Rohtak, May 16
The incident of child abuse at a shelter home here appears to be getting a political twist, with some opposition parties staging a protest and seeking action against those responsible for the crime.

Meanwhile, the police claimed to have traced six children who have been missing from the home. Though the victims are still to be recovered, officials concerned said the DNA test of the women claiming to be their mothers would be done.

The owners of the houses where these children have been traced have been issued notices by the police for further investigation into allegations that the children had been sold to them by the shelter home owner.

“The children, aged up to three years, were given away by ‘Apna Ghar’ functionaries soon after their birth in the past two years against a payment that was received as donation by the shelter home. The amount was between Rs 1,100 and Rs 51,000 per child,” claimed sources in the district administration investigating the matter. The officials said the children had been identified and could be brought back if the charge of selling them was proved.

The spots raided by the six police teams include places in Haryana, Delhi and Aligarh of Uttar Pradesh. According to the police, two newly born girls and four boys were handed over to residents of Digana in Jind, Aligarh, Delhi and Rohtak.

“The families where these children have been traced have been asked to report here for investigation. They will have to face DNA test to prove the claim of their parentage, if any,” said a spokesperson of the department.

Meanwhile, the police has traced three of the six women inmates who had been dropped by the shelter home officials last week.

Though the officials are yet to come with the exact number of children sold or handed over to outsiders during the past 10 or 12 years since the shelter home has been functioning, the police has claimed that around 12 inmates were missing at the time it started the probe after the raid by a team of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on May 9.

Meanwhile, the women’s wing of the district unit of the INLD staged a demonstration here today in protest against the incident and sought a high-level judicial probe.

Chandigarh, May 16
From picking cotton as a farm labourer in Sahuwala village in Sirsa, Miran Devi (32) can’t believe she’s now a constable entrusted with security in Gurgaon. This is the second time that life has been fair to her, the first being when she was married into a supportive family at the age of 18. 

“My father deserted my mother, Rami Devi, when I was just three-months old. My mother, a daily wager, pushed me into attending school. She didn’t want me to live the life of drudgery, which she has lived since my father walked out,” says Miran.

Having studied as a regular student before opting to appear privately, Miran, as a teenager, would accompany her mother to the cotton fields. “We were paid Rs 7 for every 5 kg cotton we picked. We gathered about 50 kg daily, ate from that and saved for the off season too. Life was very hard,” she recalls. Seeing poverty from such close quarters, Miran can’t believe that she has got a steady-salary job in the Haryana Police without paying a penny or having any recommendation.

If April proved to be a turning point in Miran’s life when she stepped out of the Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban, after her training to join duty, it was equally heartening for Hizrwawan’s (Fathehabad) 29-year-old Soma Devi, another fatherless girl, who also grew up picking cotton, before being selected for the Haryana Police.

“I was inspired by Army personnel who would pass by in convoys while we picked cotton. That’s when I had desired to wear a uniform. It’s a dream realised for me,” said Soma, posted at Rohtak.

Lending a human face and fanned out all over the National Capital Region (NCR), 930 women constables of the likes of Miran and Soma, having recently passed out from the Police Academy and completed their training, are now a part of the Haryana Police force.

“The idea in recruiting women constables is to take their strength up to at least 10 per cent of the force. Presently, they make up just over 6 per cent of the workforce with us. We felt a growing need to bring in women into the force because the number of working women is gradually increasing and so is women-related crime. Deploying policewomen for the safety of women and to be better equipped to deal with women-related crime prodded us on in this endeavour,” explains Mohd Akil, Inspector-General, Law and Order, who was Director of the Haryana Police Academy when this batch of women constables passed out. The NCR area has been the focus for deployment of these new lady constables.

Officials maintain that gradually more and more women constables would be seen on duty across the state. 

Kurukshetra May 16
Three secretaries of Kurukshetra, Pehowa and Ladwa market committees have been suspended for remaining absent without prior permission from redressal committee monthly meetings, while a patwari and kanungo have been suspended and chargesheeted for irregularity in the registration of a piece of land of complainant Surender Goel of Kurukshetra.

Haryana Industry and PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala passed orders to the effect while presiding over a district-level public relations and grievances redressal committee meeting here today. 

Jhajjar, May 16
The Army Chief, General VK Singh, has said the anomalies concerning ex-servicemen which emerged after the implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission have been sent to the Defence Ministry for quick redress. The issue of one rank, one pension is under consideration of the government, he said.

Addressing an ex-servicemen’s rally at Palda village today, General Singh said it was the duty of the Army to take care of ex-servicemen, war widows and their familes.

“Ex-servicemen are the legacy of our country. The fame of the Indian Army is because of their efforts,” he said. He added that such rallies were being organised all over the country to redress their grievances.

The Army Chief said keeping in view the welfare and honour of ex-servicemen, war widows and their families, 2012 had been declared as the year of Ex-Servicemen’s Welfare.

“An ESM cell, headed by a retired brigadier-level officer, has been set up for the redress of their grievances. They can register complaints and enquire about them on the toll-free number (1800-111-6644) of the ESM cell,” he added.

He visited the stalls of health camp, pension adalat, Sena Kalyan Awas Sanstha and the Sena Samuhik Bima Yojna organised at the venue.

He also honoured war widows during the rally.

Chandigarh, May 16
Acting on a petition challenging the appointment of Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) chairman and members, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today put the state of Haryana and other respondents on notice.

The notice for May 31 was issued by the Bench of Acting Chief Justice M.M. Kumar and Justice Alok Singh came on a petition filed by Vikender Malik and Victor Robinson of Hisar.

They were seeking directions for setting aside the notification dated October 21, 2011, appointing Vijay Kumar as chairman. Directions were also sought for setting aside another notification dated October 31, 2011, notifying the appointment of Viney Sharma, Ashok Kumar Jain and Ram Saran Bhola as members.

The petitioner argued that the orders setting aside the appointments should be passed on the grounds that all these “have been made without issuing any advertisement or adopting any other transparent procedure for inviting applications and/or for determining the comparative merit of the candidates”.

The petitioners added the appointments were made by resorting to a pick-and-choose method and were illegal and arbitrary in view of the Full Bench judgment in Salil Sabhlok versus Union of India case, where guidelines were issued to the States of Punjab and Haryana for ensuring transparency in making appointments to constitutional posts.

Gurgaon, May 16
It’s a typical case of influential people getting away with crimes by exploiting legal loopholes. The recent BMW hit-and-run case in which a pregnant woman and a driver were killed and the woman’s parents and husband were badly injured is a case in point.

The accident took place at IFFCO Chowk in Gurgaon on May 5. A youth, Daksh Jaiswal, who was on board the BMW involved in the accident, gave misleading statements to the police in an apparent bid to save Suraj Sehrawat, who was reportedly driving the car.

Investigation into the case did not make any breakthrough for several days, allegedly due to the influence of BMW owner and Suraj’s father, Devender Sehrawat, who is into real estate and travel business.

The police kept on dragging its feet even as Suraj, a student of B.Com (Honours) at Delhi University, reportedly managed to take his exams. A few days later, Rajesh Kumar, stated to be a relative of the Sehrawats, came forward to and claimed that he was driving the BMW when the mishap took place.

However, his “confession” could not convince the law-enforcers. Following this, Suraj made a dramatic entry at a local court, which promptly granted him bail. Suraj was surrounded by a number of bouncers, who even manhandled certain mediapersons on the court premises.aThe police has failed to get remand of the accused, strong circumstantial evidence against him notwithstanding.

Chandigarh, May 16
Haryana has declined to accord sanction for Swami Agnivesh’s prosecution in a case registered by its police a year ago. As the matter came up for hearing before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, formal orders declining the prosecution sanction were placed on record on behalf of the Haryana Home Secretary. The development is significant as the state’s refusal to give a nod for his sanction signifies the end of criminal proceedings against Agnivesh, who was even prohibited from travelling abroad without the court’s prior permission.

Agnivesh was booked under Sections 295 and 295-A, IPC, last year, on a complaint of Parveen Kumar Tayal.

The swami has been accused of terming the Amarnath yatra a fraud in the name of religion.

The statement had come during his meeting with president of Hurriat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

On August 29 last year, the court of Hansi subdivisional judicial magistrate had issued non-bailable warrants against Agnivesh on the basis of the case registered against him.

The high court has already turned down Agnivesh ’s plea for quashing the FIR registered against him.

Rohtak, May 16
Anand Singh (26), a probationer Assistant Lineman (ALM), of Ajaib village was electrocuted while repairing a fault on allegedly May 3 as his colleagues “failed” to switch off the power supply.

Though 12 days have passed since his demise, no official of the department has cared even to condole his death so far.

The deceased is survived by his old parents, an unemployed elder brother, wife and two kids.

An investigation is yet to be ordered into this incident.

“My son, who was the only earning hand in the family, had joined the department on May 21, 2010, but became a victim of negligence of the officials concerned even before he could become a regular employee,” says Om Prakash, Anand’s father.

He said the most shocking was the indifferent attitude of officials of the department, who had not even visited the affected family to express grief.

Om Prakash said Anand was asked to repair a fault on the night of May 3 near Madina village. As he climbed on a transformer, the high-voltage current running in one of the lines charred him to death.

While the JE had told him that the power line had been switched off, Anand got electrocuted on the spot. Charging the officials concerned with gross negligence, he demanded strict action.

Deepak Popli, XEN posted at Meham, said he had been probing the matter, adding that mending a fault was part of the duty of any ALM.

He said the department was working out a relief package to be given to the victim’s family. 

Sirsa, May 16
From now, the sarpanch of a village will be liable for action if any instance of stubble burning in his village goes unreported. Owing to unabated incidents of stubble burning in villages despite a specific ban, the authorities today made it the responsibility of the sarpanches to report such cases in their respective villages to the authorities.

At a meeting organised to review the implementation of the ban orders, the Deputy Commissioner, J Ganesan, said burning of stubble on the field attracted punishment under section 19 (5) of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981.

Once convicted, the crime could attract jail term up to one and a half years and fine up to Rs 6 lakh, he added.

He said orders had been issued to officers of the Agriculture Department, Panchayat and Development Department and the Revenue Department to check incidents of stubble burning, but the menace had not stopped.

Burning of stubble after harvesting of wheat crop is a common practice among farmers.

Chandigarh, May 16
With the National Capital Region (NCR) bursting at the seams, the Haryana Government has mooted an ambitious Rs 1,653-crore plan for the upgradation of sewerage over the next five years.

In fact, Rs 300 crore is required for the first year of the 12th Plan (2,012-17) for the augmentation of sewerage in the NCR, sources said.

A senior official said while the percentage of urban population had increased from 28.92% to 34.79% during 2001-2011, the growth rate in the NCR sub-region had jumped from 34.13% to 53.9 %. With more than half of the NCR population living in urban areas, the government had undertaken the upgradation of sewerage on a massive scale.

Currently, the total available sewerage capacity in the NCR sub-region comprising 20 towns was around 472 million litres per day (MLD) . While 259 MLD capacity was in the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) areas, 118 MLD was in the HUDA areas. The areas falling under the Faridabad and Gurgaon Municipal Corporations accounted for 65 MLD and 30 MLD, respectively. Similarly, work was on to create 452 MLD capacity.

The government wants the Centre to release funds for creating 931 MLD capacity in the HUDA and PHED areas, besides those under the Faridabad and Gurgaon Municipal Corporations.

While Rs 1,315 crore would be required for the construction of sewage treatment plants with 931 MLD capacity, Rs 338 crore would be needed for laying additional sewer lines.

Faridabad, May 16
Suresh (24) of Deegh village, near here, left his house on Monday evening, informing his mother Kela that he was going to his in-laws’ house in a nearby village in Uttar Pradesh to fetch his wife.

However, his mother’s world crashed when she was told by a resident of Deegh that her son had been murdered and his body was lying in a pool of blood on the outskirts of the village.

The police has registered an FIR in the case in which three persons - Ranjit and Dayanand of Deegh, and Khadlu, a native of Rajasthan- have been named accused.

A police spokesperson said rather than going to his in-laws’ house, Suresh was last seen in the company of the accused, consuming liquor with them till late in the night. 

Rohtak, May 16
The police has arrested 10 persons in connection with the theft of agricultural implements in the district and recovered six fans and one engine from them. These items were being taken somewhere by the accused in a Canter when a police team intercepted the vehicle.

“The accused could not produce any document of the items. They had been stolen from fields in the past about a fortnight,” said a police official.

He said the police had received numerous complaints of theft of the parts of the tubwells in some villages and some residents of Rithal village had met the IG, Rohtak Range, demanding the arrest of the culprits.

Yamunanagar, May 16
A doctor who runs a hospital has been arrested for allegedly aborting a female foetus illegally in the Jagadhri area of this district. The ultrasound centre where the scan was carried out a month back that revealed the status of the unborn child as female was also sealed after a raid on the two premises late last night.

The incident took place in the area of New Saraswati Colony, Jagadhri.

It is not an isolated case in Haryana which is infamous for its adverse sex ratio and Yamunanagar being one of the districts with poor male-female ratio.

Dr Priyanka Thakur, who claims to be holding a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine (BAMS) degree, was arrested under the provisions of the PNDT Act after the incident came to light on Monday night when the foetus was aborted.

She was yesterday produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jagadhri, which sent her to a 14-day judicial remand.

The Ultrasound Centre, located at Ambala Road in Jagadhri, from where the scan was done has been also sealed, SHO, Jagadhri, Rajiv Miglani said.

The licence to run the ultrasound centre of Nidhi Gupta was cancelled with immediate effect.

A woman had performed the ultrasound scan at the centre which revealed the sex of her unborn child, Miglani said.

On the basis of a secret report received by the Civil Surgeon, Jagadhri, and the secretary, Red Cross Society, Yamunanagar, a team of doctors was constituted for the raid led by the Deputy Civil Surgeon, Dr Neeraj Bassi. — PTI