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JNU-SFI bags top post; AISA the rest of three
DUSU: Oath ceremony today; ABVP calls bandh
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Women not safe at home in Delhi
TB patient rescued from locked room
Three women commit suicide over dowry harassment
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JNU-SFI bags top post; AISA the rest of three
New Delhi, September 16 Kumar got 1,445 votes out of the total 4,309 votes polled, defeating his nearest rival, AISA candidate Om Prasad, by over 200 votes. He will now succeed Sucheta De of AISA. Kopal Singh, the presidential candidate of the SFI, finished eighth receiving just 107 votes. Eleven candidates were in the fray for the top post. Lenin's win has come as a major boost for the newly formed SFI-JNU. The party was created after the CPI-M expelled the then panel members of the SFI for criticising its support to Pranab Mukherjee during the president poll in July. "The resounding victory of Kumar, who was one of the four expelled comrades, reflects what the politically conscious student community of JNU made out of the entire affair. For us, this is a clear mandate to revive the students' movement at JNU that rejects the Congress and BJP-led politics on the campus," said Roshar Kishore, another SFI leader who was expelled from the SFI and now leads the SFI -JNU. The other three JNUSU panel positions of vice-president, general secretary and secretary were won by Minakshi Buragohain, Shakeel Anjum, and Piyush Raj, respectively,-- all from the AISA. When asked about his priorities as the JNUSU president, Lenin, a second year PhD student at the School of International Studies, said, "Students have voted me to power so that I can solve their issues." "Reduction of the weight of viva marks in the total score, a hike in the scholarship for PhD and Mphil students and an improvement of the state of the hostels are three major issues affecting the students. These will be my priority over the next few months," said Lenin "Also, student movements across Indian universities have been facing major setbacks over the past few years. One of our long-term goals will be to revive the movements in and outside JNU so that the administrations take students' issues seriously," he added. On the other hand, AISA, which though lost the post of president, has displayed that it still has a good hold on the campus. Minakshi Buragohain, the new JNUSU vice-president from the party, said the new union would work for issues like protecting the autonomy of the gender sensitisation committee against sexual harassment, enhancing scholarships and a successful implementation of the OBC quota. "During the past six months, the AISA union had been involved in constrictive talks with the administration. We have been assured that as soon as funds are released for JNU in the 12th year plan, issues like upgradation of hostels will be addressed," she added. Further, of the 29 council seats across JNU Schools and centres for learning, the AISA bagged 15. The SFI-JNU and AISF alliance won five councilors' seats, three more than the two seats won by it in the March 2012 polls. Meanwhile, ABVP activists, who had had a scuffle with AISA activists on the day of polling, today said that they had registered a complaint with the police and the security and grievance redressal cell (GRC) of the university against AISA candidate Shakeel Anjum and others for allegedly beating them. New union takes charge today
The new students' union will take charge tomorrow. The formalities of the election process will be finished by tomorrow, the deadline for completing the students' election under the Lyngdoh committee recommendations (eight weeks into the first semester). Also, since the results were declared around 7 am today, the victory procession has been postponed for tomorrow. Tomorrow night, the new JNUSU will carry out the university's iconic "mashaal juloos" from Ganga Hostel to Chandra Bhaga Hostel. |
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DUSU: Oath ceremony today; ABVP calls bandh
New Delhi, September 16 A day after the party lost the elections, leading to much ruckus at the campus; the ABVP said it wants an independent probe into the way the results and the ensuing protests were handled by the administration and the Delhi police. Several ABVP protesters, including two candidates who contested for the DUSU, were injured in the police crackdown yesterday. Alleging high-handedness, ABVP state secretary Rohit Chahal said, "The university's private security guards were the first ones to charge at the students, following which the Delhi police joined in. The police even entered the central library and ended up manhandling several students who were studying there." He further alleged that the university's chief election officer Prof C.S. Dubey was a "Congressman" and the ruling party had "abused money and power to turn the election in its favour". He said the ABVP will submit a petition in the high court tomorrow, seeking a probe into their allegations. "This was the first time that mediapersons and candidates were not allowed inside the counting stations, and even candidates were not allowed near voting machines during counting. This is a clear violation of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations," he said. There are so many irregularities and manipulations that we cannot just stand by and let it happen. The ABVP will also impose a 'bandh' on the university campus tomorrow. No classes will be held, said Chahal. |
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JNU and DU: A tale of two campaigning styles
In the end, while both the varsities ended up giving powerful mandates in electing their representatives, the contrast in the level of politicization of students was clearly evident. While at DU, it was the Congress's student wing NSUI that managed to sweep the top three posts in the student union riding on support from the powerful parent body; at JNU, it was a disowned rebel, without any patronage from a national party, who was elected the student union's next president. The last two days of campaigning at DU were ruled by an exorbitant demonstration of money and power, while at JNU, it was student politics at play, where money wasn't even a factor for winning an election. At DU, the election commission issued 11 showcase notices to the contesting candidates though that failed to dampen the spirit of the parent parties which continued to pump in funds for campaigning. Trips to fun and food village and other theme parks were arranged. Two to three buses for several off-campus colleges were arranged that took thousands of students to the latest flicks like "Raaz 3" and "Jism 2" at multiplexes. Soap papers, handmade chocolates, T-shirts inscribed with the names of the political party websites were largely distributed across 70 DU colleges with over 86,000 potential voters. "When we went for campaigning to colleges, we found the entire classrooms empty in the middle of the day. It's not just the Congress, the BJP also backed their party with ample money. The results indicate that the party that spent more took away the crown finally. It's easier to spend money than come out with ideas. It was almost certain that the ABVP would win at least two posts in the DUSU panel. But the last two to three days of campaigning have made all the difference to the NSUI," said Dhirender Yadav, who was one of the independent candidates. On the other hand, at JNU, the students chose Lenin from SFI-JNU as their president, showcasing what the true student power and support can achieve. After the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, the Supreme Court imposed a ban on JNU student union elections in 2008, three days before the university was to conduct polling. In December 2011, the apex court gave a go-ahead for JNUSU elections after which they were conducted in March 2012 after a gap of four years. At JNU, candidates never had a problem with the expenditure limits. The SFI-JNU unit that took a contradictory stand from its parent party CPI-M over the issue of support to Pranab Mukherjee's presidential candidature, contested with no help from its former parent party, and still performed excellently. "Money cannot win elections for you at JNU," commented Sucheta De, the last JNUSU president and AISA leader. "Try taking out a car rally on JNU campus. Your own hostel roommate will not vote for you. A sum of Rs 5,000 is more than enough for a candidate to campaign. No freebies are required. Campaigning here entails waking up as early as 6 am, meeting students all day long, communicating political stands and agendas and then drifting off at midnight every day. Finally, it's the presidential debate which provides the candidates the last opportunity to make an impression," said Manish Arya, the NSUI wing campaign manager for the JNU unit. "This win sends out a strong political message. Students have responded to our stand on wider national politics and our work in the past five years on campus. And with this mandate, they have told us that they stand by us," said Roshan Kishore, who now leads charge of the
JNU-SFI. |
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Women not safe at home in Delhi
New Delhi, September 16 While the accused is still to be arrested as he too was injured in the incident with 30 per cent burns and both are currently recuperating in Safdarjang Hospital, said a police official. The victim has been identified as Rakhi, a resident of Kangan Heri village. She married Sumit in December 2011. Sumit allegedly used to harass her for dowry. Rakhi's elder sister Nisha, who is married to Sumit's elder brother Pradeep, said that she saw Sumit pouring kerosene on Rakhi on which she pleaded her in-laws to interfere. Their in-laws, however, decided against stopping Sumit after which he lit a matchstick and threw it towards Rakhi, she said in her statement to the police. Nisha said that during all this their mother-in-law Santosh, father-in-law Rohtash and brother-in-law Tinku were present at the spot, but they returned to their rooms despite Rakhi ailing in pain and crying for help. The police official said that the fire was doused by Rakhi's neighbours after about 10 minutes and it was Nisha's husband Pradeep, who was not present during the time of the incident, rushed Rakhi to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital with his friends from where she was later referred to Safdarjang Hospital. On the basis of Nisha's statement, a case of attempt to murder and subjecting woman to cruelty and dowry has been filed against Sumit at the Chhawla police station. |
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TB patient rescued from locked room
New Delhi, September 16 It was with the help of Kavita's neighbours that the police managed to reach her even as the reasons for her being locked are yet to be found out. Later in the police control room vehicle, she was taken to the Holy Family Hospital for a check-up. "The exact reason is yet to be ascertained as to why her husband Deepak kept her locked in their house in Mithapur Extension," said a senior police official. Kavita's family alleges that her husband had been accusing her of practising black magic in order to cover up his extra-marital affair. According to the police, Kavita is suffering from TB and Deepak just ensured that she was given the requisite medication. Deepak had got a digital lock fitted on the door of Kavita's room and he himself opened it when the police reached the spot yesterday around 3 pm. |
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Three women commit suicide over dowry harassment
New Delhi, September 16 Mamata, a mother of two who married nine years ago, took the extreme step allegedly after an altercation with her mother-in-law. She was rushed to the nearby hospital by the police where doctors declared her brought dead. In the other two incidents, Divya (25), an MCD schoolteacher, was found hanging in her house in Rudra Apartment, Dwarka, while Neetu Sharma (29), mother of two, allegedly committed suicide in her house on G T Road, Shahdara. Divya had been staying with her husband after her marriage a year ago and her family alleges that her in-laws have forced her to death due to the demands of dowry. In the wee hours today, Neetu's family was informed by the Mansarowar police of the incident following which they rushed to the police station. While Neetu's in-laws, who run a transport business, feigned ignorance about what had led her to take the extreme step, the victim's family said that Neetu had apparently approached her parents three days ago for money. According to Neetu's relative Madhu who stays in Shahdara, Neetu's in-laws asked her to get Rs 5 lakh from her father for her sister-in-law's marriage. "Neetu and her husband Nitin used to quarrel and about two and a half months ago, she stayed at her parents' house in Laxmi Nagar for 15 days. She returned after numerous requests of her husband and in-laws who went to bring her back," Madhu said. In the Vivek Vihar incident, in which the husband was away when the woman took the extreme step, probe into the allegations of harassment by her in-laws and her husband Kishan, is still on, said the police officials. |
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Boxer among 5 held for robbery, blackmail
New Delhi, September 16 They have been identified as a farmer named Ramesh Dahiya (35), a wrestler named Amit (21), a state-level boxer Pawan (20), a housewife called Lalita (20) and a Class X student who is also a wrestler, said MA Rizvi, additional deputy commissioner of police (Outer) today. On September 1, the accused, posing as policemen, stopped businessman Joginder Singh's vehicle at Narela for checking. They then allegedly robbed him of his money and took him to a secluded place. There, the accused forcibly placed Singh in a compromising position with a woman and took his photographs. He was later abandoned on a road. Singh then took help from a passerby and informed his family and the police. A fortnight ago, the gang started blackmailing Singh with the photographs, demanding Rs 4 lakh. Yesterday, the police set a trap to nab the gang. Singh along with some policemen went to Auchandi Border with fake currency notes of Rs 4 lakh to pay up to the accused. The policemen were hiding around the spot. About 10.30 pm, the accused in a car approached Singh. One of them, tried to snatch the cash bag from Singh and flee, but the police caught them. Dahiya, Amit, Pawan and the teenager were arrested from the spot while Lalita was nabbed at their
instance later. |
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New Delhi, September 16