Gurgaon, December 15
Sanjida had excitedly looked forward to getting clicked in front of the ‘Lal Qila’ when she set out on a Delhi tour from Assam with her aunt in 2008, but fate had something else in store for her.

Then 16, she was sold to a man in Delhi who further sold her to man from Mewat and she became a molki (the bought one).

Unaware of the customs of this Meo heartland, the young Assamese lass could never come to terms with the physical and sexual assault even as she bore two children.

As fate would have it, volunteers of ‘Empower People’, an NGO, found her and got her settled in Firozepur.

“Out to see Delhi, I ended up experiencing the worst form of crime against women. I lost my name and identity and was fed just to obey my masters. But in my heart, I always wanted to be Sanjida rather than a molki, an abuse which was my name for years,” she says.

This is the story of many girls who live in one of the many communes of the NGO.

Hamidan was abducted from Asam in 1995 at the age of 12. She was brought to Mewat and was sold 10 times as molki, her last buyer being a 68 year-old man with eight children. She had four of her own. She was rescued by the NGO after a local panchayat found her lying in a critical condition.

She had lost her voice but her eyes told the horror she had suffered.

Tabassum of Kolkata was sold to a man in Nuh of Mewat in 2008. Brutality was in store for her. Running on the street and wailing with pain, she lost her first child as soon as it was delivered as it died after falling on the street. She soon lost her memory and the birth of her second child was meaningless to her.

Even as hundreds of girls continue to be sold in the Mewat region and converted to molkis, the custom remains unchallenged.

Unfortunately, this worst form of trafficking has failed to be designated as crime. The local panchayats blame the practice on a skewed sex ratio, limited land resources and the aim of getting easy breeders who, at times, serve all men in the family.

The girls are generally first bought between the ages of 12 and 21 years, ‘the prime of reproductive age’, and are resold till age of 32. A majority of them are Muslims are from Bengal, closely followed by Bihar and Assam.

“A molki is generally a discarded member of the family who though ‘married’ to her buyer has no legal rights as she is never considered a wife. While this marriage has no legitimacy, it is a great aid for traffickers who avoid being accused of prostitution or trafficking. Mewat has turned into a transit point for the largest market for girls,” says Shafiq R Khan, director, Empower People, an NGO fighting against bride-trafficking in the state.

While local panchayats and even the police allegedly turn a blind eye to this custom, communes like ‘Paro’ run by Empower People, are full of such sad tales.

“I am from Bengal and never could guess that my aunt would sell me off. I was a teen then. I was sold four times to different men and every purchase brought new horrors in my life. I was brought to the NGO and offered marriage with Akhtar. I took the chance and it worked. It is tough to be a woman in the world but for molki there is no world,” says 29-year-old Mariyam as she cuddles the youngest of her three children.

While the picture is grim, a silver lining is the fact that several men, primarily widowers, opt to marry these rescued molkis and even support their children.

“The police has always taken action when a complaint or tip-off is received in the matter,” said Sukhbir Singh, superintendent of police, Mewat, on the issue.

Fatehabad, December 15
After the state government’s recommendation of quota for Jats and some other castes, members of some other castes have started raising their voice in protest against the state government’s quota policy.

Representatives of the Punjabi, Agarwal and Brahmin communities today came on one platform at Tohana in the district and held a peace march against the state government’s quota policy.

“The state government is playing vote bank politics and tried to appease certain castes in its attempt to collect their votes,” alleged speakers. “The basis of reservation should be the economic condition of a person and caste should not be the criteria for this purpose,” they maintained.

The demonstrators, including Subhash Garg, president of the Tohana Bar Association, Roshan Lal Goyal, Sanjay Rewari, Ish Sarna, Navneet Sharma, Sanjay Bajaj, Nand Kishore Chawla and several others, demanded a complete revamp of the reservation policy by making economic status of a person for quota in jobs.

The peace march started from railway station and passed through Anaj Mandi, Mirch Mandi, Railway road, Shashtri Bazar, Ghanta Ghar Chowk, Main Bazar, Maharaja Agarsen Chowk and Court road to reach the SDM court where the demonstrators submitted a memorandum to the authorities.

The leaders said members of the Punjabi, Agarwal and Brahmin communities would be mobilised soon and a Mahasammellan of the three communities would be organised at Tohana soon.

Chandigarh, December 15
Accusing the Congress government of misleading the Jat community with the Haryana Backward Classes Commission (HBCC) report on 10 per cent quota for Jats and four other castes, a Jat faction today sought clarification from Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on the implementation of the recommendations.

The recommendations, which have been accepted by the state government, would go against the Supreme Court judgment in the Indira Sawhney case of 1992. “The SC has held that the reservation in government jobs cannot exceed 50 per cent,” said HPS Parihar, national president, Sanyukt Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti.

“The Chief Minister must clarify how the state government will implement 10 per cent reservation for five castes as with the implementation of this special quota, the reservation percentage in the state will exceed 50 per cent,” Parihar asserted.

The Haryana Government had recently accepted the report of the HBCC, headed by Justice KC Gupta, which recommended the inclusion of five castes, including Jat, Jat Sikh, Bishnoi, Ror and Tyagi, in special backward classes giving them 10 per cent reservation, in addition to 27 per cent reservation already being given to the Backward Classes.

Haryana already provides 20 per cent quota in jobs to the Scheduled Castes, 27 per cent to backward classes and now with 10 per cent additional quota, the reservation percentage will reach 57 per cent.

Parihar also rejected the commission's contention in its report that quota in jobs could be given to those people who lived in "far flung and remote areas" and were not "in mainstream of national life" while citing the SC's ruling in same Indira Sahwney case.

"These conditions cannot be implemented in Haryana for giving special quota to these castes, including Jats,” Parihar said while questioning the intentions of the Haryana Government in giving quota in jobs to Jats.

He said the agitation for quota for the Jat community within 27 per cent reservation for the OBC category would start tomorrow all over the state. The Jats would march towards Delhi on December 23 to press for their demand, he added.

Meanwhile, on the back foot against the backdrop of the rejection of the HBCC report by the powerful Haryana Sarv Jat Khap, the state government fielded Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) spokesman Ran Singh Mann to take on its opponents.

“The Congress is clear about its stand on the issue of reservation whereas the opposition parties are issuing misleading statements on the issue,” Mann said.

“With the implementation of the HBCC’s recommendations, neither any caste nor any section of the society will be adversely affected. In fact, it will pave the way for reservation for economically weaker sections of the progressive castes,” Mann said.

And clearly rattled by khaps’ objections to the commission’s recommendations, Balwant Bura, former president, Haryana Government Teachers’ Association, came to the rescue of the state government and urged the presidents of khaps to stay away from politics so as to maintain the dignity of khaps. “A majority of the Jat intellectuals are of the view that to run the reservation agitation, there should be a common committee and the khaps should not have anything to do with this agitation,” he added.

Sirsa, December 15
Over 150 villagers approached Sirsa Deputy Commissioner J. Ganesan when he went to Madhosinghana village last evening to spend a night as per the Haryana government’s directions.

Ganesan issued directions for the construction of three pucca streets in the village, a preparation of estimates for the repairs of the Primary Health Centre building, plantation of trees around the village pond under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MNREGS), cleaning of the pond and some other community works.

The Deputy Commissioner went around the village and took stock of the condition of streets and drains.

Urging the village panchayat to undertake more works under the MNREGS, Ganesan said the authorities would set up Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Information Centre at a cost of Rs 10 lakh in villages where the panchayat completed works worth Rs 20 lakh under this scheme.

A number of villagers approached the DC with demands.

Kesar Chand complained that the drainage system in the village was poor and that led to accumulation of filthy water in the streets.

The villagers also demanded an upgrade of Primary School and the setting up of a veterinary dispensary in the village.

The public health authorities regularised some drinking water connections of the villagers during the night sojourn of the DC.

Sonepat, December 15
First night stay of officers of the district administration at Larsoli village ended this morning with cleaning of streets by Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal and other officers. It was aimed to create awareness among the villagers towards cleanliness and maintaining hygienic conditions in their surroundings.

During the cleaning drive, the DC interacted with village women and listened to their demands and complaints. Indira and Shakuntala pleaded for a drain to carry the dirty water getting accumulated in front of their houses. The DC asked the executive engineer, panchayati raj, to construct a drain at the earliest.

Before going to sleep in the village school building, officers of different departments detailed out various welfare and development plans of their departments and received complaints and demands of the villagers. The DC asked the officers to take immediate action on the demands.

As many as 20 demands were received from the villagers and these were pertaining to draining out of the water from village streets, improvement in power supply, erection of electricity poles in the fields, release of tubewell connections, opening of a veterinary hospital, pavement of water courses, removal of unauthorized encroachments etc.

The DC said the night camp gave an opportunity to the villagers to list their demands and grievances on a single platform provided at their door step. It saved the villagers’ time and money and provided opportunity to the officers to assess the importance of the demands raised by the villagers, he added.

Kurukshetra, December 15
As per the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the roll number slips will not be dispatched to the registered candidates but they have been uploaded on the Kurukshetra University’s (KU) website kuk.ac.in for the National Eligibility Test (NET) for junior research fellowship and lectureship scheduled to be held on December 30.

Dr Hukam Singh, Controller of Examinations, KU, and coordinator, NET, here today said, “KU is one of the identified test centres of the UGC in Haryana for the NET and as many as 15,020 candidates in 49 subjects have been registered for the NET.”

To accommodate the examinees, 48 examination centres had been created in and around the university campus, he said, adding that the examinations for paper-I and paper-II would be held from 9.30am to 10.45am and 10.45am to I2 noon, respectively and paper-III from 1.30pm to 4pm.

He said, “The candidates who have not submitted hard copy of their applications to the university are also allowed to appear in the UGC NET.”

The seating arrangements had been made for all the candidates registered online with the university/college, he said, adding that the venue of test along with subject name and roll numbers had been uploaded on the university website.

“The roll numbers of all such candidates whose application forms in hard copy have not been received, have also been uploaded on the website,” Dr Singh added.

Chandigarh, December 15
The state government has formulated a policy to provide affordable houses to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.

Minister for Housing Satpal Sangwan here today said under the policy, 50 per cent plots of the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category of the size of 50 square metre each belonging to the private colonisers in the licenced area would be transferred to the Housing Board, Haryana, at a subsidised rate of Rs 500 per square yard for construction of flats for the BPL families.

He said Director General, Town and Country Planning, Haryana, had so far identified 10,000 plots to be transferred to the board throughout the state and possession of 4,741 plots had been taken by the board.

He said there was also a plan to set up a colony of the housing board for weavers at Ujha village in Panipat district.

He said the board had completed the construction work of 67,770 houses of various categories in the state up to November 30 this year, of which 70 per cent houses had been constructed for the EWS and the Lower Income Group (LIG).

Hisar, December 15
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has detected 2,754 cases of theft of electricity in November, raising the total number of thefts detected during the current financial year to 16,823.

A spokesperson for the DHBVN here yesterday said the officials engaged in the operations and enforcement wings raided premises of 10,000 consumers and detected 2,754 cases of theft during the last month and imposed penalty to the tune of Rs 6.09 crore on the erring consumers. The total amount of the penalty imposed on the consumers involved in malpractices during this fiscal year was Rs 45.42 crore.

The spokesperson said during the current financial year, the officials of the operation circle, Hisar, detected the highest 4,576 cases of theft of electricity followed by Faridabad 3,857, Bhiwani 3,263, Gurgaon 3,176, Sirsa 1,054, Narnaul 467 and Rewari 430 cases.

Sirsa, December 15
A local court today came to the rescue of some girl students of a Sirsa village, whose school education had been jeopardised due to the decision of the school management to close the bus service to their village, as the school found it a loss-making exercise.

Vikramjeet Singh, father of Ayushi, a student of class IV of Maharaja Agarsen Girls Senior Secondary School and one of the several girls whose education had come under threat due to the stopping of the bus service to Madhisinghana village since October 17 had approached the court.

Civil Judge Tayyab Hussain, who heard the plea for issuing mandatory injunctions under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 and Section 151 of the Civil Procedure Code, today directed the school to restart the bus service to Madhisinghana till the end of the current academic session.

Parents of Ayushi and some other girls got a rude shock when the school management suddenly stopped sending their bus to Madhisinghana on October 17, leaving the girls in the lurch.

Ayushi’s father Vikramjeet approached the civil court in Sirsa through his counsels HC Monga and Usha Kaswan and pleaded that his requests that the girls were not in a position to go to school through other means of transportation in this chilly winter season had fallen on deaf ears of the school authorities.

Vikramjeet also arrayed Vinod, Sohan Lal and Rajbir, fathers of some other children, who were also affected by the school decision, as party to the suit.

In reply, the school said the bus service to Madhisinghana was stopped because it was causing a loss to the institution and the counsel for the school argued that the court could not compel any person to do a business which is not profitable.

Faridabad, December 15
The Municipal Corporation (MC) today carried out a massive anti-encroachment drive in the market of NIT-1 amidst tight security.

Authorities of the corporation had to call off the drive after shopkeepers resorted to protest on Thursday and Friday.

The authorities took action against 100 shops located on a stretch from BK Chowk to Hardware Chowk, another stretch connecting Neelam Chowk and Bata Chowk, and about half a kilometre stretch on the Bata-Hardware road.

The roads are located in the heart of the city.

The demolition drive continued even though shopkeepers led by Chander Bhatia, a former BJP MLA from the area, held demonstration against it.

DP More, sub-division engineer of the corporation, said the operation was carried out smoothly today.

More than 200 police personnel accompanied the MC officials headed by Joint Commissioner, NIT Zone, Anita Yadav, during the six-hour long operation, which started at about 10 am.

About 50 officials of the corporation, including members of the demolition squad, were roped in for the drive.

Fatehabad, December 15
Two youths going to attend a wedding at Bhuna in Fatehabad on a motor cycle were killed in collision with a speeding car near Mohammadpur Sottar this morning.

Jaati Ram, a municipal employee from Ratia, was riding the motor cycle while his relative Hawa Singh, a resident of Mansa, was riding pillion.

When they reached near Mohammadpur Sottar, a speeding car hit their motor cycle, killing Jaati Ram on the spot. Hawa Singh was rushed to the Community Health Centre in Ratia, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The car driver also sustained injuries.

Chandigarh, December 15
The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation has implemented a number of innovative steps in 2012 to give impetus to development of industry in the state. These included allotment of land for skill development institutions, signing of an MoU for cluster development, steps to set up a cargo airport and development of industrial housing units at IMT, Manesar, and setting up of foreign investment and NRI Cell.

A spokesman for the HSIIDC here today said the corporation had allotted land for skill development institutions, including the Footwear Design and Development Institute, which was set up by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry over a plot of 17 acres at IMT, Rohtak, with project investment at Rs 110 crore.

He said the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management had been set up by the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries over a plot of 100 acres at Kundli, with project investment at Rs 240 crore to meet the requirement of world-class food technologists. He said the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs had been set up by the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs over a plot of 14 acres at IMT, Manesar, with an investment of Rs 211 crore.

He said the state government intended to set up a cargo airport in Haryana.