Gurgaon, December 21
Residents of Sheetla Colony today torched two jeeps and a JCB machine when MC officials went there to bring down illegal constructions within 900 metres of the Ammunition Depot here.

Officials of the MC’s anti-encroachment wing along with police personnel reached the colony to execute orders of the court but were in for a rude shock when hundreds of residents of the colony blocked their way refusing to let the JCB machine approach their houses.

The officials had razed a couple of under-construction houses when people came out on to the streets. When the police tried to shoo them away with a mild force, the mob turned violent and attacked the police and MC officials. The mob eventually burnt down two jeeps and a JCB machine of the MC.

The police tried to bring the situation under control but in vain. They then requisitioned additional force and used lathis to disperse the mob.

The police detained more than 20 persons. The locals tried to protest against the detention but with hundreds of armed policemen swarming the place they could not cause any further damage.

The area has been put on high alert. It is the second time that the MC officials faced such a protest. Last time also, residents of the colony had come to blows with officials of the anti-encroachment wing.

“We are just abiding by the court’s orders. Despite repeated directives people have not abstained from making new constructions in the restricted areas. If anybody tries to create hindrance, he shall be punished according to law,” said a senior police official.

Sirsa, December 21
A girl yesterday consumed some poisonous substance in Ther Mohalla of Sirsa as the persons accused of raping her but declared innocent by the police were allegedly threatening her again.

The girl, a minor, has been admitted to the General Hospital, Fatehabad.

In her complaint lodged with the police on October 9, the girl alleged that Krishan Kumar, a resident of Kharkari, had lured her away and he along with two others had raped her repeatedly.

However, the police did not register any FIR on her complaint till The Tribune published a report, ‘Raped girl says police refusing FIR’, on October 14.

Though the police registered a case thereafter under Section 376 of the IPC, the FIR was later cancelled.

Strangely, the police, which takes months to complete its investigation, showed exemplary speed in probing this case and declared the boys named by the girl innocent.

The boys allegedly started stalking the girl again.

“Those who raped my daughter have been stalking her and threatening her with dire consequences. We brought the matter to the police but no action has been taken against them,” alleged the girl’s father.

He alleged that her daughter had been traumatised due to the threats of the boys and had been feeling depressed for the past couple of days.

The in charge of the city police station, Dalbir Singh, said the statement of the girl had been recorded and the doctor’s report had also been received.

He said the report did not show any external injury.

Singh said the police had inquired from the municipal councillor of the area where the girl lived and he had maintained that he never saw any of the boys roaming near the girl’s house.

Gurgaon, December 21
It was in October that she became just another tragic statistic after being brutally raped by three men. However, today this six-year-old has made it to the attendance register of class 1 of a local government school.

“I want to be a doctor. My teacher says you have to study a lot to do so. I love games period but I will manage somehow,” she beams with a new-found enthusiasm.

Life had come to a virtual standstill for this daughter of a rickshaw puller when after being allegedly lured with a chocolate to a secluded place, she was gangraped.

She was taken to a hospital where the doctors said she might never be able to conceive. Her family elders wanted to send her away to their native village in Bihar.

The incident cannot be undone but a simple decision of her father to send her to school has changed everything for this girl. “I am a poor man and her real mother is dead. People said it would be best for her to go into a hiding. Initially, I had agreed upon sending her to her grandmother’s village and then get her married to a man with children as doctors think she cannot conceive,” says her father.

“However, after I returned to my job of ferrying schools students, I thought maybe I could give her life a second chance. I wanted her to wear a school uniform and talk intelligently like children who go in my rickshaw. Then I got her enrolled in a school. Initially, we had fears that people would come to know about her tragedy and that she herself would not step out but as days went by, she started loving it there,” he says.

“We will be getting kadi chawal in school today for lunch. I am taking a big tiffin box so that I can get some for my younger sister also,” the girl says.

Rohtak, December 21
In the wake of the recent gang rape in New Delhi, the district police has asked the heads of all educational institutions to put complaint boxes in their campuses for grievances regarding any kind of sexual harassment.

A senior woman DSP has been assigned the job of interacting with girls students in schools and colleges and advising them to report such matters, said a police official.

As part of the campaign, police officials will visit educational institutions to create awareness on the subject and invite complaints and suggestions from girl students.

Sources said these boxes would be operated by a woman cop and action would be ensured on complaints and suggestions.

Such a scheme has already been launched in some of the districts in the state and several complaints have been recently lodged by girl students in Rewari district. The police has provided two helpline numbers-- 1091 and 9996781092---in the district for lodging a complaint in this regard.

As many as eight cases of rape had surfaced in Rohtak and Jind districts in October. Though the police is yet to compile the number of molestation and sexual harassment cases in the district this year, they say a majority of such incidents go unreported due to social and family pressure.

SSP Vivek Sharma the district police had launched a women’s PCR and special helpline numbers to cater to such complaints.

Kaithal, December 21
The district administration has sent a newborn girl, who was found abandoned in Sector 18 here on December 15, to a children home in Panchkula.

The girl was admitted to the Civil Hospital here. A team of the Child Protection Society led by protection officer Nidhi Varshney and accompanied by staff of the hospital handed over the custody of the girl to project officer Sudhir and adoption officer Poonam Sood of the Child Protection Society, Panchkula, yesterday.

Kurukshetra, December 21
A number of students today took out a march to express anger against government’s inability to bring down rape cases. The students raised slogans demanding death penalty for those accused in the Delhi bus rape case.

“The culprits should not be spared at any cost. Stringent punishment should be awarded to them,” said Chanderkant Verma, a student of the Law Department, Kurukshetra University.

The agitation saw participation from students of the Kurukshetra University and various colleges and members of NGOs. The participants expressed solidarity with the 23-year-old victim, who was gang raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus by a group of six persons on Sunday night. The girl, a paramedical student, has undergone various surgeries in a Delhi hospital as she had suffered serious injuries.

Sumit Singh, another student, said, "General public as well as politicians should change their mindsets about girls, who are feeling more and more unsafe. Everyday we hear reports on rape, abduction and killing of girls. The government should take some strong steps."

Aman Sharma, a student of the Management Department of the university, said girls were not safe anywhere.

“We are afraid of travelling in a local bus even at daytime,” she said.

The rally started at the university, passed through the theme park and culminated at Bharamsarovar, where Kurukshetra Utsav Gita Jayanti celebrations are going on.

Kurukshetra, December 21
The district administration and social organisations today organised an awareness rally against female foeticide in Kurukshetra. Deputy Commissioner Mandip Singh Brar flagged off the children’s rally from Arya School, Thanesar. The demonstration concluded at Purushottampura Bagh at Brahamsarovar.

Jai Ram Vidhyapeeth Institutions head Brahamsawroop Brahamchari presided over the rally and encouraged people to welcome girls like boys in their family.

The Deputy Commissioner, in his address, called upon social organisations to take an active part in the campaign. He said the theme of the Kurukshetra Utsav Gita Jayanti celebrations was to root out the menace. He said the message of saving the girl child from the holy land of Srimadbhagwad Gita was sure to get popularised throughout the country.

Brar said a lot of youngsters from various parts of the state had taken part in the celebrations to spread the message but there were families who still held an orthodox view about the issue.

The children participating in the rally, especially young girls, marched through the main bazaar of the city raising slogans like “beti bachao, srishti bachao” and “beti nahi bachaoge toh bahu kahan se laoge”. Clad in yellow and orange dresses, the young ones pulled the attention of passersby.

The DC, who participated in the rally from the beginning to the end, expressed his gratitude to the Jai Ram Vidhyapeeth Institutions for putting up many publicity panels in the city with the message to save the girl child.

SDM Ashok Bansal, CTM Narender Pal Malik, civil surgeon Dr Vandana Bhatia, DEO Suman Arya and District Information and Public Relations Officer Dev Raj Sirohiwall were among those who participated in the march.

Sonepat, December 21
Hundreds of activists of the BJP-HJC combine today organised a protest march here against the recent hike in the bus fares in Haryana.

The activists were led by HJC-BJP Coordination Committee chairman Dharam Pal Singh Malik, BJP MLA Kavita Jain and BJP state media in charge Rajiv Jain. They also handed over a memorandum, addressed to the Governor, to City Magistrate Nishu Singhal at the Mini Secretariat demanding immediate withdrawal of the hike in the interests of the general public.

Addressing the protesters, Malik and Jain said with the steep hike in the prices of essential commodities and of other uses like LPG, diesel, kerosene oil etc, it had become difficult for the common man to meet his domestic needs. They demanded immediate withdrawal of the hike in the bus fares which were already very high.

Meanwhile, similar protests were reported from other parts of the state. Activists of the alliance in Faridabad held a demonstration and burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

District HJC and BJP presidents Tejpal Sharma and Ajay Gaur, respectively, said the public was already reeling under spiraling prices of the essential commodities.

In Rewari, workers of both the parties shouted slogans against the government while demanding rollback of the increased bus fares.

District BJP chief Laxman Singh Yadav and district HJC president Thekedar Rajender Singh Yadav led the protest.

State BJP general secretary Veer Kumar Yadav flayed the state government for the hike in the bus fares.

Jhajjar, December 21
Himmat Singh (29) of Mandhothi village involved in more than 12 heinous cases was gunned down allegedly by five assailants in Bahadurgarh town today.

The police has booked 16 persons, including two women, on a complaint of the deceased’s brother, Deepak, in this case. Some weapons have also been recovered from the spot.

Himmat Singh was travelling in his car after appearing in a Bahadurgarh court. As he reached near the Omax Housing Society, his car was hit by another coming from the opposite direction, said sources.

Sensing trouble, Himmat got down from his car and tried to run away but the car-borne assailants reportedly shot him dead from close range. The killers managed to flee leaving their car, said sources.

Jhajjar SP Anil Dhawan, Bhadurgarh DSP Rajeev Deswal and other police officials rushed to the spot and sent Himmat’s body to the civil hospital for a postmortem examination.

“Himmat Singh was an accused in 15 cases of heinous crime like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and robbery. Hence, old rivalry can be the reason for the murder,” said the SP .

While Gyanender, Kartar, his brother Ram Chander, Rishi Raj and Balwan Singh had been booked under Sections 148, 149 and 302, IPC, while a case under Section 120 B, IPC, had been registered against nine others, including Preet, Balraj, Ishwar, Mukesh, Gunga Ram, Ravinder, Suresh, Bhagat, Hari, Prayanka and Seema, in this regard. All of them were residents of Mandhothi village .

It may be mentioned here that Satish Kumar(31) of Noona Majra village was shot dead by unidentified assailants last evening when he was sitting in his grocery shop near the village bus stop. The police has so far failed to identify Satish Kumar’s killers.

Chandigarh, December 21
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced that noted wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt would be the brand ambassador of the Health Department for the promotion of various schemes in the state.

Hooda also launched the weekly iron and folic acid supplementation (WIFS) programme of the Health Department by distributing folic acid tablets among children at a programme organized here today. He also launched pentavalent vaccine under the state immunisation programme as an ANM injected the vaccine to a child in his presence. Haryana has become the first state to implement the WIFS programme and third in the country after Tamil Nadu and Kerala to launch pentavalent vaccine.

The Chief Minister said the WIFS programme aimed at providing iron folic acid tablets to all students from Class VI to XII on every Monday in the government schools. He said adolescent girls in the 10-19 age group would also be given these tablets at anganwadi centres.

Yogeshwar Dutt said he was proud to be associated with a social cause. He urged the people that they should give folic acid tablets and administer pentavalent vaccine to their children on time so that they remained healthy.

Yamunanagar, December 21
A large number of industrialists today blocked the Jagadhri-Paonta Sahib road here in protest against the sealing of over 25 metal units over the past two weeks by the Haryana Sate Pollution Control Board (HSPCB). The industrialists also observed a complete bandh.

They alleged that officials of the HSPCB had gone overboard in initiating action against industrialists, as their units were being sealed on flimsy grounds for reasons best known to senior authorities of the board. They alleged that the board officials were forcing them to shell out money in the name of “suvidha tax” (privilege tax) and action was being taken against those who did not pay it.

The industrialists blocked the road for more than two hours and burnt tyres in protest against the alleged unjust behaviour of the HSPCB officials. It was only after senior officials of the board reached out to the protesters and gave an assurance that they lifted the blockade.

Industrialists resorted to protest after teams of the HSPCB went on a sealing drive here. The teams sealed more than 25 units over the past two weeks following which the industrialists decided to hold a protest against the officials.

Some of the industrialists said the officials were unnecessarily creating hurdles for the metal units, which were already fighting a battle for survival due to policies of the state government.

Trilochan Singh, an industrialist, said the manufacturers were being harassed by the pollution control board officials.

During the protest, the industrialists raised slogans against the government and demanded that the units that had been sealed should be immediately allowed to resume operations. They said the government was out to destroy the metal industry of Jagadhri, which was already facing several problems.

Hisar, December 21
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today sealed three chemist shops and an unauthorised godown in different areas of the town.

Four teams of the FDA officials raided seven chemist shops at Nagori Gate, Jain Gali and Sabji Mandi areas and sealed three of these after finding gross irregularities, said State Drug Controller-cum-Joint Commissioner, FDA, GL Singal.

The officials of the FDA, including assistant state drug controller MP Gupta, two senior drug control officers Manmohan Taneja and Nripen Goyal and eight drug control officers Rakesh Dahiya from Jhajjar, Parvinder Malik from Karnal, Gurcharan Singh from Panipat, Suresh Chaudhary from Jind, Krishan Kumar from Faridabad-2, Sandeep Galhan from Faridabad-1, Amandeep from Rewari and Sandeep Hooda from Sonepat, raided the shops in four different teams.

A chemist had kept his intoxicant drugs in a shop of suitcases located next to his shop. Another had stored unauthorised drugs at his residence.

Singal said the teams took samples of 16 drugs from different shops.

The shops that had been sealed include New Laxmi Medical Hall, Dinesh Medical Hall and Kundan Medical Hall.

Sirsa, December 21
The police has taken into custody five slum children between the age of 10 and 12 for snatching Rs 2 lakh from a tractor driver in Sirsa last month.

The police has recovered Rs 71,000 from these children.

The police produced these children before judicial magistrate Harish Goyal, who sent them to the observation home in Hisar.

The police said these children had cornered a drunk tractor driver in JJ Colony and snatched Rs 2 lakh from him after beating him up.

Gurgaon, December 21
The Vigilance Bureau, Gurgaon, today arrested ASI Vikas of DLF sector 29 police station while he was allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 60,000 from a paying guest accommodation owner.

According to officials, earlier this year, an FIR had been lodged in the sector 29 police station about the robbery of a car and a mobile.

A few months later, the stolen mobile was traced to a cook, who was working in one of the paying guest accommodations. The cook claimed that he had been sold that mobile by one of the inmates who had left.

ASI Vikas, who was investigating the matter, got in touch with the paying guest accomodation owner, Bansi Lal, to inquire about the inmate’s permanent address, which turned out to be fake.

Vikas then allegedly threatened to frame Bansi Lal and his cook in the matter and demanded Rs 70,000 from them to settle the matter. Bansi Lal, on the pretext of not having enough cash, promised to pay him Rs 60,000 today.

Meanwhile, he complained to the Vigilance Bureau, which laid a trap. The team nabbed the ASI red-handed while he was accepting money in the police station.

Chandigarh,December 21
The State Vigilance Bureau has recommended the registration of criminal cases against seven gazetted officers and nine non-gazetted officers and departmental action against 34 gazetted officers, 57 non-gazetted officers and another person after finding them guilty in its investigations.

A spokesman of the bureau said here today that six officials were also caught accepting illegal gratification ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 12,000. Criminal cases had been registered against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act. These officials included ASI Naresh Kumar, Gaje Singh, Subdivisional clerk, Sub-Inspector Jai Kishan, Ram Niwas Kundu,SDO, Irrigation Gohana; Sunil Kumar, SDO, Power Utilities, Jhajjar, and Ram Kumar, mal patwari, Jind. — TNS

Chandigarh, December 21
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced to allow uniforms to contractual drivers and conductors of Haryana Roadways.

A press note stated here today that 4,600 drivers and conductors would be given summer and winter uniforms on the pattern of regular employees.

Rohtak, December 21
A key witness in the Apna Ghar shelter home case, who had gone missing from a Gandhi Nagar shelter house here, was today found in Assam by a police team.

Munni (18), who was found missing from her room along with another inmate Pooja (20) on December 9, was traced in Kasaar district of Assam, said SP Vivek Sharma.

Munni had disclosed that she had gone out of the shelter house on her own as she wished to get married and live an independent life, Sharma said.

He said 10 police teams had been conducting raids at various places in Delhi, UP, Bihar and Assam simultaneously for the past 10 days to locate her as she was one of the key witnesses in Apna Ghar case being probed by the CBI.

He said Munni had also given some "vital" information about Pooja, and expressed hope that she too would be "recovered" soon. — PTI