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Beware of rumour mongers: Omar to people

June 6, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Srinagar, Jun 6 (PTI) People should not fall prey to emotional blackmailing and beware of rumour mongers bent upon disturbing peace for vested interests, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said. His comments came in the wake of violent protest by people over alleged blasphemous depiction of the holy city of Madina on some products, the reports which later proved to be incorrect after police investigation.

“Some elements are bent upon disturbing peace for vested interests and people should not get carried away by their nefarious designs,” Abdullah said, adding the rumour about desecration of holy places was found totally incorrect. “Even a blind will not say that the picture is of Kaba Sharief,” Abdullah said.

Addressing a function after inaugurating Rs 18-crore Sangarmal Complex here, he said a comprehensive development programme has been started for making Srinagar a model city, for which conducive and peaceful atmosphere is imperative. Without naming any group, he said “some people nurture their politics on disturbance and violence and common people have to bear the brunt”.

Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand said construction of a satellite town in Srinagar has been envisaged, besides other city development works.

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Farmers protest against Hydro Power Project in Himachal

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Rampur (HP), Sept 18 (ANI): Hundreds of residents and farmers here protested against the construction of run-of-river hydropower plant project on the river Satluj.

The campaigners called for Save Satluj drive and complained that the hydropower plant would disturb the ecological balance of the region.

“Our protest is to save our environment and our natural resources. They are being affected by the project. Because of this, the Sutlaj river will dry up, water mammals will die and the temperature of the region will also rise,” said Mohan Singh, a farmer.

Environmentalists believe that the 412MW Rampur hydropower project is not suitable to the fragile ecology of the region.

“The project will divert this river through the tunnel leaving the river bed dry which will disturb the ecological balance. This will not only affect the course of river but will also harm the crop grown in the area,” said Jai Chand, head of the Village Committee for Environment Protection.

The activists were protesting against the Rampur hydropower project authorities and the district administration.

The campaigners later staged a sit-in-protest outside the office of Sub-Divisional Magistrate demanding his intervention into the matter.

Rampur Hydropower Project will provide renewable and low carbon energy to the country’s over-stretched Northern Electricity Grid. (ANI)

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Smugglers using kids as ‘carriers’ on Indo-Nepal border

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kolkata, Sep. 11 (ANI): Smugglers active along the porous Indo-Nepal border are now using children, as ‘carriers’ to smuggle goods like sugar and tobacco.

Hundreds of children, in the age group of six to years, are being hired by the mafia of smugglers to carry out this illegal trade along the Sunauli check point of Uttar Pradesh.

Reportedly, the reliance on children has been so successful in smuggling that the influence of such a modus operandi is even witnessed in West Bengal.

The chosen children are paid around rupees 200 per day for running the errands.

“I travel at least 10 times in a day. I carry five kilograms of sugar in one visit and I get 200 rupees. I also study. I live in Jogiabadi,” said Akhil.

Shree Chand Gupta, President, Indo-Nepal Friendship Organisation contended that it is the poverty stricken parents who are persuading their children.

He added that this trends can turn out to be heinous in the long run if not checked at the right time.

“Today they are carrying sugar but tomorrow they can also smuggle arms and ammunitions on the other side and can work as traitors. Hence officers of both the countries should take a note of this crime as it can also cause a serious threat to the society,” said Gupta.

Physically challenged persons and aged women are also becoming soft targets for smugglers, as they don’t have any regular source of income.

Awareness campaigns in the border villages and schools can put a stop to the malpractice.

“Above all, the customs and the security personnel manning the transit points along the India-Nepal border need to pull up their socks,” Gupta points out. (ANI)

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Abandoned by children, inmates of an old-age perform ‘Shraadh’ in Bhopal

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bhopal, Sep.10 (ANI): Abandoned by their own children, many elderly people at an old-age home in Bhopal, performed ‘Shraadh’ for themselves during the ongoing ‘Pitrapaksha’.

As per Hindu tradition, one’s children or family members perform the Shraadh, the ritual of remembering the deceased.

These elderly inmates took the unusual step, as they realised there was no one in their families to perform this ritual.

“They (children) will not do the salvation ritual for us after our death. We are doing it for ourselves. If today they are treating us in this manner, we don’t know what they will do after our death. What can we say?… There is no one to see us. There is no one to listen to our plight… We will die like this here one day,” said Murari Lal Saxena, inmate of Anand Dham old-age-home.

By performing their own ‘shraadh’ rituals, the elderly said they were preparing for their next life.

Parmanad Agrawal, whose family members have died, said in this age and time he couldn’t trust his relatives to do ‘Shraadh’ for him.

“I’m doing my own salvation ritual. So that I don’t suffer in my next life,” said Parmanad Agrawal, an inmate of Anand Dham, the old age home.

Meanwhile, the in-charge of the old-age home Madhuri Mishra said that the inmates did the rituals out of a sense of compulsion.

“All elderly members were worried and in a sad mood. They said since their children have left them in an old age home then why not do their own post-death ritual even if they were still alive. This will leave no burden on their sons after their death. The elderly performed the rituals in the early morning,” said Madhuri Mishra, In-charge, Anand Dham Old-Age-Home.

Hindus believe in reincarnation, or in the cycle of birth. They believe that the body changes with every birth but the soul remains the same.

According to the Hindu philosophy, this birth and death cycle can be broken and the soul can be liberated by performing “Pind Daan” (rituals for dead).

During ‘Pitrapaksha’, children perform the ceremony and pray that the souls of their ancestors should rest in peace. By Ram Chand Sahu(ANI)

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Three policemen suspended, probe ordered into custodial death in J-K

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Srinagar, Aug 31(ANI): Three policemen were suspended and a magisterial probe was ordered on Monday, following the death of a 17-year-old boy in police custody in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.

According to reports, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Adhkunwari police post Suram Chand, Munshi Deepak Ram and Selection Grade Constable Bishan Dass were suspended.

Sub Divisional Magistrate Katra Rashpal Singh has been directed to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the death and submit the report to the government.

Earlier, protests were held in the region after death of Billoo, a native of Ludhiana in Punjab, who police claimed had committed suicide by hanging himself in the lock-up.

Billoo was picked in connection with a theft and pick-pocketing case and was taken to Adhkuwari police station for questioning. (ANI)

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Oxford University in land-grabbing row for its Indian campus

August 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 30 (ANI): Oxford University’s first overseas campus in India, which is going to be set up in Lavasa near Pune, has been embroiled in a land grabbing row, with accusations of human rights violations against the land developers.

Oxford’s outgoing vice-chancellor, John Hood, has been a strong backer of the Lavasa venture, described by the university as its first overseas campus.

Oxford has struck a preliminary deal with Ajit Gulab-chand, chairman of the company that controls Lavasa, to endow a chair at the Said Business School in Oxford for a reported 7.4 million pounds, The Times reported.

The Indian developers of the 12,500-acre Lavasa site have been accused of forcing farmers into selling their land and of pressing them to accept low prices. They have also been accused of worsening deforestation by cutting down millions of trees.

Medha Patkar, a human rights activist at the forefront of villagers’ campaign, described Lavasa as a “land grab”.

“People are threatened … made to feel like criminals. They cannot survive there unless they submit so they sell their land for the prices offered. They are continually asking them to leave. They say, ‘Give away your land, give away your land’.”

Oxford plans to offer courses for Indian executives in an education centre in Lavasa, a privately managed city modelled on hill stations built during the British rule,The Times reported.

Lavasa is to be home to 200,000 middle-class Indians and include resorts, educational and sports facilities including a golf course designed by Nick Faldo. The first of its four settlements, Dasve, is due to open next year.

Oxford will not offer degrees in the planned 15-20 million pounds education center, but Rajgopal Nogja, president of Lavasa Corporation, said he hoped 5,000 students would study there in its first five years.

He said Lord Patten, Oxford’s chancellor, had been enthusiastic about the plan in a visit two years ago. “It’s going to be the best building in my city, timeless architecture for the best university in the world,” the paper quoted Nogja, as saying. (ANI)

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Baby hyena turns cynosure of all eyes at Bhopal zoo

July 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bhopal, July 12 (ANI): Officials at the Van Vihar National Park, the zoological gardens in Bhopal are a delighted lot since a little hyena cub has been brought here from the jungles.

The little female cub has become a cynosure of all eyes here.

Forest rangers overseeing the jungles in Satna region, about 377 kilometres from Bhopal, found this abandoned young hyena, although the hyenas are known to be very possessive, caring and social.

Soon the Conservator of Forests at Satna rushed the orphaned hyena to the Van Vihar National Park.

Prior to arrival of this young hyena, the park had just one old hyena and now the authorities are delighted on the inclusion of this cub amongst other animals in the park.

“We had just one hyena in our national park (zoo), which is very old. Now this baby hyena has come from Satna forest. We are more than willing to accept this hyena in our park. We are taking care of its food and rearing it. We want this baby to grow up into healthy adult hyena so that it can stay in the park for longer period,” said S. S. Rajput, Director of the Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal.

Veterinarians at the zoo have assessed the hyena cub to be around three months old. The park officials have christened it as “Lusi”.

Presently, the cub is on a diet of minced fish and milk, being fed through a feeding bottle.

A hallmark of Van Vihar National Park at Bhopal is that all the animals are kept in almost their natural habitat. Most of the animals here are either orphaned ones, usually traced in the state’s forests or brought from other zoological gardens under exchange programme.

There are different types of hyenas such as brown hyena, striped hyena, spotted hyena or the laughing hyena.

Hyenas are regarded as nature’s major scavengers. They also feed on small animals, insects and even fruits. Of course there are instances of hyenas collectively targeting a game larger in size such as deer and calves of wild buffaloes, if found alone.

A pack of hyenas is usually nomadic, moving from one water hole to another but never straying more than 6 miles (10 km) from one. By Ram Chand Sahu (ANI)

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BJP Parliamentary board to consider fate of Uttarakhand Chief Minister

May 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 23 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Parliamentary Board will meet here today to decide the fate of Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri, who offered to resign owning moral responsibility for the defeat of the party in all the five Lok Sabha seats in the State.

On Friday, twenty four of the party’s 34 legislators gave in writing their support for Khanduri.

BJP’s central observers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Thavar Chand Ghelot interacted with each of the MLAs separately to elicit their views on possible leadership change in the state.

Naqvi and Gehlot would present a report to the party’s parliamentary board. (ANI)

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A call centre for farmers in Punjab

May 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Abohar (Punjab), May 20 (ANI): In a first of its kind initiative in the country, a call centre named Zamidara Farmsolutions has started functioning in Punjab.

Located in the border district of Fazilka in Ferozepur district, the call centre offers latest updates to the farmers on agricultural techniques and developments.

Besides discussing their problems with the call centre executives, the farmers can also get expensive farming instruments on rent, which they otherwise cannot afford.

Vikram Ahuja, owner, who himself is a farmer said that he was aware of the problems faced by the farmers and tried to ease their problems by making the expensive machine available to them on ‘Pay for use’ basis.

“We have tried to make the expensive machinery available to the farmers on ‘Pay for use’ basis rather than ‘pay for ownership’. In this the farmer has to pay for what he uses and nor for what he owns,” said Ahuja.

Elaborating on the use of the call center, Khushal Chand a farmer from Begawali village who recently hired a machine for water leveling said it made more sense in hiring these machines rather than buying them.

“Main reasons for taking this machine on hire was that it is very expensive. It costs 6,285 dollars and it becomes very impractical for small farmers like us to shell out this kind of money for single use and after that this machine becomes a liability,” said Chand.

Nearly two-thirds of India’s billion-plus population depends on agriculture for a living and efforts such as these will really benefit the small farmers. By Avtar Singh Gill(ANI)

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Sikhs continue protests against atrocities on their community by Taliban

May 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Amritsar, May 7 (ANI): Sikhs continued protests across Punjab against the atrocities being committed on their brethren by the Taliban in Pakistan.

Scores of activists took to the streets in Amritsar to express their anguish against the treatment meted out to Sikhs in Pakistan’s North West Front Province (NWFP).

The protestors, who torched an effigy of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, appealed to both the Indian and the Pakistan Governments to help in controlling the atrocities on Sikhs.

“Our brothers have staged this protest against Taliban and asked the Pakistan Government to stop the atrocities on Sikhs and also their losses should be compensated. They also appealed to the Indian Government to intervene and help avert the atrocities committed on them and their relatives in Swat valley and Pakistan,” said Swaroop Chand, a protestor.

The Taliban demolished at least 11 houses belonging to the Sikh community on Thursday in the Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan after they refused to pay “Jazia”.

Jazia was a tax imposed on non- Muslims for their protection during theMughal period but continues even today in some parts. (ANI)

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Gurudwara Gurusar Sahib narrates the saga of Sikhs’ chivalry

May 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Abohar, May 1 (ANI): The travels of the Sikh Gurus, their miracles and achievements in battle fields are all inextricably linked with various Gurudwaras.

The 17th century Gurudwara Gursar in Mehraj Village of Punjab’s Bathinda district is one such gurudwara which commemorates the historic victory of the Sikhs over Mughal forces.
Legend has it that a Mughal governor in Lahore captured two horses gifted by an Afghan devotee to Guru Hargobind, the 6th Sikh Guru. The Guru sent his envoy, Bhai Bidhi Chand, who rescued the horses from the royal stable in Lahore.
To take revenge, an imperial force of 22,000 troops was sent towards Mehraj Village under the command of Qammar Beg and Lella Beg. But Sikhs, though vastly outnumbered, defeated the attacking force.

“Guru ji had around 4,500 Sikh soldiers against the 22,000 Mughal troops. In the battle, Guru Sahib lost 1,273 saint soldiers including Kirth Bhatt Ji and Bhai Jetha Ji. Guru’s soldiers fought bravely against the huge Mughal army. On the other side Mughals suffered heavy casualties and fled back to Lahore leaving behind the dead and wounded. Guru Sahib built a tank called Gurusar to mark the victory,” said Chattar Singh, a villager.
In memory of those killed in the battle a memorial, Shahid Ganj, was built opposite to the main gurudwara. Next to the memorial is a centuries old `Beri’ tree, where Guru’s Afghan horses were tied.

Here devotees tie a thread on the branches of the tree for the fulfillment of their wishes.
Thousands of devotees visit this place today.

“We have an ardent belief in this holy spot. Villagers here don’t cut their hair or shave their beard because it’s a symbol of Sikh’s courage and bravery,” said Ranjeet Kaur, a villager.
“The entire village organizes an annual fair in remembrance of the sacrifice of our ancestors. They have done a lot for us. All wishes are fulfilled here. We are very grateful to our ancestors. I feel very lucky to have taken birth in this village and I hope that I will be born again in this village in my next birth,” said Satnam Singh, a villager.

Guru Hargobind named this place `Gurusar’ and declared it a place of pilgrimage.
The old building constructed by Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha in 1843 was replaced during the 1980s by the successors of Gurmukh Singh Sewawale.
Gurudwara Gurusar Mehraj today as a memorial of the Sikh bravery. By Avtar Gill (ANI)

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Grandma’s grand values

April 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Parents today are a worried lot. Their young children want them to buy things that are not healthy for the proper development of their minds and personalities.

Attracted by the trendy goods of our materialistic world, they force their obliging parents to buy the latest mobile phones, MP3s and so on. The children do not know anything about the harmful effects of these things.

Munshi Prem Chand, in his short story, Chimta, has beautifully dealt with this theme and he has shown how children can be made to think in a more positive and constructive way. Prem Chand writes about a small village near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh where Id fair used to be a great attraction every year.

A young boy, Hamid, was living with his grandmother. He used to call her Khalajaan.

His parents had died when plague had broken out in the village and the old grandmother had brought him up with the best of values. One day a few boys of the village asked Hamid to join them in their visit to the fair.

His grandmother gave him two paise, not a small sum in those days, and asked him to go and enjoy with his friends. The boys rushed to the fair.

Some bought toys, some ate sweets and others bought other things of their liking. Hamid too was keen to buy something.

He moved around seriously, looking for his choice of things. He purchased a chappati-catcher (chimta).

The boys laughed at him. But he didn’t bother.

He returned home and gave the chimta to his grandmother, and said, ” Khalajaan, now your fingers will not burn when you make chappatis.” His grandmother embraced him with tears in her eyes.

Why cannot we have this kind of stories in the primary schools books? Our children need to imbibe good values that promote healthy thoughts and habits.

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Sandalwood trees found axed near Taj Mahal

April 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Agra, Apr 11 (ANI): Fifteen sandalwood trees in the Shah Jahan garden near the Taj Mahal have been found axed here. Two employees of the garden have been accused of the act.

As per the Supreme Court orders the area near the Taj Mahal is declared as a ‘Green Belt’ and gardens have been developed there.

Enquiries are being conducted into the matter.

“I am under orders to enquire the case. Whatever names comes up, an First Information Report (FIR) would be registered and action would be taken against them,” said Satish Chand Upadhyay, an official.

The accused employees claimed that the trees had fallen due to a storm, but there are clear axe marks on the trees.

The accused employees were seen by people in the garden felling trees.

“I came to the garden for a morning jog. When I came today, I heard some sounds, like that of an axe cutting something. I saw that some people were cutting trees. When I enquired about it, they said that they were under orders from officials. They had axes, wood and ropes. There were around five to six people. I could not stop them, as I was alone. They left one by one saying they were going to call the official,” said Syed Munnavar Ali, an eyewitness.

The wood of the trees has been kept in storerooms. There were many sandalwood trees in the garden but allegedly in connivance with smugglers, the gardeners have been cutting them.

The Shah Jahan garden is a tourist attraction with hundreds of tourists visiting everyday. (ANI)

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Pak Supreme Court rejects govt.’s request for in-camera trial in flogging case

April 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Apr. 7 (ANI): Pakistan’s Supreme Court has rejected the government’s request for an in-camera trial of suspects involved in the teenaged girl’s flogging in Swat and ruled that the facts be brought before the public.

An eight-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is hearing a suo motu case of the flogging incident.

The court has directed the federal interior secretary, the NWFP inspector general of police and the NWFP chief secretary to prepare a detailed report of the flogging case.

Attorney-General Sardar Latif Khosa described the flogging case as a sensitive issue that required an in-camera hearing.

Chief Justice Chaudhry turned down the request on the ground that as news of the flogging was revealed through the media, the facts should be brought before the public.

The flogged victim, Chand Bibi, didn’t appear before the Supreme Court, saying that it was against her traditional values.

Bibi’s statement before the magistrate was presented through Khosa.

Earlier, Malakand Commissioner Syed Mohammad Javed and a senior judge visited Kala village situated in the far-off area of Kabal Tehsil and recorded the statement of the girl’s statement.

The NWFP chief secretary also presented a confidential report.

The Supreme Court, however, refused to accept the report, saying it was not required. (ANI)

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Pak CJ sets 15-day deadline for report on Swat teen flogging

April 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Apr.6 (ANI): The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, has set a 15-day deadline for government officials to submit a detailed report on the public flogging of a 17-year-old girl in the Swat Valley.

Chief Justice Chaudhry issued the directive as eight judges opened a hearing into the Taliban whipping case.

“Government and regional officials from North West Frontier Province (NWFP) should ‘submit report on a fortnightly basis to the registrar of this court,” Chaudhry said in his order, which was written in English.

“The matter requires a detailed probe to locate the place of incident, the application of law for those involved and if sentence of flogging was awarded lawfully or unlawfully,” he added.

The footage shows two men pinning the girl down while a bearded man in a turban flogged her 34 times with a whip.

Government officials, whom Chaudhry had ordered to bring the girl before court Monday, instead submitted a written statement saying that the girl and her husband had denied being flogged.

The woman, Chand Bibi, expressed her unwillingness to appear before court in the presence of media.

The details of her alleged crime were confused, but residents of KalaKilley village in the Swat valley said the woman was accused of illicit relations with an electrician and forced to marry him.

‘Possibility cannot be ruled out that a fake TV material or a video had been prepared with an ulterior motive to malign the people of Swat,’ said Chaudhry.

‘If there is any unlawful order, or provisions of constitution dealing with dignity of human beings are violated, action is required to be taken,’ he said.

The judges in court Monday strongly criticized government officials for dealing with ‘deteriorating’ law and order.

‘We are not satisfied by your job of sitting in offices and making statements,’ the Dawn quoted the chief justice, as saying.

Local government officials and residents said the video was filmed on January 3, some weeks before the government signed a controversial deal with a pro-Taliban cleric to allow sharia law in the Swat Valley. (ANI)

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Police informer killed

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

MUMBAI: Irfan Hasan Khan alias Chindi (34), an informant of slain encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, was stabbed to death by a gang of four
robbers early on Friday at Surti Mohalla in south Mumbai.

Three persons, Shaikh Suleman Moinuddin, Irfan Abdul Shaikh and Yusuf Mustaq Khan, have been arrested and the police are on the lookout for four others – Chand, Taushif, Zakir Khan and his father Kalu Shakir Khan – who have fled the city.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the gang killed Irfan as he had tipped off the Thane railway police following which, some of the members were arrested and 80 cellphones recovered. Investigating officer S A Bagwe of JJ Marg police station, however, said, “Irfan had ventured into the property business and his murder could be the fallout of a dispute.”

The incident occured around 4 am when Irfan was returning home after meeting his associates at Shalimar Hotel naka on Mohammed Ali Road. “He was in a Maruti Zen along with a friend and his driver, Akhil. As the roads were dug up, he parked the car near my building and got off. Two persons walked up to him and picked up a fight with him,” said Irfan’s elder brother Aslam quoting Akhil. “Within two to three minutes, a few others joined in and started abusing and manhandling Irfan. Meanwhile, Akhil and his friend rushed to the JJ police station for help. Irfan also tried to protect himself. Witnesses told the police that Irfan started running towards his brother’s building, when one of the accused stabbed him. He was stabbed 12 to 15 timer,” said constable Krishna Jadhav.

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Haryana voters get more gimmicks, less of candidates this election

April 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mobile vans, CDs, cassettes, voice messages, SMS, special election raths, documentaries, computers. You name it and they have them. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Congress, BJP and, to some extent, other parties in the state as well have planned a hi-tech campaign for the Lok Sabha elections to attract voters.

More than a month back, the Haryana government had dispatched 50 mobile vans in different parts of the state for campaigning. The vans carried posters, banners and pictures touting achievements of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in the state. However, the vans were grounded under the model code of conduct as soon as the elections were declared.

The Congress has also planned to get a special election rath for Hooda. The rath is being manufactured at the JCBL plant in Lalru, Punjab. It will be fitted with hydraulic facilities to lift a stage on top of the rath to enable the CM to address the people.

Sources in the INLD said they have also planned a hi-tech campaign in the state. Mobile vans, documentaries and CDs will hit out at the ruling Congress.

Talking to The Indian Express, Ajay Chautala, general secretary of the INLD and Rajya Sabha MP, said the Congress government’s “failure both at the state and the Centre were monumental”. Chautala said election campaign CDs prepared by the INLD would be distributed among the people.

According to Sampat Singh, the INLD candidate from Hisar Parliamentary constituency, the party has also prepared a series of street plays to highlight the “failures” of the ruling Congress in the state and the UPA government at the Centre.

Sources in the BJP said the party was preparing its campaign in the state’s IT capital at Gurgaon.

“We will have voice messages, SMS, CDs, cassettes and mobile vans for our election campaign,” says Gyan Chand Gupta, a BJP leader.

Sources in the BSP, however, said they have no such plans. “We are a grassroots party. We are depending on door-to-door contact programme,” said a BSP leader.

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Rae Bareli judge ‘threat’: SC to take up case today

April 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

The Supreme Court will take up on Thursday the complaint of a Rae Bareli judge who recently received a threat days before he was scheduled to pronounce the judgment in a murder case in which a former MLA is the main accused and in which two witnesses have been murdered.

After he was threatened, Additional Session Judge of Rae Bareli Shivnath had sought guidance from District Judge Ashok Kumar Srivastava who, in turn, apprised the Supreme Court of the threat.

The judge also deferred the judgment in the case, originally scheduled for March 28, to April 10.

Government Counsel of Rae Bareli Kripa Shanker Tripathi said that the judge had written in the order sheet on March 24 that his family had received a threat. He stated that witnesses and complainants in the case had been threatened in the past also.

The judge did not say how he was threatened, but sources said the threat was conveyed by unidentified men through one of his relatives. Rae Bareli SP Tarun Gauba said they had registered an FIR against unidentified persons and are investigating.

Former MLA Akhilesh Singh, who is in Kanpur jail for the past two years, is the main accused in the case. His lawyer Tara Chand Gupta said his client had nothing to do with the threat.

The case relates to the murder of Congress leader Rakesh Pandey, who was shot dead in his Rae Bareli home by five unidentified men on July 2, 2002. His brother, Manoj Kumar Pandey, lodged an FIR against five people, including Singh, who was the then Congress MLA from Rae Bareli. He alleged that Singh had earlier threatened to eliminate his brother and had even attacked him over an old rivalry. Except Akhilesh, all the other accused in the case have got bail.

Manoj Pandey said that two witnesses in the case, Mangal Pandey and Babloo Shukla, were killed in 2004. “They were shot while they were on their way to Rae Bareli from Lucknow. There are 16 witnesses in the case,” he said.

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Dried leaves developed into art objects

March 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bhopal, Mar 28 (ANI): Dried leaves, which are otherwise considered waste, are being transformed into eye-catching paintings by an artiste in Bhopal.

An engineer by profession, 70-year-old Gopal Krishna Beri, has created numerous paintings and works of art by using different kinds of tree leaves.

Inspired to utilize the waste material into something worthwhile, this septuagenarian used the dried leaves and created some stunning paintings from it.

“Usually people burn this waste and only ashes are left behind. So I wanted to show how this waste could be used to make something useful. Now, my work has become so popular that people come to see my paintings,” Beri said.

He collects the leaves with unusual hues and then cuts them into interesting shapes and sizes to create his art.

Beri’s unique art has also got him a mention in the Limca Book of Records. By Ram Chand Sahu (ANI)

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Chand Mohammed gives talaq to Fiza

March 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Chandigarh, Mar 14 (ANI): Former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan alias Chand Mohammed has given ‘talaq’ to his estranged second wife Fiza alias Anuradha Bali on phone.

Addressing to reporters here, Fiza said that Chand uttered ‘talaq’ three times to her on phone and also sent an SMS reading the same.

Chand was given a clean chit by the Punjab Police on a complaint filed by Fiza against him of rape, cheating, intimidation and hurting sentiments filed by Fiza against him.

Police had termed the case as fallout of a ‘strained relationship’.

Fiza also said that she would never spare Chand for cheating her.

“I am not going to spare him. He has cheated me. Chand married me for establishing sexual relations with me,” She added.

Chander Mohan’s love story rocked the State last year when he embraced Islam and lost his Deputy CM position to marry his beloved, Anuradha Bali.

Chander Mohan was removed from the post of Deputy Chief Minister for being absent and neglecting his work.

He is also facing a fatwa (edict) for converting to Islam only to get married. (ANI)

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