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Harassed, rape victim’s family leaves village
13 held for gang rape, jailed
Gang rape accused of a teenaged girl being produced in a local court in Karnal on Monday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar
Dalit girl drugged, raped by upper caste youth
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Rape allegation: Cops agree to victim’s medical exam
6 Gurgaon cops booked for custodial death
No headway in case of gang rape, murder
Good returns cheer basmati growers
Sirsa’s ‘Acrobatic Boys’ shine on TV
Acrobatic Boys wait for comments from the judges after their performance in India Got Talent on Colours TV. Tribune photograph
News Analysis
Khemka not keen on security cover; meets Chief Secy
Six criminals held; 20 revolvers seized
Six criminal in police custody at Rohtak. Tribune photo: Manoj Dhaka
Schoolgirl dies in mishap
CM’s nod to panel for SCs
2 youths, woman arrested
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Harassed, rape victim’s family leaves village
Fatehabad, November 5 The family is putting up with a relative and the victim’s father plans to restart his three daughters’ education in this village now. “The ignominy of my daughter wronged against by a villager and then the rubbing of salt to my injuries by the local authorities has left me a broken man,” lamented the victim’s father. “First the school removed my three daughters from school by putting pressure on us and then the authorities took my daughters to Bora village for their admission though that they are not safe in that village,” he alleged. “I told them that close kin of the accused, who have been threatening me, live in Bora village and my daughters will not be safe there. But they did not pay heed to my protests,” he alleged. The victim’s father alleged that the police had not acted on his complaint against the sarpanch and six teachers, who pressured him to remove his daughters and patch up the matter with the accused. The victim as well as her two other sisters were allegedly shown the door by a government school at Khai on October 6. District Education Officer Manju Gupta had exonerated the school staff and said the victim’s father himself removed his daughters from the school. Later, a probe conducted on the orders of Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Gupta of the District Legal Services Authority reiterated the victim’s father’s
allegations. Subdivisional magistrate Harish Bhatia, who also conducted a probe, has refused to divulge the details and efforts to contact him for his reaction on the latest development proved futile. The victim’s father had gone in depression after the incident and has been shifted to Ratia hospital at least thrice in the past one month. In hospital, the victim’s father had alleged that he was under pressure to leave the
village. Sushila Sharma, chairperson of the Haryana State Commission for Women, had found the victim’s house locked when she visited Ratia on November 3. |
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13 held for gang rape, jailed
Karnal, November 5 The main accused, Ravi, and six others were arrested last evening, while six more accused, including a woman accomplice, were arrested today. Ravi was sent to judicial remand yesterday while the 12 others were produced in the local court today and sent to jail. All 12 accused were produced in the local court and sent to judicial custody. The 16-year-old victim told the Railway Police (GRP) that her friend took her along on the promise of marrying her and raped her. Later, his 10 or 11 friends also raped her and left her near Traveri railway station. After the medical examination report confirmed rape, the GRP booked all the accused, including a woman Usha, identified by the victim. All the accused hail from the Traveri area and are known to Ravi. They have been arrested and remanded to judicial custody, station house officer (GRP) Lalit Kumar said. |
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Dalit girl drugged, raped by upper caste youth
Sirsa, November 5 The police said the accused consumed something after the incident and was convalescing in a local hospital. The 16-year-old victim’s father works as a labourer on the field of Vikram’s family at the nearby Jodhpuria village. The complaint lodged with the police alleges that Vikram enticed the girl last night and took her to the nearby fields, where he raped her after administering her some intoxicant. The girl’s father was away to irrigate the fields at the time of the incident. The victim said she regained consciousness in the wee hours and found the boy lying nearby in an unconscious condition. She called her father from the boy’s mobile phone. Her father shifted her to the hospital and informed the police. Later, the boy’s kin too shifted him to a private hospital in Sirsa. Bhartendra, station house officer of the Odhan police station, said the youth was not in a position to give his statement yet. He said the police had registered a case of rape on the complaint of the victim. |
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Rape allegation: Cops agree to victim’s medical exam
Sirsa, November 5 Superintendent of police Rajshree Singh said the police had registered a case under Sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a women) and 452 (criminal trespass) after recording the statement of the girl’s mother in the presence of advocate Sunita
Verma, another counsel on the panel of the DLSA. A 45-year-old man, Poonam
Chand, is alleged to have gone to the house of the victim, a Dalit, when her mother was away for some work and committed the crime. “The girl has not eaten anything and not taken even a drop of water since the incident. She does not utter a word and is lying on the bed since November 1, when the incident occurred,” said Sanju
Bala. “The girl’s parents were sitting outside my house when I returned from the Congress rally in Delhi last night at about 11.30 and narrated the incident to me,” the Congress leader alleged. With tears in her eyes, the girl’s mother alleged that the police continued to pressure her rather than register an FIR, when she approached the police a day after the crime after calling her husband who was out of town. The police finally registered the FIR yesterday, but that of molestation only. “It is only after my intervention today that the police finally agreed to book the accused under the provisions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” Sanju Bala said. The superintendent of police said she had deputed an officer of the deputy superintendent of police rank for the medical examination of the victim. |
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6 Gurgaon cops booked for custodial death
Gurgaon, November 5 Bhushan was picked up from his house after his wife Neetu Singh consumed poison after being allegedly harassed by him. Neetu had filed a complaint against her husband accusing him of domestic violence. The police had claimed that he died of heart attack even as the family insisted that he died due to police brutalities. “Neetu Singh was admitted to Columbia Asia Hospital, Palam Vihar, on Saturday after she consumed poison. She claimed that her husband, who was a taxi driver at the Delhi airport, use to torture her. It was then we picked him,” said an official. Neighbours reveal that the family was informed about Bhushan’s death around 6.45 pm, saying that he had had a heart attack. “Bhushan never had any heart ailment but the police said he suffered a heart attack. The family refused to believe them even as the police insisted that they sign a form. It was only late in night that they agreed to postmortem,” said a neighbour. The police will be able to establish anything only after viscera analysis. The accused officials insisted that they were being framed as Bhushan had complained of chest pain and was immediately taken to a private hospital where he was declared dead. Dr Raj Kumar Verka, vice-chairman of the National SC Commission, visted the family of the accused. |
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No headway in case of gang rape, murder Tribune News Service
Sirsa, November 5 The 16-year-old girl’s body was recovered near a roadside eatery on the Nathusari Chopta-Kagdana road on the night of December 10, 2011. The Tribune had mentioned in a news item published on December 12 that the girl’s death was shrouded in mystery. The girl belonged to the Muslim community and hailed from Chhoti Gandhi village of Rajasthan, about 9 km from the place of occurrence. The girl had gone to a wedding near her house in the night but did not return home. The next day, the Sirsa police had called her parents to say that her body had been found from the roadside. However, in blatant display of indifference, the police had filed this case as accidental death and registered a case under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC against unknown persons. Now, after 11 months of the incident, though the police has come to believe that it was not a case of a road accident but the girl was gangraped and then murdered, no one has been arrested yet in this case. Her kin have alleged that the police is deliberately not taking the case seriously due to some “unknown” reasons. After the police had filed this case as ‘hit-and-run’ type of accident, the report of the victim’s viscera received from the Forensic Science Laboratory had made it clear that she was raped before her death. Tests on the semen swabs taken from her body revealed that it was a case of gang rape. The panel of doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination also said that it was case of gang rape. But the police is yet to take any step further in this direction.
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Good returns cheer basmati growers
Chandigarh, November 5 As the traditional basmati variety of CSR 30 along with PUSA 1121 starts coming in various mandis of the state, farmers are beaming as they are fetching Rs 2900-Rs 3000 per quintal for CSR 30 and Rs 2500 per quintal for PUSA 1121. Last year,the prices had crashed to Rs 1400- Rs 1670 per quintal for the traditional basmati varieties and to Rs 1500- Rs 1700 per quintal for PUSA 1121 with supply outstripping demand. In 2010, farmers had fetched Rs 2750 per quintal for CSR 30 and Rs 2400 per quintal for PUSA 1121.
Raj Kumar, a basmati grower in Agondh village near Karnal, told The Tribune that this year many farmers had shifted from basmati to non-basmati varieties. “After the harvest of distress last year, when farmers were forced to take loans after the prices crashed, many basmati growers shifted to sowing non- basmati varieties, especially those procured by the government agencies. Because the production is down this year, the prices are higher,” he said, adding that he had grown traditional varieties as well as PUSA 1121 on 10 acres of land this year.
Harpreet Singh, another basmati grower from village Beed Naraina near
Taraori, said most of the farmers in the area, regarded as the basmati belt, had gone in for non-basmati varieties that are procured by government agencies. “However, in spite of a fall in area under production, the crop yield is not too bad. While PUSA 1121 is giving a yield of 15-18 quintals per acre, the traditional basmati is giving a yield of 12-14 quintals per acre. Last year, the crop yields too were higher (15 quintal per acre for CSR 30 and 18- 20 quintals per acre for PUSA 1121),” he said. BS
Duggal, assistant director, Agriculture, said the area under paddy had dropped from 12.45 lakh hectares last year to 11 lakh hectares this year. “Area under basmati has dropped from eight lakh hectares to 7.50 lakh hectares this year, which could lead to a fall in production, thus affecting the crop prices positively. But almost 65 per cent of the total area under paddy continues to be under basmati varieties,” he said. |
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Sirsa’s ‘Acrobatic Boys’ shine on TV
Sirsa, November 5 The team, ‘Acrobatic Boys’, from Sirsa has crossed all hurdles and is now competing for its inclusion in the grand finale of ‘India’s Got Talent’, a reality show aired on Colours TV channel these days. The ‘Acrobatic Boys’ left people as well as the show judges Kirron Kher, Karan Johar and Farah Khan completely breathless by their performance on Sunday. Presently, among the top 12 teams of the show, the Sirsa boys hope to cross the final hurdle to reach the grand finale by this weekend. All members of ‘Acrobatic Boys’ come from very poor backgrounds and they have prepared for the show without any resources at their disposal. Amit, the 20-year youth, who is leading the team is a final year student of BA from a local college. His father ekes a living by painting tractor-trailers and other vehicles. His younger brother Sumit, a BA(II) student, is also in the team. Gobinda (20), a student of Chaudhary Devi Lal University, too is from a poor family. His father too is a painter, while 17-year-old Akash’s father ekes a living by whitewashing houses. Vipin, a 17-year-old member of the ‘Acrobatic Boys’, is the son of a labourer who works in a cotton factory, while Omvir’s father runs a small grocery shop. Sahil (15) is a student of Class X and his father too is a labourer in a factory. Sanjay (13), the youngest member of the team, has seen the hardest of times as his electrician father has not been able to work for the past many years due to illness, while his mother works in a store. “We owe our success to the hard work of our coach Radhey Sham Sharma. He motivated us to work hard and exhibit our talent in the reality show,” said Amit, when contacted on his mobile. For their entry to the grand finale, the ‘Acrobatic Boys’ depend a lot on the votes from the public.
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Delhi rally boosts Hooda’s image
Naveen S Garewal Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 5 In a well-planned manner Hooda ensured that the overwhelming majority of participants in the rally were from Haryana. To make this known, the Haryana Congress imposed a dress code of pink turbans on the Haryanavis. And the single most dominant colour in the rally was pink. Further, to further make his point, Hooda took the opportunity in his speech by asking those from Haryana to rise. Almost everybody got up to a thunderous applause. As far as most central Congress leaders are concerned, the rally was a success. But from the Haryana Congress point of view, the rally has clearly brought out two issues. One, Hooda has managed to silence his detractors by his show of strength and thereby dispelling any wavering thoughts in the party leadership on the issue of Hooda’s command in the state. Second, the Chief Minister managed to score brownie points by proving to be the party’s Man Friday in the region. Even though many Haryana leaders were seen floating around the podium, other than Haryana Congress President Phool Chand Mullana (who got a few seconds to invite Hooda to speak), it was Hooda who roared. In his speech Hooda not only managed to highlight the achievements of his government but also used the opportunity to suggest that Rahul Gandhi should be given a better role in national politics and Congress affairs. Hooda’s utterances did not appear like sycophancy. He sounded like a truly concerned soldier of the party. But it has somehow changed his status in the eyes of people from being one of the Congress Chief Ministers to a general close to the Gandhi clan. He has reached this point by almost silencing his detractors within the party like Birender Singh, Ajay Yadav, Inderjit Singh, Selja, among others. Two persons who for days meticulously planned the Haryana Congress role in the rally remained in the background. These were Chief Minister’s son Deepinder Hooda and close friend Venod Sharma, MLA from Ambala City. Deepinder went around for days asking Congress leaders in every district to make the rally a success while Venod provided the logistic support to ensure that the rally ground swelled beyond expectations. The Congress rally has singled out Hooda as the tallest leader of the party in the state and at the same time indicated that he might be tipped for a bigger role at the Centre.
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Khemka not keen on security cover; meets Chief Secy
Chandigarh, November 5 This was his first meeting with the Chief Secretary after Khemka received a threatening phone call last week. Chaudhery had called Khemka for the meeting. Neither Khemka nor Chaudhery was willing to disclose as to what transpired at the meeting. Khemka said what transpired between him and the Chief Secretary was a privileged communication and hence he would not disclose it to the media. On the other hand, Chaudhery said they discussed various issues of administration. He refused to elaborate. When asked if he was offered security cover by the Chief Secretary, Khemka said security was a state of mind and he was not interested in getting security cover. He said the media people did much more hazardous work than him and still they did not enjoy any security cover. When asked about the man arrested by the Panchkula police for allegedly threatening him, Khemka said there should be a fair and quick investigation into the threat received by him. The Panchkula police had said that the accused, Umed Singh, was a former employee of the Haryana Housing Board, who was dismissed from service by Khemka when he was the Chief Administrator of the board in 2006. |
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Six criminals held; 20 revolvers seized
Rohtak, November 5 The firearms seized from the six accused travelling in a Bolero jeep included 13 pistols (9 MM), five pistols (32 bore)and two countrymade revolvers, besides 65 cartridges. The gang had procured these firearms from Bihar for Rs 4 lakh recently. While five other members of the gang were already behind bars, another was at large. The police signalled a vehicle coming from Jind to stop at a police post near Lakhanmajra village but it was driven away speedily by its driver. When challenged the accused opened fire. When the police returned the fire, the occupants of the vehicle surrendered. The arrested gangsters have been identified as Shashipal, Kulbir, Kuldeep, Sheelu, Manoj and Rambir , all in their mid twenties and hailing from Jind and Hisar districts. The police revealed that the gang had got a contract from a resident of Budhakhera village of Jind to kill a person for Rs 3.50 lakh. Shashipal was facing 11 criminal cases in Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan. While Kulbir was a graduate, all other accused are school dropouts. |
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Schoolgirl dies in mishap
Sonepat, November 5 The students were going to Panipat to participate in a sports event. Sources said Bhawana reportedly succumbed to her injuries while being taken to Gurgaon. Bhawana was vomiting during the journey and her neck was reportedly out of the bus’ window at the time of the accident. |
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Ajay Yadav meets Sonia in Delhi
Chandigarh, November 5 He is also believed to have briefed her about the polling trends in the Assembly segments of the Shimla Lok Sabha constituency as the party observer. Yadav also congratulated Sonia on the success of the party’s rally held in Delhi yesterday. |
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Making a further headway in the case in which a 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a dozen persons and dumped near Traveri railway station near here, the railway police today arrested six more accused, bringing the total number to 13.
Sirsa, November 5
Rohtak, November 5
