Gang of four: the men convicted for December 16 Delhi gang-rape

New Delhi, Sep 10, 2013 [AFP/ Hindustan Times] --- The four men convicted on Tuesday over the December 16 New Delhi gang-rape lived in and around Ram Dass Camp, an unauthorised slum in the south of the Delhi favoured by hundreds of labourers.

Residents there complain of the ignominy of being associated with the men, particularly the ringleaders whom they remember as heavy-drinking troublemakers known for their abusive language and disregard for neighbours.

Ram Singh, the regular driver of the bus used for the attack and one of the main instigators of the crime, was found hanging in his prison cell in maximum-security Tihar jail on March 12 in a suspected suicide.

The 32-year-old had confessed privately to his role, according to his parents, but during the trial he had denied the long list of charges including murder, rape and kidnapping.

Here are profiles of the four men convicted, as well as the fifth under-age suspect who was sentenced to three years in a correctional facility on August 31.

Mukesh Singh
The brother of Ram Singh who migrated to New Delhi from his ancestral village in the western desert state of Rajasthan. He frequently worked with his brother on the bus and also tried getting a job with a construction company in Delhi.

During court proceedings in April, the unmarried labourer, who has a tattoo of two swords signifying "bravery" on his left arm, told AFP he was a "very hard working man" and wanted to "lead a simple life".

Aged 29 at the time of the crime, he denied the charges against him and told the court that he "respected women".

Vinay Sharma
Aged 20 at the time of the crime, he denied being on the bus. He earned $100 a month as a helper at a local gym and lived in the same neighbourhood as Mukesh and Ram Singh.

He had completed his schooling, unlike the other convicts who are school dropouts, and during the trial said he wanted to appear for a recruitment test for a job with the Indian Air Force.

Sharma submitted an application to the judge to be moved out of Tihar jail after being assaulted by inmates. He suffered a fractured left hand while in custody.

Pawan Gupta
The youngest of the rapists, aged 19, Gupta was a fruitseller who also worked as labourer on roads and construction sites for a couple of dollars a day. During wedding season, he would work with a catering company.

He was arrested at the Ram Dass Camp where he lived with his cousin and was known as a friend of Ram Singh.

Akshay Thakur
A married father of a two-year-old son, Thakur also worked as a helper with Ram Singh and had earlier been employed in a local liquor factory and in a brick kiln.

Aged 28 at the time of the crime, he fled from Delhi on December 17, but was arrested at his father-in-law's home in the eastern state of Bihar. His wife, Punita Devi, told the police, that if her husband is found guilty then he should be "shot dead".

A juvenile
A 17-year-old at the time of the attack, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is a run-away who fled his home in impoverished Uttar Pradesh state at the age of 11.

His mother told the police that he was the eldest of her six children and that she had no contact with him during his time in the capital where he had no fixed job or address and often slept rough.

He cleaned Ram Singh's bus and in winter slept inside the vehicle.

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Godly man "Asaram" slept with young girls daily

Ahmedabad, Sept 5, 2013:  In a starling accusation, a former close aide of self-styled godman Asaram claims the controversial spiritual guru has built three ashrams across India for women, who are no more than his "keep". 

"Apart from these, he also keeps many women in separate rooms built in each ashram. Though old, Asaram needs young girls in the age group of 15 to 25 daily. He may not touch the same woman for a year, as he needs a new girl every time," says Amrut Prajapati, who worked as a technical officer of the Ayurvedic division at Asaram's Motera ashram for 12 long years. 

Prajapati further claimed that women are killed if they try to resist the godman's advances. "These women were then shown to have committed suicide. There must be an inquiry on how many men or women have committed suicides in his ashrams or how many dead bodies were found in the river behind his Motera ashram," alleged Prajapati. 

"One day, I was allowed to see him (Asaram) inside his private room, as he was severely ill. Since the guards knew me well, I went straight to his room and found Asaram in a compromising position with a 25-year-old girl, who used to stay in the ashram. This was the turning point for me," said Prajapati.

[Courtesy: Dailybhaskar.com]

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Girl student attacked in JNU campus with axe, attacker dies

New Delhi, July 31, 2013 [ZEENEWS] --- A Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) female student was seriously injured in an attack by a male student with an axe in the college campus on Wednesday. While the girl's condition is stated to be critical, the attacker later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

The incident took place today morning around 11 am at the JNU campus where Akash and Roshni were studying Korean language in the university's linguistic department.

The attack took place in room number 203 of the university after both the students reportedly entered into an argument.

After attacking the girl, the accused reportedly tried to commit suicide by slitting his throat and consuming pesticide.

The attacker was admitted to the AIIMS hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Meanwhile, the victim has been admitted to Safdurjung hospital and her condition is stated to be critical.

The cause of the attack is still not clear as the victim is still critical and not in a condition to give a statement.

A country made pistol was also recovered by the police from the spot.

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Bassi to head Delhi Police as Commissioner of Police today

New Delhi, July 31, 2013 [IANS| Pic: GGN] --- Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Bhim Sain Bassi will take charge as Delhi Police chief today, succeeding Neeraj Kumar.


The new commissioner will take charge at 1 p.m., a police official said.

A 1977 batch IPS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, Bassi, 57, was the front-runner for the post.

Currently special commissioner of police (administration), he previously headed the Delhi Traffic Police and was also Goa's director general of police.

Bassi has also been the special commissioner (vigilance), joint commissioner (southern range) and additional commissioner (northern range).

Neeraj Kumar, a 1976 batch IPS officer, took charge of Delhi Police from B.K. Gupta July 1 last year. His tenure saw the brutal Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape of a young woman, which unleashed unprecedented mass protests in the capital. The woman died while under treatment in Singapore Dec 29.

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Modi’s Himalayan miracle

June 26, 2013 [TOI] --- On the evening of Friday, June 21, as India reeled from the shock of the calamity in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi landed up in Dehradun with a handful of officers. By Sunday, it was claimed that he had rescued 15,000 stranded Gujaratis from the wreckage of Uttarakhand and sent these grateful folks back home. This miracle was played up in media. But how was this feat achieved in a day or so, when India's entire military establishment has struggled to rescue around 40,000 people over 10 days?  Reports say that Modi pulled off this coup with a fleet of 80 Innovas. How did these cars manage to reach places like Kedarnath, across roads that have been washed away, over landslides that have wrecked most access routes?  But let us assume Modi's Innovas had wings as well as helicopter rotors. Including the driver, an Innova is designed to carry seven people. In a tough situation, assume you could pack nine passengers into each car. In that case, a convoy of 80 Innovas could ferry 720 people down the mountains to Dehradun at one go. To get 15,000 people down, the convoy would need to make 21 round trips.  The distance between Dehradun and Kedarnath is 221 km. So 21 trips up and down would mean that each Innova would have to travel nearly 9,300 km.  It takes longer to travel in the hills than in the plains. So, assuming an average speed of 40 km per hour, it would take 233 hours of driving to pull off the feat.  This assumes non-stop driving, without a second's rest to identify the Gujaratis to be rescued and keeping the rest of the distressed folk at bay, or any time to load and unload the vehicles. And forget about any downtime for the gallant rescuers.  That is nearly 10 days of miraculous work. And Modi pulled it off in a day.  Actually, in less than a day: a breathless media reported that by Saturday, 25 luxury buses had brought a group of Gujaratis back to Delhi. For some reason, four Boeing aircraft also idled in some undisclosed place nearby.  Modi, ever modest, himself did not make the claim of rescuing 15,000 Gujaratis from Himalayan disaster in a day. It was likely dumped on a gullible media by his public relations agency, an American outfit called Apco Worldwide. In 2007, Apco was hired, ostensibly to boost the Vibrant Gujarat summits, but to actually burnish Modi's image, for $25,000 a month.  He is in good company. Apco has worked for the dictator of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, the governments of Malaysia and Israel and the American tobacco lobby.  For the latter, it set up front organisations to rubbish evidence which proved that tobacco causes cancer. Apco has also worked for pariah regimes like Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and Nigerian strongman Sani Abacha.  Its powerful advisory council includes former Israeli diplomats Itamar Rabinovich and Shimon Stein, as well as Doron Bergerbest-Eilon, who was the highest ranked officer in the Israel security agency.  Apco is credited with Modi's makeover and his holographic campaigns. Before Apco, Vibrant Gujarat was a tame affair: the first three summits generated investment promi-ses between $14 billion and $150 billion. After Apco, in 2009 and 2011, these jumped to $253 billion and $450 billion.  Apco worked tirelessly to rope in investor interest from America. It also lobbied with politicians in Washington to remove the ban on Modi travelling to the US. The ban was imposed after the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat as Modi presided over the state in 2002. So far, Apco hasn't succeeded in getting Modi a US visa.  And the Vibrant Gujarat numbers are all hot air. An analysis by my colleague Kingshuk Nag in his biography of Modi shows that only 3.2% of the 2009 number has materialised on the ground. Of the 2011 figure, a mere 0.5% is for real.  But Modi does not need Apco to lie. In 2005 he announced that state-owned company GSPC had made India's biggest gas discovery: 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf) valued at more than $50 billion, off Andhra Pradesh. This was 40% more than what Reliance had found in the same area. Modi then egged on GSPC to grab projects in Egypt, Yemen and Australia.  Many suspected that Modi's gas claim was hot air, but in the absence of evidence few could say so. But by 2012, the Centre's directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH), which analyses and certifies all energy finds, said that it could vouch for only a tenth of Modi's claim: there was only 2 tcf of gas. And that too in areas tough to exploit.  Meanwhile, under Modi's rousing leadership, GSPC had poured in nearly $2 billion into exploration, much of it raised as debt based on its supposed 20 tcf gas find. When the gas vanished, GSPC went bust.  To rescue it, Modi asked the company to venture out into more areas, like city gas distribution. There have been problems with these businesses as well, including a very dubious transaction with a company in Barbados.  In every area the Modi narrative is a tale of bluster and bluff. But his Himalayan miracle is a barefaced, cynical lie. [TOI]

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Yamuna recedes in Delhi but flows above danger mark

New Delhi, June 20, 2013 [IANS] --- The water level in the Yamuna started receding in Delhi Thursday morning but stayed above the danger mark of 204.83 metres. Many low-lying areas in the city also remained inundated, a government official said. "The water level, which rose to 207.20 metres mark (on Wednesday), came down to 207.15 metres around 9 a.m. today (Thursday). But it is still above the danger mark of 204.83 metres. We expect the water level to reach 207 metres by afternoon," Dharampal, secretary of Delhi's revenue and disaster management department, told IANS. The official added that the Yamuna's wate level touched 207.25 metres mark by late Wednesday, the highest since 1978 when it reached 207.49 metres, and the food water spilled over to the Outer Ring Road. In 2010, the water level of the flooded river had touched 207.11 metres. "The water level was so high yesterday (Wednesday) that by 8 p.m. the flood water spilled over to the Outer Ring Road. The Tibetan Market was filled with knee-deep waters. As the water level in the river is gradually coming down, the water on the road is draining out," the official said. Over nine lakh cusecs of water has been released into the Yamuna from Hathinikund Barrage in Haryana in the last four days, resulting in rise of water level in the river. "The water level released from Haryana has reduced significantly," he added. A man drowned in the swollen river while bathing near Majnu Ka Tila in north Delhi Wednesday, the official said. Nearly 5,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas like Usmanpur, Yamuna Bazar, Bhajanpura and Shastri Park in east Delhi, and shifted to about 900 relief camps set up by the city government. However, people complained that there were not enough tents to house all those displaced. The muddy, swirling waters of the Yamuna river crossed over the danger mark Tuesday, leading to the closure of the city's 145-year-old rail-cum-road bridge, which connects east Delhi with the heart of the national capital.

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300 from Bihar missing in Uttarakhand

Patna, June 20, 2013 [IANS] --- Former Bihar minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey's two relatives were killed while he survived nature's fury at Kedarnath in Uttarakhand, a state where 300 people from Bihar are missing. Choubey, along with his close relatives, a family priest and security personnel, was on a trip to Kedarnath when they were trapped in the landslides and strong currents of the Ganga river. According to his personal staff, his close relative Subodh Mishra and his wife Rubi Mishra were killed in landslides. Choubey and his other family members were airlifted by helicopters and brought to Dehradun first and then to Delhi, a relative of Choubeys said Thursday here. "Choubey's three security personnel, his priest and a relative are still missing. There is no information about them," an official said. The reports reaching here from different parts of the state suggest that more than three hundreds people are missing there. Thousands are said to be missing in Uttarakhand after unprecedented rains and cloudburst led to landslides and flash floods. More than 100 people were killed and 62,000 have been stranded.

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Railways to Launch Ticket Booking through Non-Internet based Mobile Phones with Effect from 1st July 2013

New Delhi, 17 June 2013: With an aim to further facilitate the passengers, Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC),a public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Railways, will be launching a pilot project of ticketing through non-internet based mobile phones with effect from 1st July 2013. This will enable people using non-internet based mobile phones to easily access Railway ticketing services through SMS/IVRS/USSD. The scheme is user-friendly, secure and also eco-friendly, as no print out is required. Indian Railways has continuously endeavored to improve the ease and access of ticketing. The e-ticketing initiative of Indian Railways has been one of the most passenger-friendly initiatives of Indian Railways. In order to further expand the reach of ticketing, the Minister of Railways had made a Budget announcement regarding launch of ticketing through mobile phones was announced in the Railway Budget. The objective was to tap the potential of mobile phone market in India and thereby facilitate the common man, by providing him any-where any-time and hassle free booking option. The salient features of this new scheme to be operationalised on1st July, 2013 are: •          There will be a dedicated number on which SMS can be sent. •          No need of internet at any stage viz. booking, payment, cancellation etc. •          One has to register the mobile number with IRCTC as well as one's bank. The Bank (one time password) for authorization of payment. •          The passenger has to type the train number, destination, journey date, class and passenger details like name, age and gender on the SMS box. •          The sender will receive transaction ID and then make payment through sending another SMS by typing PAY followed by the transaction ID, MMID as received from the bank and password. •          On successful booking of ticket, message will be sent to the user by IRCTC which will suffice as valid authority to travel along with photo ID card in original. •          Cancellation of tickets can also be done through the cancellation option available. •          The scheme will be on pilot basis and will not be available during the 8 am - 12 pm for booking ARP/Tatkal/General tickets.

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India to become world's most populous nation around 2028: UN

United Nations, Jun 14, 2013--- India will surpass China to become world's most populous nation around 2028, with its population crossing the 1.45 billion mark, according to latest report by the United Nations. The report 'World Population Prospects' says the world's population will hit 7.2 billion next month and is projected to reach 10.9 billion by 2100, with the growth mainly occurring in developing countries, with more than half in Africa. But, with the number of future global dwellers linked to fertility, the number at the end of the century could be as high 16.6 billion or even fall to 6.8 billion, it adds. The report says India is expected to become the world's most populous country, passing China around 2028, when both countries will have populations of 1.45 billion. After that, India's population will continue to grow and that of China is expected to start decreasing. "Although population growth has slowed for the world as a whole, this report reminds us that some developing countries, especially in Africa, are still growing rapidly," Wu Hongbo, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said while releasing the report. The report notes that the population of developed regions will remain largely unchanged at around 1.3 billion from now until 2050. In contrast, the 49 least developed countries are projected to double in size from around 900 million people in 2013 to 1.8 billion in 2050. Nigeria's population is expected to surpass that of the United States before 2050. "While there has been a rapid fall in the average number of children per woman in large developing countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Brazil and South Africa's rapid growth is expected to continue over the next few decades in countries with high levels of fertility such as Nigeria, Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Uganda but also Afghanistan and Timor-Leste, where there are more than five children per woman," said John Wilmoth, the Director of the Population Division in the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Overall, life expectancy is projected to increase in developed and developing countries in future years. At the global level, it is projected to reach 76 years in the period 2045-2050 and 82 years in 2095-2100. The report's figures are based on a comprehensive review of available demographic data from 233 countries and areas around the world, including the 2010 round of population censuses.[TOI]

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President lays the foundation stone of Nirbhaya Bhawan

New Delhi, June 11, 2013 --- The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone of 'Nirbhaya Bhawan' the permanent headquarters of National Commission for Women today (June 11, 2013) at a function at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that since it was established in 1992, the National Commission for Women has distinguished itself through its sincere initiatives for the rights, dignity and development of women in our country. It has been widely recognized and appreciated for the pivotal role that it has played in the empowerment of women in India. It is therefore, only appropriate that the Commission, after 20 years of service dedicated to the cause of Indian women, should finally have its own permanent headquarters. He added that once installed in its own premises, the Commission would be able to create a better infrastructure for its work, augment its capacity for outreach and also significantly enhance its functional efficiencies. The President said that the Government of India is committed to equality and justice for all citizens - especially the marginalized - as envisaged in our Constitution. He said that women have played and aspire to play a pivotal role in shaping the socio-political and economic development of our country. He stated that the National Commission for Women has been rendering their support for increased participation of women in the democratic processes and the general up-liftment of women in India. The President stated that a greater sensitization of society to the need to accord due respect of women is required. Only when our ancient civilizational values of treating women with respect and dignity are formally embraced by us, can we consider ourselves a civilized society. He said that his appeal was to ensure that adequate social awareness is created on women's rights and against the evil of barbaric acts of violence and atrocities against women and children, such as those witnessed in the recent past. Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Women and Child Development and Ms. Mamta Sharma, Chairperson, National Commission for Women.

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All three Manipur State MPs lag behind none

Imphal, May 15, 2013 [e-pao.net] --- With the issue of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the country employing closest family members as their own Personal Assistants (PAs) becoming a hot topic of debate rocking the Parliament, it has been found out that all the three MPs from Manipur are not lagging behind anyone.

All the three Congress MPs from Manipur namely Thangso Baite of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, Dr T Meinya of Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency and nominated Rajya Sabha MP Rishang Keishing are employing their closest family members and relatives as Personal Assistants (PAs) of their own.

The PA of Thangso Baite is his own son Tongkhohao Baite; the PA of Dr T Meinya is also his own son T Helly while the PA of Rishang Keishing is his granddaughter Ringyaola Keishing.

The matter has come to light when The Indian Express flashed it as its lead story based on datas accessed under RTI Act.

According to the report carried in The Indian Express on its edition today under the headline "It's all in the family: 146 MPs employ relatives as their personal assistants"at least 146 MPs, 104 from Lok Sabha and 42 from Rajya Sabha, have appointed at least 191 relatives as their personal staff.

Under the salary and allowances rules, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have to pay Rs 30,000 per month to those employed by MPs for secretarial assistance. This amount can be paid entirely to one PA or an MP can split the amount between more than one assistant.

Although an MP appointing a family member or a close relative as a PA does not violate any rule, experts and some senior MPs said it certainly raises questions of ethics and propriety.

Such choices also come at the cost of ignoring loyal party workers or those better qualified from among their voters and supporters, they said. The report further stated that this army of family PAs includes 60 sons, 36 wives, 27 daughters, seven brothers, seven daughters-in-law, four husbands and 10 cousins, among others.

The list also cuts across lines of parties and political ideologies. Of the 146 MPs employing close relatives as PAs, 38 are from the BJP, 36 from Congress, 15 from BSP, 12 from Samajwadi Party, eight from DMK, seven from Biju Janata Dal, six from JD (U) and the rest from other parties.

Of these, 36 MPs have appointed more than one relative as PAs while at least four have appointed three family members in their personal staff.

Some members have appointed a family member as one PA and are paying them a large portion of the Rs 30,000 monthly entitlement and a second, non-family member as a PA for the remaining, smaller amount.

For instance, S K Bwiswmuthiary (Assam), Nikhil Kumar Choudhary (Bihar), Mohammed Ali Khan (Andhra Pradesh), S Thangavelu (Tamil Nadu), Dilipbhai Pandya (Gujarat), Ali Anwar Ansari (Bihar), Munqad Ali and Brajbhushan Sharan Singh (both UP) have appointed their two sons as PAs.

Samajwadi Party MP from UP Tufani Saroj has appointed his two daughters.

C L Ruala, (Congress-Mizoram), Gorakhnath Pande (BSP-UP), Nripendra Nath Roy (AIFB-West Bengal) and Tapas Paul (TMC-West Bengal) have appointed their wife and son.

Sharifuddin Shariqe from J& K has appointed his grandson and granddaughter as PAs.

Saifuddin Soz from J&K and Rishang Keishing from Manipur have appointed their granddaughters.

BSP MP from UP Dr Baliram has appointed his two daughters and wife as PAs.

His party colleague Ramashankar Rajbhar has appointed his two daughters and one son.

BJP MP from Karnataka S Pakkirappa has appointed his son and daughter.

BJP MP from Indore Sumitra Mahajan first appointed her daughter-in-law as her PA in Parliament but when Mahajan was appointed chairman of a parliamentary committee, the same daughter-in-law was appointed PA there too.

Similarly, SP member from Allahabad, Rewati Raman Singh, has appointed his daughter as PA in Parliament and his niece as PA in his parliamentary committee secretariat.

The report further states that 251 PAs of MPs, including some from among the 191 close relatives, are paid much below the minimum wage applicable in Delhi.

The 251 comprise of 202 PAs of Lok Sabha members and 49 PAs of Rajya Sabha members, with some of them being paid Rs 2,000 per month while the minimum wage for even unskilled labourers in Delhi is more than Rs 8,000 per month.

Congress MP from Jammu, Madanlal Sharma, who has appointed his wife and son as his PAs, stresses that he has not violated any rule.

"I am sure I have not violated any rule by appointing my relatives as my PAs.

My son is a law graduate and returned from London.

I depend on him more than anybody.If such appointments are not allowed, I will not do so," he said.Parliamentary experts, however, have a different take.

"This is certainly an ethical issue and related to the conduct of the members," said Subhash Kashyap, former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha.

"This should be considered either by the ethics committees or by the presiding officers of both houses." Ironically though, at least three MPs on the 14-member Lok Sabha ethics committee namely Dara Singh Chauhan, Sumitra Mahajan and Prem Das Rai, and one MP on the 10-member Rajya Sabha ethics panel, E M S Natchiappan, are themselves on the list of MPs employing close relatives as PAs.

"Although there is no bar on appointing close relatives as personal staff, propriety demands that MPs should think and carefully consider before appointing relatives as PAs," said Lok Sabha ethics committee chairman Sis Ram Ola.

The BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is on the Rajya Sabha ethics panel, said he considered this practice "inappropriate".

"There may not be any legal or ethical issue, but this is a matter of political propriety.

I consider it inappropriate. This is a larger issue in a time when politics is becoming family oriented. We will look at it whenever it comes before the ethics committee," he said.

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Delhi nursing student loses eye in Mumbai acid attack

Mumbai, May 03, 2013 [Indian Express] ---  A NURSING graduate from Delhi, set to join the Army Medical College in Colaba, Mumbai, as a lieutenant, lost vision in her right eye after an unidentified man threw acid on her, minutes after she arrived at the Bandra railway terminus on Thursday morning. The accused was reportedly travelling in the same train, Delhi-Bandra Garib Rath, as the victim, Preeti Rathi, 25, who was accompanied by her father, Amarsingh Rathi, uncle Vinod Kumar Singh, and aunt Sunita Singh. Preeti has been admitted to the Masina Hospital in Byculla. "The victim has suffered severe internal burns due to inhalation and consumption of acid and has been put on ventilator. She has completely lost vision in her right eye, but her left eye appears to be all right. She remains critical," said Dr R B Dastur, director, Masina Hospital. "I called the Army Medical College and asked for help. But the management said that since Preeti had not officially joined duty, they could not do anything. They told me that she cannot join now," said Vinod Kumar. Preeti's aunt told the police that she saw the attacker at Navsari, Gujarat. "The accused possibly boarded the train at Navsari. Sunita Singh told us that she first saw him at the Navsari railway station with a bottle in his hand. She then spotted him on the platform of three other stations. It appears that he picked his chance after the train reached Mumbai," said B Shirsat, DCP, GRP (Western Railway). According to the police, the attacker was in the same coach (G-2) as Preeti and her family. Vinod Kumar also recalled spotting the accused in the coach early on Thursday morning. "At 5:30 am, I walked to the door to get some fresh air when I saw him standing near the bathroom. He appeared to be 20-22 years old," he said. "The man had covered his face and rushed at us from the front. He was carrying a plastic bottle and threw its contents at us. Most of it hit Preeti, even entering her mouth, and she began to bleed. A little fell on my hands. We fell to the ground while the attacker ran away and disappeared into the crowd," said Amarsingh. "Several people gave chase but the accused got away. The angle at which the incident has been captured by the CCTV camera has not helped us identify the man," said Shirsat. Amarsingh, a foreman at the Delhi government-run electricity plant Bhakra Beas Management Board, and two other passengers were also injured in the attack. The family is now struggling to pay the medical bill. "The Railways gave us an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5,500. But the hospital has asked to pay Rs 60,000. We had brought only around Rs 20,000 with us, of which more than half has been spent on medicines," said Amarsingh. A case has been registered at Bandra GRP police station under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the IPC. Pic: Getty Image

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Sarabjit Body to be cremated in Bhikhiwind Friday

Bhikhiwind (Punjab), May 3, 2013 [IANS] --- Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who died in Pakistan early Thursday, will be cremated in his hometown Bhikhiwind in Punjab's border district of Tarn Taran, amid great anger in the town. Sarabjit's family, which was in New Delhi, reached Bhikhiwind, 50 km from Amritsar, by helicopter Thursday evening. Scores of local residents gathered at the helipad to meet them and walked with them to their house. Sarabjit's body was being flown from Lahore to Amritsar on its way to this town, and arrangements were underway for the last rites. A number of leaders are expected to attend the cremation Friday. Angry resident of this town held protests Thursday and kept the entire town shut. Shops and educational institutions also remained closed. Protestors gathered at various places and condemned the "cowardly" act by Pakistani authorities which led to Sarabjit's death. Residents of the town mourned his death and said the Indian and Pakistani governments could have saved him. The town Thursday woke up to receive the sad news of his death in a Lahore hospital. Residents of the town saw celebrations and disappointment within a few hours in June in 2012 when reports first said that the Pakistan government had announced his release. However, in a flip-flop, the Pakistani authorities later clarified that not Sarabjit Singh but another Indian prisoner, Surjeet Singh, was being released. "We were expecting a miracle to happen. We wanted Sarabjit to recover. What the Pakistanis have done is cowardly. He had suffered in their jails for nearly 23 years and now they have murdered him," a visibly upset Bhikhiwind resident Kirpal Singh said as he and some others gathered outside the house of Sarabjit's family. Some residents also gathered outside the local gurdwara and protested against Pakistan. "Residents of the town were hoping and praying that Sarabjit would return in their midst one day. The Pakistani authorities have killed him by conspiracy," another resident, Amrit Kaur, said. Sarabjit, 49, suffered critical head injuries after an unprovoked and sudden assault by other prisoners April 26. Sarabjit was on death row in Pakistan since 1990 after being convicted by Pakistani courts for bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan, which left 14 people dead. Sarabjit's family claimed that he was innocent and was arrested when he crossed over to Pakistan in an inebriated state. Police in Pakistan, however, claimed that Sarabjit Singh was involved in terror strikes.

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Review of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989

New Delhi, May 1, 2013 [PIB] --- The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) {PoA} Act, 1989, extends to the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir, and responsibility for its implementation rests with State Governments/Union Territory Administrations. The States/Union Territories are provided due Central assistance under a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, for effective implementation of the PoA Act. They are also addressed from time to time to, inter-alia, implement provisions of the Act in letter and spirit.  A Committee under the Chairpersonship of Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, constituted in 2006 also reviews implementation status of the PoA Act in various States/Union Territories.  The Committee has so far held twenty meetings wherein implementation of the PoA Act was reviewed in 24 States and 4 Union Territories. The continuing incidence of occurrence of offences of atrocities against members of SCs and STs leads to an impression that the deterrent effect of the PoA Act is not adequately felt by the accused. Occurrence of such incidents also highlights the need for more effective precautionary and preventive measures. Such aspects called for an assessment to consider amendments in the PoA Act.  Accordingly, this Ministry, after due consultation process with the concerned agencies, has commenced the process of amendments in the Act. This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri P. Balram Naik in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha yesterday.

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Sarabjit 'clinically dead' in Pakistan; family to return Wednesday

Amritsar/Lahore, May 1, 2013 [IANS] --- The distraught family of Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who was brutally assaulted in a Lahore jail last week, is likely to return home Wednesday after doctors have reportedly indicated that he was "clinically dead". Raj Kumar Verka, vice chairman of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes, said in Amritsar Tuesday that he spoke to Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur who told him that doctors have told her that Sarabjit was "brain dead". "I think that Sarabjit had died earlier. Why did the Pakistan government have to do this drama (of allowing the family to visit him in Lahore) when he was already gone? They sought her permission to remove him from the ventilator," Verka, who was instrumental in securing visas for four members of Sarabjit's family from the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi Saturday, told media. Sarabjit's lawyer Awais Sheikh told a news channel from Lahore that Sarabjit's sister had expressed the family's desire to return to India. "After the doctors told her about Sarabjit's condition, she first told me that they wanted to go back today (Tuesday). But later, in their hotel, they said that they will go back tomorrow (Wednesday) morning," Sheikh told the channel. Sarabjit Singh, 49, was admitted to a Lahore hospital in a critical condition after a vicious attack on him by fellow prisoners at the Kot Lakhpat Jail April 26. He has been on ventilator support ever since. India Monday appealed to Pakistan for Sarabjit's release even while a medical board in Pakistan said that he would continue to get treatment in Pakistan and not shifted out. The ministry of external affairs in New Delhi had asked Pakistan to take a "sympathetic and humanitarian" view on Sarabjit. Dalbir Kaur, Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur and daughters Swapandeep and Poonam, crossed from the Attari-Wagah border checkpost into Pakistan Sunday afternoon to visit him in a Lahore hospital. He has been on death row in Pakistan since 1990 after being convicted by Pakistani courts for bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan, which left 14 people dead. Sarabjit's family claims he is innocent, and that he crossed over to Pakistan in August 1990 in an inebriated state and was arrested there. Police in Pakistan, however, claimed that Sarabjit Singh, known there as Manjit Singh, was involved in terrorist strikes.

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Dr Rajesh Talwar killed Aarushi and Hemraj: CBI

New Delhi, April 24, 2013 [TOI/TNN] --- A CBI officer on Tuesday placed on record his view of the motive for the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder and the manner in which the crime was committed. On the fourth day of his cross-examination, CBI's investigating officer AGL Kaul told the Ghaziabad court that Aarushi's father Dr Rajesh Talwar killed her and Hemraj after finding them in an "objectionable position on Aarushi's bed". Kaul's statement supports Noida police's theory of May 23, 2008. The two were killed on the intervening night of May 15-16, 2008. Kaul also recreated the sequence of events relying on circumstantial evidence. However, defence counsel Satyaketu Singh told TOI: "It is all Kaul's imagination. His theory negates the circumstantial evidence he has talked about so far. If Hemraj was attacked in Aarushi's room, how come there was no trace of his blood in that room?" He also said Kaul was unable to explain the mix-up of pillows taken from the rooms of Hemraj and another domestic help, Krishna. CBI had initially cited a CDFD-Hyderabad report to claim that Krishna's pillow had Hemraj's DNA on it. Later, it verbally informed the Allahabad high court that the submission was based on a typographical error. "For this, CBI also got a fabricated reply from CDFD and they never put anything on record. Kaul personally managed the whole frame-up," Singh alleged. Kaul told court on Tuesday that both the accused (doctors Rajesh and Nupur Talwar) and the victims (Aarushi and Hemraj) were present in the house. There was no forced entry or theft, and the accused could not give a clear account of what happened that night, he added. The postmortem report says death occurred between midnight and 1am on May 16, 2008. Kaul claimed that Dr Rajesh Talwar, who was awake in his room, heard a sound around midnight and came to Hemraj's room through the lobby to investigate. He didn't find the help there but picked up one of the two golf sticks kept there. He next came to Aarushi's room which was shut but not locked. "He opened the door and saw Aarushi and Hemraj in an objectionable state on her bed," Kaul said, adding, Dr Talwar then attacked Hemraj on the head with the golf stick. The second blow, he claimed, fell on Aarushi's forehead. By the time Dr Nupur came to the room, Hemraj had fallen off the bed. The Talwar couple checked Aarushi's pulse and found her dead. They got scared and made a plan to kill Hemraj and hide his body, Kaul told court. He claimed Hemraj was wrapped in a sheet and dragged to the terrace where his throat was slit. The Talwars placed a cooler panel on the body, and locked the stairs from inside, before rearranging things in Aarushi's room and slitting her throat to make the murders seem like the handiwork of one person. "Nupur cleaned Aarushi's private parts and changed her clothes. After that they cleaned the bloodstains and collected the bloodstained clothes to dispose of in the morning along with the weapon."

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600 million Aadhaar card by 2014

Washington, April 23, 2013 [PTI] --- Nearly half of India's population would have the Aadhaar card by 2014 and nearly one in three Indians by the end of this year, Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Nandan Nilekani said here today.  The ambitious project - which has issued unique identification numbers to more than 380 million people, which is large than the population of several large countries in just a few years - would still take a few more years before every Indian resident is issued with this unique number and the card having the biometric information of the individual, Nilekani told a Washington audience.  Delivering the Eighth Annual Richard H Sabot Lecture 'Technology to Leapfrog Development: The Aadhaar Experience' organised by Center for Global Development - a Washington- based think-tank, Nilekani said UIDAI has leveraged the state of the art technology of the present days to provide unique identification number to every resident of the country.  "Today we have enrolled 380 million of the 1.2 billion people. Our daily processing is about a million people a day. Our goal is to reach 400 million this year and 600 million by 2014," he said, adding there are between 25,000 to 30,000 enrolment centers in the country.  Noting that this unique identification number is now becoming "an internal passport and gateway" to various services for Indians, Nilekani said by working with various regulators they have ensured that this ID is sufficient to get their services. It enables one to get services quick and hassle free, he said.  "People see this as a gateway to many services," he said, adding over the next few years he expects this to be used for different kinds of services including the ambitious direct cash transfer scheme of the Union government.

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Justice Verma passes away

New Delhi, April 23, 2013 [The Hindu] --- The former Chief Justice of India, J.S. Verma, who recently chaired the panel that came out with recommendations on improving women's security, died on Monday following multiple organ failure. He was 80. Justice Verma was admitted to Medanta Medicity Hospital in neighbouring Gurgaon on Friday with a serious liver condition. His condition deteriorated rapidly. Justice Verma, who became the 27th CJI on March 25, 1997 and retired on January 18, 1998, was appointed chairman of the three-member committee to suggest legal reforms to deal with sexual assault cases in the wake of the December 16, 2012 gang-rape case in Delhi. The committee, which included the former Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, Justice Leila Seth, and the former Solicitor-General of India Gopal Subramaniam, submitted its report within just 29 days following wide consultation with all stakeholders. It recommended the death penalty in the rarest of the rare rape cases and opposed lowering the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16. It also called for enhancing the minimum sentence for rape from seven to 10-year jail.

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