Panchkula, July 20
Family members of Geetanjali Garg, wife of Chief Judicial Magistrate Ravneet Garg, today claimed that her relationship with her husband deteriorated after she gave birth to second girl child.

A case under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC has been registered against Ravneet, his father KK Garg and his mother Rachna Garg.

Geetanjali, 28, a resident of Sector 8 in Panchkula, was found shot dead in Gurgaon. Later, the postmortem examination revealed that she was shot thrice.

She had shifted from Jagadhari to Gurgaon two months ago following Ravneet’s promotion. She is survived by her two daughters — Poonam (5) and Guddu (3).

“Geetanjali was often harassed by her in-laws after she gave birth to a second girl child. She was being pressured for a male child. But my daughter did not want another child,” said Om Prakash, victim’s father. Geetanjali’s sister Gargi said she had told her over the phone three days ago that her mother-in-law would taunt her for not giving birth to a male child. She even said her daughters’ birthdays were not celebrated.

Gargi added, “Whenever my sister would say that she would make her daughters IAS officers, her in-laws would get irritated.” The family even claimed that Geetanjali had delivered speeches in Africa on female foeticide. The family of the victim will meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday for a CBI probe.

}My family is innocent. We are supporting the police in their investigation. When Geetanjali was found shot dead, my brother was busy in video conferencing and my father was away for some work~

Navdeep, brother of CJM Ravneet Garg

Panchkula, July 20
In the infamous Sarita rape and suicide case, a CBI court today convicted five Haryana Police officials.

The two main accused, Head Constable Balraj and Constable Silak Ram, have been awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment, the other three police officials, Ram Phal, Randhir and Ram Dhaari, sentenced to one-year imprisonment.

The rape case had come up for hearing before the CBI court today while the decision in the suicide case is still pending. A fine of Rs 50,000 each has also been imposed on Balraj and Silak Ram, while Rs 10,000 each has been imposed on the other three.

In 2009, Sarita, a resident of Rohtak, consumed poison in the office of Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) in Sector 6, Panchkula, finding no action against those who raped her at Rohtak.

Apart from 10-year imprisonment under Section 376 (rape), Balraj and Silak Ram have also been awarded one-year imprisonment under Section 342 and 218 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The other three have been awarded imprisonment under Sections 342(for wrongful confinement) and 218 (public servant framing incorrect record) for confining the victim's husband in custody and framing him in a theft case.

Husband of the victim Subash had even identified all five accused. ASP Satish Dagar, investigating officer in the case, also produced evidence recently of how the two raped Sarita before she was forced to commit suicide and how her husband was falsely implicated in the case.

After Sarita was raped, the police officials registered case under wrong sections. On August 20, 2011, then investigating officer (IO) Prahlad had filed a statement in the CBI court how then Rohtak DSP Dheeraj Setia and then SHO Pawan Kumar forced him to change the sections of the FIR from 376 A (rape by a police official on his premises) and 376 G of the IPC (gangrape) to 376 B (rape by public servant), 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC. The decision in this case is pending.

Sonepat, July 20
The district today witnessed the heaviest rainfall of the season bringing cheers on the faces of farmers while creating multiple problems for residents. A numbers of vehicles were stranded at different places due to waterlogging.

The dry spell of around one month after the first rainfall on June 17 had slowed down paddy plantation in the district and hardly 40 per cent of the targeted area could be brought under the paddy.

This widespread rain would again give momentum to the plantation process.

The rain hit the normal activities in Sonepat as there were reports of waterlogging every where in the town. The worst affected were the areas near Shani Mandir, Geeta Bhawan Chowk, Rathdhana Road, Kakroi Road, Kalupur Chungi and Sector-14.

The construction of a railway overbridge in the town and digging on Kakroi Road, Mehlana Road and Sector-23 divider blocked the flow of water. 

Chandigarh, July 20
The Haryana government is set to keep a tab on government officials’ gifts even on customary occasions such as weddings, anniversaries, funerals, religious functions and farewells.

In a bid to curb corrupt practices, the government has put an upper limit for accepting gifts by state government officials on such occasions when making gifts is an accepted practice.The official can accept gift up to Rs 10,000 from close relatives and personal friends on such occasions. However, gifts amounting to only Rs 5,000 can be accepted from any person other than close relatives and personal friends.

“The government official will have to send a report to the state government if the gift amount exceeds the limit,” according to draft Haryana Civil Services (Government Employees Conduct) Rules, 2013.

In an attempt to discourage the trend of relatives accepting gifts on behalf of the officials, the rules prohibit even members of the family of the official and any person acting on behalf of the official to accept any gift in routine course.

The rules defined the gift as “free transport, boarding, lodging or other service or any other pecuniary advantage provided by a person other than near relatives and friends having no official dealings with the government employee”. However, a casual meal or other social hospitality would not constitute a gift, the rules clarified.

Meanwhile, the rules also cautioned the government employee against accepting lavish or frequent hospitality from any individual, industry and commercial firm having official dealings with him. Any violation of these rules could invite disciplinary action against the erring employees, official sources said.

The sources said the framing of new rules was the offshoot of numerous complaints against officials, especially working in the public dealing departments, on the misuse of official postions in availing hospitality and expensive gifts from the corporate sector. The new rules’ strict implementation would go a long way in instilling transparency in the government departments, the sources added.

Sirsa, July 20
Residents of over 12 villages in Kalanwali and Dabwali areas of the district have decided to launch an agitation against Guru Gobind Singh Oil Refinery at Kanakwal village in Bathinda district of Punjab due to the air pollution coming from it.

Kanakwal village is situated closer to Hassu, Asir, Norang, Desu, Tigri and some other villages of Sirsa and the residents of these villages allege that air pollution emanating from the refinery has made their life miserable.

Villagers have been complaining of breathing problems and swollen, red and watery eyes, which they allege, is caused by the refinery.

The villagers allege that most of them have to use inhalers for breathing problems and make regular visits to the doctors because of the allergic reactions.

“The air has become so poisonous that we are not able to sit in the open. We do not even allow our children to play in the open, especially when heavy winds are blowing in the area,” said Narender Singh, sarpanch of Hassu village in Sirsa.

Kuldeep Singh, sarpanch of Assir village, alleged that the he had made several complaints against the pollution caused by the refinery, but the authorities in Punjab have refused to listen to them.

He said hundreds of villagers from nearly 12 villages from Haryana would start a dharna outside Guru Gobind Singh Oil Refinery from tomorrow to demand closure of the unit.

Narinder Singh claimed that villagers from Kanakwal and neighbouring Phulokhari village of Punjab would also support their agitation and sit on dharna along with them.

He said that their agitation would continue till a permanent solution was found to their problem. 

Chandigarh, July 20
Directions to hold monthly meetings and reports these to the Pradesh Congress Committee came dovetailed with a threat of replacing “non-performers” at a meeting of the district and block presidents of the Haryana Congress with secretary, All-India Congress Committee Asha Kumari here today.

While she aired expectations party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had of the district and block units, the Congressmen took this opportunity to voice their grievances against a “chronically indifferent bureaucracy” which paid no heed to them.

They were critical of the frequent mudslinging matches between party seniors and said it sent a wrong message to the public about the party.

Sources said while most of the Congressmen urged the secretary to ensure that the workers get their due in terms of being heard by the district administration, they even sought a say in allocation of works and grants to bring about a change at the grassroot level.

Asked for suggestions to strengthen the party base, they said the district and the block level units must be in the loop about any minister visiting their area. “It will help us consolidate our position. If we are given weightage at party programmes, we will be able to rope in more people,” a district chief said.

The sources said the presidents were asked to hold regular monthly meetings on a fixed date and pre-determined venues. “These meetings will be attended by the executive body of the districts and blocks. We have been asked to publicise various government initiatives, including the Food Security Bill, besides discussing the bottlenecks in the implementation of these schemes,” a block unit chief said.

The reports of these monthly meetings will be sent to PCC office which will forward these to the AICC.

Asha said observers would be appointed by the PCC to oversee the functioning of these meetings and by the District Congress Committees for block-level meetings. These observers will attend these meetings.

Rewari, July 20
The Dharuhera police arrested three youths, identified as Hari Om and Rajbir, both residents of Dhakia village, and Jai Vir of a surrounding village of the Pataudi area of Gurgaon district, for their alleged involvement in the abduction, molestation and rape of a Dalit girl (17) of Khatavali village, near Dharuhera, on the night of July 17.

The police also seized from them two motor cycles which had been used in executing the offence.

Their fourth accomplice Kuldeep of Dhakia village was at large.

The three youths were today produced in a local court which remanded them in judicial custody.

DSP Virender Singh, who has been investigating the case, said when the girl was sleeping beside her mother on the roof of their house, she was forcibly taken away by Rajbir and Jai Vir who then took her to an isolated place where they were joined by Hari Om and Kuldeep.

He further said while the girl was allegedly raped by Hari Om, she was molested by others. 

Chandigarh, July 20
The Haryana Government has decided to consider e-Aadhaar as a valid and secure electronic document which would be treated at par with the printed Aadhaar letter.

An official spokesperson said here that the Information Technology Act, 2000, provided for legal recognition of electronic records with digital signatures. He said the data printed in an e-Aadhaar letter was the same as the data printed in an Aadhaar letter.