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BJP meet to review political situation
Union Minister Ashwani Kumar’s wife passes away
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Govt dilutes anti-tobacco rules for films, issues new notification
Shumsher Sheriff is new Secy Gen of Rajya Sabha
GoM to vet land Bill tomorrow
Nupur Talwar walks out of jail
Ramdev’s products fail govt lab tests
Ramdev
Hisar gang rape
HC lashes out at ‘black sheep’ in Punjab Police
Fuel retailers demand hike in commission
Fate of PoWs continues to be a mystery
Pune teens kidnap child, strangle him
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BJP meet to review political situation
New Delhi/ Surajkund, Sept 25 The BJP core group met in New Delhi this evening and finalised the agenda for the meetings, which will also ratify the proposal for giving party president Nitin Gadkari a second term by amending the party constitution. Although many senior leaders are learnt to be not in favour of changing the party constitution to enable the party chief to continue for two consecutive terms, the RSS is said to be keen on keeping Gadkari at the helm of affairs. Top BJP leaders from all over the country will attend the meetings with Gadkari opening the National Executive tomorrow morning with his presidential address. He is expected to list the party’s priorities and throw light on the BJP’s strategy for the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh later this year. The BJP is quite anxious to retain power in these two states and in Karnataka where the assembly polls are due early next year. However, the revelations made by the CAG in its report on coal block allocations suggesting massive corruption in the allotments and the government’s decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retain, hike the price of diesel and ration the supply of LPG cylinders are likely to dominate the discussions at the BJP conclave. BJP sources national security and relations with Pakistan and other neighbouring countries will also be taken up during the discussions. Senior BJP leaders are of the view that the image of the Congress-led UPA government has hit the rock bottom in the wake of the unearthing of several scams and the steep increase in the prices of essential commodities. The party did not allow Parliament to function during the Monsoon session once the CAG report on coal block allocations was tabled in the House, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The withdrawal of support by the Trinamool Congress to the Congress-led regime has raised hopes among the BJP’s rank and file that the UPA government may not last its full term, necessitating fresh elections to the Lok Sabha. The main Opposition party, however, has its own limitations also, having failed to attract new allies to the NDA fold. In fact, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party are vying with each other to extend outside support to the UPA government only to keep the BJP away from power. On top of it, the leadership issue in the BJP is far from settled. Though the party has gone on record time and again to say that there was no rift in the party over the issue of its Prime Ministerial candidate, it’s a well-known secret that all its top leaders are nursing the ambition of occupying the post.
The Agenda
The BJP core group met in New Delhi on Tuesday evening and finalised the agenda for the meetings The RSS is said to be keen on keeping Nitin Gadkari at the helm of affairs Gadkari is expected to list the party’s priorities and throw light on the BJP’s strategy for the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh later this year
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Union Minister Ashwani Kumar’s wife passes away
New Delhi, September 25 The office of the minister said, President Pranab
Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi spoke to Kumar and expressed their condolences. Gursharan Kaur, wife of the Prime Minister, visited the residence of Ashwani Kumar at Friends Colony to offer her condolences. Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and Chief Justice of India YK Sabharwal also visited the residence of Ashwani Kumar. Madhu Kumar was cremated at Nigam Bodh Ghat this evening. A prayer meeting for peace of the departed soul will be held on September 28 at 18, Ashoka Road from 4.00 to 5.00 pm.
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Govt dilutes anti-tobacco rules for films, issues new notification
New Delhi, September 25 Amending its October 27, 2011 notification which had mandated stringent rules for filmmakers and TV producers, the Ministry of Health today issued new rules, withdrawing several provisions, including the grant of Censor Board’s U/A certification to films that display tobacco. The ministry withdrew another requirement, according to which, actors featuring in a film needed to say a disclaimer at the beginning and middle of the film stating that they do not endorse tobacco use. This clause was rooted in evidence of strong links between the viewership of smoking in movies and smoking initiation among adolescents. A recent study on 4,000 Delhi adolescents had confirmed this link. The dilution of the October 2011 anti-tobacco notification by the Health Ministry comes after year-long agitation on its
key provisions by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of
Film Certification. The new rules accommodate most of the concerns of film and TV producers as they drop the clause requiring actors to say disclaimers and another which required the Censor Board to give U/A certification to films displaying tobacco use. Disclaimers would now have to be shown, but the Health Ministry would produce these and hand them over to the Censor Board for implementation. These disclaimers would contain anti-tobacco messages in an audio-visual format, but won’t feature film actors. The sole clause where the Health Ministry stood its ground involves the requirement of strong editorial justification for any film or TV programme displaying tobacco. The new notification will come into force from October 2 and will
The producers of film Kareena Kapoor-starrer “Heroine” had managed exemption from anti-tobacco notification of the government requiring regulation of tobacco use. With the new rules notified on Tuesday, filmmakers cannot escape anti-tobacco rules now.
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Shumsher Sheriff is new Secy Gen of Rajya Sabha
New Delhi, September
25 He will hold the office of the Secretary-General on deputation basis till August 31, 2013 and thereafter continue in the same capacity for a further period of two years on contractual basis.
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Nupur Talwar walks out of jail
Ghaziabad, September 25 Nupur's dentist husband Rajesh Talwar, who is a co-accused in the case, kept his hand around her as she walked out the jail in Ghaziabad a little before 7 pm in the presence of a strong posse of waiting newsmen and photographers. Rajesh has been on bail since July 11, 2008. Wearing a peach-coloured dress, a sombre-looking Nupur spoke briefly during which she said she will abide by all court regulations. Nupur's parents and Rajesh's brother Dinesh Talwar were also present outside the jail premises. Earlier in the day, Special Judge A K Lal ordered Nupur's release in pursuance of a Supreme Court order which had granted her bail on September 17, stipulating that she should be released by today, September 25. The special judge ordered Nupur's release on a personal bond of Rs two lakhs with two sureties of the same amount each. After granting her bail, the apex court had put off her release by a week to enable CBI to get its remaining material witnesses examined by the trial court, which is currently recording the prosecution evidence. Nupur has been in jail since her surrender before the Ghaziabad court on April 30. She had got bail on September 17 from the apex court, which she had moved challenging the Allahabad High Court's order which had dismissed her bail plea on May 31. Earlier, the trial court had denied her bail on May 2. Aarushi (14) was found dead in her bedroom at the Talwars' residence in Jalvayu Vihar, Noida, on the intervening night of May 16-17, 2008. The body of Hemraj was found on May 17 on the terrace. — PTI
Key CBI witness mowed down
Jasbir Singh, investigating officer and key CBI witness in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case, was killed along with two other policemen in an accident in the district Jasbir, witness number 120 in the case, had probed the Aarushi case in the beginning and had taken Rajesh Talwar into remand Jasbir, along with two other policemen, was on duty at a police check-post in violence-hit Masuri area of Ghaziabad when a mini-truck rammed into them on September 20 *Jasbir and head constable Pritam Singh of PAC were killed on the spot while a constable succumbed to his injuries in a hospital
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Ramdev’s products fail govt lab tests
Haridwar, September 25 The report of a test in a state laboratory based in Rudrapur, Uddham Singh Nagar district, said three samples of salt, spices and mustard oil were found to be of sub-standard quality. Moreover, products being outsourced from other companies were eventually labelled as Divya Yog Mandir products. According to Uttarakhand Food Department, it had, on August 16, conducted routine sampling at Divya Yog Mandir Trust factory in Kankhal, where six samples of those samples of salt, spices, jam, gram flour, honey and mustard oil were collected. Three samples of spices, salt and mustard oil, it is stated, have been found to be sub-standard. All these three items have been found to been manufactured in other states but marketed under Divya Yog Mandir brand, which is said to be in gross violation of the Food Safety and Standards Act provisions. Food Security Officer Haridwar Yogendra Pandey said a notice will be served by the food department to Divya Yog Mandir and a reply is required in 30 days time. He said ‘Ankur’ brand salt sold by Divya Yog is actually manufactured in Kadach, Gujarat, while the mustard oil brand is a Rajasthan-based company product which is labelled in Divya Mandir factory outlet as a Patanjali Ayurvedic Product. Pandey also took strong cognizance of the word ‘Arogya’ being used to label Patanjali products as unlawful, for, as he stated, it misleads the consumers who use the product into thinking they will be no longer be vulnerable to any disease after consuming these products or medicines.
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SC, ST commission slams govt for failing to ‘do enough’
Raman Mohan/TNS
Hisar, September 25 Taking suo motu notice of the case, commission vice-chairman Raj Kumar Verka visited the victim’s family in Dabra village near here today morning. He said cases of atrocities on Dalits in Haryana were on the increase and the panel had brought this to the notice of the state government. It was apparent that the administration had not done enough to bring the 12 accused to justice in the quickest possible time, he said, and warned of stern action against any officer found to have been lax in performing his duty. He also ruled out any possibility of a compromise between the accused and the victim of the “heinous crime”. The victim was allegedly raped on September 9 by a group of youths, who also threatened to make public her obscene pictures, following which her shocked father committed suicide on September 18. Verka said the commission had written to the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Haryana Government to set up fast-track courts and special police stations to probe atrocities against Dalits, but no action had been taken. “The government has not even constituted an SC and ST Commission at the state level. There is also no commission to look after the interests of ‘safai karamcharis’ in Haryana,” the panel vice-chairman said. Haryana Women Commission Chairperson Sushila Sharma also visited the village. The victim’s family said Sharma had come on a surprise visit to track the progress of investigation in the case. “The condition of women in the country is pitiable. Every woman, irrespective of caste or community, is practically a Dalit,” she said, adding that society must play a part in empowering women of all castes and communities. Deputy Commissioner Amit Aggarwal said all help would be extended to the victim and her family. He said the victim would be treated at the state’s expense and all steps, including counselling, would be taken for her rehabilitation. “She will be shifted to another school if she wants. The administration is also recommending the case of her brother for providing him a government job,” he said.
Police grills accused
The second accused in the Hisar gang-rape case has been identified as Sunil and has been remanded in police custody for four days by a Hisar court on Tuesday. The police had sought Sunil’s custody to interrogate him and track down the remaining accused. Another accused in the case,
Sittu, is already in police custody.
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HC lashes out at ‘black sheep’ in Punjab Police
Chandigarh, September 25 Justice Mehinder Singh Sullar of the High Court has, in fact, minced no words to hold that criminals were being exonerated by replacing them with innocents and that the perilous trend was rising fast in Punjab. Justice Sullar has also called for curbing the menace with a “heavy hand”. The stinging indictment of the police by a high court judge may not be unprecedented in the state where the police continue to act like a superpower even after the end of militancy. Also not so uncommon is a rap on the knuckles for letting criminals go “for reasons best known” to the police. But this is, perhaps, one of the few orders in which the high court has on record talked about the Punjab Police’s worst-kept secrets - implicating innocents for redeeming culprits. Justice Sullar has asserted: “It cannot possibly be disputed that the tendency and frequency by some black sheep in the Punjab Police of falsely substituting innocent persons and exonerating the real main culprits has been tremendously increasing day by day. This needs to be curbed with a heavy hand.” The scathing observations came in a gang rape case, where “the investigating officer illegally deleted the name of the main accused Charanjit Singh for reasons best known to him and substituted petitioner Jaswant Singh’s name in his place as an accused”. A criminal case in the matter was registered on February 11, 2012, at Mantiana police station in Hoshiarpur district after the girl was gang raped. Already, Hoshiarpur Senior Superintendent of Police is in dock for his failure to submit an inquiry report in the case. He has been summoned through bailable warrants by Justice Sullar. The observations, further shaking the credibility of the Punjab Police, come at a time when Punjab Police personnel are landing themselves in a legal mesh on allegations ranging from corruption to harassment. Ludhiana Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Gurcharan Singh has already been denied anticipatory bail in a corruption case by the high court. Posted as Ludhiana Assistant Commissioner of Police, Gurcharan Singh was facing the allegations of demanding bribe from a motor vehicle inspector. Superintendent of Police (Vigilance Bureau) Amandeep Kaur too has been booked, along with four others, in connection with the suicide of an Excise and Taxation Officer. She has also approached the high court for bail. Notice to the State of Punjab has already been issued on her anticipatory bail petition. Inspector Balwinder Kaur of Jalandhar too is facing criminal proceedings in an abetment-to-suicide case. Following alleged harassment at the hands of Inspector Balwinder Kaur and camerapersons, a young girl, Shivali, had jumped in front of a moving train on Domoria Bridge on August 30. She had been stopped while she was in the company of her friend near a police naka.
Cops in the dock
The investigating officer, in a gang rape case in Hoshiarpur district, substituted the petitioner’s name in the place of the main accused Ludhiana DSP Gurcharan Singh in a bribery case SP (Vigilance Bureau) Amandeep Kaur in the suicide case of an Excise and Taxation Officer Jalandhar Inspector Balwinder Kaur in an abetment-to-suicide case
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Fuel retailers demand hike in commission
Chandigarh, September 25 Protesting against the OMCs and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for not increasing their commissions and linking these to the price of fuel, the retail outlet owners have decided to lodge their protest by refusing to buy fuel for two days. On an average, 5.50 crore litres of petrol and 17.50 crore litres of diesel are sold by the OMCs across the country daily. With almost 80 per cent of fuel retailers, under the aegis of the Confederation of Indian Petroleum Dealers, threatening to proceed on strike, the three state-run OMCs - Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) - stand to lose crores in business with no sale of fuel for two days. The fuel retailers are arguing their case saying that though the prices of petrol and diesel have been hiked several times in the past two years, the commission offered to retailers has not been increased. Retail outlet owners get Rs 1,500 per kilolitre as commission on the sale of petrol and Rs 912 per kilolitre as commission on the sale of diesel. Kiranbhai Patel, president of the confederation, said that as the petrol price had been de-regulated, its commission has to be hiked by the OMCs. “And as diesel prices are still being regulated by the government, the Ministry of Petroleum has to increase the commission on it. But neither the OMCs nor the government is willing to increase the commission,” he said.
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Fate of PoWs continues to be a mystery
Ferozepur, September 25 The Indian officials had also reportedly informed the Foreign Ministry in Oman about the media reports and had asked for assistance in locating the missing Defence personnel. “We are extremely disappointed as any chance of finding Jaspal has been lost,” said Dr Simmi Waraich, whose father Major SPS Waraich has also been missing since the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. Talking to The Tribune, Simmi said instead of informing the Oman government about it, the Indian authorities should have planned a covert operation because after the media reports about Jaspal’s presence there, he must have been shifted by now. “Pakistan has denied the existence of PoWs for the last 41 years. So, how will they allow anyone to reach out to them and face embarrassment?” she said. Simmi said her father and Jaspal belonged to the same regiment, 15 Punjab. Both have been missing since 1971 along with other officers of the regiment. Though the name of Major Waraich figures in the list of Indian PoWs, Jaspal was considered to have attained martyrdom. About the presence of Jaspal in Oman, sources said the Pakistan government must have shifted the Indian PoWs to some other “friendly” Muslim country to evade any suspicion or public gaze about their existence. “The details given by Sukhdev about his meeting with Jaspal corroborate our claim about the existence of Indian PoWs in Pakistan or in some other countries,” Simmi said.
Agonising search Relatives of missing Indian PoWs feel any chance to track down sepoy Jaspal Singh and others who had accidentally met Sukhdev Singh in Masirah island has been lost Relatives of the missing soldiers have appealed to Pakistani authorities to release the PoWs and honour Vienna convention
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Pune teens kidnap child, strangle him
Mumbai, September 25 Parminder Singh, 19, a hotel management student and his 15-year-old accomplice are children of defence personnel and lived in the vicinity of the victim’s house, the police said. The two lured five-year old Shubh Rawal, the only child of parents who are scientists at the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), with a chocolate while he was playing near the Ganpati pandal near his house on Sunday afternoon. The kidnappers then took their victim to a desolate area at Pashan on the outskirts of Pune where they tried to obtain more information about his parents from the boy. However, the child refused to give his father’s mobile number to the kidnappers and instead tried to escape. Rattled by the fear of getting caught, the two kidnappers strangled the child to death with a handkerchief, Ajay Kadam, Senior Police Inspector, Chatushringi Police station, told reporters today. After killing the child, the two kidnappers returned to their homes late in the night. However, some other children who had seen Parminder lure away Shubh with a chocolate and promises of prasad revealed his identity to the victim’s parents, the police said. At around 2 am on Monday morning, Shubh’s relatives confronted Parminder who confessed to his crime. He then took the victim’s relatives to the crime scene where the boy’s body was recovered, the police said. Parminder later told the police that the duo had kidnapped the boy in the belief that he hailed from a rich family. The kidnappers hoped to collect a ransom of Rs 5 lakh with which they planned to buy a bike.
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was turning against the UPA regime, the BJP will hold its crucial National Executive and national council meeting at Surajkund over the next three days with the issue of corruption and the recent economic measures initiated by the government being on top of the agenda.
After remaining behind bars for nearly five months, Dentist Nupur Talwar, facing trial in the twin murder case of her daughter Aarushi and domestic aide Hemraj, was this evening released from Dasna jail.
Nupur's dentist husband Rajesh Talwar, who is a co-accused in the case, kept his hand around her as she walked out the jail in Ghaziabad a little before 7 pm in the presence of a strong posse of waiting newsmen and photographers.
Haridwar, September 25
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on Tuesday slammed the Hisar district administration and the Haryana Government for their failure to “do enough” to arrest the youths accused of gang-raping a teenaged Dalit girl here on September 9. Of the 12 accused, only two have been arrested so far.
cover all old and new TV programmes and films. It will, for the first time, regulate tobacco use in films, which have so far been exempted on the grounds of “freedom of expression”.