Rohtak, October 16
Another case of rape has surfaced in the district. This time, two persons have been arrested on charges of raping a 30-year-old woman related to them.

Both accused hail from Garonthi village of the district.

This is the third such case in the district in the past 16 days.

The complaint lodged at the Lakhan Majra police station today says that the incident took place on October 13 night. The victim, mother of four children, was taken by the two accused -- Raj Kumar and Subhash -- to an isolated spot and raped.

The accused are the woman’s husband’s cousins.

The woman revealed the incident to her husband and other family members. She told the police that the delay in lodging the complaint was due to the pressure from some elders in the family who were against reporting the matter to the police as it would bring shame to the family.

Senior superintendent of police Vivek Sharma visited the spot of the crime this noon. He said that both the accused, aged 24, had been arrested.

The victim’s husband is a driver of a commercial vehicle and was away on the night of the incident.

He said security would be provided to the victim if she or her family demanded. The first incident of rape had taken place on October 1 here when a 16-year-old Dalit girl was raped by a youth belonging to the same community here. The police had arrested five persons, including three women.

The second incident had taken place on October 3 at the Shastri Nagar locality when a 12-year-old girl was raped by a middle aged person. The accused was arrested the same night.

Rohtak, October 16
The police last night registered a case against CPM politburo member Brinda Karat and several other activists in connection with the violent clash during a protest march here yesterday. The march was taken out by several Left Front women’s organisations against the rising graph of crime against women in Haryana.

The protest march, which was led by Brinda Karat, was organised by the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), the women’s frontal organisation of the CPM, and attended by over 400 activists after holding a rally at the HUDA complex here.

When several protesters tried to force their way past the police cordon, a clash ensued in which five protesters were injured. However, Vivek Sharma, SSP, stated the march was illegal and that protesters had attacked the police in which several policemen, including women, suffered injuries.

The case was registered under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332, 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation), 427 (mischief), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly) against protestors on the complaint of women cell in charge of Rohtak police Sunita Devi. The police FIR named 18 persons, including Karat, AIDWA activists Jagmati Sangwan, Iti Chaudhary, Dimpal, Shahnawaj and Prem Rani. No arrest has been made so far in this connection.

Gurgaon, October 16
“Why did you let your child play alone?” The question put forth by the Gurgaon police has left all, including the family of the six-year-old rape victim, shocked. The girl, who doctors say may never be able to conceive or enjoy womanhood, got a double whammy in the form of apathy from the local administration and the police.

Ready to be packed off to Bihar to escape ‘shame’, the girl is an example of the insensitivity of the authorities who have 'settled' the matter by paying her father the price of her childhood and modesty.

“First her mother died and she had to live with stepmother and now this. The doctor told us that due to some internal injuries she may never be able to conceive or even experience puberty. What has happened to her cannot be undone. The administration has given Rs 1 lakh and we wish to do the best possible now. We will send her to our relatives in Bihar so that she can forget all this and then use this money to marry her at the right age to a man with children. There is no meaning of any case or complaint now,” said one of the family elders who came to see the girl at her Laxman Vihar residence today.

The girl was allegedly raped by three youths of the same locality when she was playing with other children in a street.

“Initially the police did not take us seriously. Only when the local councillor and women activists came with us, did they take both the accused boys, whom we had caught, in custody. They scolded us for letting the child play alone in the street. I don’t think anything will happen because a policeman told me that this was so because my girl is not telling anything clearly. I have tried, but she doesn’t speak about it and only cries,” said her father, a rickshaw puller.

Nobody except the investigating officers have cared to visit the victim.

The administration ‘sympathised’ with the girl by handing over a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to her father and promising Rs 1,000 per month for her.

It is a different tale that the cheque has so after not been encashed as her father has no bank account and has been running from one bank to another to open one.

“The considerate administration gave some money to the father to shut him up rather than depositing it in the girl’s name. So far, neither the police commissioner nor the deputy commissioner have cared to come and see the girl,” said Usha Siroha, a women’s rights activist.

Panipat, October 16
Life would never be the same for 12-year-old Anamika (name changed), who is yet to overcome the trauma of being raped by her own relative. A relative took her to Himachal on October 3 and perpetrated the crime. She has made herself a recluse to escape the probing eyes of classmates, friends, relatives, neighbours and even policemen.

The girl breaks down when anyone tries to console her or wipe her tears.

This VIII standard student has stopped going to school and stays at home most of the time, almost like a statue, laments her father, Raj Kumar.

Raj Kumar, a migrant labourer who came here from UP 15 years ago and managed to build a house in New Desh Raj Nagar here, says : We are very upset but are trying hard to help her overcome the tragic incident. We are thinking of changing her school as going to the same school would amount to making her an object of ridicule”.

The accused Narender (son of his brother-in-law) used to come and stay with us for 10-15 days as they were a close- knit family. “My unsuspecting minor daughter fell victim to his lust. How would I now get her married,” says the distraught father.

Initially, the police also delayed the registration of a rape case against the accused, and booked him under sections 363 and 366, IPC, for compelling her to marry against her will.

Even after serious allegations of minor having been abducted and kept in custody for a day by her relative, the police took two days to get the girl medically examined. However, buckling under public pressure, the police finally added section 376, IPC (rape), to the FIR after the victim’s medical examination.

While one of the accused working in a medicine factory at whose place the accused took the minor in Himachal has been arrested, the main accused Narender (25), uncle of the victim, is at large.

Sachkhera (Jind), October 16
The family of the Dalit victim of rape who had immolated herself is feeling isolated as not many villagers are offering condolences to them even as they prepare to organise her tehrwin on Friday.

The family is prepared to carry on the fight to get the accused nailed in court even though its financial condition is weak.

“We will not compromise on the issue under any condition. The five persons arrested by the police are guilty of not only the rape of a 16-year-old girl but also responsible for her untimely death that brought a shame to the family and the society as a whole,” say the girl’s parents.

They said UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s visit had given them confidence and it had sent a message to the official machinery that this crime could not be overlooked even if the victim was poor.

But the family of eight, including four daughters, is not happy with the distancing of the other villagers. “Though we have been provided with a round-the-clock police cover, sometimes we feel isolated as not many people of the village have cared to pay their condolences. The sarpanch, a woman, has also not visited us after Sonia Gandhi’s visit on October 9,” claimed a relative of the family. The three daughters who are students of the local government school say that the presence of the father of one of the accused, Manoj, a class IV employee in the school, was a cause of uneasiness. The family wants that he be transferred to some other place.

“My youngest daughter, a student of class IV, told me about her fear recently,” claimed the mother of the victim.

Chandigarh, October 16
The Sacha Khera victim’s family is readying for yet another VIP visit — this time by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members tomorrow.

For the members of the Parliamentary Committee of Welfare of SCs and BCs, it will just be a day out in Haryana to churn out a report which will soon be forgotten. For the family, it means borrowing chairs, durries and charpoys to accommodate the MPs on a flying visit who will come listen and go back.

Similarly, the team which plans to meet the victims of Pillukhera in Jind and Kalayat in Kaithal are busy preparing for the visit.

Their first stop will be Rohtak before proceeding to Jind. After meeting the Pillukheda victim in Jind, the delegation will proceed to Sacha Khera. They will then go to Kaithal and then to Kalayat.

Fatehabad: A BJP panel comprising Dushyant Gautam, president of the Anusuchit Jati Morcha, and Renu Sharma, state president of the Mahila Morcha of the party, on Tuesday visited Khai village to meet the family of the 13-year-old victim, who was raped by a sexagenarian. — TNS

Sonepat, October 16
The family members of the 19-year-old married Dalit girl, who was allegedly kidnapped and gang raped by four youths for four days, appeared to have left everything to the court and the community to decide.

None of the members of the victim’s family were willing to talk to anyone, including mediapersons, on the issue.

Residents of Banwasa village felt that if the matter was discussed with the media, it would not only disturb the family but again become a topic of discussion.

Even the family members refused to talk to a delegation of women organisations that had gone to the village to meet the victim and her family members five days ago.

Satyavan, husband of sarpanch Rani, who also happened to be of the same caste, contradicted the rumours that the community was taking some initiative to reach a compromise in the case.

“At present, I can say that there has neither been any such community meeting and nor there is any plan for future”, he said.

He said so far there had been no communication with the family of the victim’s in-laws and the girl was staying with her parents in the village.

Some elderly persons said the society and the community could play an important role in socially rehabilitating the victim and her family.

Baroda Police Station SHO Kuldeep Deswal said the investigation had been completed and the ‘challan’ would be submitted in the court within three days.

The victim was kidnapped from Gohana in a car by Sunil and Sanjay of Khandrai and Anil of Ahmedpur Majra on September 28. Later, they were joined by Sarvan of Hadtari in Jind district, and she was released on October 2.

Fatehabad, October 16
The police today arrested a woman, who had lodged a complaint of rape against her husband, brother-in-law and mother-in-law, for abetment to suicide at Bhuna in Fatehabad.

The woman’s husband, Anil, brother-in-law Sunil and mother-in-law had jumped into a canal after she approached the police with her kin demanding the registration of a case against them. While Anil and Sunil drowned, their mother was saved.

The woman had alleged in her complaint that her brother-in-law, Sunil, had an evil eye on her. On the fateful night, her mother-in-law asked her to deliver a glass of water to Sunil when he was consuming liquor.

The woman alleged that Sunil overpowered and raped her while Anil and his mother, who came to the room listening to her screams, gagged and threatened to eliminated her if she narrated the incident to someone.

When the woman and her kin pressed for an FIR, the two brothers along with their mother left home on a motorcycle and jumped into a canal.

Residents of Gorakhpur, the village Anil and Sunil hailed from, had held a demonstration, demanding action against the woman and her kin.

The police today booked the alleged rape victim and her three brothers, Sanjay, Vijay and Omkar for abetment to suicide and arrested her.

Chandigarh, October 16
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today ruled that the lack of amenities cannot be a ground for not paying instalments; and Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) was justified in charging 18 per cent per annum interest for non-payment.

The ruling came on a bunch of petitions by HUDA and other appellants against Vinod Mittal and other respondents.

The dispute was regarding the levy of interest, compound interest and the penalty for not paying instalments.

The allottees had challenged the claim of interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum compounded half yearly on the grounds that it was against the terms and conditions of the allotment letter, was without authority of law and necessary amenities had not been provided by HUDA .

A Division Bench of Hemant Gupta and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina asserted: “The lack of amenities cannot be made a ground for not paying instalments in terms of the letter of allotment.

“The interest on instalments of the deferred payment of the sale consideration alone is chargeable from the date of offer of possession. Since the possession was offered and construction raised, the allottees are liable to pay interest on the instalments from the date of offer of possession itself.

“However, the rate of interest at the rate of 18 per cent cannot be compounded as there is no provision either in the Act or in the regulations or in the circular for compounding such interest”.

The Bench added that HUDA was competent to charge interest as it had the authority to levy penalty, apart from the power of resumption of land or building.

Sirsa, October 16
Owing to inordinate delays by the insurance company in payment of bills of doctors, some doctors of the selected hospitals have refused providing treatments to poor families. These doctors are selected under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY), a scheme to provide free insurance cover to BPL families.

Nearly 25 hospitals of Sirsa are empanelled for providing treatments to poor families under the scheme and their bills are paid by the National Insurance Company (NIC) through a third party administration (TPA)-Dedicated Health Services (DHS).

The DHS was appointed a TPA for 2011-12 while the NIC is yet to announce the name of the TPA for the current year. But for the past several years, the company has been changing its TPA almost every year - MD India was appointed as a TPA in 2010-11.

Doctors allege that they have not been receiving regular payment of their bills for the past several months.

"Some of my bills of November 2011 are still pending with the company. Even the correspondence made with the firm has failed to evoke any response," said Dr Satish Bansal, a pediatrician running Bikaner Hospital in Sirsa.

Similarly, Dr Bansal said, he had been providing treatment, including consultation, admission, medication and surgeries, to various patients. The insurance firm had not cleared his dues of several lakhs in this regard for the past several months.

He said most of the doctors had not received any payments from the company in the past six months, while some of them had received only partial payments through cheques.

Under the RSBY, the central as well as the state government make payment of the premiums as per their share to the insurance company, which in turn is liable for providing a free treatment to BPL families up to a limit of Rs 30,000 per annum. The insurance cover is valid for only those ailments, where indoor admission or surgery is required.

Ambala, October 16
More than 7,200 clerks working in various government departments are all set to launch a statewide protest against the disparity in their pay compared with their counterparts in Punjab and Himachal .

The clerks, under the banner of the Haryana Field Clerks Association, also plan to hold a rally in Rohtak, the hometown of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to mount pressure on the government to pay heed to their demands.

Gurmail Singh, president of the association, said after the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission in the state, clerks in all government departments had been kept in the pay band I, while their counterparts in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh in pay band II.

This, he said, created a huge difference in the salaries being drawn by the clerks in Haryana and the neighbouring states. He said that the even as a delegation of the association which met the Chief Minister, apprising him of the financial difficulties being faced by the clerks due to the rising inflation which had made it almost impossible for them to make both the ends meet, no measure has so far been taken to redress their grievance.

He said the association had also met the finance minister from time to time, but all that they got was an assurance that the matter would be taken into consideration.

The president the clerks in the state were kept in the pay band of Rs 19,00 to Rs 46,00 while in the neighbouring states the clerks were getting a better pay.

He said the association would hold a protest rally at Rohtak on November 1 to highlight their demands and mount pressure on the government to remove the disparity in the salaries being drawn by them and their counterparts in the neighbouring states.

Sirsa, October 16
Due to the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities to address the problem of stray dogs in the district, a 3-year-old girl was mauled in a canine attack at Dharampura village near Kalanwali in Sirsa last evening.

The victim, Harmanpreet (3), was lying on a cot under a tree in the fields while her landless labourer parents Jagsir Singh and Manjit Kaur were picking cotton when a pack of stray dogs attacked her and badly mauled her body.

The child’s parents and other labourers working on the fields rushed towards her after hearing her cries and rescued her from the dogs.

However, the stray dogs had badly battered the head and face of the child by that time.

She was rushed to the government hospital at Odhan, where the doctors provided 20 stitches to manage the wound.

Ram Singh Chahal, sarpanch of the village, alleged that the authorities had turned a blind eye to the problem despite several complaints in this regard. Several incidents of attack by stray dogs have been reported in the district in the past six months.

A 10-year-old girl was mauled to death by stray dogs at Bahiya village in Sirsa on April 26 and more than a dozen people had been injured in canine attacks in various part of the district, forcing the authorities to announce a scheme to catch stray dogs with the held of wildlife officials at that time.

However, the scheme proved a non-starter and the officials of the wildlife department have failed to nab a single dog.

Hisar, October 16
INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh Chautala today lambasted former Haryana minister Sampat Singh for his comments that the people of Haryana were mentally and intellectually not sufficiently developed and attributing this to the recent cases of rape in the state.

Talking to newspersons at Hansi, about 25 km from here, he said Sampat Singh’s unwarranted comments to justify rapes were actually an insult to Haryana’s 2.5 crore population.

He said all Congress leaders were trying to cover up the lapses of their government by making such outrageous comments on the issue of rape.

Chautala said Haryanavis had made their mark in every field. It had produced international-level sportspersons. Thousands of people from Haryana were serving the Army in senior positions. There was no field where people of Haryana had not left their indelible mark.

He asked Sampat Singh to apologise to the people for his remarks and advised him to refrain from making such assertions just to please his party bosses.

He said even as Congress MP and Chairman of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes Commission PL Poonia was terming Haryana as the rape state of India, Haryana Congressmen were asserting that the average number of rapes in Haryana were much lower compared to other states.

The INLD leader said Haryana had become a safe haven for criminals and the law and order situation had been deteriorating day by day. Holding the Chief Minister squarely responsible for the situation, he said Hooda should quit in public interest.

Sirsa, October 16
Owing to red tape , a prisoner lodged in Sirsa’s District Jail could not attend his father’s last rites today.

Even intervention by Harish Gupta, Chief Judicial Magistrate, could not help the prisoner get emergency parole in time, which he had applied immediately after receiving the news of his father’s demise.

Prisoner Kartara Ram met the judge when the latter went to the prison on a routine visit.

His village Irnianwali being hardly 20 km from Sirsa, Kartara Ram thought it would not be difficult for him to attend his father’s last rites if he got parole orders in time.

Jail superintendent AR Bishnoi said the authorities had sent his case to Chopta police station for confirmation of the prisoner’s father Baldev Dass’ death.

However, Kartara Ram’s wish remained unfulfilled as the jail authorities failed to grant him emergency parole by the evening.

“I received the papers at 1.30 pm and submitted my report immediately,” said the Chopta SHO.

“By the time I received the SHO’s report, it was too late and the prisoner could not have reached home before his father’s cremation. Hence, I decided to issue parole orders tomorrow,” maintained Bishnoi.

Sirsa, October 16
In his efforts to project the HJC as the front-runner in the race for power, Kuldeep Bishnoi has decided to take on INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala on his home turf.

Bishnoi said today the party would hold his party’s fifth installation day rally in INLD stronghold Sirsa on December 2 .

Bishnoi said BJP president Nitin Gadkari and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had confirmed their participation in the HJC’s “Jan Samarthan Maha Rally”.

‘Through this rally, the HJC-BJP alliance will dare the INLD in its home turf,” the HJC supremo said.

He added the presence of Gadkari and Swaraj would also put to rest the “mischievous rumours” being spread by vested interests that the alliance between the BJP and his party would not last till the next elections.

Coming down on the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana, Bishnoi alleged that the Congress government has been persecuting honest and upright officers, who exposed its “misdeeds”. Bishnoi demanded a high-level inquiry into the reports of threat to life of IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who had exposed “irregularities in the DLF-Vadra land deals.

Saluting Khemka for his courage to call a spade a spade, Bishnoi alleged the Hooda government had been intimidating whistleblowers.

Hisar, October 16
Two duststorms — one in the day and another in late evening — followed by sharp showers here last night resulted in a sharp fall in temperature. The minimum temperature recorded this morning was 17.3 degrees.

The Met office said 4 mm rain was recorded in the area last night which caused the fall in the minimum temperature.

Western disturbances caused by increased daytime temperatures during the past few days caused a low pressure area over parts of Haryana, Punjab and Pakistan.

The untimely rain is likely to affect cotton crop adversely, scientists of Haryana Agricultural University said.

Health officials have warned against incidence of dengue as the increased humidity helped the spread of virus.