Ambala, December 30
Four members of a family, including a woman and two children, were killed when their car rammed into a stationary truck on the GT Road near Ambala City today.

The victims, identified as Sachin Gupta (42), his wife Rakhi Gupta (38), his son Pratyaksh (12) and his daughter Vrinda (3), were residents of Loha Mandi in Naraina in New Delhi. Hospital sources said Vrinda died on way to the PGI, Chandigarh.

Sachin along with his family members was going to Amritsar in his Swift Dzire car to meet a close relative. The Gupta family had planned to celebrate the New Year at Amritsar.

Sources said when Sachin reached near Ambala City, his car rammed into a truck which was parked on the road. The impact of the accident was so high that two bodies were badly trapped in the car.

Police personnel and passersby retrieved the bodies with great efforts after an hour. Sachin, his wife and son died on the spot while the girl was rushed to the Civil Hospital, Ambala City. The injured was later referred to the PGI.

On getting information, Ambala Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Kumar and City Police Station SHO Ram Niwas reached the spot.

The police registered a case against the truck driver for parking his vehicle on the main road.

The SHO said relatives of the deceased had been informed and the post-mortem of the bodies would be conducted tomorrow. 

Sirsa, December 30
While India simmers at the death of the Delhi gang rape victim and voices are being raised demanding laws to ensure the safety of women, the response of Chuadhary Devi Lal University in the incidents of sexual harassment of its girl students has been highly insensitive.

The university has been allowing two of its teachers found guilty of sexual harassment of a girl student in three separate inquiries to carry on with their jobs without punishment for the past over 30 months.

Surprisingly, shortly after joining, the Vice-Chancellor, KC Bhardwaj, reinstated one of the two teachers, whom former Vice-Chancellor BS Malik, a bureaucrat who was given additional charge of the university for a brief period, had suspended after the report of the first two inquiries.

The university did not even wait for the outcome of the regular inquiry that was being conducted by a retired District and Sessions Judge on the charge sheet issued to the two teachers.

Now, when a regular inquiry by a retired District and Sessions Judge has found the two teachers guilty of moral turpitude and sexual harassment, the university has to take a call whether to permit them to continue in their post or show them the door at a meeting of the executive council (EC) of the university scheduled for tomorrow in Chandigarh.

The teachers found guilty of the offence are Sewa Singh Bajwa and Amit Sangwan, both assistant professors of the Mass Communication Department of the university.

Former VC BS Malik had suspended Bajwa soon after the report of the Women Complaints Committee of the university, a decision that was reverted by the present VC, KC Bhardwaj, soon after taking over.

The Sarva Khap Panchayat, often accused of taking retrogressive decisions on issues relating to women, has taken a tough stand on this issue and demanded the termination of the services of the teachers.

“Such teachers do not have any right to remain in service. Allowing them to remain in their jobs will not only spoil the academic atmosphere of the university but also put the other girls to risk of being harassed and assaulted,” said Sube Singh Samain, spokesperson of the Sarva Khap Panchayat, Haryana.

Several former girl students of the university have also demanded stern action against the two teachers.

“We have endured nasty and double meaning statements during our stay in the department and we do not wish the others to go through all this,” said a former student of the Journalism and Mass Communication department of the university. 

Gurgaon, December 30
The Mewat police has arrested three youths for allegedly blackmailing and raping an 18-year-old girl for the past six months.

In a complaint to the police, the victim, a resident of Firozpur Jhirka, stated that three boys from Ward No. 3 of the town had recorded an MMS of her while molesting her months ago and had been raping her since then. They also threatened her to make it public.

After being raped for six months, the girl finally told her family members about it who asked her to report the matter to the police.

Following her complaint, the police took her for medical examination and then registered a case against the accused under provisions of the cyber crime and rape and immediately arrested them. They will be produced in a court on Monday.

Sources said the girl had been avoiding filing a report fearing harassment at the hands of the police and social stigma.

It was only after the Delhi gang rape incident that she decided to lodge the complaint. “It is not just this, but in many cases girls fear to speak up and at times people blame the police for it. I have asked all my policemen to ensure that not even a single case of crime against women gets ignored or any complaint goes unheard. We will urge girls to speak up against all this to ensure that they are not harassed,” said Mewat SP Sukbir Singh. 

Ambala, December 30
Demanding justice for the 23-year-old gang rape victim, who passed away at a hospital in Singapore, the local units of the BJP and HJC today took out a candlelight march.

Activists of the BJP-HJC started the march from the Shukul Kund Road here. They observed silence to mark the death of the young woman.

In a condolence message, the protesters said the death should prompt the framing of new and strong laws. They also demanded death penalty for the accused.

Yamunanagar: A number of medical students came out on to the streets to participate in a candle march to express solidarity with the Delhi rape victim. The march, which started from the Sanatam Dharam temple, culminated at the Nehru Park after passing through various parts of the city.

Sonepat: People from different sections of the society continued to protest against the gang rapes and expressed their grief over the death of the Delhi gang rape victim.

Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarithi Parishad today organised a protest against the gang rapes and raised slogans against the government for its failure to provide safety and security to the women.

Activists of the District Youth Congress led by Devender Kadian, youth president of the Sonepat Lok Sabha constituency, took out a candle march last evening from Shubhash Chowk to Geeta Bhawan Chowk to pay homage.

Sirsa: Candle marches and prayer meetings were held in Sirsa and Fatehabad for the second day in succession today .

A prayer meeting was held in the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Park here today.

Activists of the district unit of the All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), Khet Mazdoor Union, Shaheed Yadgar Manch, Sarva Karamchari Sangh and Gyan Vigyan Samiti assembled in the Park and paid tributes.

Fatehabad: The Jan Adhikar Suraksha Samiti organised a meeting to pay tributes to the victim in Papeeha Park here today. Hundreds of residents visited the Park.

There were reports of similar protests from local women colleges as well as from other towns in the district to pay homage to the Delhi rape victim. 

Rohtak, December 30
Expressing concern over the alleged laxity and delay in notification, the All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) has threatened to revive the agitation in March if the state and the union governments failed to include the Jats in the OBC category to provide them the quota benefit by then.

At a meeting held here today, the AIJASS resolved to express its concern over the alleged slow development on the issue of clearing the way for including the Jats under the OBC category.

The Jat Sarvakhap Mahapanchayat, which had announced to block all the entry points to Delhi on December 23, had announced the suspension of the agitation after holding talks with the Chief Minister of Haryana.

The AIJASS had been among those that had opposed the move to block the entry points to Delhi and welcomed the move to suspend the stir. It had announced recently to hold a meeting on the issue here, in which leaders of several khaps were also invited to attend.

Commandant Hawa Singh Sangwan (retired), state president of the AIJASS, said the meeting today resolved to serve an ultimatum to the state government on the matter as he claimed that the community would be left with no alternative and think of reviving the agitation if there was an inordinate delay on the issue.

He said the samiti was in favour of waiting till March 5 for a positive action and if there was no move by then to accept the demand of including the Jats in the OBC list, the samiti would hold a meeting on the completion of the deadline to discuss the next strategy in this regard.

"The body will also take up the issue with the political leadership besides seeking support from all quarters to achieve the target," said Sangwan. He added that the samiti leaders would meet senior political leaders in the next few days.

He claimed the final decision would depend on the outcome of the efforts by the body and the authorities concerned in this connection.

Hisar, December 30
One person was killed and at least three others were injured in a firing between two rival groups over some property dispute in the posh Urban Estate area of Hisar this afternoon.

The deceased has been identified as Sandeep, a resident of Chenat village of Hisar.

Among the injured are Samunder Singh, Surinder Gujjar and Nripender Gujjar.

The police said it was in the process of recording the statements of both groups before an FIR could be registered in this case.

A group of 40 to 50 people first reportedly attacked MC Colony Market Association president Surinder Gujjar's house situated in the DC Colony in the afternoon, ransacked the house, beat up the house owner and his son Nripender, a youth HJC leader and allegedly fired in the air.

Both Surinder and Nripender were reportedly hurt in the attack.

The assailants remained there for over 15 minutes before the police arrived there after receiving information of the attack.

However, despite the police presence, Surinder Gujjar and his men are alleged to have retaliated and attacked the house of the Bisla group, which is alleged to have initiated the fight in the Urban Estate area.

In the firing that ensued, Sandeep, a youth from the Bisla group, was killed while Samunder, also from the same group, sustained bullet injuries.

A sense of fear prevails in the DC Colony and Urban Estate area after the incident.

The police said that as soon as it completes the process of writing statements, it would register an FIR and arrest the accused. 

Kurukshetra December 30
The police arrested Gagandeep, a resident of HUDA Sector 5, here today for allegedly raping a woman, who lodged a complaint with the police at Thana Pipli, 5 km from here, yesterday.

She alleged that she was raped by Gagandeep on December 28.

Gagandeep will be produced in the court tomorrow, said a police spokesman. 

Chandigarh, December 30
The notorious khap panchayats -- Jat community groups comprising elderly men that set the rules in an area comprising one or more villages -- kept the Hooda government and society on the tenterhooks with their questionable diktats during the year 2012.

The powerful belligerent khaps, which command respect and awe among the Jats comprising almost four-fourth of the population of the state, remained in the news mostly for wrong reasons.

While their alleged role in the ‘honour killings’ of couples marrying into the same gotra (subcaste) came in for a lot of criticism from a cross-section of society, the khap representatives ran into trouble with Bollywood star Aamir Khan during the telecast of TV episode of “Satyamev Jayate” on honour killings in June this year.

Even as Haryana was shamed by a series of rape cases, a representative of the khaps came out with a weird justification, blaming the consumption of chowmein leading to hormonal imbalance for the rise in rape cases. While the nation demanded capital punishment for the accused in the Delhi gang-rape victim case, the khaps struck another discordant note and demanded life imprisonment for the accused.

The khaps went a step ahead and demanded amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act, lowering the marriage age for girls from 18 to 16 and ban on same-gotra marriage to curb crime, particularly rape, against women. Even strong exception to the khaps’ idea of lowering the marriage age by AICC president Sonia Gandhi during a visit to a rape victim’s house in Jind failed to deter them. In the meantime, they demanded the status of lok adalats as their decisions were “unanimous”.

In fact, open support of khaps on lowering marriage age from 18 years to 16 years by INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala got him into trouble with the Jat leader later retracting from his statement on the issue after a public outcry.

The year saw the khaps issuing diktats at the drop of the hat against the backdrop of tacit support to the politicians cutting across the party lines.The ban on the DJs during marriages was one of such diktats.

Even Haryana Chief Minister rallied around the beleaguered khaps, arguing that the social bodies should be blamed for honour killings.

On the flip side, the khaps at a mahapanchayat at Bidipur (Jind) announced a battle against female foeticide, demanding the registration of a murder case against those indulging in the "heinous act" of killing the daughters in the womb.

They also demanded a ban the opening of the liquor vends near the religious places.

Towards the end of the year, the khaps kept the Haryana Government on toes for their wavering stand on the issue of providing 10 per cent reservation in government jobs to five castes, including the dominant Jat community.

Khaps hog the limelight Khaps alleged support to honour killings draws flak. Blame consumption of chowmein for incidents of rape. Want marriage age to be lowered to 16 to prevent rapes. Want murder case against female foeticide offenders. Want status of the lok adalats Divided over 10% quota for Jats, four other castes

Gurgaon, December 30
Following months of preparation and numerous sessions of brainstorming, Gurgaon is finally set to have its partying heaven, the MG Road, vehicle-free for 31st night.

Having inspected and conducting rehearsal and dry run, the police agreed on going ahead with ambitious and unconventional plan of making people land on party venues in shuttle service rather than swanky cars.

Taking a lesson from the last year’s free-for-all where numerous cases of eve-teasing and attack on vehicles were reported on the road, the police would now ban entry of vehicles from the IFFCO Metro station till Sikanderpur Metro station from 10 pm to 2 am. Even those who drive in early would not be allowed to get their vehicles leave the road before 2 am.

The visitors would be asked to park their vehicles at a special parking lot at a distance of about 1-km on the Leisure Valley ground, Sector 29, while those coming from Mehrauli, would park their vehicles near the DLF Mega Mall.

A special shuttle bus service would then ferry people to different malls and pubs on the MG Road. The police was also planning to ban the entry of rickshaws and auto-rickshaws.

Residents of Heritage City, Beverley Park I and II and Essel Towers would be allowed to use the service lanes to reach their apartments.

“When people are not safe in personal vehicles then how will we be safe in public transport? Won’t we be more vulnerable to hooligans and eve-teasers on shuttles? Will the police be able to get enough shuttles at good frequency? What about the general security inside buses and on roads?” questions one of the employees of a local mall.

Police Commissioner KK Sindhu, however, is unbaffled by such fears and confident of his plan as he says, “We shall get as many buses as people want. In addition to Metro shuttle service, we will even get Haryana Roadways buses if required. We will not take any nonsense this year and will not spare any lawbreaker. People are free to party but not to go out of bounds. I assure that this celebration will be crime free.” 

Grammatical mistakes pointed out by students in the question paper of the UGC NET examination held in Kurukshetra on Sunday. Tribune photo

The errors have created confusion among the students, added Pankaj. "The UGC authorities concerned should award grant grace marks to the students in the subjects as they should not suffer due to the errors in the question papers," Pankaj said.

12,284 candidates take UGC test

Kurukshetra University conducted the UGC NET on Sunday. The test was conducted at 48 examination centres located in different department buildings of KU and schools and colleges situated in the city. As many as 12,284 candidates out of 15,020 who had applied appeared in the examination. A KU spokesperson informed that 48 centre superintendents, 765 invigilators and 240 other service staff were put on duty. Besides, seven observers appointed by the UGC, the university also engaged its senior deans/professors as observers. Dr Girish Chopra, Dr Anil Vohra and Dr Bhim Singh, Deans, were the UGC observers. The first session of the test was conducted from 9.30 am to 12 noon and the second from 1.30 pm to 4 pm.

The Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police, Kurukshetra, helped in the smooth conduct of the test. 

Karnal, December 30
The Superintendent of Police (SP) Karnal has written to the higher authorities for a fast track court for the speedy disposal of 54 pending rape cases.

Three major gang rape cases were reported since October, including the gang rape of a 14-year-old minor girl of Tarauri by 14 persons in early November. The victim, a resident of Traveri area alleged that one of the accused, identified as Ravi, took her to the railway line in between Traveri and Nilokheri on the promise of marrying her and raped her. Later some other persons, all acquaintances of Ravi, also raped her. All the accused were arrested by GRP.

Another rape case was reported four days later in which the 13-year-old victim was spotted at the ITI Chowk. She alleged that Pawan took her to Karnal and he along with his acquaintances raped her near the jail for four days. She said Pawan lured her and when she reached the Karnal bus stand, he was joined by three more persons and all four of them raped her.

The father of the victim had approached the police on November 5 and said that his daughter was missing and even doubted that she might have been kidnapped and a case under Section 365 of the IPC was registered.

The 15-year old minor daughter of Dharampal was raped allegedly by some youth of a dominant community and her mother who raised her voice against the heinous crime and sought justice, went missing and her body was recovered from the Sirsa branch canal.

The police registered the case only after the body was recovered and Dharampal is running from pillar to post for justice.

Dharampal said the police showed insensitivity and did not act promptly and, in the meantime, his wife was murdered. He said that a case under Section 302 was registered only after the post-mortem report confirmed that she had died due to strangulation.

Chandigarh, December 30
Haryana performed dismally in terms of maintaining “law and order” in the state. Right from the very beginning of the 2012, the state faced social unrest in the shape of agitations, industrial strikes and extra constitutional dictates from khaps. The crime graph has steadily risen, bringing notoriety to the state. This has negated the economic developmental and growth achieved by Haryana.

The image of the Haryana Police in particular has suffered a setback and the uniformed force failed in boosting the public confidence. The outgoing Director General of Police (DGP), one of the longest serving in this position, could not deliver much. All eyes are now focused on the new DGP to make this top heavy force accountable.

The law and order situation in Haryana during the past year was scarred by three major incidents, barring the hundreds of pandemic incidents of rapes, loot and other deplorable crime. The first weakness of the law enforcing agencies was seen while dealing with the Jat agitation. The agitators virtually negated the existence of a government during its agitation in March.

During the five-day agitation, the Jat supporters clashed with the police and also set on fire the car of a district judge, forcing the authorities to close of all educational institutions for three days. Over a hundred people arrested and one person died at Mayar village on the Hisar- Delhi National Highway. The situation was mishandled. The agitators did not allow the body to be lifted till the government release all the arrested persons. This sent a message that the government was indecisive and weak, setting a pace for other agitations in the state.

Barely a month later, the “Suparna Ka Aangan” incident rocked the state. It was found that an orphanage without permission and several minor girls living there were found to be sexually abused. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) that raided the place confirmed that 24 children, out of 71 registered inmates, were missing from this shelter for the poor children.

Within weeks, the state was in for another shock, this time in the form of “Apna Ghar” expose where hundreds of minor girls and inmates of the shelter home were being sexually exploited by those who were meant to shield and raise them. On May 9, a three-member team of the NCPCR raided the three-storey building of the Apna Ghar, located in Srinagar Colony of Rohtak, and horrifying stories of sexual abuse spilled out. As many as 103 inmates were rescued from the shelter. After the issue jolted the Hooda government, the matter was given to the CBI for investigation. Similar incidents were reported from Karnal and other places.

In the subsequent days, the Maruti agitation hit national headlines. A violence that followed at the Manaser plant of the multi-national car manufacturer led to the clash between workers and the Haryana Police remained a mute spectator. The legs of a senior Maruti Manager were broken and he died after being burnt alive. It, however, goes to the credit of the Haryana Government that it prevailed upon Maruti and the company decided not to move out of the state.

Even before the events calmed down, Haryana Minister of State for Home Gopal Krishan Kanda hit the headline due to the suicide by his former employee Geetika Sharma. Geetika blamed Kanda for the extreme step of taking her own life due to harassment at the hand of Kanda. The incident also led to reports in media about the ‘exploitation” of women by Kanda. Kanda had to be sacked from the Hooda Cabinet. He is yet to get bail.

A self-immolation by a minor Dalit rape victim in Jind brought AICC chief Sonia Gandhi to the city. There is a promise of putting trial in sexual offence against women on a fast-tracking, but not with much success yet. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s home district Rohtak alone has registered over 125 cases of rapes this year. Last year (2011), the state had registered 723 cases of rape. This again brought the role of the police under the scanner. So far, 670 rapes cases have been reported, the figure is likely to head north after final compilation. The state has not been without its share of honour killings and social rime. 

Sonepat, December 30
Keeping in view the night-long celebrations on New Year’s Eve on December 31, the police has geared up its force to ensure that there was no untoward incident and the anti-social elements did not create any kind of nuisance.

Superintendent of police Arun Singh has issued directions to all the deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) and station house officers (SHOs) to intensify patrolling and take action if anyone was found creating nuisance under the influence of liquor. They have also been asked to ensure that there was no supply of liquor at the unauthorised places like hotels, restaurants etc.

The police has deployed 13 mobile PCRs and 40 motor cycle rider teams for night patrolling in their beat areas and to keep an eye on the anti-social elements. Special and mobile police nakas would be put up during the celebration hours to check driving of vehicles under the influence of liquor and movement of the anti-social elements. 

Rewari, December 30
The Rampura police has rescued a 25-year-old woman from a hotel on the Narnaul Road, near here, last evening.

On a tip off, the police conducted a raid on Hotel T-Point and rescued the woman, who had been brought to the hotel for flesh trade, and had been kept in an illegal confinement in the hotel.

The police has registered a case of abduction, wrongful confinement and under various sections of the Immoral Trafficking and Prostitution Act against five persons in this connection.

The police arrested hotel manager Hari Om and today produced him before the Duty Magistrate who remanded him in police custody for a day.

A senior police official said as per revelations made by the hotel manager, Rahul, a resident of Delhi, was the kingpin of a prostitution racket, while Arun Yadav was his client and Pushpa Devi of Assam and Ashok Kumar, a resident of Rewari, were his middlemen.

He further said efforts were on to nab the four other accused persons.

He said the woman, who had been forced into the flesh trade, was being sent back to Assam under police protection. 

Rohtak, December 30
Minors continue to drive two-wheelers in violation of the rules. Though a drive regarding the road safety has been on, the authorities concerned have perhaps failed to chalk out and implement any strategy to put a check on such activities.

“Dozens of minor students use two-wheelers to reach a school located on the Civil Road here. Over 100 vehicles can be seen parked outside the school boundary on any working day and there is hardly any policeman to take action or asks the school authorities to stop minors from driving,” said Suresh, a local resident. He said the school had encroached upon the space meant for the pedestrians, for parking of the vehicles.

The situation outside a school located close to the Mini-Secretariat was equally appalling as hundreds of vehicles mainly two-wheelers were parked outside the road in violation of the rules, said Vijay Kumar, another resident. He said the parking itself suggested that a large number of minor students drive to the school on two-wheelers every day.

“School principals have been advised by the police not to allow their students to come to the schools on two-wheelers, but it seems that it is hardly any issue with a majority of the parents who are allowing their children to do so,” said Ram Niwas Hooda a local advocate. He said the parents of the minor drivers needed to be penalised as driving by minors could not only be risky and fatal to them but also a cause of hurdle for others on the roads.

Hari, a vendor, said driving at a high speed by boys aged between 15 and 18 years was a regular feature on the road in front of the residence of the Deputy Commissioner during evening hours and there were no policemen to check such activities. He said vehicles driven by minor boys should to be impounded if the police wanted to stop the violations of the traffic rules.

Though the police claimed to have launched a drive with a focus on educational institutions, it was reported that the police was yet to get tough as no challans had been issued so far in case of driving by minors in the district.