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Safety issue: Women curtail celebration plans
Protest path |
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2012: Amritsar LOOKING BACK GNDU
Police doubts claims of ‘rape’ victim
Crime rises, Police Commissionerate system fails to deliver
46 cases of rape reported in dist
10-year-old boy kidnapped
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Safety issue: Women curtail celebration plans
Amritsar, December 30 As the police officials vouch to ensure safety and security of everyone across the city, especially women, the recent rise in eve-teasing cases in the city and the gang-rape at Delhi has marred the celebrations for women. Some are relentless and putting up a brave face, others have taken a detour and settled for subtle celebrations. And then there are few who have decided to not celebrate at all. “Certainly, 2012 has seen the worst of crimes against women. It wasn't too long ago, when the painful cries for help of a 17- year-old girl molested in full view outside a pub in Guwahati shocked the country. More recently, the heinous gang-rape of the 23-year-old girl in the capital awoke the nation’s conscience. Though the cases have happened in different cities, the threat remains same everywhere. Women are repeatedly being subjected to the repeated and inhuman assault. The fact is that one can never be too safe or too careful in any city. So I have decided to bring in the New Year without any celebrations,” shares Shifali Mahajan, a fashion technology student from the city. Though most hotels and party venues have gone an extra mile to ensure safe celebrations, but women feel otherwise. “A lot of my friends and their parents are too scared to let their daughter go out for New Year's Eve or party, which is justified given the recent crimes against women. However, I feel it is men who need to learn to behave responsibly, not us. Such perpetrators need to be taught some strong lessons on morality, ethics and values,” says 24-year-old management student Pooja Chaudhary. Like Pooja, there are many who feel that staying indoors or hiding behind closed windows won't help, but precaution is always welcome. “Why should I be forced to put a halt to my life just because the society and the law has failed to keep me safe? Besides, sitting at home is not a solution. Women should now take charge of their own safety and try to venture out with company,” feels Mehak Uppal, a housewife. While the women are taking caution, so are the hotel and party organisers in the city. “This year we have made it mandatory to allow only couples to the in-house New Year bash. Security has been beefed up with increased number of bouncers and armed security guards to make sure that no such incident happens during the celebrations,” shares Atul Pandey, general manager of a prominent hotel. The similar security measures have been provided at private party venues and farmhouse parties. “The staff has been instructed to tackle any situation as and when it happens and security has been beefed up with bouncers and extra security staff deployed at parking lot and inside the venue,” shares Rachit Aggarwal, who is organising a private party at his resort on the Ram Tirath Road. fear factor
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Protest path
Amritsar, December 30 The children carried banners requesting for a just and civil society, demanding quick action to punish the criminals. Members of the Aam Aadmi Party formed by Arvind Kejriwal too took out a candlelight procession, praying for peace for victim’s soul and asking the government to make law that ensures no girl falls prey to such violent crimes.
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2012: Amritsar LOOKING BACK GNDU
Amritsar, December 30 The university was given a CGPA of 3.5 out of 4 with 'A' grade by the council, rose to the 16th rank in the top 50 universities of the country as per a recent survey and won the national-level Inter-University Youth Festival in 2012. Under the 11th plan, the University Grants Commission (UGC) this year conferred the title of “University with Potential for Excellence” to six universities of the country, including the GNDU. Under this scheme, the UGC sanctioned a grant of Rs 50 crore to the university to be utilised for quality research and education. A sum of Rs 30 crore has already been received by the university. GNDU registrar Dr Inderjit Singh said the areas of research which would be focused on are materials science, sports medicine and environmental management (in respect of Punjab) with emphasis on environmental monitoring, remediation, biodiversity assessment and conservation. The university also introduced online submission of admission forms for all its courses and started the semester system for undergraduate classes. On the sports front, a new synthetic turf was laid for hockey and a velodrome was added to the sports infrastructure this year. However, the university, which boasts of winning the coveted Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) trophy 21 times, was embroiled in a controversy with its main rival Punjabi University, Patiala, this time and the matter could not be resolved till date as the Ministry of Human Resource Development has kept its verdict reserved on this issue. Another controversial decision of the university was to outsource Class IV employees. The university engaged an Abohar-based firm for hiring 50 'safai karamcharis' while laying off 55 such employees working on a daily-wage basis. This decision led to a great resentment among the Class IV employees. The gardeners approached the high court and obtained stay orders on this decision. Meanwhile, those who were terminated sat on a hunger strike. The matter has not been fully resolved yet even after the affected workers gave in to the authorities’ proposal of coming back through the Abohar firm. Recently, safai karamcharis alleged that Vice-Chancellor Prof AS Brar had backtracked from his commitment of absorbing them on a regular basis and had used caste-based remarks against them. A police complaint against the VC was lodged in the Cantonment police station but enquiries stated it to be a frivolous complaint. The agitating safai karamcharis have threatened to raise the issue again and have announced to hold an agitation on January 2. The GNDU Teachers’ Association elections, too, gained significance this year as the Radical Front gave a clean sweep to the Progressive Teachers Front, which is apparently a pro-VC group. The teachers under the banner of the GNDU Teachers’ Association expressed discontent and unhappiness over promotional policies and the delay in implementing their demands. They staged a dharna outside the VC’s office. They alleged that certain mutually-accepted decisions of the management and teachers were not implemented, which included the release of their arrears as per the Sixth Pay Commission and ignoring the UGC guidelines while granting promotions. The GNDU authorities had to ask for police help to conduct interviews for professors’ promotions as members of the GNDU Teachers’ Association had threatened to disrupt the interview process. The teachers alleged that the university authorities had tampered with the interview proceedings and four teachers had been denied promotions as their dates of eligibility were changed during the interview process. The association also apprised the syndicate members about it. The issue stands unresolved with teachers unhappy with the recent appointments approved by the syndicate.
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2012: Amritsar LOOKING BACK crime
Amritsar, December 30 Like previous years, the police could hardly put a check on robberies and snatchings. These incidents instilled a fear in the minds of residents, especially women folk, who at one point of time thought twice to step out of their houses. Though these incidents saw a decline in the last couple of months, the impact of these incidents lingered on. Policemen came under attack
Policemen came under attack not only from criminal elements, but even residents. The month of December witnessed the broad daylight murder of an Assistant Sub-Inspector Ravinder Pal Singh in the Chheharta area by a SAD leader (now expelled) Ranjit Singh Rana while another ASI Baldev Singh was stabbed to death by his nephew Jeevan Singh, an MBBS student, in March. Similarly, a head constable posted with the Amritsar rural police was also shot dead by unidentified assailants when he was returning home in mid of October. The police has yet to crack the case. In April, a raiding police party came under heavy fire when it had gone to nab a woman drug peddler in the Anngarh area. In another instance a naka party of the anti-narcotics cell of the local police was shot at by two suspended policemen in October. They accused were drug addicts and wanted in number of extortion and looting cases. Besides several traffic policemen on duty were attacked by residents at various places in the city. Objecting to wrong parking of vehicles residents beat up two traffic personnel in November. The year also witnessed three encounters between the police and the criminals in areas falling under the jurisdiction of the Amritsar rural police district. In August, a sub-inspector posted with the Kartarpur police was injured when the police party was chasing smugglers and entered into an encounter near the Jandiala-Tarn Taran road falling under Amritsar rural police. In the recent such incident, the police succeeded to arrest five gangsters while two of their accomplices including son of a slain terrorist managed to escape from spot following an encounter occurred at Mattewal village.
The encounter continued for over two hours before they were chased and arrested by them. In another instance a notorious gangster Aju Masih wanted in many criminal cases opened fire at the police party which was chasing him. The police party had a narrow escape in the incident. Later he was overpowered by the police. The police also came under fire while chasing Ranjit Singh Rana, prime accused in the killing of ASI Ravinder Pal Singh in village Sohal in Tarn Taran area. For the major part of the year, the police department remained on the back foot with a number kidnapping and subsequent murders of the minor children rocking the city police. The city area witnessed three such cases while one of them was still untraced. An 11-year-old Sushant Arora, a resident of the Gate Hakima area, was kidnapped and later killed for ransom in June. Another 12-year-old Mohit Kapoor was kidnapped and his body was found at a secluded place near Taran Wala Bridge on the main GT Road in October. In both the cases, neighbours of the victims were found to be involved in the crime. In November, the kidnapping and gruesome killing of 10-year-old Gurkirat Singh rocked the city again. Gurkirat had gone missing on November 7 while his body was found dumped on November 17. The police even failed to identify the culprits. The police faced flack for their alleged initial indifferent attitude towards the case. The police registered a complaint only after people exerted pressure on the police by holding protests on the road. Till now the case is unsolved and the accused were beyond the reach of the police. Like previous years, robbers and snatchers ruled the roost in the city with women, foreign tourists and traders remaining their prime targets. Gaurav Bhatia, a city-based trader, was murdered by three robbers on January 5. Earlier, the police had registered an accident case but later, it was turned out to be a murder. Similarly, cloth trader Manish Khanna was shot dead by a gang who decamped with Rs 10 lakh. He was returning to his home located at Rishi Vihar after collecting payments. Similarly, an employee of a money exchanger was looted by unidentified armed robbers who took away about Rs 40 lakh after shooting him. In another instance two snatchers shot a man in the Chheharta area in July. He had tried to catch them while they were fleeing after snatching a gold chain from a woman. Most terrifying incidents
In figures Rapes
Snatchings
Robberies
Murders
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Police doubts claims of ‘rape’ victim
Amritsar, December 30 The Ajnala police had booked head constable Kulwinder Singh, his wife Ranjit Kaur and nephew Gurcharan Singh on rape charges. No arrest has been made so far. The police authorities say the matter was under investigation. In a press conference held today, Preet Paul Singh Virk, SSP, Amritsar rural police, said, “Though we have no reason not to believe the victim and we stand by the FIR registered, some portions of the complaint filed by the woman seem doubtful at least at the preliminary stage of investigation.” Kulwinder has been absconding since the registration of a case and has not joined the investigations, the SSP said. Virk, along with investigating officer in the case Jasdeep Singh, SP (headquarter), said Gurcharan’s family disowned him on October 12 following which he started residing with Kulwinder Singh. He said the woman married Gurcharan at a gurdwara in Mohali against the wishes of her parents and she got security following the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on October 26. Virk claimed the family later gave their consent and their marriage was solemnised as per the rituals on October 28 at a gurdwara in Ajnala in the presence of girl’s family.
The police has got the pictures of the marriage. Even the priest of the gurdwara has also attested their marriage, he said. The woman had said she came in contact with the policeman in November 2011 when she applied for the post of constable. However, she could not clear the physical examination. “The head constable had come to our house to inform about my failure. He assured me of a job in the department as he claimed that one of his friends was close to an IG. Later, Kulwinder asked my family to get me married with Gurcharan which I refused,” she alleged. “In October, Ranjit Kaur took me to her house from my institute on the pretext of an interview. There she gave me cold drink laced with sedatives after which I fell unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I found Gurcharan beside me. They threatened that they had made a video clipping and will upload it on the internet if I tell anything to my family," the woman alleged. “On October 24, the accused took me to Mohali and forcibly solemnised my marriage with Gurcharan,” she said. "They threatened to eliminate my family. They even forced me to sign on blank papers. Later, I came to know that they had filed a petition in the high court seeking protection from my parents. On October 28, we returned to Ajnala at the residence of Kulwinder Singh where he raped me finding me alone in the house. Later, the trio told my parents that I had eloped with Gurcharan and got married in a gurdwara," she added. On the woman’s claim of being pressurised and threatened, the SSP said preliminary investigations have found no truth in this claim. He said they have not given a clean chit to the accused in the case, but a thorough and impartial probe would be conducted in the case and accused persons would be put behind bars while innocent person would not be charge sheeted, he added. A case under Sections 376, 506, 420 and 34 of the IPC has been registered. Even in another case of rape registered in Bhindi Saida police station, he said though one of the accused Manjit Singh has been arrested, there are lots of questions which need to be answered. “Investigations revealed that the accused were known to the victim before the latter’s marriage and the boy had even proposed her for marriage,” he said. The initial probe has revealed that the girl, before being ‘abducted’, had bolted the doors of the house from outside. “She also has not revealed where she was taken after her abduction,” said the SSP. A thorough probe is being carried out in the case, he added.
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Crime rises, Police Commissionerate system fails to deliver
As per the data, there were 212 cases of snatching incidents in 2012, which stood at 177 the previous year. But the figures do not actually give the real picture as there were numerous instances which remained unreported. In several of these cases, residents hesitated to lodge a compliant. The lower rank police officials also preferred to report the incident in the daily diary report (DDR) rather than registering a case. The number of robbery cases almost doubled in 2012. As many as 25 robbery incidents happened in the city. Out of the total, 18 cases were cracked with the arrest of culprits. In 2011, the city saw 12 cases of robbery out of which 6 cases were cracked by the police. The city was rocked with 41 murder incidents in 2012. As many as 32 incidents happened in 2011. Out of 41, only 31 cases were cracked. Remaining cases are still under investigations. The kidnapping and abduction cases also jumped. As compared to 43 cases in 2011, the city saw 50 cases in 2012. The instances of burglary also increased. As many as 153 cases were reported in 2012 as compared to 117 cases in 2011. A senior police official preferring not to be named said the police department has initiated a number of steps to curb the menace of snatchings following which it has come down in past three months. He said the year has also witnessed the arrest of a number of notorious gangsters and robbers which has proved very helping in the reducing the crime rate in last quarter of the year.
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46 cases of rape reported in dist
Amritsar, December 30 Records available with the police revealed that the city area witnessed 24 rape incidents, while in rural areas (Amritsar rural police district) the number stood at 22. The urban areas also recorded 14 cases of molestation. A couple of days ago, Police Commissioner Ram Singh pulled up police officials for pendency of complaints lodged by girls and women at various police stations and women cell. The most heinous of rape occurred in the Rajasansi area where two youths gang raped a 22-year-old girl in a moving car. The victim had refused to accept the friendship proposal of one of the accused. The accused also captured the act and made an MMS to blackmail the girl. The incident occurred in June while she lodged a compliant in August. In June, the city police nabbed a judo coach for allegedly raping a schoolgirl. The accused allegedly picked the victim from her residence on the pretext of a month-long-karate camp, to be held at Sundernagar, Himachal Pradesh. However, the suspect took her to his home and then to Kangra and committed the crime. In October, the police booked eight persons of a family following a complaint lodged by the victim that she was subjected to sexual assault by the accused for six years. One of the accused had allegedly trapped the victim in an affair. Two of the accused also captured the act on their mobile phone and threatened to upload it on the internet in case she reported the matter to the police.
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Ram Bagh beautification: Govt releases Rs 1.5 cr
Amritsar, December 30 Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi handed over a cheque of Rs 1.5 crore to the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, today. He said it was an endeavour of the SAD-BJP government to beautify this historic site. “An amount of Rs 3 crore was sanctioned for the project. Half of the amount had already been handed over to the MC. The remaining amount was also released so as to expedite the beautification project. It will be a new-year gift for the residents,” he said.
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10-year-old boy kidnapped
Amritsar, December 30 Rajesh Kumar, originally hailing from Uttar Pradesh and currently residing at the village, told the police that Sunny Kumar, a resident of Pathankot, who used to work as a cleaner with a truck driver, lured his son Manoj and took him away. Sunny had come to the factory where the victim’s family used to work and reside. Satnam Singh, investigating officer, said a manhunt has been launched to nab the suspected kidnapper.
— TNS
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Amritsar, December 30