Chandigarh, February 3
Rajpal Saini can hope for more than a judgement in his long-pending case. He can look forward to justice. A victim of electric shock, Saini had moved the trial court against the State of Haryana, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited and its officials for recovery of damages for burns and disability. But his evidence was closed by the trial court primarily on the ground that he had availed “numerous opportunities”, but could not conclude his evidence despite last opportunity and his case figured in Samadhan 2013-14 list of old-pending cases.

Taking up Saini’s matter, Justice Mehinder Singh Sullar has reversed the orders with telling observations. “Ex facie, it may be true that numerous opportunities were granted to the plaintiff to conclude the evidence and the case pertains to the list of Samadhan 2013-14, but that ipso facto, is not a ground, much less cogent, to close his evidence”.

Saini’s case is just one of the 11 lakh cases pending till recently in the district courts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. Attribute it to the shortage of judges, or filing of frivolous cases, such matters remain on the list for years together.

When some of these cases are suddenly listed, counsels are often at a loss in the absence of complete records or instructions. Many of the petitioners are also no more to pursue their grievances.

But, the fast-tracking of long-pending cases has brought along its own set of problems. It is well established that “not only must justice be done; it must also be seen to be done”. However, some of the litigants are now left with the sense of receiving judgements instead of justice, with the judicial hammer falling fast on the old pending cases.

Appearing before Justice Sullar, Saini’s counsel told the court that the petitioner suffered burn injuries and 80 per cent disability due to an electric shock. But the trial court closed his evidence vide impugned order dated December 18, 2013.

Taking into consideration the nature of the matter, Justice Sullar dispensed with the process of issuing notice and observed the plaintiff had deposited expenses and process fee to summon a doctor and hospital record.

But the trial court closed the evidence apparently on the ground that the plaintiff had availed numerous opportunities, yet he failed to conclude the evidence despite last opportunity; and the case was included in the Samadhan 2013-14 list.

“Here to me, the trial court has committed a legal mistake…. The production of such evidence is essential, to decide the real controversy between the parties and is the legal requirement of fair trial….”

“Consequently, the impugned is set aside. The trial court is directed to provide one more effective opportunity to the petitioner-plaintiff, to conclude his evidence. However, this would be subject to the payment of Rs 2,000 as compensatory costs, to be paid by petitioner to the defendants,” Justice Sullar concluded.

Pending cases

Saini’s case is just one of the 11 lakh cases pending till recently in the district courts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. Attribute it to the shortage of judges, or filing of frivolous cases, such matters remain on the list for years together.

Panipat, February 3
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) has deputed an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) to speed up identification of 19 bodies of the Samjhauta Express blast victims.

Following a meeting of NIA Inspector General (IG) Sanjeev Kumar Singh with Panipat lawyer Momin Malik in Delhi today, the IG deputed ASP Vishal Garg for the job.

Malik said if required, family members of the victims would give fresh blood samples for DNA tests for identification of the bodies. The NIA was handed over the investigation into the blast case in 2010, three years after the blast.

Even seven years after the blast at Diwana railway station in Panipat district, 19 of the 68 persons killed are yet to be identified. The unidentified bodies were buried at the Mehrana graveyard.

Family members of the victims had already given blood samples, but were awaiting the DNA report.

Faridabad, February 3
The newly developed Industrial Model Township (IMT) at Ballabgarh will offer nearly 530 plots to industrialists in a couple of weeks.

Welcoming the move, Ramnik Prabhakar, a member of the Manufacturers Association, Faridabad (MAF), said, “We have been demanding much smaller plots, preferably of the size ranging between 50 sq yards and 300 sq yards, so that a majority of the small units operating from non-industrial areas could be adjusted in a developed township.’’

He said over 5,000 small and medium industrial units were operating from the residential and unauthorised areas and the authorities had perhaps ignored the ground realties so far.

He said the rates of the plots offered at IMT Ballabgarh were much above the paying capacity of a majority of the entrepreneurs as a plot of 500 sq yards would be costing around Rs 80 lakh.

“Private developers are offering such plots in the Prithla and Palwal areas at a rate ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000 per sq yard against the minimum price of Rs 15,000 per sq yard in the IMT,’’ said a member of the Faridabad Industries Association (FIA). 

Faridabad, February 3
A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped at a brick kiln near Bhupani village in the district yesterday. The police have registered a case in this regard and started investigation.

Police sources said a man lured the girl with sweets and took her to a secluded spot on a brick kiln premises where he raped her. The parents of the victim, who found the girl crying and bleeding, took her to the hospital, where it was revealed that she had been raped.

The identity of the accused, who managed to flee after committing the crime, is yet to be ascertained.

Youth arrested

Rewari: The police have arrested Tejpal, a Dalit youth, for making an attempt to outrage the modesty of a woman at Kalaka village on January 28.

He was today produced in a local court which released him on bail.

The police had registered a case of molestation against him on a complaint filed by the woman yesterday.

Gangrape accused held

Sonepat: The police have arrested Ravi, alias Chintu, of Hullaheri village, one of the four accused of gangraping a woman of Shahdra in Delhi.

He was today produced in the court which remanded him in police custody.The other three accused- Rajesh, Toni and Sonu-- are yet to be arrested. The car used for kidnapping the woman was also yet to be recovered.

In her complaint to the police on February 2, the woman alleged that she came to Murthal on Saturday to meet her mother. After she got down from the bus at Murthal crossing on the GT road, she was kidnapped by four car-borne youths on her way to the mother's residence.

They took her to a room and raped her. Later they escaped in the car.

In two other cases of rape, the police have arrested Pradeep of Devipura in Gohana and Sitender of Shekhupura in Karnal district.

Both accused had allegedly raped the victims on the promise of marriage.

Gurgaon, February 3
Rapid urbanisation in Gurgaon has cast a shadow on the agriculture sector. It adversely affected the rural life in a big way as it has eroded the agricultural base and ruptured traditional values. It has resulted in social incongruities and criminal tendencies, especially among youngsters.

Swanky skyscrapers twinkling with sodium lights, glitzy colonies and condominiums, malls, market squares, hotels and pubs have come up at the cost of agricultural land.

Agriculture land holding in the district has shrunk. The region faces a real time threat of losing its sylvan charm and the agro-culture if the state remains oblivious to it.

Devraj Yadav, former sarpanch of Kanhi village in this district, regretted the rampant urbanisation. He said the policy makers would have to strike a balance between urbanisation and agriculture for a healthy polity.

According to statistics, in 2006, the pool of cultivable land in Gurgaon, which consists of 291 villages, was 76,615 hectares. In 2007, the total agricultural land holding was 77,184 hectare, an increase over the figure of 2006. The revenue authorities attribute this increase to heavy rainfall, which resulted in forced cultivation due to long-standing accumulation of storm water in the open areas.

However, the total cultivable land in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 was 71,040, 68,859, 70,869, 67,854, 69,544 and 75,165 hectares respectively.

Gurgaon's total land mass is 1,91,000 hectares. If the 2013 figures are taken into account, about 48 per cent of the cultivable land has been used for urbanisation. A number of villages have become part of the urban estate now. As many as 35 villages in Gurgaon tehsil have been incorporated into the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation (MCG).

What the official records have not taken into account is the vast tracts of land, which albeit categorised under agricultural land holding, have been purchased by private builders. They can't be expected to adopt agriculture as a vocation. Some of them have already procured licences to raise colonies.

There are many villages like Badshahpur, Islampur, Tikri, Begumpur Khatola, Begumpur, Mohammadpur, Gadholi,Wazirpur, Nathupur, Kasan, Manesar, Hyatpur, Dhorka, Harsaru, Garhi Khurd, Garhi Kalan, Dhanwapur, Daultabad, Bajghera and Dhankot where there is no land or modicum of agricultural land has been left.

Ambala, February 3
Former union minister and local MLA Venod Sharma, while targeting former union minister Kumari Selja, said today that she had played an important role in the cancellation of the industrial model township (IMT), the dream project of Ambala, which was the industrial lifeline of the region.

While addressing a rally here today, he said around one lakh unemployed youths were affected following the cancellation of the project. He said the project was terminated not only due to the protest of the farmers, but also due to the letters that the Ambala MP had written to the Prime Minister. He alleged that some of the Congress leaders, who were opposing the project, wanted that the credit should not go to him.

He commented that those leaders who had created hurdles in the implementation of the development works would have to pay for it. He would continue his efforts to get the IMT initiated again and it would be set up in Ambala at every cost, he stressed.

Sharma said Selja was a powerful minister and she could have brought some big railway projects or some heavy industry for Ambala, so that the unemployed youth could get jobs.

The former union minister said he was in favour of recalling the elected representatives if they did 
not fulfil the aspirations of the people.

Refuting the rumours of contesting election from Chandigarh, he clarified that he would not contest the forthcoming elections from Chandigarh.

Mayor Ramesh Mal, additional media adviser to the Chief Minister Sunil Parti, and CM’s former media coordinator Dilip Chawla Bittu was present on the occasion. 

Gurgaon, February 3
Senior BJP members, including state leaders, reportedly skipped a meeting which was convened to seek views on the preparation of a list of prospective candidates for the Gurgaon parliamentary seat here yesterday.

Differences of opinion within the BJP centre around the leadership’s “sham” exercise to seek opinion of party members for the seat even when it has decided to give ticket to Congress rebel and sitting MP Rao Inderjit Singh, who has announced that he will join the party on February 13.

The meeting, which was presided over by national president of BJP Kisan Morcha Om Prakash Dhankar, was scheduled to be attended by present and former district office-bearers and state and national functionaries who hail from the district.

Dhankar is the party observer for Gurgaon with regard to the finalisation of the list of probable candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

Among others, former MP Sudha Yadav, state vice-president Rao Narbir Singh, Gargi Kakkar, and senior district office-bearers, Kulbhusan Bhardwaj, Sumer Singh and Bhupinder Singh were conspicuously absent at the meeting.

Sudha Yadav and Rao Narbir are aspirants for party nomination from Gurgaon.

Playing down the issue of their absence, BJP local president Tejapal Tanwar said party leaders were busy with other assignments.

However, a senior functionary of the BJP, on condition of anonymity, said there was no point in attending the meeting as the leadership had already decided about the candidate.

He alleged that with regard the selection of nominees in Gurgaon, the leadership indulge in a “chrade” through futile exercises of seeking views of the cadres on the issue.

Sirsa, February 3
The Indian National Lok Dal has decided to open ‘Lok Raj Sahayata Kendras’ outside the mini-secretariats in all 21 districts of the state to assist people in their daily works with the authorities.

The first such centre was today opened here by party leader Dushyant Singh Chautala.

“People coming to the mini-secretariats for driving licences, registration of vehicles, ration cards, senior citizen certificates or any other works with the authorities can approach the counter and our workers will fill their forms and accompany them to the authorities,” he said.

He said on the very first hour of the opening, as many as five people, whose minor official works were getting delayed for no reasons, were done by their workers.

He denied that the move was with the upcoming elections in mind or the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party on the political horizon.

He said the INLD had already been in social service through blood and eye donation and other activities and the decision to start these centres had been taken in view of Chaudhary Devi Lal’s 100th birth anniversary.

“Whenever in power, our party has always worked for bringing administration close to people by schemes like ‘Sarkar Aapke Dwar’. On the contrary, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s open darbar move turned a fiasco before it could start,” he said. 

Jhajjar, February 3
Farmers under the aegis of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) today held a demonstration and burnt an effigy of the state government.

The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the district authorities wherein they demanded removal of toll plazas across the state, reduction in power tariff and return of the land acquired for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The farmers gathered at the Rao Tula Ram Chowk here and then took out a protest march which culminated at the Mini-Secretariat.

Farmers’ leaders Jai Karan, Kartar Singh Aachej, Zile Singh and Dhanraj addressed the protesters.

Rohtak, February 3
The common perception about leprosy is that it is a curse. A visit to Gandhi Kusht Ashram, a colony of lepers at Rohtak town, strengthens the belief.

The inmates of the ashram have no option but to live in a pitiable condition at their dilapidated quarters built in 1972. The government expects them to survive within a paltry ration aid of Rs 600 per month. In addition, they do not even get their monthly allowance in time.

In fact, it seems that the Haryana Government has left the lepers to the mercy of residents who provide them food, clothes and other things.

“We do not get our monthly allowance on a regular basis. We are entirely dependent on the residents for the fulfilment of our needs. We have written to the government authorities several times to increase our monthly ration aid to a reasonable level and get our quarters repaired, but to no avail,” says P Govind Swamy, an inmate.

As of now, the 28 inmates of the Rohtak ashram, as well as such centres at Karnal, Ambala and Jagadhari, get their monthly allowance through the Hind Kusht Nivaran Sangh, an NGO.

As the inmates do not get their allowance in time, they have been urging the state government to put all four colonies of lepers directly under the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.

“The state authorities had assured us that it would be done, but nothing has been done so far,” said Swamy.

Repeated requests made by the inmates to the authorities concerned have fallen on deaf ears.

“They do not come to us anymore. Earlier, some medicos and other government officials used to visit the ashram at least once a year, on World Leprosy Day. However, for the reasons best known to the government functionaries, the practice has been abandoned for the past several years,” said Vadivela, another old inmate of the ashram.

Swamy pointed out that the observance of Gandhi Jayanti with lepers at the state capital had also been stopped.

Nonetheless, the inmates express gratitude to the late minister Kartar Devi, who got cemented roads constructed on the ashram premises. They recalled that former Rohtak Deputy Commissioner Vikas Gupta had also visited the ashram on Diwali.

It seems that barring a few exceptions, the pathetic condition of the lepers has not been able to move the legislators or administrators.

Jhajjar, February 3
The state government’s Mukhyamantri Nishulak Chikitsa Yojna, which was launched on January 1 last year, has reportedly not produced the desired results. The scheme was launched to provide free treatment, including surgical packages, to patients.

“I had come here to get free medicines, but I was disappointed when the hospital staff told me that the medicines and injections prescribed by the doctor are not available and you will have to purchase them from the market,” said Jasbir Singh, an elderly man from Chhara village here. He had reached the Jhajjar General Hospital after hearing about the yojna.

Sumit Kumar, a local, who had come to the hospital to get his ailing brother’s medical check-up done, said the hospital provided him only one tablet while the remaining ones had to be bought from the outside.

Call it either the ill-preparedness of the state government for launching the scheme or the administrative failure in implementing it, the Mukhyamantri Nishulak Chikitsa Yojna is turning out to be a flop show in Jhajjar, which is a major part of the Rohtak constituency being represented by Deepender Singh Hooda in the Lok Sabha.

Owing to the non-availability of medicines in the General Hospital here, people have raised a question mark over the scheme. Om Prakash, a resident of Beri gate, said the government should have ensured the adequate stock of medicines at the hospitals before launching the scheme.

Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), February 3
A man declared ‘dead’ in official record over nine years ago has been making rounds of government offices to prove himself ‘alive’. He has been deprived of his right to vote despite being alive for the past over nine years.

Vinod shows an official letter declaring him dead. Photo by writer

Vinod Panchal (38)of Aasodha Todran village said he had received an official letter signed by the Bahadurgarh SDM in September, 2004, declaring him ‘dead’.

“Initially, I and my family members did not take it seriously taking it as a joke but now I have realised that it was a conspiracy,” said Panchal, a security guard in the HSIIDC here.

He could not exercise his franchise in the 2005 and 2009 assembly elections due to the deletion of his name from the electoral rolls. Even though he applied for getting his voting right restored both times but to no avail, said Vinod.

“I submitted my applicationto get my name added in the voter list for the third time in October last year but I have not yet got my voting right ,” said Panchal.

Vinod said he had lodged a complaint in the Bahadurgarh SDM's office to rectify the official record and to punish the official concerned who had declared him 'dead'. He maintained that the SDM had assured him of taking stern action against the erring official. 

Fatehabad, February 3
The Haryana Government’s move to provide packed food to children at anganwadi centres under the ‘Read to Eat and Ready to Cook’ scheme has evoked strong reactions from the Anganwadi Mother Group Committees (AMGCs), who have announced a protest against it across the state on February 17.

Anju, state convener of the AMGCs, and Savita, state joint secretary of the All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA), said today that the move would not only violate the guidelines of the Supreme Court, but would also deprive hundreds of women of their frugal employment.

“After the 2007 Supreme Court guidelines to provide fresh cooked food to children in anganwadis, the Haryana Government had constituted mother group committees in the state which provided meagre employment to women. They got Rs 1 per child/ expectant mother as remuneration. From this Rs 1 per beneficiary, the women workers have to arrange for fuel, utensils and milling of flour as well. The government wants to deprive these women of this paltry employment also by providing packed food to children,” alleged Anju.

“Our members have been working in anganwadi centres for the past seven years and they hardly earn Rs 250 each and their monthly remuneration is also paid at an interval of two to three months,” she further alleged.

Anju said the workers had organised a state-level rally at Rohtak on December 9 last year to highlight their plight. After this, the Women and Child Development Minister Geeta Bhukkal had promised to raise their remuneration from Rs 1 per beneficiary to Rs 2.

However, the government had now decided to dispense with their services by floating tenders for packed food.

Anju and Savita demanded rollback of the decision.

Hisar, February 3
The Hondh Chillar Talmel Committee (HCTC) has urged the Justice TP Garg Commission to identify and take action against the police and administrative officials responsible for inaction against the accused who perpetrated massacre of Sikhs in the Rewari village in 1984.

In a letter to the commission, HCTC stated that a number of police and administrative officials posted in Hondh Chillar, Pataudi and Gurgaon were responsible for connivance with the accused and later letting them off the hook.

"The commission should identify such officials and take strict action, like dismissal from service or withholding of pensions, against them," the committee said. The committee also threatened to launch an agitation on the issue if the action was not taken against them.

The commission was set up in March 2011 to investigate into the killings of Sikhs in Hondh Chillar village of Rewari after Gurgaon-based Manwinder Singh Giaspura exposed the massacre in January 2011.

Chandigarh, February 3
Facing a loss of Rs 10 crore annually, the Haryana Tourism Department is all set to turn a new leaf by introducing new concepts. Whether these belated efforts are able to revive the dwindling business in the face of stiff competition from private players remains a moot point.

Haryana Tourism Managing Director Sumita Misra admits that highway tourism is not working in its present form.

“The public wants a lot more than what is on offer at our complexes. We realise that highway tourism has to be dovetailed with adventure, religion or amusement to be in the market. That is the only way forward. So, we have made a deliberate shift to move from marketing highway tourism to weekend getaways besides finalising three public-private partnership projects,” she says.

With no salary component in the Rs 24 crore budget allocated for the sector for “limited support” and a dwindling tourist inflow, the department is hoping to make a turnaround with these new concepts.

“While we have decided to tap Kurukshetra’s unique selling point of being on the religious circuit, we are exploiting the adventure factor in Morni to offer group packages. Gradually, we will extend these to other complexes after identifying how these can be marketed and used as weekend getaways. We have even tied up with online agencies and our rooms are now available through them. We have launched a Facebook page and are in the process of launching our website shortly,” she says.

The department has already finalised the request for proposal for an amusement park at Tiliyar Lake, an adventure camp at Dumduma and a nature retreat at Surajkund. “These will be forwarded to the Committee of Secretaries for approval shortly. Besides the diversification plan, for the first time, we have set operational targets for each of the 42 complexes and are making a conscious effort to cut down on wasteful expenditure, utilising vacant land with tourist complexes to plan amusement parks which will attract the public while working on newer improvised menus,” Misra states.

Considered the father of highway tourism, SK Mishra, who conceptualised the idea, gave it shape and direction, said the department’s earning was dwindling due to lack of interest and commitment. “The inability to keep pace with the changing times has also taken a toll on the fortunes of the department which was once flush with funds,” he said.

“When we brought about the concept, I insisted that the department be given a free hand with use of funds and the government follows a zero-interference policy. Also, this is one sector that requires deep-rooted commitment and constant monitoring because any slackness will immediately reflect in the working,” Mishra asserts, adding that the department neither had that kind of funding for upkeep, maintenance and innovation nor that kind of commitment ever come through in the working.

He, however, insists that with their picturesque locational advantage and land availability in the complexes, a little innovation could still give the best private players a run for their money.

“The menu at these complexes has not changed, there is hardly anything in the name of activity and amusement for children and elders which gives the private joints an advantage. Bringing in freshness to the running of the complexes, the food on offer and the activities to engage the customers will help revive these places,” Mishra contends.

(Concluded)

Chandigarh, February 3
With the start of the facility of lodging complaints through SMS, the Haryana Power Distribution Utilities (Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam) have created a five-tier system for getting complaints registered regarding interruptions in power supply and commercial issues. This was stated by Anurag Agarwal, Managing Director, DHBVN and UHBVN, here today.

He said the consumers could register complaints to the respective Discom via SMS at 51969. When the system would receive a complaint of a consumer, it would send it to the official concerned. The system would send the SMS back to the complainant, informing him about the tentative time of redressal.

The consumers can also lodge their complaints through e-mail at dhbvncgrs@gmail.co and hbvncgrs@gmail.com.

The facility of a call centre has been made available to the consumers across the state. The call centre can now be used for registering all types of complaints, including relating to billing, metering, connections, expansion of system, etc, besides complaints relating to power supply. The toll free number, 18001801615, is available round the clock .

Chandigarh, February 3
The Hooda government is set to allow the extension of ‘lal dora’ in villages across the state. The development will prove beneficial to lakhs of residents to undertake constructions.

With the Haryana Cabinet according approval to the categorisation of area falling within ‘lal dora’ (area beyond which construction is not allowed) and ‘phiri’ (boundary) of the village as the ‘abadi deh’ (extended ‘lal dora’), lakhs of villagers will now be able to construct buildings in this zone.

Sources said Bills amending the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963, and the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952, would be brought before the forthcoming Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha starting February 21.

“The state government’s decision is part of the move to provide relief to the villagers as the ‘lal dora’ has not been extended for decades. The residents were unable to construct residential buildings even for their own use,” a senior official said.

The extension of the ‘lal dora’ has been a long-pending demand of the village residents. It was highlighted that the village population has risen by leaps and bounds in the recent decades, resulting in an increase in the housing demands of the people. Since construction outside ‘la dora’ was considered illegal, village residents faced a lot of inconvenience, as they were not able to construct buildings on their own land.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court have ruled that area falling within ‘lal dora’ and ‘phirni’ of village should be considered ‘abadi deh’.

Chandigarh, February 3
The Central University will set up a medical college at Jant-Pali in Mahendragarh district. Keeping in view the setting up of the new medical college, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced to increase the capacity of the General Hospital, Mahendragarh, from 50 beds to 100.

Health Minister Rao Narender Singh welcomed the decision and thanked Hooda for the initiative.

This decision has cleared the way for setting up of new medical college in Mahendragarh.

He said the decision would boost the efforts being made for improving the quality of health services being provided by the state government and would also promote medical education.

With the setting up of the college, the number of medical colleges in the government sector in the state would increase to five.

Meanwhile, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rao Dan Singh also welcomed the decision. 

Chandigarh, February 3
The government has issued the transfer and postings order of six IPS and two HPS officers. Dr RP Singh, Additional Director-General of Police (Operations), goes as ADGP (Modernisation), in place of KK Sindhu, who goes as ADGP, State Vigilance Bureau, Gurgaon.

Sibhash Kabiraj, SP, Hisar, has been given additional charge as Commandant, 3rd Battalion, Haryana Armed Police (HAP), Hisar.

Abhishek Garg, SP, Karnal, has been given additional charge as SP, Commando, Newal, Karnal. Sulochana Kumar, on promotion, has been posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Ambala, Rural. Sangeeta Rani, on promotion,has been posted as Additional SP, Rewari. Surinder Pal Singh, DCP, Ambala, Urban, has been given additional charge as Commandant, 1st battalion, HAP, Ambala City. Ombir Singh has been posted as Additional SP, Police Training Centre, Sunaria.

Sirsa, February 3
A local court today dismissed the anticipatory bail application of a doctor couple, Dr MR Bansal and his wife Dr Promila Bansal, in a case under Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act registered against them.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Sandeep Singh, who heard the arguments in this connection, found no merit in the anticipatory bail plea of the doctors.

The police had booked the couple under Section 3/4/5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and Sections 4/5/6/29 of the Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994, after a team, comprising Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Viresh Bhushan, Senior Drug Control Officer Naripen Goyal, Dr Rohtash and Dr Archna Agarwal, raided the couple’s hospital on January 25.

The health authorities had maintained that they had found several irregularities in their records and had reported the matter to the police.

Kaithal, February 3
Members of the Zila Punjabi Welfare Sabha cleaned the memorial of late squadron leader Mahesh Gulati on the Chhatrawas road here today.

The members washed the memorial and removed the garbage and other waste material from the site. Pardarshan Pruthi, sabha president, said it was a matter of concern that people paid little attention to the memorials built by the administration or social organisations. He said, “We should not forget the sacrifices made by soldiers for the sake of the country.”

He said the organisation had undertaken the task of keeping the memorials clean and every Sunday, the sabha members cleaned at least one memorial in the town.

Karnal, February 3
A 22-year-old woman, Sonia, hanged herself to death at her in-laws’ residence in the NDRI yesterday.

“Sonia’s husband and in-laws have been arrested,” said Ajit Singh, SHO Civil Line. —TNS

Rohtak, February 3
Five persons, including a woman, were killed when two cars collided near Ismaila village on the Rohtak-Delhi road today.

Police sources and eyewitnesses said the cars collided as a tyre of one of the vehicles burst. It collided head-on with another car coming from the opposite direction.

All five occupants of both cars were killed on the spot. They were rushed to the local PGIMS, where the doctors declared them dead.

The deceased have been identified as Bhagwati Prasad, Mahabir, Naveen and Vijay. They belonged to Rohtak town and nearby villages. The woman killed in the mishap had not been identified till the filing of this report. The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem examination.

Rohtak, February 3
A youth of Madina village was today shot dead by car-borne assailants near Jind bypass in the town.

The deceased has been identified as Neeraj Kumar (30). He was a property dealer and involved in four criminal cases. He was out on parole.

Neeraj used to live on the Ladhot road on the outskirts of the town with his wife and children. He had come to play badminton with his friend when the incident took place. The assailants not only rained bullets on Neeraj, but also slit his throat with a sharp-edged weapon. The police have also recovered an iron spade. —TNS

Yamunanagar, February 3
A munshi of a saw mill was stabbed to death by a labourer of the mill after an argument over Rs 100 here last night. Yamunanagar Sadar Police said Shobin Verman of West Bengal who had been working as a munshi (clerk) in a saw mill was stabbed to death by Deepak after Shobin refused to give him Rs 100.

The police said Shobin was rushed to the Yamunanagar Civil Hospital where he was declared brought dead. The accused managed to escape from the spot.

“Deepak was given Rs 200 as an advance by the munshi on Saturday. However, he visited Shobin at night and demanded Rs 100 more as an advance. When he was denied the sum, Deepak stabbed him,” said SHO Harvinder Singh.

He said Deepak had been booked on the charge of murder.