B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

15 students hurt as school van veers off road, falls into ditch
Faridkot, November 11
Fifteen students of an SGPC run school in Jaitu town of Faridkot received multiple injuries today in the evening when a rickety and overcrowed van of the school skidded off the road, spun around and fell sideways into a ditch. 

Rural court at Kot-ise-Khan gets judicial officer 
Moga, November 11
On the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the district and sessions judge of Moga, Karamjit Singh Kang, has deputed judicial magistrate Anish Goyal to preside over as "nyayadhikari"of the "gram nyayalaya" set up recently at Kot-ise-Khan town in the district.

Celebrity writer Detha’s demise mourned
Abohar, November 11
Meetings were held today at Abohar and neighbouring Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh district towns in Rajasthan to pay tributes to Vijaydan Detha, 88-year-old celebrated author of Rajasthani folk tales, who died at his native village Borunda on Sunday.

Arrest of complainant lands police in dock
Faridkot, November 11
About a month after the Kotkapura police in Faridkot arrested Naresh Sehgal, a complainant in an 11-year-old criminal case against Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for the offence of abetment of suicide, it is all set to put the police in the dock.

 Dialling ‘181’ helps man get back stolen bag
Muktsar, November 11
By dialling the recently launched Punjab Police special helpline number 181, a resident of Gidderbaha was able to get back his stolen bag, which two motorcyclists had robbed from him near the Bathinda bypass here yesterday.

15 students hurt as school van veers off road, falls into ditch
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, November 11
Fifteen students of an SGPC run school in Jaitu town of Faridkot received multiple injuries today in the evening when a rickety and overcrowed van of the school skidded off the road, spun around and fell sideways into a ditch. The driver lost control over the van when its steering developed a snag and stopped working.

The students of Guru Gobind Singh Public School in Jaitu were on their way home when the school van met with an accident. The injured children were rescued by the farmers working in the adjoining fields and more people reached the spot to rescue the trapped students from the van after breaking open the window panes. There was an announcement from the loudspeaker in the gurdwara of Rameana village immediately after the accident, calling the people to help.

The injured were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Jaitu, but as there was no adequate medical facility to treat the injured children there, the villagers and volunteers of an NGO, Naujawan Welfare Society, shifted the students to private and government hospitals in Kotkapura and Faridkot.

Of the 10 sanctioned posts of doctors at the community health center in Jaitu, there are only three serving doctors in the hospital. More over, there is no ultrasound scan machine in the hospital.

The villagers said the condition of the school van was critical. Against its capacity of carrying 20 children, this van was carrying 50-52 children, said Sikander Singh Gill, former sarpanch of Rameana village.

"Many a time, we requested the school authorities to replace this rickety bus, but no action was taken," rued Swaraj Singh, father of an injured child.

Earlier, the van had met with an accident twice due to the heavy load of students and its poor condition. But the unsafe ride continued for the students, said a member of Naujawan Welfare Society.

As a customary ritual, the district administration and the police promulgate the orders every six months, prohibiting the over-crowding of school vehicles but not even a single auto-rickshaw, school van or a rickshaw has been challaned for this violation so far. “We have received no complaint in this regard,” said a senior functionary in the district transport department in Faridkot. 

Rural court at Kot-ise-Khan gets judicial officer 
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, November 11
On the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the district and sessions judge of Moga, Karamjit Singh Kang, has deputed judicial magistrate Anish Goyal to preside over as "nyayadhikari"of the "gram nyayalaya" set up recently at Kot-ise-Khan town in the district.

At least 150 cases of various nature such as domestic violence, theft, permanent injunction, declaration and recovery had been transferred to this court with the aim of providing less expensive justice free from protracted procedural wrangles and accessible to the common man at the grassroots level.

The president of the District Bar Association Ramesh Grover said the "gram nyayalaya" would not only follow summary procedure in criminal cases and a simple procedure with regard to the principles of natural justice in civil cases, but also try to resolve matters through conciliation between the litigants.

As per the Gram Nyayalaya Act, 2008, the rural court would dispose of cases within six months with the sole motive of providing speedy justice at the doorstep of the rural folks. Since more than 50 per cent of the population in the district resides in the villages, the concept behind the setting up of this court was to provide speedy and inexpensive justice, he said.

The rural court's judgment would be deemed to be a decree. To avoid delay, it would follow summary procedure for its execution. The district and sessions court would dispose of criminal and civil appeals respectively against a rural court's order within six months from the date of filing the appeal, which also aims at speedy justice.

Celebrity writer Detha’s demise mourned
Our Correspondent

Abohar, November 11
Meetings were held today at Abohar and neighbouring Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh district towns in Rajasthan to pay tributes to Vijaydan Detha, 88-year-old celebrated author of Rajasthani folk tales, who died at his native village Borunda on Sunday.

National Sahitya Akademi Award recipients Mohan Aalok and Dr Mangat Badal said Detha was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature in 2006, though the prize ultimately went to Swedish poet Thomas Transtromer.

Noted poets Janak Raj Pareek, Om Purohit Kagad, Khazan Makkar, Bharat Ola, Motyar Parishad state convener Anil Jandu and Lekhak Parishad vice-president Praveen Kathuria said Detha's contribution in the field of literature was immense.

In his condolence message to the bereaved family, actor-director Amol Palekar said, "I was stunned over the demise of Detha. I had met him during the making of 'Paheli' but I knew him through his work since 80s when I started reading his books. I am a big fan of his and have a collection of each his each published work."

Arrest of complainant lands police in dock
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, November 11
About a month after the Kotkapura police in Faridkot arrested Naresh Sehgal, a complainant in an 11-year-old criminal case against Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for the offence of abetment of suicide, it is all set to put the police in the dock.

Lodged in Central Jail, Faridkot, Naresh Sehgal has sent a complaint with some photographs and video clips to the Chief Justice of India, Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) and Governor, Punjab, alleging that he was named in a false case so that he could not pursue the criminal case against the Deputy CM. The case is pending in a judicial court in Faridkot and was registered under Section 307/382/323 of the IPC on June 21, 2002 on the directions of the HC after Sehgal filed a writ petition.

The Kotkapura police arrested Naresh Sehgal on the intervening night of October 13-14. In an FIR lodged with Kotkapura police, it was alleged that a youth ended his life after he was allegedly thrashed by Sehgal during the celebration of Dasehra festival in the new grain market in Kotkapura on October 13. The Dasehra programme was organised by the All India Hindu Welfare Committee. Sehgal is the president of this committee.

It is alleged that the deceased Amritpal Singh (20) was badly beaten up by Sehgal and unable to tolerate the insult, the youth ended his life.

While Angrej Singh, SHO, Kotkapura, said the police registered the case on the basis of a suicide note recovered from the deceased and after the father of the deceased made a complaint to the police, Sehgal alleged that he was implicated in a false case to build pressure on him to withdraw his case against Sukhbir Badal.

Demanding a CBI probe into the incident, Sehgal alleged that the youth died of police torture after some policemen on duty in Dasehra ground nabbed him for eve-teasing. "After the youth was badly beaten up in the lock-up and he died, the police found a suitable scapegoat in me to build pressure to withdraw my case against the Deputy CM," alleged Sehgal in a complaint to the Chief Justice and the Governor.

After he apprehended a threat to his life, on the directions of the High Court, the home affairs and law department, Punjab, provided police security with a Gypsy and two gunmen to Sehgal in August 2012.

 Dialling ‘181’ helps man get back stolen bag

Muktsar, November 11
By dialling the recently launched Punjab Police special helpline number 181, a resident of Gidderbaha was able to get back his stolen bag, which two motorcyclists had robbed from him near the Bathinda bypass here yesterday.

The police said it had received a complaint on the helpline number 181 from one Balwinder Puri that two motorcyclists had stolen his bag around 1 pm when he alighted from a bus. The bag was full of some important documents.

"After receiving the call, the Sadar police in-charge Iqbal Singh and ASI Ranjeet Singh started a manhunt taking along the victim and achieved success on reaching Kacha Thandewala road," said a police spokesperson.

"While one of the accused was caught and identified as Jagbir Singh, a resident of Abohar road, his accomplice fled," the police said. — TNS