in Muktsar have been booked for their involvement in the drug trade.
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Bihar to give
Rs 75,000 to amputees
Jalandhar, April 25 The Bihar government has also announced a grant of Rs 37,000 for those injured in the collapse and Rs 1 lakh for the kin of deceased labourers. Kaushlendra, Labour Inspector from Bihar, said: "Since the rescue operation concluded yesterday, we will now start disbursing the grant". He said the grant would be disbursed to the labourers at their villages through the respective district magistrates after a proper verification. "We have demanded copies of FIRs, death certificates and postmortem reports from the Jalandhar district administration to make a final list for the purpose," he added. Earlier, a three-member team, headed by Amar Chatterjee, Deputy Resident Commissioner from Bihar, had visited the factory site on April 20.
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‘Dead’ get pension in Muktsar dist
Muktsar, April 25 A probe conducted by the Department of Social Security has revealed that 885 pensioners in Moga who are no longer alive have been receiving pension. The report says of a total 44,963 pensioners registered post-2002, only 35,618 are eligible, the rest are ineligible or dead. During a survey conducted in rural areas, department officials found that of the 38,997 pensioners, 755 were dead and 6,340 either ineligible or absent. That brought the number of eligible pensioners down Many others had submitted forged documents to be enlisted as “needy” persons. Rajvinder Singh Gill, District Social Security Officer, when asked if action would be taken against those who continued to receive pension knowing well that they were not eligible for it, said: “We were only directed to delete names of persons not qualified for pension.” He said the pension amount had been given till January.
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Job fraud
Chandigarh, April 25 The inquiry panel has submitted its report. The state had recruited 7,654 teachers some months ago. At least 6,200 were issued appointment letters and they joined duty before the poll code in December last. Some persons, who had not even applied for the job, got fake appointment letters and joined at certain schools. Sources said criminal cases would be got registered against all those who had committed the fraud.
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Dairies in residential areas
Patiala, April 25 Reacting on the report published in The Tribune dated January 1, 2012 titled, ‘Shifting of dairies hangs fire in Patiala’, advocate Gurjit Singh had filed the complaint with the Commission in Chandigarh. The Commission has asked the two agencies to file replies in this regard on August 14, 2012. Gurjit Singh said despite filing applications with the two concerned authorities regarding shifting of dairies from residential areas to outskirts of the city, no action was taken. So he opted to take the matter with the PSHRC, he added. He said, “Dairies are polluting the air and environment by throwing excreta of cattle in open places and are potential health hazard since these are breeding places for mosquitoes, flies and other insects. Neither the PPCB nor the MC seems to be bothered about the fact that residents are being denied the basic human rights to breathe freely and live in a pollution free environment.”
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MC poll: Voter’s photo on poll lists sought
Patiala, April 25 Giving credit of holding peaceful assembly elections to the Election Commission of India, Mohindra said the main reason behind this was that the voting lists carried pictures of the voters. "Due to the pictures, there was a complete control over bogus voting as on duty officers could easily trace defaulters and only genuine people could cast their vote," he added. He alleged that during last Municipal Corporation elections, the SAD-BJP had resorted to all unfair means to win the elections, including booth capturing and bogus voting. — TNS
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Govt seeks data on RO installation in schools
Bathinda, April 25 The heads of the schools have been directed to provide the information at the earliest possible. Keeping in view the poor quality of drinking water available in government schools, the state government has sought details from the education department to earmark funds for the installation of RO systems in schools. “Certain funds are available under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA), which are to be allocated for the purpose,” said the sources in the office of the Director General of School Education (DGSE). While the government is seeking details for installing new ROs, it has forgotten the RO systems that were installed three years ago. Three years ago, many government schools in the district had installed RO systems from their own funds. “At that time, a team from the health department had been collecting water samples from government schools and pointing out the ones that served drinking water of poor quality to the children. To save ourselves from the wrath of the health authorities, we used certain contingency funds, PTA funds and also got the panchayat to donate for installing an RO system for our 350 students,” said a teacher from a government senior secondary school in Bathinda block. Following the checks conducted by the health department, many other government schools too got donations from the banks such as the State Bank of India (SBI) and installed ROs. “Since RO is a one-time investment and that too with assistance, it did not pinch the school funds. But an RO needs annual maintenance and in the case of schools with 350 children, the membranes and candles do not last beyond eight months,” added another teacher. The education department has never issued any grant for the maintenance of these devices. The RMSA component workers said the government should also seek a review of the schools where ROs have become defunct due to lack of maintenance.
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BSF jawan ends life
Dera Baba Nanak (Gurdaspur), April 25 Border Security Force DIG PS Bains said the body of the jawan identified as Vishwajit (33) from Murshidabad in West Bengal, had been sent to his hometown after the post mortem was conducted at the Gurdaspur Civil Hospital. The jawan is survived by his mother, wife and three brothers. The DIG said a suicide note written in Bengali had been recovered from the jawan's body, which indicated that he had some matrimonial problems. He also had some dispute with his brothers, Bains added. In the suicide note, the jawan had stated that he could not take care of his family properly and that he was under tremendous stress following a failed marriage.
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Only few claimants for scholarships
Ludhiana, April 25 A senior lecturer of a government college said the state government had recently sent scholarship cheques for poor and meritorious students, especially belonging to Scheduled Caste and Backward Class categories. "The scholarships are for hundreds of students from 2007-2011. Despite repeated attempts made by Government College for Women and SCD Government College, barring a few, most of the deserving students have failed to collect their cheques," he said. "We have put everything on the college website too. Still, not many students have responded to that. Being a girl's college, many students have got married, while several others have settled elsewhere in the country or abroad,”said Gurminder Kaur, principal of Government College for Women. “The scholarships vary from Rs 500 to Rs 6,000 depending upon the courses and classes. We have given telephone numbers of the college in case students want to ask more queries," she added. College authorities have been receiving calls from certain parents who asked them to return the scholarships to the government itself as there was no fun in claiming the money after so long. Varinderjit Kaur, a parent, said scholarships were given to boost morale of poor and meritorious students. "My daughter got married and went to Canada about six months ago. What will I do with the scholarship now as she had passed the college in 2009," she said. The financial aid released by the state government include post-matric scholarships and state merit scholarships for SC/BC students.
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Abolition of punjab quota
Patiala, April 25 Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra said the university could not scrap the Punjab quota just out of blue. He said, “Thapar University was constructed on the land provided by the state government to develop an educational institute that will help in lifting the standard of education in the state. Therefore, university cannot take any decision that is against the interests of state.” On the other hand, student organisations have intensified their stir against the university due to delay being caused in resolving the matter. Former NSUI state president Harpal Singh sat on an indefinite hunger strike at the main gate of the university today and said that he would lift the dharna only after the university revokes its decision. Harpal Singh said when Thapar University was formed in 1956, 250 acres land was given to it and accordingly 85 per cent seats were reserved for Punjab students. “Besides giving land, 95 per cent operational expenses were given to it till 2002 by the Punjab government. A few years back, they reduced the quota from 85 per cent to 50 per cent, which went unnoticed. Now, they have completely abolished the Punjab quota, which is totally unjustified.” “The university which is utilising government land worth more than Rs 5,000 crore and whose operating expenditures are met through fees from students, does not have the right to abolish the quota as they are not contributing even a single penny for university,” he rued. He demanded that the university should not only restore 50 per cent Punjab quota, but also make its fee structure reasonable, as fee of the university was unexpectedly high. Meanwhile, activists of the NSUI the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also burnt an effigy of university director Abhijit Mukherjee and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner. Young Organisation of India (YOI) in Punjabi University has also announced to block traffic outside the university tomorrow.
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Self-employment training centre
Bathinda, April 25 For more than four years, the girls are being trained at the centre in painting, handwork (embroidery), stitching, computers, typing, beautician, mehndi and English speaking courses. All these courses are of 90 days each. The girls are being trained by eight teachers, who don’t get any salary from the trust. However, honorarium is being paid to them by the trust as they are serving society for a noble cause. At present, there are about 90 girls at the centre, being trained in two batches (morning and afternoon), in different courses. Apart from Bathinda, the girls from many nearby villages, including Rampura Bhunder, Kotshameer, Chughe Kalan, Deon, Beer Talab, Kotbhara, Bhokhra, Seerwali, Bibiwala and Jhumba, also come to the centre for training, Amanpreet Kaur, a student of computer course, said during the last 15 days, she had learnt a lot about the computers as the method of imparting training to them was good. Thanks to the training, she now knew enough about the basics of the computer. She expressed the hope that after the completion of the course at the centre, she would certainly be able to become self-reliant. Pratibha, a student of painting and stitching, said she had been attending classes for the last few months to get more experience in painting and stitching so that she could earn more money by starting her own ventures. When contacted, the honorary director of the centre, Narinder Kumar Bassi, said the self-employment training centre had been started by the trust in August 2007. Since then, a large number of girls have undergone training in different courses. After training, many of them had either started their own ventures or joined jobs. Bassi said except for the one-time registration fee of `50, nothing was charged from the girls for training. After training, a certificate was also given to every student by the trust, he added. In-charge of the centre, Amrit Kaur, said the main aim of the centre was to make the girls self-reliant as the trust believed in women empowerment. The centre in-charge said not only unmarried but married girls were also among their students. She said after the completion of their courses at the centre, the girls enrolled there would be able to either run their own ventures or earn money by working somewhere.
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DGSE sets time-frame for English syllabus Bathinda, April 25 Aiming to ensure that the teachers are sure about the distribution of the syllabus throughout the year, the DGSE foresees that the exercise would enhance the teaching and learning process in a more comprehensive and effective manner. The month-wise division has been done according to the number of working days in a particular month and the number of periods that are allotted to an English teacher. The syllabus for the students of classes VI has been divided under the topics: English reader, paragraph, story, formal/informal letter writing, and poem. In addition to these topics, the students of class VII will also be taught notice and telegram writing. In the list of topics for the students of class VIII, writing headlines for newspapers, dialogues, application letters, completing incomplete paragraphs and comprehension of unseen paragraphs have been added. English syllabus for the students of class IX and X has been divided according to the main course book, supplementary reader, reading, writing skills and comprehension, apart from grammar and poetry. Praising the division of syllabus according to the number of months and the number of periods required to teach a particular topic, an English teacher at a school in Bathinda, said, “The division will help teachers from spending unnecessary time on one topic. If they stick to the division, they will be able to complete the entire syllabus well in time and also take out time for revision before the exams.”
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Open toll system challenged
In a petition filed in public interest, advocate Dinesh Kumar Chadha said the people “are suffering financial losses due to the unfair policy of the government”. Elaborating, he said the people are not being charged fee for the actual length travelled. “In other countries, the tolled roads are normally accessed controlled. Therefore, toll is charged on the basis of the distance travelled.” Quoting examples, he said: “In Punjab the factual position is contrary to the mandatory provisions ... There would now be seven toll plazas from Chandigarh to Pathankot (220 km) and five toll tax barriers between Chandigarh and Jalandhar (151 km). “The journey from Amritsar to Jalandhar would see two toll tax barriers, whereas the total distance between these two cities is not more than 80 km. There would be three barriers between Anandpur Sahib and Chandigarh. “Moreover, there are a number of toll plazas within the States of Punjab and Haryana which have been established within the local limits of the municipal area of a town... “The growing numbers of toll tax barriers are now becoming an irritant for the commuters already paying VAT on the vehicle besides road tax and fuel cess.” Taking up the petition, a Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar issued a notice of motion to the Union of India and the State of Punjab for May 3.
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Rajoana hanging: Jail superintendent files reply
Chandigarh, April 25 On March 27, the court had issued contempt of court notice to Jakhar for returning the death warrants to hang Balwant Singh Rajoana, convict in the Beant Singh assassination case, twice to the court. The hanging was however, stayed by the Centre later on. In his reply today, Jakhar stated that he had no intention to lower the authority of the court and while tendering an apology, it was stated that he abided by the guidelines of the Supreme Court while returning the death warrants. He contended that the death warrant could not have been executed as the matter of other convict, Lakhwinder Singh, in the former Punjab CM Beant Singh assassination case, was still pending before the SC. He was thus performing his duty by apprising the court. Earlier on March 27, while returning the death warrants, the court had stated, “The Superintendent, Patiala Jail, has not once, but on two occasions, refused to execute the warrants of sentence of death by way of written communication dated March 19 and March 24. These publications intend to interfere with the due course of judicial proceedings, obstruct the administration of justice and also lower the authority of the court.” — TNS
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Same sex couple approaches High Court for protection
Chandigarh, April 25 Swaran Kaur is posted as constable at the Maur police station in Bathinda. Belonging to the Blahar Vinjhu village in Bathinda, the two friends developed a “liking for each other and decided to live with each other as life partners and since then have been in a relationship”, counsel Kamaljeet Singh Sidhu told the Bench. Swaran Kaur is aged 20 while Harsharan Kaur is 28. Their relationship has not gone down well with their relatives. The bench was told that Harsharan Kaur was thrashed by her family members when they learnt about her ties with Swaran Kaur. She was confined to a room. Swaran Kaur too was beaten up by her father, mother and brother. They warned her to sever ties with Harsharan Kaur or else the two would be eliminated. “Earlier, they tried to settle the matter amicably. But, family members of the petitioners are adamant and are not accepting this relationship. “It is apparent that the petitioners have not committed any offence,” advocate Sidhu said. Taking up the plea, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur asserted: “Both the petitioner are women and have decided to stay together. As such, they apprehend danger to their life and liberty… Accordingly, the petition is disposed of with a direction to the Bathinda SSP to listen to the grievances of the petitioners and if necessary take appropriate measures in accordance with law”.
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Chandigarh, April 25
Chandigarh, April 25