New Delhi, October 9
A 24-year-old man working for a book publication company allegedly molested a girl when she along with her two friends was inside the library of a private school in south-west Delhi, the police said today.

The accused identified by the police as Sachin was arrested, following a protest by parents of some students outside the St Thomas School. They claimed that the principal of the school was not willing to meet them in regard to the incident which took place on Tuesday.

The victim and her two friends are students of Class IV of the school.

The parents of the three girls, who are the complainants of the case, alleged to the police that Sachin had commented on the girls' appearance and fondled them. One of the complainants told reporters, "My daughter hid in a corner of the library in fear when the man picked up her friend to fondle her. When the girl in his arms began pleading with him to put her down, he began playing with the hair of another girl."

However, according to the police, only one girl was molested. A case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) was registered at the Chhawla police station in south-west Delhi this afternoon.

The incident was reported to the school authorities during a parents-teachers meet (PTM) on Thursday. Some of the parents staged a protest alleging lack of action by the principal. The parents said that they had informed the police over the phone about the incident as they began the protest.

A police team arrived at the school and registered a case before beginning the probe. "The accused Sachin has been arrested. He works for a publishing company and supplies books to the school," a police officer said.

New Delhi, October 9
Shazia Ilmi, who has resigned from the AAP, today shared the BJP platform for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. She is one of the nine prominent citizens of Delhi who have promised to participate in the campaign.

Union Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu, Delhi Pradesh BJP president Satish Upadhyay and former AAP leader Shazia Illmi (R) launch the ‘Swachh Delhi Abhiyan’ in New Delhi on Thursday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

Other participants are Sushil Kumar, Olympian; Prof Dinesh Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University; Dr K. K. Aggarwal, Secretary IMA; Dr Vinay Bharat Ram MD of DCM group; Uma Sharma, Kathak artist; Sirajuddin Qureshi, president, Indian Islamic Centre; Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary of CAIT; and Mohit Nagar, president, DUSU.

Ilmi said that she had not taken up the membership of the BJP. "I came to the function on being invited by the Delhi BJP for a good work. Everybody should join this campaign," said Ilmi after the function that was presided over by Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

She said, "I will form a group of nine women social workers and will make a road map for the work."

Sources in BJP said that Ilmi's joining the BJP platform was an indication that she would finally join the party.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Urban Development Minister said, "We have to ensure that 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' doesn't become just a government's programme. We have to make it a people's movement and for this, we are talking to people from all walks of life, including political leaders, social workers, traders and spiritual leaders for making it a success."

He said, "This isn't an easy task, but I am confident that with the support of people of India, we will make it possible till October 2, 2019." 

New Delhi, October 9
Expressing concern over the prevailing practice of sex-selection even in the posh areas of the national Capital, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has called for an "outright" ban on such thriving illegal ultrasound clinics in the city.

The DCW will also conduct surprise checks and raids on such illegal clinics, if need be, said DCW chairperson Barkha Shukla Singh.

In a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, a copy of which has been marked to Delhi Chief Secretary DM Sapolia, the DCW chairperson said Delhi is still in the grip of the treacherous practice leading to concealed cases of foeticide and infanticide through various clandestine private ultrasound clinics...and this is not limited to areas with illiterate sections but rampant in the posh localities too.

"It has been noticed and reliable information sought through undisclosed sources that good number of clinics is also prevailing in the posh colonies and commercial market in Delhi," said Singh.

According to the DCW, there are clinics which under the guise of examining women patients for various gynaecological problems are carrying out illegal sex determination tests and subsequent abortions.

Singh urged the Health Minister to initiate urgent corrective measures to ensure that such illegal clinics mushrooming in various posh and semi-urban localities of Delhi are closed and those involved in the obnoxious practice are taken to task.

Unless surprise checks and raids by the governmental agencies are carried and people are made aware the menace will continue despite a strong Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, she said while urging like-minded people of the country, including politicians across party lines, to work towards the cause.

"There has been a slight improvement in the child sex ratio from 868 to 895 per 1000 boys, but sex selective abortions are still rampant due to preference for male child," said Centre for Social Research Director Dr. Ranjana Kumari.

As per the Civil Registration System, 2011, Delhi was among the 10 worst states and union territories in terms of sex ratio and southwest district had the lowest sex ratio 836/1000. However, there has been an improvement over the last two years, said Dr Shaily Kamra, nodal officer of the PCPNDT, Delhi.

New Delhi, October 9
The three Delhi Municipal Corporations, a city-based multi-state chamber of commerce, and Delhi BJP unit have decided to join hands to clean the industrial areas of the national Capital in line with the "Swachh Bharat Mission" of the Union government.

Top officials of the three civic bodies - North, East and South Delhi Corporations, PHD Chamber of Commerce and secretary of industries department of the Delhi government today announced the decision during a roundtable on "Ease of Doing Business in Delhi".

"The three corporations, the PHD Chamber and the Delhi BJP, with help from the industrial units, will come together in carrying forward the spirit of the "Clean India" campaign to our industries and areas surrounding it," PHD Chamber of Commerce chairman Rajnish Goenka said.

Goenka, who is also the National Coordinator of the Micro and Small Industries Cell of the BJP, said the sanitation drive would begin with Okhla Industries Area.

"We have planned to begin the drive from October 20 from Okhla Industrial Area. While some areas are under the SDMC, where we would seek the help of the civic body, others are under Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) Limited, where the chamber would seek the local government's support," he said.

The DSIIDC has been conducting its own sanitation drive and Industries Secretary, Delhi government, Amit Yadav welcomed the suggestion by the business body.

"We have been carrying out our own drive under the directives of the Lt Governor and multiple agencies coming together for a noble cause is a step in the right direction," Yadav said.

"We will then take the drive forward to other industrial areas such as Naraina, Mongolpuri, Wazirpur, among others," Goenka said.

Many attendants of the round-table, which had participants representing various industrial zones here, agreed that, "Okhla Industries Area was one of the dirtiest, and hence the drive was much-needed." Mayors of South and East Delhi and Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay also attended the event.

Okhla Industrial Area or Okhla Industrial Estate is an industrial suburb of South Delhi district in the capital. — PTI

New Delhi, October 9
A team of AIIMS doctors has submitted a fresh report to police on the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, maintaining that she died of poisoning.

The new report by the three-member panel of doctors, who had conducted the autopsy on her, was prepared on the basis of the findings of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) which had examined Sunanda's viscera, sources said.

They said that the team had again concluded like it did in its first report that her kidney, liver and heart were functioning normally and that her death was caused by poisoning.

The new report was submitted to police nine days ago.

The viscera report of CFSL in March had hinted at drug poisoning but police considered it as inconclusive. It then asked AIIMS to re-examine the report and give its findings.

The three-member team has now submitted the "Subsequent Medical Board Opinion" to the police on September 30.

Sunanda was found dead in a 5-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, a day after her Twitter spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor.

The probe into the case was handed over to the Crime Branch on January 23. However, the case was transferred back to the South District police on January 25. — PTI

New Delhi, October 9
Private schools are "profit centres", the Delhi High Court today observed while hearing arguments in a PIL seeking grant of free books and uniform to children belong to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category admitted to private unaided schools.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul made the observation in response to the claim of an association of private schools that uniform in their institutes costs more than Rs 6,000 annually.

"The reality is it (a private school) is a profit centre," the court said.

The bench was also of the view that free and compulsory education under the Right to Education (RTE) Act includes providing free uniform and text-books to kids belonging to the EWS category.

"Therefore, the question that is to be answered is whether non-provision of uniform and text books, free of cost, will hamper completion of elementary education as mandated under the Act," the court said.

The bench also said that its "whole aim and objective" is to ensure that kids belonging to EWS and disadvantaged groups are not denied elementary education as provided under the Act.

"Children should not suffer," it said.

It also advised the schools to provide the uniform and books free of cost to EWS students, saying they will be reimbursed for the same by the Delhi government.

It said the Delhi government will reimburse the schools for providing books of those publications that the institutes have prescribed and not only for National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books. — PTI

New Delhi, October 9
In order to keep up with the increasing demand for drivers of low-floor buses, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has recruited over 261 new drivers over the past couple of months whereas the requirement appears to be three-four times more than this figure.

The DTC has a requirement of over 1,200 drivers while it currently has about 14,000 drivers of which 6,000 are on contract. The corporation also extended the deadline repeatedly of its recruitment drive started recently, but did not find much takers.

The last driver recruitment process which ended on September 19 attracted 951 applications. Out of these, 261 drivers have been appointed and other applications are still being screened, said a DTC official.

"There is always requirement of drivers given the huge network of the DTC," said the official, adding that recruitment of drivers is a continuous process. The DTC needs to take in new people to replace drivers retiring every month and to make up for staff's absenteeism. Almost 150 DTC employees retire every month. About 20-30 out of these are drivers, the official added.

However, according to sources in the corporation, the DTC has not been able to motivate people to join its fleet of drivers. Also, majority of the applicants got rejected in medical tests. The DTC provides a month-long training in simulators and classrooms once the driver is selected before he actually gets down driving a bus full of passengers.

A contractual driver in the DTC earns around Rs 15,000 a month. His qualification includes a minimum education up to class 10 and three years' experience after getting his heavy vehicle driving licence. Each aspiring DTC driver should hold a public service vehicle endorsement (PSVE) badge, which is issued by the local transport authority, and also undergo a stringent medical test.

"It seems driving as a profession has lost its charm. Earlier, we used to get many applications for drivers' posts from other states but now these have come down," said the official.

The recruitment of drivers by private cluster bus operators, who operate about 1,100 buses, has also shrunk the pool of heavy vehicle driving licence holders from whom the DTC can hire drivers.

New Delhi, October 9
In a philanthropic measure, Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani today presented "hearing aids" to 10 differently abled children.

The children mostly belong to underprivileged, economically marginalized and weaker section of society. All the children were reported suffering from ear diseases that would ultimately lead to permanent and irreversible loss of hearing.

Aid in form of "Education Cards" was also provided to two girl students coming from economically weak background in order to support their future educational needs.

The hearing aid was provided at the function organized in form of Diwali Mela by the association of wives of IAS officers of Bihar and Jharkhand.