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HC puts govt on notice for re-arresting Daduwal
Not aware of PPCC infighting: Ahmed
DMC case: Doctor’s family protests, seeks CBI probe
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Seizure of biomedical waste
RSS march: Congress complains to DC, SSP
Will punish truant staff, says Sukhbir
Sand mafia threatens forest officials
No news of youths stuck in Iraq, kin worried
Forest Dept files case against Akali leader
Woman thrashed by sister, dead
Farmer climbs atop water tank over panchayat land
Farmers protest low basmati prices
Capt rubbishes state’s claim on power outages
Pbi varsity VC honoured
Air Force official to serve life term for killing girl
Rs 12 cr spent on schools: DC
Martyrs’ memorial lies incomplete
Missing youth found after 16 days
Draft recruitment rules fail to find HC approval
Man beaten to death
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HC puts govt on notice for re-arresting Daduwal
Faridkot, October 10 He was produced before a duty magistrate, who sent him to seven-day judicial custody. But the re-arrest seems to have landed the police and the civil administration in trouble as Daduwal’s family members have filed a writ petition in the High Court. They have demanded the court to order his release from the “illegal” custody. The High Court is learnt to have issued the notice to the government for Monday. While the government officials claimed Daduwal was sent into judicial custody as he declined to submit surety bail bonds, his father-in-law Gurmit Singh (in the writ petition) alleged that the police did not allow him to tender the bonds. Daduwal was in jail since August 22 after being arrested for his alleged involvement in two criminal cases. To prove Daduwal as an “imminent threat”, the police relied upon video clips of the huge gathering of his supporters outside the side. The police alleged Daduwal and his supporters had planned to forcibly take the possession of a gurdwara in Jandialisar village in Bathinda, which would have triggered clashes with the residents. As such, he was re-arrested under Section 107 and 151 of the CrPC. Harjit Singh Sandhu, Sub-Divisional Magistrate-cum-duty magistrate, said there was no violation of rules in arresting and sending Daduwal to judicial custody. “Though the offence under Section 107 and 151 of the CrPC is bailable, Daduwal was sent into judicial custody as he refused to tender the surety bail bonds,” said Sandhu. But Gurvinder Singh Sidhu, appearing for Daduwal in the High Court, alleged the administration violated the High Court ruling issued when the religious leaders and 20 of his supporters were arrested in a similar manner on April 11 last year. As the police were using preventive custody as a tool to put Daduwal in jail time and again, the High Court had issued directions to the district magistrates not to abuse this process of law, claimed Sidhu. “After I came to know about Daduwal’s arrest yesterday, I informed Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Tayyab and Senior Superintendent of Police SS Kahlon about the High Court’s order. I even sent them text messages that the arrest was a violation of the court order. But they did not bother,” he said. The Deputy Commissioner feigned ignorance about having received any such text message. “As Daduwal is a victim of political rivalry between the Akali Dal-INLD on one side and the Congress on the other in Haryana, we had demanded the High Court to order his release from illegal custody,” said
Sidhu.
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Not aware of PPCC infighting: Ahmed
Chandigarh, October 10 Contacted on the phone, AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed, in charge of party affairs in Punjab, said he was not aware of any feud within the Punjab Congress. “We are busy with the Haryana elections right now. I will be able to comment at the end of campaigning in Haryana (October 13),” he said. Ahmed said the high command would first ‘study the ground situation’ and then taken action. What has baffled the Congress workers is Bajwa’s stony silence. Amarinder Singh and his supporters have publicly demanded that Bajwa be removed as PPCC chief. Amarinder Singh has repeatedly used such disparaging terms as “non-performer” and “unreliable” for Bajwa. He has even attacked AICC secretary Harish Chaudhary for “lobbying” for Bajwa, pointing out that both had lost the parliamentary elections and that their coming together was akin to “one blind man helping another”. Despite the provocation, Bajwa’s reaction has been rather muted. It is significant that former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, an Amarinder critic till recently, has announced that she is willing to broker peace between Amarinder Singh and Bajwa. “The need of the hour is to work towards overthrowing the tyrannical SAD-BJP government in the 2017 Assembly elections. I will go to any extent to achieve this goal, and this includes helping Amarinder Singh and Bajwa bury the hatchet,” she told The Tribune. When approached, Bajwa said: “I can’t be removed on mere whim and fancy. I will continue to occupy the post till the party high command decides otherwise. I have been deliberately ignoring the outbursts against me. I will speak my mind at the appropriate time.” Amarinder Singh has been trying to win over senior party leaders such as Shamsher Singh Dullo and Laal Singh. He has been projecting them as ‘possible replacements’ for
Bajwa.
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DMC case: Doctor’s family protests, seeks CBI probe
Ludhiana, October 10 A large number of Dalit activists protested police inaction in the case near the Clock Tower. Earlier, the activists held a candlelight march from Mata Rani Chowk to Clock Tower. Victim’s father Dr Balwinder Kumar alleged though they had mentioned in the complaint the names of the professors, who harassed Supriya, the police did not book them for abetment to suicide. “The professors are very influential. The local police can’t conduct a fair probe. We demand that the CBI investigate the matter,” said Dr Balwinder. He further said, “The police have failed to answer several questions. They haven’t recovered Supriya’s personal diary. Moreover, they should examine the CCTV footage in the case.” He said they were protesting not only to punish the said professors, but also to change the faulty system of submission of research thesis. He said they wanted to eliminate ragging. Dr Balwinder said the upper caste professors and students discriminated against people from lower castes. Dr Supriya’s parents said they had formed an action committee to intensify their struggle for justice. Harmohan Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) visited the site and pacified the protestors. However, the protestors blocked the traffic at Clock Tower Chowk late in the day. They lifted the dharna on getting an assurance from the police.
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Seizure of biomedical waste
Hoshiarpur, October 10 Moreover, the authorities have not even bothered to dispose of the hazardous waste, which still lies in the police station at Garhdiwala. This speaks volumes about the carelessness of the Health Department towards the illegal disposal of hazardous waste. A team of the Garhdiwala police with the help of Health Department officials had seized biomedical waste from a junk dealer’s shop at Garhdiwala on August 24. The medical officer in charge of the Garhdiwala dispensary, Dr Sarup Singh, had reached the spot after receiving the information and further informed Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Sandeep Kharbanda. Dr Sandeep Kharbanda, Senior Medical Officer, Bhunga, along with a team of officials had questioned the junk shop owner on the next day and had checked a medical store nearby. The investigation team had also visited a medical store on Tanda Road and checked its records and stocks. At that time Dr Kharbanda had said he would investigate the matter in a couple of days and then he would send the report to higher authorities. When asked about the same, he confirmed that no report had been filed yet. He said, “I have nothing to do with it and it’s the job of the police to find out the source of the waste.” Meanwhile, the waste still lies at the Garhdiwala police station. The investigation officer said they had sent it thrice to the SMO office but they had refused to take it. The SMO said, “We have nothing to do with it. The Pollution Control Board will handle the matter.” Chief Medical Officer Dr Surjit Singh said, “The matter was to be investigated by the SMO, Bhunga, and he has not filed any report in this regard. He will be questioned for the delay.”
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RSS march: Congress complains to DC, SSP
Faridkot, October 10 Joginder Singh, Jaitu MLA and Faridkot District Congress Committee president, termed it a violation of rules. “There was no permission from any authority to flaunt fire weapons. It was an attempt to terrorise the masses,” he said. The police remained a mute spectator as this illegal flaunting of weapons was taking place, he alleged. Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, Punjab Congress general secretary, claimed similar incidents happened in Punjab in the 1980s, which later pushed the state into two decades of militancy. Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Tayyab said he had received the complaint. He said he had sought a report from the police. The RSS leaders dubbed the display of weapons as an “annual ritual”. “Shastra Puja” (weapon worship) and “Pathsanchalan” (street march) near Dasehra is a decade-old tradition,” said Tirth Verma, RSS district chief. He said the event was held to mark the RSS Foundation Day. — TNS
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Will punish truant staff, says Sukhbir
Patiala, October 10 “The government is taking action against employees who are careless and not punctual,” said Sukhbir. Prem Singh Chandumajra, Anandpur Sahib MP, Jangveer Singh, Media Advisor to Deputy Chief Minister, Paramjit Singh Gill, Inspector-General, Patiala Zone, Varun Roojam, Deputy Commissioner, Patiala, Shivdular Singh Dhillon, Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner, and Hardial Singh Mann, Senior Superintendent of Police, Patiala, were also present on the occasion.
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Sand mafia threatens forest officials
Ropar, October 10 The officials intercepted 10 tippers, loaded with sand excavated illegally from the Sutlej bed in Chamkaur Sahib, on the night of October 6. While eight of the offenders escaped with their vehicles, Jaspal Singh and Swaran Sigh of Nawanshahr and Ludhiana were caught by forest guards and handed over to the police. Sources said soon after, two persons contacted the forest officials and asked them to withdraw the complaint. When the forest officials refused to oblige, the duo reportedly dared them saying the “mining will continue”. The forest officials wrote a letter to the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police seeking a stop to the illegal mining in Chamkaur Sahib. The Mining Department has not issued any licence in this area. On Thursday, a senior BJP leader from the district reportedly called up a forest official from his official cell phone. The politician asked the official “not to disturb his men claiming they were lifting sand from private land”. District Forest Officer Naresh Mahajan confirmed he had complained against illegal mining.
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No news of youths stuck in Iraq, kin worried
Amritsar, October 10 Gurpinder Kaur, sister of Manjinder Singh from Bhoewal village, said the families were facing rough weather these days as those struck in Iraq were the bread earners for them. In some cases, they were the sole earning members of the family. She said though the state government had announced an aid of Rs 20,000 per month for these families, there were nine families that were yet to receive a single penny. Her own family has received this amount only once till now. She, however, said they were too worried about Manjinder to bother about the aid from the government. About the efforts for their safe release, she said they had recently met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during the Sangat Darshan in Amritsar. She said the Chief Minister had promised to accompany them to New Delhi for yet another meeting with Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. She said she had also spoken to officials of the Ministry of External Affairs, seeking an appointment with the minister. These families have already met Swaraj twice over the last four months. Ranjit Kaur, mother of Jatinder Singh from Sialka village, said they too were in trouble with the family having limited sources of income. She said Jatinder’s father had been working as a driver despite his old age and health problems. She also revealed that their family received the aid of Rs 20,000 per month from the government only twice in the last four months. However, she said they only wanted their son to return to his homeland safe and sound and did not want anything else from anyone. She said though they had no information about the whereabouts of their son, the government had assured them that he along with others was safe. Apart from Manjinder of Bhoewal village and Jatinder of Sialka village, four other youths from Amritsar district — Harsimranjit Singh from Babbowal village, Gurcharan Singh from Jalal Usma village, Sonu from Chawinda Devi village and Kamaljit Singh from Rupowali village — have been abducted by the ISIS militants. Most of these youths had gone to Iraq in search of greener pastures after paying over Rs 1 lakh each to travel agents, who had promised them a job with good salary. These youths had either mortgaged their property or taken loan on heavy interest from private moneylenders.
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Forest Dept files case against Akali leader
Ropar, October 10 The court has fixed November 3 as the next date of hearing. When approached, Kang denied the allegations, claiming he had given the land on lease long ago. He said he was not aware of any lawsuit. The forest department, in its report, said department officials had on September 15 noticed that a chunk of land in Bathlor Khad village of Nurpur Bedi had been levelled by digging hills. The land was owned by Kang and
Dhindsa.
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Woman thrashed by sister, dead
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 10 They pushed Nirmala Devi who fell on the floor and hurt her backbone.
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Farmer climbs atop water tank over panchayat land
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 10 SDM Pooja Syal Grewal, Tehsildar Hari Lal Nafri, Sirhind BDPO Jatinder Singh and Mullepur police station in charge Kuljit singh reached the spot to control the situation. It took them around 5 hours to persuade Jaswant Singh to climb down from the overhead water tank. Jaswant said he was a staunch SAD worker and had been fighting for the release of illegally occupied panchayat land (no 92 and 107) since 2005. He said he had given several representations to the district administration in that regard, but to no avail. That forced him to take this step, he said. He said a case had been already decided in favour of the village panchayat by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, but the authorities had failed to get the land freed from illegal possession. He said if the district administration and the police failed to take appropriate action in the matter, he would be forced to intensify his agitation. Jaswant Singh's son Lakhwinder Singh said some influential persons of the village had illegally occupied the land for the past many years. To get the land freed from illegal occupation, his father climbed the water tank around 3 am, he added. His demand Jaswant Singh of Atahpur village in Sirhind subdivision said the district administration should get panchayat land freed from illegal possession of influential persons.
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Farmers protest low basmati prices
Amritsar, October 10 Jamhuri Kisan Sabha president Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala, Kirti Kisan Union vice-president Datar Singh and Kisan Sangharsh Committee chief Satnam Singh Pannu said the farmers were being denied MSP for their paddy produce by government agencies on the pretext of discoloured grains and other criteria. The MSP of Rs 1,400 per quintal was already very low and the farmers were not getting even that, they said. They alleged the farmers were being "openly looted" in the market and not given proper price for their basmati crop. They said the government must fix MSP for basmati as well. They said the farmers had no option but to sell basmati produce at low rates in the prevailing scenario. They also lashed out at the PSPCL for providing power supply for only around five hours daily to agriculturists. They said it was becoming difficult for farmers to cultivate their basmati and late varieties of paddy due to inadequate power supply. Consequently, the farmers had no option but to run generators to save their crops, they said. They also urged the government to relax criteria as regards moisture and discoloured grains.
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Capt rubbishes state’s claim on power outages
Patiala, October 10 The former Chief Minister said the state was short of coal as it had failed to ensure and guarantee adequate coal supply to the power plants. Capt said he had always said that there was no point in setting up power plants if coal supply was not guaranteed. Capt took a dig at the state government and said if the demand for power was low, the state should generate power to full capacity and export it to other countries.
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Pbi varsity VC honoured
Patiala, October 10 Harbhajan Singh Gill, president of the foundation, was accompanied by Sukhi Bath, president and CEO of Studio 7, during his trade mission to India. The stamp was released on May 1, 2014, to mark the 100th anniversary of Komagata Maru incident. In the incident, 19 passengers of a Japanese steamship that reached Canada in 1914 were killed. Only 24 of the 376 passengers from Punjab were allowed to stay, while the others were forced to return to India. Among those present at the occasion were Dr Gurnam Singh, Head of the Gurmat Sangeet Department of Punjabi University, Dr AS Chawla, Dean, Academic Affairs and Dr Devinder Singh, Registrar. Dr Jaspal Singh said the Punjabi University was preparing to generate awareness on the event. He said they would stage plays, make films and hold conferences and seminars on the incident.
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Air Force official to serve life term for killing girl
Chandigarh, October 10 The incident dates back to November 2006. It was work as usual for Sub-Inspector Balbir Singh till he received a call from the Air Force station that a firing incident had taken place in the residential quarters. Complainant TK Shankran told the police that he, his wife Premlata and his daughter were in their government quarters when the bell rang around 6 am. He opened the door and found LAC S Dey standing there. Dey, who served with 18 Wing, ACH/GD Trade Air Force station, entered their house, took out a revolver and shouted that he would kill the entire family if they did not marry their daughter to him. Hearing this, his daughter ran towards the verandah. Dey followed her and fired at her using a .38 bore revolver. Dey then threw away the revolver and lay down on the ground. The victim was later declared dead on arrival at the Air Force station hospital. The police was later told that Dey wanted to marry the victim, but Shankran rejected the proposal as his daughter was underage. Dey denied the allegations in the court and said he and Shankran's daughter were in love and they used to meet each other. Shankran was angry over it. On that day, Shankran took out a revolver and started firing at him (Dey) causing bullet injuries to him in the abdomen, Dey said. One of the shots fired by Shankran hit the girl, he said. Dey was, however, convicted and sentence to life imprisonment by the Gurdaspur Additional Sessions Judge. Dismissing the appeal, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashutosh Mohunta and Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu said: "In the present case, the incident is almost admitted and the presence of the accused at the spot is also admitted. Only he has sought to explain that the shots were fired by the complainant…. The defence version is improbable and proved to be false…. The prosecution has been able to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt." The case
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Rs 12 cr spent on schools: DC
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 10 Deputy Commissioner Arun Sekhri said in a press note that the administration also provided free computer education to girl students of Classes VI to XII. Laboratories were set up in 60 government senior secondary schools being run under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhijan (RMSA) by spending around Rs 33 crore. A sum of Rs 2.85 crore was spent on the construction of new buildings of five schools, modern libraries were set up at a cost of Rs 4 crore in 58 schools and Rs 25 lakh was spent on constructing toilets and providing safe drinking water in 29 schools, he added. The DC said Rs 56 lakh was spent on constructing addition classrooms in various schools, besides spending Rs 48 lakh on minor repair in 75 schools and Rs 23 lakh on major repairs in 24 schools.
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AISSF gives bandh call
Amritsar, October 10 Peermohammed, accompanied by Jagdish Kaur, a key witness in the Sajjan Kumar case, addressed a press conference here today. He said it has been three decades since Sikhs were massacred in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. But justice continued to elude those who bore the brunt of the riots. Jagdish Kaur and her son Gurdeep Singh Goldy said they were depending on the support of the people of Punjab for justice as they were disappointed with the Indian justice system. They urged the people to support their bandh call. Successive Congress governments at the Centre have provided shelter to Congress leaders involved in riots, they alleged. “ We expect the BJP-led NDA government to take the cases against Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar to their logical end,” they said.
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Martyrs’ memorial lies incomplete
Doda (Muktsar), October 10 “It will not even require Rs 25,000 for the completion of the memorial gate, but the authorities are not bothered. The pillars have already been constructed. Only the installation of wall tiles and pictures of police martyrs are required,” said a relative of a police martyr. Jagsir Singh, official spokesperson of the district police, said, “The police martyrs’ memorial gate may have been left incomplete, but the district police is now building a police martyrs’ memorial in the district police lines. It will be inaugurated on or before the Police Martyrs’ Day on October 21.”
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Missing youth found after 16 days
Gurdaspur, October 10 Amandeep Singh (17), son of Ravinder Singh Sodhi, went missing on September 25. The same day his father received an SMS that asked him to pay a ransom of Rs 50 lakh at a secluded place, close to the Kotli, near Pathankot. The victim’s father then approached the police. Senior Superintendent of Police
(SSP) Gurpreet Singh Toor put the police of the locality and nearby areas on high alert. A case of kidnapping was registered at the Dinanagar Police Station. During investigations, it was found that the boy had purchased a SIM card from a Dinanagar-based cell phone dealer. Since the SIM card was purchased on fake papers, the owners of the cell phone shop were booked. On a tip-off, the police found the boy in Hazur Sahib. Amandeep Singh was handed over to his parents in New Delhi today. The SSP said Amandeep had run away from his house since he was suffering from depression.
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Draft recruitment rules fail to find HC approval
Chandigarh, October 10 On a previous date of hearing, the Bench had also directed the state government to produce draft rules to avoid future litigation. As the matter came up for resumed hearing, advocate HC Arora appeared for 46 existing contract-based and outsourced employees. He said the provision in the draft rules on state government appointing all employees was patently illegal. It was also in violation of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, that categorically laid down that recruitment rules would be framed by the state government, but the State Human Rights Commission would be the appointing authority. Arora said the provision in the draft rules as regards protecting interest of the existing employees was anomalous; it did not make head or tail. Part of the provision appeared to be truncated, probably in the "cut and paste" process. The court directed Arora to bring these issues to the government's notice. Petitioner’s claim
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Man beaten to death
Fazilka, October 10 Net Ram alleged that Sukh Ram, Mani Ram alias Manu, Mohinder Kumar, Parveen Kumar, Deepak Kumar, Dharmpal alias Bhala, Saroj, Bhagwanti and Santro Bai beat his brother Ram Niwas with sticks and wooden logs in their fields about 9 pm on Thursday night. Ram Niwas was shifted to the local Civil Hospital, where he was referred to the Medical College, Faridkot. However, he succumbed to his injuries on his way to Faridkot. The accused have been booked under Sections 302, 148 and 149 of the IPC. — OC
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Hoshiarpur, October 10
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 10
Patiala, October 10
We are busy with the Haryana elections right now. The high command will first study the ground situation and then take
action.
