New Delhi, March 2
A 35-year-old Delhi Police constable fought against her molester inside a Delhi Transport Corporation bus on Saturday night even as no passenger came to her rescue and managed to hand him over to the police.

The constable boarded the bus from West Delhi's Nangloi area at about 8 pm on Saturday. She was going to join duty with a police control room (PCR) vehicle near the Leela Palace Hotel in South Delhi.

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old accused named Abhinav Dube, who according to the police was in an inebriated state, boarded the same bus. When the bus was crossing Naraina, he allegedly began molesting the victim.

"The constable kept warning him to stop, but he persisted. She told him that she is a police official, but he even dared to raise his hand," said a police officer, privy to the investigations.

She had draped a shawl around her police uniform.

When no one came to help her, she decided to deal with Dube on her own. She directed the bus driver to stop the vehicle near the Moti Bagh flyover. She grabbed Dube, pulled him out of the bus and informed the police.

A PCR vehicle arrived at the Moti Bagh flyover and arrested the culprit. The police have registered a case against him on the basis of the victim's complaint.

The victim's husband is also serving with the Delhi Police. The accused lives with his family in West Delhi's Kirti Nagar and is a carpenter.

New Delhi, March 2
A bearded man with a receding hairline, short, stout and neatly dressed, Ankit (name changed), has been lodged at Tihar Prisons for the last 10 years. He claims that he was charged with murdering his neighbour and has been languishing in jail, awaiting his trial to end.

Another inmate of Tihar Prisons, Amit Sharma (not his real name), claims to have been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for dealing in Fake Indian Currency Notes. He was arrested three years ago. His trial continues.

"Living in jail has made me feel that I have already been sentenced by the court though my trial is yet to end," he says with a smirk on his wrinkled face.

They are not alone, there are many like him who have been languishing at Tihar Prisons.

Delhi Prisons has two complexes: Tihar Prisons consisting of nine jails located in West Delhi and Rohini District Jail. The sanctioned strength of the 10 jails is 6,250 prisoners, but currently there are 13,700 inmates lodged in these jails, according to the prison statistics. Out of these inmates, 10,154 are undertrials.

Vimla Mehra, the Director General of Tihar Prisons, said that the increase in the undertrial number has caused the jails to become overcrowded. Provisions and making space for such a large number have become a tall order.

The jail officials explained that the problem in regard to undertrials is the delay that occurs during their trials. "This happens mainly because of the communication gap between the prisoner and the court. The trials in the courts of Delhi are mostly conducted in English, so the prisoners do not understand what is happening or what needs to be done," said the officials.

In view of this problem, Mehra had written to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court six months ago. "She had requested the Chief Justice to ensure that all the trials in Delhi be conducted in Hindi, but nothing has happened beyond the sending of the letter," the officials claimed.

The Tihar authorities also said that the frequent adjournments by the court and strikes by the lawyers are other factors that delay trials.

"If one wants to know the status of the criminal justice system in every state, then visits to the jails are necessary. If the number of undertrials lodged in the jails is more than those of the convicted, then it shows the lethargy of the criminal justice system. The same system in Delhi is lethargic. It is indicated by the number of undertrials lodged in the Delhi jails," said the authorities.

An eminent lawyer, Francesca Kapur, thinks otherwise. She asserts that a trial is delayed when the undertrial does not follow the technicalities.

"For instance, during the trial a list of prosecution witnesses is given to the court conducting the trial. The accused has to cross-examine these witnesses, which is the most important thing in a trial. He doesn't need a lawyer for it, but if he can't do it himself, then the court will have to fix another date for the same procedure. So how is the court responsible for the delay in the trial. It is wrong to blame the judiciary," she said.

Kapur explains that lack of family support and finance are other factors that delay the trial. "Sometimes a prisoner's family abandons him. So what does he do inside the jail, when he has no one outside to help him," she said.

She agrees that illiteracy is major problem causing the delay in the trials. "Most inmates don't have proper education. They don't know what to do," she said.

While Mehra said that the Delhi Prisons has held two meetings with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority to help undertrials. "We are in the process of identifying undertrials who have been languishing in jail. If we identify them we will be able to get more people out of jail, as it is becoming overcrowded," she said.

Three months ago, Mehra wrote to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court for expediting the trials of foreigners and of undertrials who have been imprisoned for five years.

New Delhi, March 2
The Congress today accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal of betraying people by reversing all the developmental works initiated by the Sheila Dikshit government and running away to escape 'public wrath'.

"The Congress was willing to give them more time and support, but they ran away. They never called an all-party meeting to discuss the issues of the state," Lovely said.

The Delhi Congress leaders, addressing the 'Pol Khol Abhiyaan' which the party has launched to 'expose the lies' of AAP, claimed that due to Kejriwal-led government's 'carelessness', power and water prices will be costlier from next month.

"It is due to their carelessness that the Delhi Budget was not introduced in the assembly and now from April 1, water and electricity will be costlier. Fifty per cent cut in electricity bill, 700 litres of free water, permanent flats and promises made to contractual government employees have not been fulfilled by AAP," he said.

Addressing the gathering, Congress leader Mukesh Sharma demanded that the judicial inquiry report submitted by former judge B L Garg be made public and Bharti's assembly membership be terminated.

"People voted AAP to form a new government and Congress decided to support it. But AAP ran away before fulfilling the promises it made to the people of Delhi," he said.

Party MP Sandeep Dikshit accused Kejriwal of reversing all the developmental works initiated during the Congress government.

"AAP said they will allot houses to 20 lakh people. They cancelled the allotment made by previous Congress government to people living in jhuggis and set up an inquiry. They reversed the development made by our government. They knew they would not be able to fulfil the promises and thus ran away to escape public's wrath," Dikshit said.

"We will bring every person who has betrayed the people of Delhi to justice. Under Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi's leadership, we will work for the benefit of people," he said.

New Delhi, March 2
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is planning to procure new and improved insecticides for vector-control programme in the NDMC area, said Jalaj Shrivastava, Chairman of the Council.

Shrivastava said that awareness will be created among the RWAs, market, trade associations and contractors of CPWD buildings on the use of new design coolers in which mosquitoes will be stopped from breeding or even entering.

An entomology lab will be set up to identify vectors transmitting diseases, he said. A provision of Rs 100.09 crore has been set aside for public health and sanitation services in the year 2014-15.

The NDMC Chairman said that solid waste management is to be upgraded. "This will be done through an integrated waste management system by collecting waste from the doorsteps and disposal it at the Timarpur-Okhala Waste Management Co. Ltd. plant,” he said.

New Delhi, March 2
With a view to providing better connectivity, Delhi Metro will set up more than one station in large residential and commercial areas of the national Capital under its Phase III expansion plan.

According to officials, the expansion has been planned in such a way that large residential as well as commercial areas will have more than one station as well as a corridor for better connectivity.

Among these localities is the busy educational and transport hub of Dhaula Kuan, which already has a station on the Airport Express Link.

Another station, 'South Campus', will come up on the Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar corridor in the same locality, which will be useful for Delhi University students travelling to colleges in Dhaula Kuan.

One of the biggest residential areas of the city, Mayur Vihar, currently has two stations, Mayur Vihar Phase 1 and Mayur Vihar Extension. Another station to cater to the interior parts of the locality named 'Mayur Vihar Pocket-1' will come up on the Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar corridor.

Punjabi Bagh, the West Delhi residential-cum-commercial hub, currently has one station on the Inderlok to Mundka corridor and one more station named 'Punjabi Bagh West' will come up on the Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar corridor under Phase III.

The Capital's IT hub, Nehru Place, will get another station named 'Nehru Enclave', which is expected to come up on the other side of the outer Ring Road on the Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden route.

Nehru Place already has a station on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor. The Okhla industrial area, which attracts quite a lot of workers and executives who visit the area every day for work, has only one station, 'Okhla', on the existing Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor.

The proposed Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor will have two more stations here named 'Okhla Phase 3' and 'Okhla Vihar'.

Jasola, an upcoming residential and commercial area in south Delhi, currently has just got the 'Jasola Apollo' station on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor. Under Phase III, another station with the name 'Jasola Vihar Shaheen Bagh' will come up on the Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden route.