INTERNATIONAL

Sabharwal’s murder trial shifted to Maharashtra

New Delhi: Holding that the State has a duty to protect witnesses in sensitive cases involving those in power, the Supreme Court on Wednesday transferred the trial in Prof H S Sabharwal’s murder from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh to Nagpur in Maharashtra.

"The State has a definite role to play in protecting the witnesses, to start with at least in sensitive cases involving those in power, who has political patronage and could wield muscle and money power, to avert a trial getting tainted and derailed and truth becoming a casualty," the apex court observed.

A Bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat also directed that the Public Prosecutor be changed in the case.

The Bench passed the order on a petition filed by the slain professor’s family alleging that free and fair trial was not possible in Madhya Pradesh as the accused belonged to the ABVP the student wing of the ruling BJP.

However, the Bench also made it clear that the order of the transfer of the case would not mean that it had gone into the merits of the allegation made by the family of the slain professor.

Harbhajan Singh Sabharwal, a professor in Ujjain college, had died on August 26, 2006, after he was allegedly attacked by ABVP leaders protesting against the cancellation of election in the university.

The Professor had declared the student election null and void. Protesting his decision, some students of Madhav College had attacked him leading to his death.

The Bench while reserving its judgement on March seven had indicated that it would direct the Sessions Court of Nagpur to complete the trial within eight months.

In its detailed judgement today the apex court said the State (Government) "as protector of its citizens has to ensure that during a trial in court, the witness could safely depose truth without any fear of being haunted by those against whom he has deposed."

Justifying its order, the apex court said reluctance and hesitation of witnesses to depose against people with muscle power, money power or political power has become the order of the day.

"If ultimately truth is to be arrived at, the eyes and ears of justice have to be protected so that the interests of justice do not get incapacitated in the sense of making the proceedings before court mere mock trials as are usually seen in movies," the apex court observed.

According to the bench legislative measures against tampering of evidence by witnesses, informant or victims has become "imminent and inevitable."

The apex court said public interest in the proper administration of justice must be given as much importance if not more, as the interests of the individual accused, wherein courts have a vital role to play. (PTI)

Son threatens fast unto death

New Delhi: The son of slain professor H S Sabharwal on Wednesday threatened to go on a fast unto death if his demand for a CBI probe into his father’s death was not met.

"If my demand is not going to be met, I am going to fast untill death for the cause of justice," Himanshu Sabharwal said reacting to the apex court’s decision of transfer of the case from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra.

The Bench passed the order alleging that free and fair trial was not possible in Madhya Pradesh.

"We had pleaded for a re-investigation because there are allegations of serious nature in which they have sabotaged, suppressed major evidences," Himanshu said.

Harbhajan Singh Sabharwal, a professor in Ujjain college, died on August 26, 2006 after he was allegedly attacked by ABVP leaders protesting against the cancellation of student union election in the university. (PTI)

Scarlette’s death probe in final stages: IGP

Panaji: Goa police on Wednesday said the investigations into the death of British teenager are in "final stages".

"The case is almost in the final stage and we are left with tying the lose ends," Inspector General of Police Kishan Kumar told PTI this afternoon.

Scarlett Eden Keeling, a 15-year-old UK girl, was found dead on Goa’s Anjuna beach. The second autopsy had recommended that the police should investigate the case as homicide (murder).

The IGP, however, refused to divulge exact time frame within which the case would be solved. "I won’t give you the time frame but we are progressing well in this case," Kumar said.

Kumar’s statement came soon after the district and session court rejected anticipatory bail applications of two suspects-- Julio Lobo and Placido Carvalho. While police have already arrested a barman Samson D’souza (29), these two suspects are likely to be arrested. (PTI)

’84 riots: CBI slammed for not filing report

New Delhi:(PTI) Nearly three months after it directed the CBI to re-investigate the alleged role of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, a city court on Wednesday slammed the probe agency for its failure to submit a status report on the probe.

"The attitude of the CBI is very strange...they should bring the guilty to book and not shield them," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjiv Jain said.

Even as the CBI counsel submitted that they would now comply with the orders to file the status report, the court expressed its anger saying "Why not today?"

The court which ordered re-investigation of the case on December 18 last year, had asked the CBI to file its report under section 173 CrPC (investigation report), after a US-based witness Jasbir Singh volunteered to depose against Tytler for allegedly inciting a mob against the Sikhs.

"I had not asked you to file a chargesheet, but a status report. It was your duty to file the status report," the judge said in an apparently disgusted tone. The agency has now been directed to file the report within a week.

In his arguments, CBI counsel Sanjay Kumar submitted that a petition on issues related to Singh’s testimony was pending before the Delhi High Court and sought time to file its report on the ground that the matter was sub-judice before the higher court.

The arguments of the agency, however, were countered by Singh’s counsel Sharad Kapoor and senior counsel H S Phoolka who argued that unless the matter was stayed by the High Court, the CBI could not seek exemption from filing its status report.

Asked about the progress in the probe, the investigation officer of the case informed the court that the CBI had examined four witnesses so far.

Interestingly, both the CBI and the petitioner failed to produce before the court the High Court’s order on the petition challenging the agency’s claim to seek Singh’s presence in India.

Expressing surprise over the CBI’s failure to place before it the status report as well as the High Court orders on the matter, the judge said, "I think you are taking the case lightly."

The matter has now been posted for April nine.

Singh had earlier expressed his inability to come to the country and had expressed his willingness to record his statement through video-conferencing.

The CBI had on September 29 sought to close the case against former Union Minister Tytler, declaring Singh, an alleged key witness and presently settled in California, as untraced. (PTI)

36 Tibetan women activists detained

New Delhi: Thirty-six Tibetan women activists were on Wednesday placed under preventive detention in the capital after they tried to storm the Chinese Embassy.

With faces painted in colour of Tibetan flags, the women, under the aegis of Tibetan Youth Congress, shouted anti-China slogans and tried to storm the embassy building in high security Chanakyapuri area, police said.

The protestors also painted some portions of the wall with Tibetan flag and slogans.

As the group turned violent, police resorted to cane charging and used water canons to disperse them. (PTI)

AAI strike: Flight service remains unaffected

New Delhi: Flight and airport services were largely unaffected in various places across the country on Wednesday, despite an indefinite "non-cooperation" move called by Airport Authority of India Employees Union which began since Tuesday midnight to protest the closure of existing airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Operations in major airports across the country remained normal as per initial reports with flights operating on schedule. The government has already deployed 479 Air Force personnel in 21 key airports across the country in the wake of the strike call.

Flight operations in the national capital remained normal with airlines operating services on time. During four hours from 5:30 a.m. about 85 domestic and international flights took off from Delhi airport while 45 took off from the domestic airport, sources said.

"There is no problem. Everything is normal. I got my baggage in time. We expercted chaos here but I was surpirsed to find everything normal on a strike day," Ajay Kumar Singh, who arrived from Mumbai, said.

Some employees of the Airport Authority Employees Joint Forum staged a demonstration in front of arrival terminal of the airport shouting anti-government slogans and said they will not handle ground services until airport management looks into their demands. About 2,000 workers at the Mumbai airport have not reported for work since the strike began but it did not affect the airport operations, sources said. In Kolkata, flight operations were normal at the NSC Bose International Airport while 30 Air Force personnel were stationed there to man crash fire services and specialised vehicles operations.

In Chennai, flights operations were normal at both the domestic and international airports Wednesday morning. Flights to Delhi, Port Blair, Kolkata, Bangalore and Coimbatore left on schedule. Even international flights to Gulf and Britain left on schedule, sources said. A Coimbatore report said flight operations there was normal. Reports from Bangalore also said there were no disruption of services in this city.

"There is no impact. Flights are coming and taking off as usual. It’s business as usual," an airport official said. In Kerala’s Thiruvanathapuram, a section of employees have not joined work but airport sources said it had not affected the flight operations. Flight operations at the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) at Nedumbassery were also not affected. (PTI)

Radio jockeying becomes a craze among young Indians

New Delhi: If you are blessed with the gift of the gab and a pleasant voice, then add a dash of humour, sensibility and sensitivity and you might be the next best thing on radio.

Radio jockeying has assumed a dynamic and competitive nature since the introduction of nine private FM channels in the Indian capital. And young enthusiasts are up to it.

"We receive at least two CVs every alternate day. The number of people aspiring to be a radio jockey (RJ) is mind-boggling and increasing each day," Punit Mathur, station director, Big 92.7 FM, told IANS.

Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City 91.1 FM, seconds that. "The business of Indian radio is booming and with time it will only get better. From just playing plain vanilla music with standard radio jockey talk since pre-private FM days, the profession is taking centrestage," she said.

According to Mathur, it is mostly fresh graduates in the age bracket of 19 to 20 years who desperately seek to join the profession.

Ritika Singh, 20, is attracted by the fame, recognition and sharing of views and ideas associated with the profession.

She said: "I want to become an RJ as it makes a person famous among the masses. Besides, I love to talk and share views and ideas. Also, by being an RJ, I can solve people’s problems and counsel them, it will be a bonus for me."

This is what most people seeking a job as a radio jockey say.

"Our profession requires awareness about the surroundings. One has to be abreast of the latest in the city so that a conversation can be struck with the caller immediately," Archanaa who is an RJ in Mumbai said on phone. She co-hosts "Whatte Fun Mornings" at Mumbai’s Radio City 91.1 FM. (IANS)

SC gives no relief to MPA lNext hearing on March 24
Apex Court show cause on Guv

SHILLONG: SSLC and HSSLC examinations conducted by the MBoSE started on Wednesday. Altogether 60,049 candidates -- 38,969 for SSLC and 21,080 for HSSLC -- are appearing in the examinations this year in 159 centres across the State. Of the total HSSLC candidates, 2,575 are in Science stream, 1,481 in Commerce and 17,024 in Arts stream.

Thomas A Sangma nominated for RS seat
Lanong MPA’s nominee for Assembly Speaker

SHILLONG: The KHADC on Wednesday passed Rs 7.5- crore Budget for 2008-2009 without any discussion.

TURA: The Tura Government College Students' Union (TGCSU) has expressed unhappiness with the formation of a Congress government in Meghalaya saying that developmental works would once again be hampered. The decision of the governor to invite the Congress to form the next government has not gone down well with the TGCSU.

Shillong: Two persons were injured when the Maruti car they were travelling in collided with a truck. The incident took place at around 6:30 am at Laitkor on Wednesday.

Shillong: The body of 17-year-old Abas Marbaniang from Lower Lumparing was recovered from a forest near Crinoline Swimming Pool here on Tuesday.

SHILLONG: The recent decision by MeSEB to extend the service of several employees including engineers, who were due to retire on March 1, has evoked sharp criticism from the serving engineers of the electricity board.

There have been so many abortive initiatives in India-Pakistan diplomacy that it may be naïve to be optimistic about the latest endeavours. But the turn of events in the last few days seems to hold out better prospects than before. One promising development is Asif Ali Zardari's observation about putting the Kashmir issue on the back burner although he has not relinquished Pakistan's claim on the province. There is little doubt that the proposal underlines a change from what transpired under Pervez Musharraf apart from his Kargil misadventure when he dreamt that he could put a final seal on Pakistan's longstanding "proxy" war in the region by wresting the province from India's grasp. Even when he was forced to withdraw under American pressure and also to join the Western world's war against Islamic terrorism, the Pakistani dictator still stuck to his categorisation of Kashmir as the "core" issue which had to be solved if the region was to know peace. To achieve this objective, he persisted with his dual tactic of letting the ISI promote terrorism in Kashmir and elsewhere in India even as the two countries engaged in what only be described as virtually fruitless negotiations - again under US pressure. Musharraf's contention was that unless the so-called root cause of the dispute was removed - presumably to Pakistan's satisfaction - the terrorist outrages could not be stopped.

Now, Islamabad's new rulers have offered an olive branch. Although Zardari has said that like New Delhi, Islamabad also believes in Kashmir being an inseparable part of Pakistan and that he cannot betray the "martyrs" who laid down their lives for Kashmir, he has also said that an improvement in India-Pakistan ties should not be held hostage to the Kashmir issue. Not surprisingly, it has taken the votaries of democracy to articulate this new, less strident approach. What is more, side by side with this degeneration of Pakistan into a virtual failed state, the Pakistanis have seen the rise and rise of India as an economic power and as a multicultural democracy which evokes the admiration of the world. It is the contrast between the two neighbours which has apparently persuaded Pakistan's present-day politicians to forsake the fruitless path of endless confrontation with India. It is too early to say, of course, whether Zardari's initiative will succeed or whether it is only a trial balloon which will burst sooner rather than later.

The right to information can also check the abuse of the prison system. It is a unique and deplorable feature of this country that rich and influential persons invariably develop a sharp pain in the chest when they go to prison and have to be admitted instead to the comforts of a hospital. A public-spirited citizen should ask to examine their medical records. For decades, promotions in the government have been based on reputation and perception rather than record and performance. The confidential reports of nearly all the government officers are years out of date, and are hastily and retrospectively written up for presentation to promotion panels. This practice might hopefully be brought to an end through public scrutiny.

AGARTALA: In an attempt to commence bilateral trade through Muhurighat check post South Tripura district, a high level delegation of Bangladesh visited the Check Post.

Guwahati: Meghalaya may have a matrilineal society and Naga women may be far more empowered than most in the country, but it is Tripura which has sent three out of the four MLAs from the three states taken together.