New Delhi, August 29
After a good response from faculty who thronged the North Campus of Delhi University in huge numbers to elect Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) to a fresh term, in terms of voter percentage, until 11.30 pm Nandita Narain ( Maths faculty at St Stephen's College) of the Democratic Teachers' Front (DTF) continued to lead other three presidential candidates with 1,233 votes.

Action for Academics and Development-INTEC combine's candidate Ashwini Sharma from Department of history, Deshbandhu College polled 840 votes, followed by National Democratic Teachers' Front's Asst. Professor Pramod C Sharma in KMC securing 250 votes while Dr SS Rathi's AAD's Dr Shiba C Panda having 235 votes even as 3,500 more ballots were still to be counted.

Left-backed DTF has also topped when it comes to DUTA Executive with all its four candidates securing berths in the first 10. Members of the erstwhile DUTA executive, Saikat Ghosh, Asst. Professor of English, SGTB Khalsa College and Dev Kumar, Asst. Professor of Hindi in Rajdhani College stood at first and third positions, with 6281 votes and 5099 votes, respectively, and of the other two bets Vijaya Venkataraman Associate Professor, Spanish, Arts Faculty, have scored 5,325 votes to be at second position and Associate Professor of history in Maharaja Agrasen College Bhupinder Chaudhary had 4,705 votes in his kitty.

Apart from the four presidential candidates, there were 22 names fielded for 15 executive members of the body. In this, eight were placed by AAD-INTEC, four by DTF, three from NDTF, two from breakaway faction of AAD, besides three others.

As the apprehensions expressed that there could be low turnout of teachers today, especially ad hoc and temporary faculty, due to classes, the total polling stood at reasonably good level 72.8 per cent with 6,400 votes vis-à-vis 68 per cent with nearly 5,515 votes in 2011.

Unlike other years, this time the designated Election Officer Prof Anita Sharma earlier this month withdrew the notification sent to principals of colleges and departments regarding suspension of classes for DUTA polls, however, later the matter was left to the Teachers' Staff Associations of colleges. So, this year DU's faculty had to juggle between their classes to come for recording their choices on the North Campus, where a total of 21 polling booths had been put up, including one for differently abled voters.

The move of leaving it to staff bodies came after teachers' factions condemned it as anti-teachers" and one due to the pressure from administration to prevent ad hoc teachers from voting.

"There was no official intimation about any meeting regarding the same from us and so teachers are coming managing their lectures. For ad hoc teachers it is slightly difficult and so many got them adjusted and have been coming," said a faculty from Bharti College after casting his votes.

New Delhi, August 29
Members of the BJP in the Delhi Legislative Assembly were marshaled out when they continuously disrupted the House proceedings, demanding the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit's statement on the death of a woman and many others fell ill reportedly due to contaminated water in Naraina. The woman died in DDU Hospital on Tuesday.

The members led by the Leader of the Opposition, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, since beginning of the House proceedings demanded that the Chief Minister should give her statement on the supply of contaminated water that had caused death of a woman. They raised slogans against the government from their benches. Later, they came in Well of the House.

The Speaker, Yoganand Shastri, adjourned the House three times. First time the House was adjourned for 30 minutes. Again the House assembled, the opposition members created noise and forced the Speaker to adjourn the House for 30 minutes. Same happened third time and the House was yet again adjourned. When fourth time they continued noisy scenes, the Speaker marshaled them out.

Thereafter, the BJP members protested outside the House, saying that there is scarcity of water in Delhi. The Delhi Jal Board supplies contaminated water, resulting death of a woman, said Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

Dr Harshvardhan said that the Chief Minister is the chairperson of the DJB but there was no improvement in the supply. "We have been demanding for adequate water supply. But attention has not been given towards it. Private tankers owned by water mafias are supplying water in many areas. At some places, tubewell water is not good for consumption. It should be purified," he said.

After the opposition members marshaled out from the house, the Chief Minister said that an inquiry will be conducted to know the cause of death of the woman and by tomorrow the report will be tabled before the House. If anybody found guilty, action will be taken against him.

She said that according to the report available, so far, is that woman had high blood pressure. She was admitted to hospital where she died. She had come from outside Delhi. She did not die due to consuming water. Other persons were also there who had drunk same water but they had no complains.

New Delhi, August 29
A group of Muslim academics and former student leaders today joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Among them, there were members of alumni association of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jamila Milia Islamia, with some well-known faces being former AMU president Irfanullan Khan and Firoz Bhakt Ahmed, AMU alumni student leader and now a social and heritage activist at Delhi's Zakir Nagar.

Chairperson of Jamia Nagar Coordination Committee Irfanullah Khan, who is known for raising issues for development of minorities, said, "The Muslims have to be brought to the main stream. We are not asking for alms but want a partnership in this country. We have supported parties entrenched with moral corruption on non-issues and now it is time to make the right choice." He urged the Muslim community to strengthen AAP by joining the party which would affect a change for the community.

Muslim leaders, along with Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal, during a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday. Tribune photo:Manas Ranjan Bhui

Firoz Bakht Ahmed, also the grandnephew of Maulana Azad, stated that the reason for joining AAP was that except this party, all the other parties were playing communal card appeasing either one or the other community while AAP has been fighting on an - India card.

Other Muslim leaders who joined the party are: Mashkur Ahmed, former Jamia Millia Student president, Arif Jamal, Shakil Malik, Shahid Azad and Rais Ahmed.

Apart from these, SP leader Ram Sevak Upadhyay also declared his association with the AAP.

New Delhi, August 29
Hundreds of former child labourers, parents, child rights activists and concerned citizens from 10 different states assembled at Jantar Mantar to demand immediate amendments in the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, for complete ban on child labour in the country and pass the act in this Parliament session.

This Children's march to Parliament against child labour was organised by an NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), Global March Against Child Labour (GM). Many civil society organizations like Save the Childhood Foundation, Walk Free, Bal Ashram Trust, Bal Vikas Dhara and members of Rashtriya Bal Maha Panchayat (National Children Parliament) along with teachers' unions and concerned citizens participated in the march.

"Are we not important? Don't we have the right to live our life with dignity and honour? For how long do we need to wait and suffer till our legitimate rights are realized?" questioned Razia Sultan, a former child labourer and winner of Global Education's Youth Courage Award, 2013, by the United Nations, while addressing the assembly today.

This assembly of the parents and the families of child labourers was representing more than 5 crore exploited child labours in the country (although 49.84 lakhs child labourers as per government estimates) and hundreds of thousands of trafficked and out-of-school children.

"Once again India is failing her children. Once again these children are being left wanting for justice and because children can not vote our political patrons continue to ignore their rights and needs. While important laws like the food security bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha there is yet another pressing issue that is being ignored. We urge Parliament to pass the Child Labour Bill on the next business day with a sense of utmost urgency," he observed.

After leading the march to Parliament, members of Rashtriya Bal Maha Panchayat submitted a memorandum along with one million signatures to the Prime Minister's Office, demanding immediate amendments in the Child Labour Act for complete ban on child labour in the country.

New Delhi, August 29
A 55-year-old widow was hammered to death by unknown persons in the Malviya Nagar area this evening.

A police officer said the incident occurred in Khidki Extension about 4 pm. The deceased was identified as Madhu.

"The neighbours called the police that a scuffle was going on inside her home. The police reached the spot and rushed Madhu to the AIIMS Hospital where she was declared dead. Her head was hit with a hammer. She had severe head injuries that caused her death. An FIR of murder under Section 302 of the IPC was lodged in this respect," said the officer.

Mahdu lived with her husband Ramesh. Her husband was not at home when the incident occurred. Her daughter-in-law Rachna was present at the crime scene.

"We do not know what is the motive behind the murder. We are suspecting that family members could be behind the incident," said the officer.

"Rachna is also under the scanner of police," said the officer.

New Delhi, August 29
Two persons allegedly committed suicide and a senior citizen attempted to kill herself by consuming poison in Delhi in the past 24 hours.

In the first incident, a 34-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a Metro train about 12.15 pm today.

The deceased has been identified as Desh Raj, who lived in Uttam Nagar in west Delhi. He was an employee at a sweet shop. He arrived at the Uttam Nagar Metro station. He jumped in front of a train that was leaving for Rajiv Chowk. Before the train driver could pull the brakes, Raj came under the wheels.

Raj died on the spot. The body has been sent to a government hospital for the postmortem. There was a 20-minute delay in Metro services, due to the incident.

The investigators said they have not found a suicide note from Raj. They are questioning his friends and family members to ascertain the motive of his alleged suicide.

In the second incident, a 45-year-old Central Industrial Security Force head constable allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan at his residence in the Bawana area, outer Delhi.

The deceased has been identified as Satish Kumar. He was posted at the Shastri Park Metro station.

The police said that they received a call from Kumar's house at Sector 4, CISF quarters in Bawana this morning. "The police found him lying on the bed. He was taken to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, where he was declared dead," said a police officer.

Kumar was alone at his house when he allegedly committed suicide. His wife was at her parents' home for the past few days. Kumar's brother-in-law had discovered his body hanging from the ceiling fan.

He alleged that Satish was trying to commit suicide for past few days and had informed his relatives about it. He allegedly had strained relations with his wife.

The investigators, however, are questioning more people and waiting for the post-mortem report.

In the third incident, a 60-year-old man tried to commit suicide inside the Kanjhawala police station in outer Delhi yesterday.

The victim has been identified as Rajbir Singh. He had approached the police after he claimed to be fed up with his daughter-in-law's harassment. He alleged that his daughter-in-law had taken his savings and thrown him out of the house.

Police officers convinced him that his daughter-in-law will stop harassing him. The police called his daughter-in-law and warned her. Yesterday, Rajbir arrived again at the police station, alleging harassment. The police officers this time did not hear his plea and asked him to return home.

He left the police station premises and returned after an hour. He consumed a poison in front of the police officers. They rushed him to Maharshi Valmiki Hospital, where he is still critical.

A police inquiry has been initiated into the matter for not hearing Rajbir's plea.