Chandigarh, April 22
Minor girl inmates of Bal Niketan, a home for destitute children, in their statements to a four-member committee set up by the UT Administration, have accused the supervisor, Manish Arora, of molesting them by forcibly making them sit on his lap, lifting their shirts and skirts to touch their private parts and hugging them with a “bad touch”.

The statements of the minor girls are part of the inquiry report prepared by the committee, which was submitted to the UT Deputy Commissioner.

In her statement to the committee, one of the inmates said the supervisor, on a number of occasions, hugged her to touch her private parts. She told the committee that she was mature enough to differentiate between a “good touch” and a “bad touch”.

Another inmate told the committee that once the supervisor had entered the dormitory while she was changing her clothes.

Yet another inmate said the supervisor often used to call her to his room on one pretext or the other.

Thereafter, he used to make her sit on his lap and do “dirty things”.

Chandigarh, April 22
A day after Manish Arora, supervisor of Bal Niketan, Sector 15, was booked on a charge of sexual harassment, some of the inmates have written to the management of the society running the home that they were not molested.

Bal Niketan Society honorary secretary Amar Kulwant Singh said after the news appeared in the media today, some inmates submitted in writing to her stating that they never faced any such harassment.

She claimed that she did not have a copy of the report of the four-member committee on the basis of which action had been initiated against Manish Arora. She said neither any parent nor any child of the home had sent any complaint to them regarding sexual harassment. Bal Niketan Society joint secretary Gurmeet Sandhu, who teaches the girl inmates, said no inmate had ever complained to her about any such incident.

Bal Niketan Society

The society runs the home for destitute children in Sector 15, Chandigarh, under a scheme of the Union Government. It is an NGO and the Social Welfare Department bears 90 per cent of the expenditure on the maintenance of the building. There are at present 40 minor inmates residing in the home.

Accused was working at Bal Niketan for past 8 years

Sources said the accused, Manish Arora (50), who working at Bal Niketan for the past eight years.

He belonged to Kurukshetra and had arranged the marriage of an orphan residing at Bal Niketan.

Past cases

Nari Niketan case, 2009: A girl was found pregnant at Ashreya, a home for the mentally challenged in Sector 47. She was in the third month of pregnancy. Earlier, it was claimed that she was raped at Sector 26, where she used to stay, but later the victim named the staff of Nari Niketan and Ashreya

In 2010, the manager of Snehalya, a home for destitute children in Maloya, had complained that a 14-year-old inmate was pregnant.

Chandigarh, April 22
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge SK Aggarwal today sentenced a 22-year-old woman to life imprisonment for the murder of her one-year-old daughter.

The court sentenced Mamta to life imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on her. She had strangled her one-year-old daughter Sonakshi to death at her residence in Faidan village in May last year in a vent of frustration. Mamta had killed her daughter on the eve of Mother’s Day last year.

While pronouncing the order, the court said, “It is said that motherhood is the most precious gift endowed upon mankind and there is no relationship more pristine and pure than that of a mother and her child. No mother in normal circumstances can tolerate even a scratch on the body of her child. In the instant case, it is proved that the mother has killed her own little child. The hands in which the little kid was to get the best of love and affection proved fatal for her,” said the court while sentencing her to life imprisonment.

According to the prosecution case, Sonakshi was strangled to death by her mother on May 10, 2013. The police said Mamta had an affair with Vicky, a resident of Haryana, prior to her marriage and Sonakshi was Vicky’s daughter. Mamta got married to Sonu and Vicky used to threaten her that he would take his daughter away.

Frustrated with the blackmail and threat from her former lover, Mamta strangled her daughter to death at her residence in Faidan village. She then called the police and put the blame on her neighbour, Anipa, and told the police that she (Anipa) killed her daughter owing to strained relations with her. However, police investigations revealed that Mamta had killed her daughter. During the interrogation, she broke down and confessed to her crime.

She said she was constantly being blackmailed by Vicky, who used to threaten her that he would take his daughter away and also inform Mamta’s in-laws and husband that Sonakshi was his daughter. In a fit of frustration, she killed her daughter.

Judgment mentions excerpts from book

While coming down heavily on the mother who strangled her child to death, District and Sessions Judge SK Aggarwal, in his judgment, quoted excerpts from a book on the mother-child relationship.

“The basic instinct of the mother is well explained by well-known author Washington Irving in one of his books wherein he has said, ‘A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives and wives their husbands. But a mother’s love endures through all: in good repute; in bad repute. In the face of the world’s condemnation, a mother still loves on and still hopes that her child may turn from his evil way, and repents. Still she remembers her infant’s smile that once filled her bosom with rupture, the merry laugh, the joyful shout of his childhood, the opening promise of his youth and she can never be brought to think him an unworthy’,” said the court.

Mohali, April 22
With the poster war in the run-up to the General Election at its peak, instances of political parties allegedly fudging the mandatory information on posters to circumvent rules on poll expenditure have come to light.

A scrutiny of printed campaign material such as posters, stickers, pamphlets and banners by the district election office has revealed that in several cases, the names and address of printers mentioned on these are either fake or incomplete. In some cases, this information is simply missing. An official said in several cases when the printers were contacted on the basis of the address and telephone numbers mentioned on the campaign material, they denied having printed these.

“This indicates that parties are furnishing incorrect information or are trying to deceive the authorities to hide the actual expenses incurred on the campaign,” said Tejinder Pal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Electoral Officer, Mohali.

“Notices are being issued to Congress candidate Ambika Soni, SAD candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra and some Independent candidates from the Anandpur Sahib constituency as well as owners of some printing presses to explain their position,” said an official.

Sources said the licence of a printing press was liable to be cancelled under the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951, in case it was found at fault. In cases where information regarding the printers was fake or unavailable, the expenses incurred on such material would be added to the total poll expenditure of the candidate concerned.

The district election office had confiscated several unauthorised posters, banners and stickers depicting symbols of parties.

Under the rules, candidates as well as the printing press concerned are required to furnish complete information regarding the campaign material printed along with the expenditure incurred on it to the election authorities.

Chandigarh, April 22
Services remained crippled at the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) office in Sector 17 consecutively for the second day after the uninterrupted power supply (UPS) developed a snag following which the computers had to be shut down leading to harassment of hundreds of visitors. The problem was witnessed for an hour in the morning and later in the afternoon forcing many residents to wait for a long time.

The residents who reached the RLA in the morning to submit their files for driving licences made a serpentine queue however, at 9 am when the counters were opened, they found that the systems are not working.

The visitors had to wait in the queue till 10 am after which the work was resumed.

Dikshit Chauhan, a city resident, who was getting late, left the RLA office after standing in a queue for about 45 minutes. This was not the only case, many others also left without getting their work done.

Similar situation was witnessed in the afternoon that again led to delay in work forcing the visitors to wait.

Kashish Mittal, In-charge, RLA, when contacted stated that the UPS had developed some snag due to voltage fluctuation following which all the computers had to be shut down. “Technical experts and staff from the Electricity Department were called to fix the problem”, Mittal said.

Yesterday too, scores of visitors had to go back due to the same problem. The UPS was restored in the evening on Monday; it again developed a snag this morning.

Chandigarh, April 22
A day after the supervisor of Bal Niketan was booked for sexually harassing inmates, the police failed to arrest him today too.

The police dispatched teams to different parts of Punjab and Haryana to nab the accused Manish Arora. They also sent a team to Kuruskhetra in Haryana, the hometown of the 50-year-old accused, where he could not be tracked.The police deployed sub inspector Aarti Goel to carry out investigations.

The SI went to the Bal Niketan to record the statement of the victims.

Police sources said almost 12 girls gave their statements to Goel alleging sexual harassment by Manish.

Manish was booked under Sections 354, 354 A and Section 12 of the POCSO Act. The police said that case was presently registered against Manish while the role of others, Manjit and Meena, was being investigated. A written complaint on the public window at the Police Headquarters was also submitted by a group of victim girls. The case was registered after the Deputy Commissioner issued orders to lodge complaint against the three.

The accused was a permanent employee of Bal Niketan and was residing on the premises. Manish has gone on leave for four days along with his wife Nisha and two daughters and is scheduled to return on Wednesday.

Chandigarh, April 22
Taking serious note of the molestation case unearthed at Bal Niketan, a home for destitute girl children in Sector 15, the UT Social Welfare Department constituted a special team to inspect all five homes located in the city today.

During the inspection, the team will interact with inmates and look into the arrangement provided by the managements for the safety of the children on the premises.

UT Social Welfare Department Director Rajesh Jogpal said in the next two days the teams would submit its report after visiting the fivehomes for the destitute in the city. He said that the department was also monitoring the report of the committee on the Bal Niketan home to decide the further course of action.Col Ravi Bedi, director, Chandigarh Child line, said that a detail report of all incidents was sent to the Regional Resource Centre Controller, New Delhi, and Mumbai Headquarters as the complaint was received by Child line, on which the action was taken.

Chandigarh, April 22
Penalised for defacing the city, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) deposited a fine of Rs 2,400 with the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) today. The AAP candidate, Gul Panag, was penalised for pasting posters in the Secretariat, PGI and PEC campus during elections.

The Congress candidate, Pawan Kumar Bansal, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Jannat Jahan Ul-Haq have also been penalised for defacing the city.

The candidates in the fray for the Lok Sabha elections were issued notices during the elections for pasting posters and installing signboards at public places which is an offence under the West Bengal Defacement of Property Act, 1976, and also violation of the Chandigarh Advertisement Control Order (CACO), 1954.

Officials stated that the Congress candidate had also been told to pay Rs 400 for pasting poster on the Panjab University campus. Meanwhile, the BSP candidate had been penalised and was told to pay Rs 4,800 for pasting 12 posters on the walls of government buildings.

The Election Department had written to the MC about the violations following which an action under the Defacement Act and CACO was taken against them and they were served notices to deposit the said amount.

As per the rule, the MC penalises violators defacing the city at the rate of Rs 100 per square feet per day. The official sources said that the candidates who had been fined would be issued another notice if they failed to deposit the fine.

Chandigarh, April 22
The enforcement wing of the municipal corporation (MC) today carried out an anti-encroachment drive at Shastri Market in Sector 22 and issued 40 challans to violators. The zero-tolerance level adopted by the enforcement wing led to resentment among traders who even met the MC officials demanding relaxation.

Sunil Dutt, Inspector (enforcement), stated that the shopkeepers were demanding some space to display their goods, which we denied to them.

Garments and other grocery products displayed outside the shops were confiscated. The enforcement staff also confiscated the wooden counters of the shopkeepers.

Apart from Sector 22, anti-encroachment drives were carried in Sectors 26, 27, 45, 46 and Sukhna Lake.

Chandigarh, April 22
A survey by National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) found that in Chandigarh, 14 per cent individuals do not take a bath daily.

The samples constituted 300 adults and as many children. The survey also found that 91 per cent of the people interviewed preferred beauty soaps to anti-bacterial soaps, ignoring protection against germs and illness.

A series of surveys across cities in India assessing bathing practices for safety found that of a sample of 600 city residents, 69 per cent of those who do not take a bath daily, reportedly contracted ailments such as flu, fever, diarrhea or eye infections, at least once a month.

NIMA general secretary Dr Ashok Sharma said, according to the study, those who took bath in the night before retiring for the day, constituted 26 per cent. “Such a low per cent is not a healthy trend as people sleep with the heat, sweat and grime of the previous day.”

The first phase of the survey was conducted in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Lucknow. The second in the series will be conducted in Mumbai and Pune.

The children included in the survey were in the age group of 8 to 14 years and were selected randomly. While 300 respondents were interviewed face to face, another 300 responded to a questionnaire online. The respondents were chosen randomly from urban areas in the city.

Chandigarh, April 22
A delegation of the Residents Welfare Association (RWA), Sector 45-C, today submitted a memorandum to the Chief Engineer, Municipal Corporation, regarding the problems of residents, including non-functional streetlights, ill -maintained parks and broken roads.

Rajat Malhotra, president of the association, said the residents of the area had been deprived of basic amenities. “Authorities are biased about this part of the city as most of the roads are not carpeted and the parks poorly maintained”, he said.

The residents complained that there the roads needed to be re-carpeted, especially the V6 roads from the Dispensary road in Sector 45-C to Block No.7 and 8.

They also complained that there were no lights in the parks making it tough for the residents to take a walk there during evening hours.

Hygiene was another issue the residents raised before the Chief Engineer, Mukesh Anand.

“Heaps of garbage can be seen littered around which emit foul smell”, said a member of the delegation.

The delegation also stated that the long-pending demand of a Sehaj Safai Kendra (SSK) should also be redressed and toilet blocks should be constructed in the Burail Market. 

Mohali, April 22
Those who failed to pay their property tax till March 31 will now have to pay a penalty of 50 per cent of the tax amount due to the Mohali Municipal Corporation.

Over 50 per cent of those owning residential property will have to pay a penalty of 50 per cent of the tax amount as only 48.79 per cent of them had paid their property tax till March 31.

In the case of those owning industrial property, 55.22 per cent had paid the tax while in the case of commercial property, the percentage of defaulters was much higher because only 21.62 per cent had paid the new levy.

The collection of property tax has suddenly come down during April as people who will now have to pay a higher levy because of the penalty amount have time to clear their dues till March 31 next year. As property tax has to be paid in advance each year, those who have to pay the levy for year 2014-15 will be able to get a rebate of 10 per cent till September.

The civic body was able to collect revenue of Rs 12,58,364 in a single day on March 31 as it was the last day to avail 10 per cent rebate on the tax amount. However, it could collect only Rs 2,74,914 from April 1 to April 20.

Though the civic body will be issuing notices to the tax defaulters, the process in this regard has not started yet because of the Lok Sabha elections to be held on April 30.

Mohali, April 22
The election team confiscated a sum of Rs 5.20 lakh from an ex-serviceman (now a businessman) at a special naka laid near Kumbhra village this evening.

Head constable Dalbir Singh, in-charge at the naka, said the amount was recovered from Suminder Sardana, who was travelling in his SUV.

“He could not produce the required documents related to the cash following which we called up the election team for further action,” said Dalbir Singh.

Sardana claimed that he withdrew the amount from a private bank to disburse payment to some workers at his office site.

Panchkula, April 22
The body of a woman with burn injuries was found under mysterious circumstances from a house at Rampur Jangi village near Pinjore last evening. The deceased has been identified as Rekha (27). She was working with a pharmaceutical company nearby.

“The partially charred body was found in the kitchen,” said Lalit Kumar, station house officer (SHO), Pinjore. Though the police have initiated inquest proceedings in the case, parents of the deceased allege that it was a murder. Rajan, younger brother of the deceased, alleged that Rehka was set on fire by her in-laws.

Irked over the delay in post-mortem, the family members of the deceased accused the police of favouring Rekha’s in-laws.

Raj Kumar, a resident of Ghatiwala village and the brother of the deceased, in a complaint to the police alleged that Rekha’s husband, Narinder Kumar, had been harassing her for the past couple of years. He said the couple was not having cordial relations.

However, the police admitted the delay in getting the post-mortem conducted due to an accident in Nawan Nagar.

Chandigarh, April 22
Panjab University has not revised the rates of remuneration for the conduct of various university examinations, paper-setters and evaluators of teaching and non-teaching staff for the past two years.

Sources in the university said the authorities had not convened a meeting of the special committee, which revises the rates as per the norms set by the university.

Sources said the last meeting of the committee was held in 2012, following which no initiative was taken by the authorities to convene another meeting.

Panjab University fellow and Syndicate member Dr Dalip Kumar along with another fellow, Dr Mukesh Arora, submitted a joint request to Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover today and sought revision of the remunerations after a committee meeting.

They demanded that the authorities revise the rates and these should be implemented from April 1, 2014.

In the representation, it was stated that the paper checkers of the under-graduate classes received Rs 15 per answer sheet, while post-graduate paper checkers received Rs 18, lower than the rates for CBSE paper checkers.

Similarly, for paper-setting, the faculty members received Rs 500 for under-graduate classes and Rs 800 for the post-graduate classes. The charges fixed for the assistant supervisor are Rs 250 and for deputy superintendent Rs 275.

For the members of the flying squad, who are on duty to inspect the examination centres, PU pays Rs 300 for two centres, while Rs 500 is given for more than two centres.

Panchkula, April 22
The Haryana Education Department today held a draw of lots for the admission of children — belonging to the economically weaker sections (EWS) and below poverty line (BPL) — to private schools.

In a press note issued by Chander Shekhar, Director General, Secondary Education Department, he stated that applications of 8,675 children were considered for the draw of lots. For the admission process, children were given an option of 25 schools.

“For 8,998 seats of Class I in various schools, only 4,942 applications were received. For 8,947 seats of Class II, 3,733 applications were received. The applications were invited online up to January 30 this year,” he added.

Under the programme, the admission test will be conducted from Classes III to XII (except Class XI) on May 11 by the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT), Gurgaon.

The students will be informed about the allotment of seats through SMS service. The students will have to take admission by April 30.

Shekhar said for students, who had not been allotted schools, a separate draw of lots will be held.

A decision regarding vacant seats, if any, will be taken later.

Chandigarh, April 22
Desh Bhagat Global School has been honoured with the International School Award for providing quality education, better infrastructure and excellent facilities to its students.

On behalf of Desh Bhagat Global School, principal Manjinder Kaur Kalsi received the award from Angels French, Director (Operations), Cambridge English Language, during a glittering function Edu-Convex, held in Delhi recently. Kalsi said, “It is the result of the hard work of students, dedication of the staff members and the world-class infrastructure available in the school.”

“Our objective is the overall development of the students and to prepare them for the future,” she said.

It is worth mentioning that the Global School is a member of European Language Council (ELC), and has hi-tech labs and library.

Desh Bhagat Group of Institutes chairman Dr Zora Singh congratulated the school staff on the achievement. “The objective of the school is to provide quality education to its students to enable them to become great achievers and responsible citizens.”

Chandigarh, April 22
As many as 422 students have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET), conducted by the University Grants Commission on December 29, 2013. As many as 13,000 students had taken the exam to qualify for the Junior Research Fellowships (JRF) and for the post of Assistant Professor (AP).

As per the data, 61 students have cleared the JRF, while 361 passed the NET examination.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune on Tuesday, RK Mahajan, director of Aaa-Bright Academy, said, “As many as 53 students of Aaa-Bright Academy have cleared UGC-NET.”

Various schools in the Tricity observed World Earth Day on Tuesday. Several events, including poster-making, slogan-writing, quiz and declamation contests, were held. Students pledged to preserve the environment

AKSIPS 41 Smart School

Chandigarh: Earth Day was celebrated with enthusiasm by the students of Classes I and II of AKSIPS 41 Smart School. The students were educated on the conservation of environment. Carrying banners to grow more trees, the students also went for a walk to Shanti Kunj, Sector 16.

Eco-Friendly Sports Organisation

EFSO will celebrate International Mother Earth Day from April 22 to 27. From the last three years, EFSO is celebrating Earth Day with school children of the Tricity and judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. EFSO is celebrating Earth Day & Week-2014 by conducting drawing competitions in schools. Prizes will be awarded to the winners on the concluding day at The New Public School on April 27.

St Mary’s School

The students at St Mary’s School, Sector 46, celebrated Earth Day with great zeal and enthusiasm. An inter-house PowerPoint presentation on ‘waste management’ was also organised. The students of Class IX and X along with the teachers took part in the event. Gandhi house bagged the first prize while Bose House won the second prize.

Ashiana Public School