New Delhi, April 16
A 40-year-old builder was murdered allegedly by two motorcycle-borne men who shot at him in the Geeta Colony area, East Delhi, this morning.

The victim has been identified as Nawab, who was a resident of Khureji Khas in Delhi.

According to a police officer, privy to the case's details, the murder took place at Aram Park in Geeta Colony a few minutes before 9.22 am. "Two men, who were on a motorcycle, shot him once in the head," said the officer.

Nawab died on the spot. A passerby informed the police about the incident at 9.22 am. The police reached Aram Park and took Nawab to Swami Dayanand Hospital in Shahdara, where he was declared dead.

The police have registered a case of murder at the Geeta Colony police station. "We are trying to find the motive behind the murder. But right now it appears to be enmity. Nawab's family has also claimed that there was enmity between him and some people in regard to his business. But there are no specific inputs on anyone," explained the officer.

New Delhi, April 16
Even after having an array of women-friendly laws, such as the Right to Education Act, 2010, and the new Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, not much has changed indicates the testimonies shared by children living in several slums in the national Capital during a public hearing on the Rights of Girl Child here today.

Girl children studying in government schools and in various colleges in Delhi continue to be victims of stalking, eve-teasing and sexual harassment is what echoed from many such as Class X students Vaishnavi and Pallavi from Sagarpur.

Komal from Nangal Raya stressed that young girls feel disempowered due to an unsafe environment within government schools, outside and even family that has only added to the denial of opportunities and gender discrimination.

Joined by social activists, these voices from ground stressed the need for gender sensitisation of teachers and staff and peers in government schools and police personnel while calling for a gender neutral perspective in school text books.

"I was eve-teased by a boy in my locality and when I and my mother went to the police station the police told us not to complaint. After our repeated requests a complaint was lodged and two police officers came to the area and thrashed the boy who was later let off. He still passes comments and keeps staring at me and I know I am not safe. I feel stringent action against him would have deterred him," said a teenager victim from Sunlight Colony.

A female student of Vishwakarma Government Secondary School in Badarpur said, "We are harassed by boys in our schools. They urinate in our classrooms and even follow us to the toilets where we cannot change our sanitary napkins."

"In government schools the thought of teachers and staff is still narrow as they say the dressing style of girls provokes rapists. This should change and they have to be sensitised," pointed a resident of Sagarpur and a graduate Suchita Bhardwaj who is associated with Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) since 2011.

These young community voices - both boys and girls - from nine urban settlements of East, South East, Northeast, South West and South Delhi have been roped in as a part of an initiative "Platform of Action by the Youth" involving, at least, 150 students of Delhi University, besides 80 participants from the community.

A joint effort of CFAR, Women's Development Cell, Miranda House, and Plan India, the youth forum after a three-month intervention has recognised three areas - affirming rights of the girl child and RTE and safety and security of girls and women - that call for urgent attention of the government and various stakeholders as mentioned the charter of demands.

An associate professor at Miranda House, Bijayalaxmi Nanda said, "The Platform of Action resulted from an engagement among the youth, community, police personnel and resource persons such as legal experts and women activists.

New Delhi, April 16
Delhi BJP president Dr. Harsh Vardhan has said that the Aam Aadmi Party is an apparition created by foreign powers by bringing Arvind Kejriwal on front to destabilize India.

During 49 days of the AAP government in Delhi Kejriwal could not prove to run a stable government. There was total chaos in the city, said Dr. Vardhan.

Dr. Vardhan advised Kejriwal, "As an elder brother whom you yourself have publicly admitted to as admiring, I have only one advice - go home and run that NGO of yours. You could do better service to the nation through advocacy instruments like 'gheraos' and 'satyagrahas' but please desist from cheating the people with false promises."

Delhiites are suffering for his adventure. Instead of resolving the problems of water and power, Kejriwal has left Delhiites this summer to unaccountable bureaucrats. If he wanted to run the government to mitigate the summer problems of Delhi, the BJP would not have come in the way, he said.

He promised to introduce 50 per cent cuts in electricity bills. Instead of getting reduced the power tariff and punishing the private sector discoms for looting them with inflated power bills, Kejriwal compensated them by resigning from the government living them in between. This kind of illusion will not be forgiven, Dr Vardhan added.

People call him a "bhagora" because Kejriwal revealed himself to be an escapist. Today that word is haunting him wherever he goes. Angry people are mobbing him and it is unfortunate that a few of them are giving vent to their anger at him by slapping him, the BJP leader said.

"People should give him an electoral slap and send him home. The people of Delhi have already expressed their rage against Kejriwal and I now request the people of other parts of India to reject the AAP candidates everywhere because they are nothing but foreign-backed spoilers who want to keep the country backward," said Dr. Vardhan.

New Delhi, April 16
The Delhi High Court today asked the Centre, city government and police to take steps in creating and filling up additional posts in the police saying the "great shortage" of security personnel has been felt by the citizens.

A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice B.D. Ahmed considered the plea of the Ministry of Home Affairs that it has asked the Delhi Police to reassess the situation with regard to creation of additional posts in the force.

"The acute shortage of policemen in the national Capital has been felt by the citizens," it said, adding the Delhi government should also respond to the proposal without delay.

The court also termed as "unacceptable" the delay in payment of compensations to rape victims and asked the Delhi government to ensure that they are paid within two weeks after the issue is decided by authorities, including the Delhi Legal Services Authority.

Taking the issue of setting up of forensic laboratories, the court said that till the time, plots are handed over to the Delhi government for constructing the laboratories, they can be established in a government or private building.

On being told that the authorities have selected a place in a NDMC building, the court asked the civic agency to expedite the process of handing over the premises to the Delhi government for setting up a Forensic Science Laboratory.

Earlier, the bench had expressed displeasure over the "inadequate" number of Forensic Science Laboratories in Delhi and directed the city government to set up such facilities in rented buildings as a "stop gap measure" till land is allocated.

The court said there is only one such lab in Rohini and "this is clearly inadequate and hampers criminal investigation process and justice dispensation". — PTI

New Delhi, April 16
A girl from Jharkhand, who was working as a maid in a house in Punjabi Bagh, West Delhi, and has alleged that her employers beat her, was rescued by the Delhi Police and an NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan yesterday.

A police officer, privy to the details of the incident, said that the NGO claims that the girl is 13 years old. The officer added the girl's placement agency says that she is 17 years old. "An agreement made between the girl and the placement agency shows that she is 17 years old," said the officer.

The officer said that they rescued the girl from a house at Shivaji Park in Punjabi Bagh, because she has been claimed to be a minor. Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, it is illegal to hire a minor as a domestic servant. "But we have not arrested anyone as yet, because we will conduct the age verification test of the girl. If the test confirms that she is a minor, we will probably arrest the placement agency owner and her employers," said the officer.

The girl was brought to Delhi from Jharkhand about one and a half years ago. She has worked in two houses for a short period, before she was hired by her current employers at Shivaji Park. She has been working for them for the past five months, said the officer.

According to the NGO, the girl has alleged that her employers beat her over small mistakes she made. "She slapped and punched me in the face. Once I broke a glass, she twisted my arm and almost broke it," the girl alleged about her employer.