Ladwa (Kurukshetra), August 2
Sixteen persons were killed in two road accidents in the state today.Twelve persons, including two women and a child, died on the spot while 11 others sustained serious injuries as the pick-up van they were travelling in collided head-on with a Haryana Roadways bus near Basant Hospital on the Ladwa-Yamunanagar road here.

The bus was on its way from Yamunanagar to Ladwa when the pick-up van carrying pilgrims was on way to Saharanpur from Guga when the accident occurred. Eyewitnesses said the accident took place when the driver of the overloaded van lost control and hit the bus.

The injured were rushed to the Community Health Centre in Ladwa from where they were referred to the Civil Hospital, Kurukshetra. Three of them were said to be in a critical state and were thereafter referred to the PGI, Chandigarh.

One of the children admitted to a private hospital reportedly lost his eyes. Sources revealed the overloaded van was carrying 22 persons.

The deceased were not identified till the filing of the report and rescue operations to get the dead bodies out of the vehicle were on.

Latest reports said 11 of the injured were admitted to Loknayak Jaiprakash Hospital, Kurukshetra, whereas two of them were given treatment at the Community Health Centre, Ladwa. Three of the injured have been referred to PGI and a five-year-old child Vansh has been taken to the PGI for treatment by his family. Deputy Superintendant of Police (DSP) Nirmal Singh said a case had been registered and investigations were on.

The injured have been identified as Parmod (21), Monu (24), Raja (14), Ashu (27), Virender (29), Vansh (5), Anuj (20), Jagmal, mostly from Vardhaman Colony in Sharanpur.

Panipat: Four persons were killed on the spot while five others sustained injuries when their Scorpio was hit by a Canter that took a wrong turn near Patikalyana village in Samalkha on the NH-1.

The Canter took a wrong turn and crushed two pedestrians, Rakesh and Anil, before knocking the Scorpio. The passengers of the Scorpio were returning to Moga from the IGI Airport, Delhi, after bidding goodbye to their daughter, Harmandeep, who flew to Canada.

Sources said the impact of the accident was so intense that two persons, including a woman, died on the spot while five others sustained injuries, two of whom have been admitted to a hospital at Panipat.

The other two deceased were identified as Harjit and Gurmeet Kaur.

A case under Sections 280, 333 and 304 A has been registered against the Canter driver.

Chandigarh, August 2
In a significant order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Haryana after taking suo motu notice of the issue. The order will remain in force till further directions.

Justice RK Garg had initially taken cognisance of the matter. Taking up the issue, a Division Bench headed by acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh today issued a notice to the state of Haryana, asking it to offer “justification” behind regularising the unauthorised colonies. As an interim measure, the High Court asked the state counsel to ensure that no unauthorised colony was regularised till further orders.

Rapping the state for giving benefits to “lawbreakers”, Justice RK Garg asserted: “The question arises whether a lawbreaker can be allowed to take benefit by getting his illegal construction regularised under the garb of a policy and whether such a policy can be sustained”.

Referring the matter to a larger Bench, Justice Garg asserted: “Keeping in view the stand taken by Haryana, this court deems it appropriate that the matter be referred to a larger Bench dealing with the public interest litigation. Let the matter be placed before the acting Chief Justice for obtaining necessary permission.” The notice came during the hearing of a petition filed by Rohtak residents.

Chandigarh, August 2
The Union Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry has shattered Haryana politician’s London dreams. Close on the heels of cancelling the jaunt of a nine-member team, led by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to cheer the sportspersons participating in the London Olympics, the ministry today rejected a fresh proposal of the Haryana Government to send a pruned three-member team to London.

In a communication to the state government, the ministry today clarified that it had “not agreed” to the state government’s proposal to send Sports Minister Sukhbir Kataria, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Prahlad Singh Gillankhera and Principal Secretary (Sports and Youth Affairs) Hardeep Kumar to London to cheer the players. Eighteen of the 81 sportspersons representing the country at the sports extravaganza are from Haryana.

Originally, Hooda, his confidant and Ambala MLA Venod Sharma, Sukhbir Kataria, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Prahlad Singh Gillankhera and Sultan Singh, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Chhatar Singh, Principal OSD to the Chief Minister MS Chopra, Hardeep Kumar and Director (Sports and Youth Affairs) OP Singh and Senior Secretary of the Chief Minister Shadi Lal Kapur were part of the London-bound delegation.

The Ministry of External Affairs had reportedly given “political clearance” to the visit of the nine-member team to London. However, the Union Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry put its foot down following instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office directing it not to clear any state government delegation to the London Olympics as part of austerity measures.

Against the backdrop of the ‘non-committal’ approach of the ministry, Hooda reportedly pulled out of the tour citing “drought-like” conditions in the state, the recent violence at the Maruti plant at Manesar and the forthcoming vice-presidential elections as the reasons.

While the Sports Ministry’s objection to the tour was clear from a communication sent to the state government on July 30 “withdrawing” the permission for the tour, the government was adamant on sending a three-member delegation to London. Joint Director (Sports) Satpal Sharma camped in New Delhi for the last two days to convince Sports Ministry officials to allow a pruned three-member team to London. He drew a blank as the ministry officials said a final no to the tour today.

Chandigarh, August 2
Pradeep hails from Sonepat district and is serving a life term for murder. He was released on parole on July 6. During his parole period, he allegedly murdered a person from his village and jumped the parole.

Pradeep is not the only one to have committed a murder while being out on parole and then not having returned. In Sonepat alone, seven heinous offences have been committed by those on parole in the past two years. In Haryana, 225 convicts on parole have not returned to prisons where they were lodged after the completion of their parole period.

Such instances have now prompted the Haryana Police Department to amend the parole rules and make them more stringent. In its recommendations to the Home Department, the department has suggested insertion of a new clause of “habitual offenders” in the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1988.

It has defined a habitual offender as a person who has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment more than twice in the past five years. The amendment also carries a clause which defines those eligible for parole.

According to the present rules, temporary release of a convict is allowed if a member of his family is seriously ill or has died or the prisoner himself is very ill. Parole is also allowed in case of a marriage in the immediate family, for harvesting and ploughing or any other “sufficient cause”. At present, no convict is barred from availing of the parole facility.

However, Haryana wants to change all that to exclude habitual offenders and those convicted of heinous crimes.

Sources said as per the recommendations, the state police department had identified five grounds on which parole should not be granted under exceptional circumstances. The prisoner should be released with an armed escort to ensure that he returned to jail on the completion of the period.

“While habitual offenders, convicted of heinous crimes, and those sentenced to the death penalty, shall not be eligible for parole on grounds like ploughing, we want to deny parole to those who have failed to surrender themselves within a period of 10 days from the date on which they should have reported back. Besides, we want to come down heavily against those caught with cellphones inside the jail,” an official said.

It is proposed that the only exception would be made for convicts in case of marriage of children, grandchildren, siblings and the death of grandparents, in-laws, parents, sibling, spouse or children. Under such circumstances, the jail superintendent may allow a convict out on parole for 48 hours under armed police escort unlike existing rules wherein such convicts can be allowed out for any number of days.

The amendment also proposes to make the penalty for failure to surrender more stringent since a large number of convicts continue to flout the provisions of the Act which indicates towards its leniency.

The proposed amendment has been forwarded by the state Home Department to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for approval. 

Karnal, August 2
While the controversy over the construction of three-storeyed showrooms by the Improvement Trust Karnal without getting the mandatory clearance from the Union Government under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, is yet to die down, the defiant Trust is planning to go ahead with the second phase of the complex at the Mughal Canal sans statutory clearances under the said Act.

As per the layout plan prepared by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department, 45 three-storeyed showrooms measuring 20X5.5 metres, 17 showrooms measuring 18 X5.5 metres, seven showrooms measuring 15X5 metres, 57 double-storeyed shops measuring 12X4 metres and 12 single-storeyed shops over the Mugal Canal from the Atal Park to the Meerut road via Sector 12 and sabzi mandi are to be constructed.

As per the revenue records, the land on which the second phase has been planned, falls under the forest area and no construction activity can be allowed with prior permission from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment.

Taking cognizance of the proposed plan prepared by the TCP Department to construct the second phase over the Mughal Canal, Adhikar Society, an NGO, has urged the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Forests) to develop the canal by planting trees on both the sides instead of constructing showrooms without clearance from the Forest Department.

“The motive of the Improvement Trust is to auction sites, develop the market and earn profit and the project would serve no public purpose,” said Rajesh Sharma, general-secretary of the society.

Navdeep Hooda, Wildlife officer, Karnal, said: “The Trust is planning to construct the second phase on the Mughal Canal and we have written a letter to the department informing that prior permission by the Forest Department is mandatory before the work commences”.

The Improvement Trust had submitted its case to the Forest Department on June 25 last for de-facto sanction but it has again come out with another “illegal” proposal before its earlier “illegal” action was legalised.

Chandigarh, August 2
Leader of Opposition and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo Om Prakash Chautala today demanded the dismissal of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government for its “failure” on all fronts.

Raising this demand in a memorandum submitted to Governor Jagannath Pahadia at the Haryana Raj Bhawan here today, Chautala alleged that the Hooda government had no moral right to remain in power against the backdrop of the “worsening” law and order situation, repeated cases of exploitation of children and women at shelter homes, drought-like situation, widespread corruption and power crisis due to use of “substandard” machinery in the Khedar power plant in Yamunanagar.

Urging the Governor to prevail upon the state government to recommend a drought in the state, Chautala demanded a special girdawari (revenue survey of crops) and compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre for farmers who could not sow any crop due to the highly-deficient rainfall.

Claiming that incidents of the exploitation of girls in Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s home district, Rohtak, had brought a bad name to the state, Chautala alleged that the law and order situation was going from bad to worse in the state with each passing day.

The memorandum claimed that even senior functionaries of the state government were conceding large-scale corruption in the state.

Chandigarh, August 2
Justice Paramjeet Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today confirmed the bail granted to Swami Agnivesh in a case of hurting religious sentiments. The court, while granting him interim stay in September last year, had directed the Swami to cooperate with the investigation agency.

The Swami was seeking bail in FIR number 294, dated May 26, registered under Sections 295 and 295-A of the IPC at the Hansi City police station on Parveen Kumar Tayal’s complaint.

The Swami was accused of terming the Amarnath Yatra a fraud in the name of religion. The statement had come during his meeting with president of the Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Section 295-A deals with deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting religion or religious beliefs.

On August 29 last year, the court of Hansi Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate had issued non-bailable warrants against the Swami on the basis of the case registered against him.

The High Court has already turned down the Swami’s plea for quashing the FIR registered against him.

In his order, Justice LN Mittal asserted: “Counsel for the petitioner vehemently contended that the averments made in the FIR do not constitute any offence. The contention, prima facie, cannot be accepted.”

“Averments made in the FIR regarding utterances attributed to the petitioner do prima facie make out a case under Section 295-A of the IPC, because such utterances certainly hurt the religious feelings of Hindus, who undertake the holy Amarnath Yatra.”

Justice Mittal also took note of another contention raised by the counsel for the petitioner on the absence of evidence on record to show the utterances were indeed made by the Swami.

Ambala, August 2
The pleas of a hapless mother, whose five-year-old son was allegedly kidnapped by two youths at the behest of her estranged husband, failed to move the district police, who refused to register a case claiming that a matrimonial dispute was pending in the court.

Navneet Kaur’s son, Abhey Pratap (5), was dragged into a car bearing a Punjab number plate near Tepla bus stand while he was returning home along with his maternal grandfather, Balkar Singh, two days back. The boy’s grandfather was also injured while thwarting the kidnapping attempt.

Even as Navneet ran from pillar to post to get a case registered so that she could get her son back, the police refused to do so stating that the boy could have been taken away by her father, a resident of Ludhiana, from whom Navneet had got separated several years back. Navneet had married Narinder Mohan Singh seven years ago but had returned to her family following a matrimonial dispute. She had been staying with her parents and a case was pending in the court.

She taught in the same school where her son studied. On that fateful day she had gone to Yamunanagar to take an exam. Navneet said she had filed a complaint with the Saha police, but no case was registered and a case was still pending in the court and custody of the boy was with her. — TNS

Fatehabad, August 2
A Dalit woman was stopped from getting water from a tap of a religious place near the Timber Market in Fatehabad recently.

The victim, Sukhwinder Kaur, approached District and Session Judge SC Goyal and Chief Judicial Magistrate (Legal Service Authority) Harish Gupta, who visited Baghban, a home for senior citizens, after the local authorities failed to redress her grievances.

“I live with my family in ward number 13 in the Kath Mandi area of Fatehabad and we have been taking water for drinking purpose from a religious place situated near our home as we do not have any source of water. However, after knowing of our caste, they stopped us from taking water from the religious place,” she alleged.

Sukhwinder Kaur said she had been running from pillar to post with her complaint, but justice had eluded her.

“We have sent her application to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and appointed an advocate on the panel of the District Legal Services Authority to take up her case,” said Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Gupta.

Efforts to contact SDM Baljit Singh did not yield results.

In all, 12 persons contacted the judges with their grievances, most of which pertained to the issuance of BPL cards.

Sonepat, August 2
Suraj, his brother Chand and mother Vidya Devi were today sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Chanchal and Raj Kumari, daughters of Vidya Devi’s two other sons, Surender and Manoj, respectively, on June 25, 2010.

The bodies of the two girls were recovered from the Delhi branch of the West Yamuna Canal near Badwasni village on June 25, 2010.

Chanchal and Raj Kumari were staying with their grandmother Vidya Devi at Kot Mohalla. After sometime, Chanchal’s stepbrother Vijay also started living with Vidya Devi. Later, the family members suspected that Chanchal and Raj Kumari had developed illicit relations with Vijay. They then conspired to eliminate the girls. After their murder, the bodies of the girls were wrapped in bags and thrown into the canal.

On the basis of subsequent investigation, Vidya Devi and her sons Suraj and Chand were arrested and produced in a court.