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Woman dies from burn injuries
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School van driver held for minor’s rape
Courses to enhance skills of hearing impaired students
DU finalises modalities for undergraduate programme
Two held in robbery, snatching cases
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Woman dies from burn injuries
New Delhi, October 14 The deceased, Pravartika Gupta, belonged to Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh district. Her father, Dr Kshamveer alleges that she was physically and mentally tortured for dowry by her husband and in-laws. Pravartika lived with her husband, Ashutosh, 13-month-old daughter, Idika, father-in-law, Ram Mohan Gupta and mother-in-law, Sushma at Sarojini Vihar NDMC Apartments in Sarojini Nagar. Ram is an assistant engineer with the NDMC. According to the police, Sushma has been arrested and they are using technical surveillance to locate Ashutosh and Ram. Kshamveer said, "Ashutosh had been asking for Rs 10 lakh from us. I paid him Rs 6 lakh and was also planning to pay the rest Rs 4 lakh. But his demands over the years kept increasing." One of Pravartika's neighbours, Surender Singh said that she allegedly had an argument with Ashutosh, Ram and Shushma on October 6. He claims that thereafter she was set on fire. "We saw smoke billowing out of Gupta's house. We heard screams and some of the neighbours went to the house," said Surender. He said that Pravartika was severely burnt and was lying naked on the floor. Her clothes were also burnt. "Idika and Ram also sustained burn injuries," he added. Pravartika, Idika and Ram were rushed to the Safdarjung Hospital. Hospital sources said that Pravartika had suffered 80 per cent burns and succumbed to her injuries on Sunday morning. Idika sustained 55 per cent burns and is critical. Ram's injuries however were minor. A case under IPC section 498A and section 304B (Dowry Death) has been lodged at the Sarojini Nagar police station. As the woman died within seven years of her marriage, a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) enquiry has been initiated.
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IN FOCUS
New Delhi, October 14 The government's initiative to provide such codes to all the citizens has neglected sex workers of the city. Over 4,500 sex workers living in 118 dingy and shady brothels in the red light area of GB Road are struggling to get these identity cards, but they are not allowed to apply for them by the brothel keepers. The sex workers said that their 'malkins' did not pass on the correct information to the government officials who had come for a survey in their area. As a result, they have not been issued the 'Aadhaar Cards' so far.
"We could not speak to the officials who came to our area. And the 'malkin' passed on wrong information as they did not want us to get the identity cards. They fear that we might leave the trade," said 48-year-old Nasreen Begum, a sex worker in the area. "The 'malkins' have links with the police and we have to bow to their command. We don't have a ration card till date. We cannot even apply for it as we do not have the necessary documents," said 45-year-old Bimla, another sex worker. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, the sex workers of the area are making frenetic efforts to get the cards which will not only provide them with residence proof, but will also help them get ration cards and voter ID cards. With the help of a non-governmental organization (NGO), Bhartiya Patita Udhar Sabha (BPUS), the sex workers have asked the government to reorganise camps for the issue of 'Aadhaar Cards' in their area. A group of sex workers with the officials of BPUS has taken up the issue with a number of authorities, including social welfare department of the Delhi government, in the past. "We wrote a detailed letter to the Deputy Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI), requesting them to make suitable arrangements so that these workers get the benefits of Aadhaar Cards," said Khairati Lal Bhola, president, BPUS. "We also proposed to assist the officials of the UIAI to organize their camps in the red light area. However, we have not got any response so far," said Bhola. The NGO has demanded that the government officials should deliver the cards at its office to be distributed among the sex workers. It would help eliminate the role of brothel owners, according to the NGO. The sex workers also sought the help of Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal last week. "We met the minister's secretary and apprised him of the problems being faced by us," Bhola said, adding that there are around 1,100 red light areas in the country. They have three lakh brothels in which 24 lakh sex workers live along with 54 lakh children.
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School van driver held for minor’s rape
New Delhi, October 14 The 12-year-old girl, who is a student of a government school, was sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where the medical examination confirmed that she had been raped. The accused who
lives in the victim's neighbourhood allegedly took her in his van, parked it behind a building and raped her, according to the police. During his interrogation, the police learnt that earlier also, the accused had allegedly raped her A case has been
registered at the local police station. Vendor shot at
A fruit vendor was shot at by a motorcycle-borne assailant allegedly over personal enmity at CR Park in south-east Delhi on Sunday afternoon. The victim, Raju, received a bullet injury and is undergoing treatment at the AIIMS Trauma Centre. His condition is not critical, as the bullet brushed past his right hand, according to the police. The incident occurred at 12.15 pm when Raju was at F-Block, CR Park. He has been selling fruits here for over a few years. The police said that a motorcycle-borne man arrived there and opened fire at Raju. Hearing the commotion, the local residents gathered there, but the attacker fled the spot on the motorcycle. |
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Courses to enhance skills of hearing impaired students
New Delhi, October 14 Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), IGNOU, will soon start undergraduate and postgraduate programmes along with BEd in a phased manner for hearing impaired students, university officials announced today. Speaking on the first foundation day of the ISLRTC, Prof Gopinath Pradhan, Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU, said, "Our objective is to reach the unreachable and with the establishment of ISLRTC, this mandate of the university stands tall. While introducing such programmes, we are aiming to improve the skills of the hearing impaired community in the country and also uplifting a particular section in the society by imparting training to them." A.S. Narayanan, general secretary of the National Association of the Deaf, delivered a special lecture in Indian Sign Language (ISL) and described the barriers while coming up with such a unique centre in Asia. "We are striving to have ISLRTC branches all over India. We hope that ISL classes will be in each town and village. This will make communication and learning for them easier and will also generate job opportunities for more interpreters who will be professionals. Currently, we need four lakh interpreters while there are merely 200 today. We will have excellent professors and researchers who will do research on ISL. We will know more about our own language," said Narayanan. "When the ISLRTC was introduced, it broke the barriers of communication. In the beginning when the centre was not established, we had to face a lot of obstacles but with its establishment, the students of BA in Special Sign Language Studies (BASSLS) of IGNOU received a boost in their activities. But to our dismay, this is only happening here, the rest of the country still needs the support," said Lucky and Anu, students of BASSLS. The ISLRTC is sponsored by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, located in the headquarters,
IGNOU. |
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DU finalises modalities for undergraduate programme
New Delhi, October 14 A new hands-on curriculum is on the cards which will replace the existing syllabi for the first year. Since the time is scarce, senior DU officials say that they have already got cracking on the course modalities so that the four-year undergraduate programmes can usher in a new study culture in the university when the next session begins. "What's taught today is too didactic and rigorous. We want to give students time to evolve through their college course," said a senior DU official who is working on the course framework for the next year. On the basis of the task force report, a proposal for the course will be introduced in the academic and executive councils for their approval. The university will then initiate the process to hire teachers for the new programme, said a senior official at DU. "With the four-year undergraduate programme, teachers' workload will increase substantially. We will require a large number of teachers. As soon as the modalities of the programme are completed, the appointment of teachers will begin, he added. The four-year course will have exit options in the second and third year, allow breaks and completion within 10 years, be less rigid about studying various disciplines and allow credits, even from sports and extra-curricular activities. The new syllabus for degree students will be project-oriented, offering greater flexibility of choice to the candidates. The students will have various options like quality IT capability, project, and field work and internship opportunities in every discipline to choose from. |
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Two held in robbery, snatching cases
New Delhi, October 14 The accused have been identified as Sanjeev and Naveen, both are residents of Partap Nagar. The accused were actively involved in robbery and snatching incidents. A country-made pistol and a knife have been seized from their possession. A gold chain also recovered from them. To deceive the police, they used to commit crime on the motorcycle with forged number plate, the police said. Jaswant Kaur (55), a resident of Fateh Nagar, said in her complaint that on Friday, she was going to the market for purchasing some goods when two motorcyclists stopped her forcibly and robbed her gold chain at the pistol-point near Satyanarayan temple in Hari Nagar, said the police. On hearing her scream, a passerby, Indermohan Singh, followed the accused and managed to pounce on them. Both of them fell along with the motorcycle, the police said. "In the meantime, a constable reached the spot and apprehended both of the accused. A country-made pistol loaded with two live cartridges was seized from Sanjeev and a knife was seized from Naveen," V. Renganathan, Additional Commissioner of Police (West). |
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