New Delhi, October 1
A 50-year-old woman has been arrested after her grievously injured domestic help, who was rescued from her house in Vasant Kunj locality yesterday, alleged that she was beaten and tortured by the woman.

The woman identified as Vandana Dhir was arrested on the basis of the victim's statement, the police said today. Vandana works with a Noida-based company as country communications director. The victim, who is an 18-year-old girl according to the police, belongs to Sahebganj district, Jharkhand, and allegedly worked as a maid at Vandana's house. The Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital, Dr BD Athani, where she is admitted for treatment, claims that she is a minor.

The police with an anti-human trafficking NGO, Shakti Vahini, Delhi Commission for Women and Sai Sewa Kripa Samiti, reached Vandana's house yesterday. An elderly woman answered the door. She refused to let the teams meet the maid and told them to wait for her daughter Vandana to return. Vandana came back home about 8 pm and the team rescued the girl.

The girl was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital, where she is undergoing treatment. Sources said that she has suffered cut injuries on her scalp and has bruises and abrasions on her face, hands and legs. She is presently in a stable condition at the hospital. There were also reportedly open wounds on her head.

"She is stable and is in emergency care. All medical investigations have been done. Doctors have put her under observation for a couple of days," said Dr Athani.

Her statement was recorded by the officers of the Vasant Kunj police station. She said that she had arrived in Delhi with her aunt after her father passed away last year. "I was employed at Vandana's house, but was never paid for my services over the last one year," she said in her statement.

She alleges that Vandana used to taunt and beat her over random issues. "I was attacked with knives, sticks and a broom several times and due to the beating I sustained injuries all over my body," said the girl.

The victim further claims that Vandana never agreed to her wish to return to Jharkhand. The girl said that when she raised the issue, she was kept confined in a room. "To stop me from running away, Vandana never gave me proper clothes to wear at home," she told the police.

A case under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act and the Indian Penal Code has been registered.

New Delhi, October 1
Going all out to woo Delhiites, the state government today decided to provide 90 per cent reservation to the students from Delhi in 12 colleges which are cent per cent funded by the Delhi Government.

Delhi Higher Education Minister Dr AK Walia said in colleges where the Delhi Government is providing 50 per cent grant for their capital work and 5 per cent as the recurring grant, reservation to the extent of 50 per cent be provided to the students of Delhi. He added that the Delhi Government will send these recommendations to University of Delhi and to the Ministry of Home Affairs for approval.

Currently, the Delhi Government has 12 colleges to which it is providing cent per cent grant.

Dr. Walia said that in the above two categories of the students from Delhi would be taken as those who have passed the qualifying examination of Class XII from schools located in Delhi. Though there is no data available with these colleges as to how many students from Delhi are studying in these colleges, it is estimated that nearly 17,000 students of Delhi are studying in these colleges.

"Once the abovesaid recommendations are accepted, it will provide additional seats to about 19,000 students from Delhi. They will get an opportunity to study in Delhi itself rather than seeking admission outside Delhi where they have to bear financial burden as well as face a number of other difficulties," said Walia.

The minister announced that as far as the female students from Delhi is concerned, it has been decided that additional weightage of 5 per cent of the marks obtained by the female student in the qualifying examination of Class XII should be given in both Delhi and non-Delhi student categories.

Dr. Walia said that the similar calculation and provisioning is recommended to be adopted for the female students in non-Delhi student category. This recommendation would enhance the female literacy in the higher education and would be a step forward towards correcting the gender balance in the higher education amongst the girls in Delhi.

New Delhi, October 1
After the completion of the election of the office-bearers and bringing the executive to full strength co-opting members today, 23 members of the newly elected Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) executive is ready to take the university administration head-on on a range of issues, including the introduction of points system to screen candidates before interviews in teachers' appointment, implementation of reservation roster, besides the controversial four-year undergraduate programme among others.

DUTA elected its office-bearers from the 16 members who were chosen in the DUTA polls held on August 29 followed by finalising co-options to complete the formation for the DUTA term 2013-15 here.

The new office-bearers are: Sandeep (ARSD College) as vice-president, Harish Khanna (Shyam Lal Evening College) as secretary, Anita Ghosh (Aditi Mahavidyalaya) as joint secretary and Bhupinder Chaudhary (Maharaja Agrasen College) as treasurer.

Besides these, five more teacher activists, Angad Tiwari (Aurobindo Evening College), Vivek Mohan (Delhi College of Arts and Commerce), Ramesh Kumar (Shivaji College), Pramod C. Sharma (Kirori Mal College) and Anand Kumar (College of Vocational Studies) were co-opted into the DUTA Executive to complete its full strength.