Safdarjung doctor arrested for raping patient
New
Delhi: Delhi police have arrested a doctor of Safdarjung
Hospital here on charges of raping his 16-year old girl
patient. Ravi Kumar, 26-year old intern, was arrested on
Saturday night for allegedly raping the minor girl in his
hostel room after she was dosed with intoxicants on the
intervening night of May 12 and May 13, police sources said.
The victim, who used to visit him for some nasal problem,
alleged that she was raped after she fell unconscious under
the effect of intoxicants, they said. After a complaint
was lodged in this connection, Kumar went missing but he
was nabbed by the police on Saturday night.
B'desh has 45 seats for women in parliament
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Dhaka:
Bangladesh on Sunday reintroduced a provision of 45
women's reserved in parliament through a major constitutional
amendment amidst protest by the opposition parties. The
Constitution (14th Amendment) Bill, 2004, was passed by
division votes in the Jatiya Sangsad providing that the
female lawmakers would be nominated (by indirect election)
in the House, based on proportion of the political parties
representing the parliament. Nomination to the reserved
seats would be made shortly in the current parliament, and
the provision would remain effective for 10 years from the
date of next parliament comes into being.
In
her immediate reaction, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament
Sheikh Hasina said her party has rejected the bill. "The
amendments are politically motivated and contradictory to
the sprit of the country's constitution," Hasina told reporters
at her office.
Change in India not to affect peace process:
Jamali (Go
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Islamabad:
The change in guard at New Delhi would not affect the
peace talks with Pakistan, the country's Prime Minister
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said on Saturday. "The peace
process is the need of the people," Jamali told reporters
here. Terming peace as essential for the progress and prosperity,
the prime minister said that continuing the talks would
help ensure regional peace. He welcomed the statement of
Sonia Gandhi in which she ensured to continue talks with
Pakistan. "The peace process will progress to help resolve
all outstanding issues with India, including Kashmir." The
prime minister further said that when the outgoing Indian
premier Atal Behari Vajpayee came to Pakistan early this
year, he had given assurance that he had come with the mandate
and support of all the political parties to initiate talks
with Islamabad. Rebuffing reports about early elections
in Pakistan, Jamali said the unification of PML factions
was a good omen for democracy.
Benazir calls her party leaders to London
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Lahore:
Former Pakistan premier and the Pakistan People's Party
(PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto has called a meeting of
her party's parliamentarians, ticket-holders and office-bearers
of provincial, divisional and district organisations in
London in the first week of June. She is likely to discuss
the political situation, the Daily Times reported Sunday.
The paper quoted PPP sources as saying that the London meeting
would prepare a comprehensive strategy against the "dictator
and his henchmen". They said that the parliamentarians would
meet Bhutto on June 1 while others would call on her on
June 2 and 3. The PPP leaders, prior to the London meeting,
would hold a meeting of parliamentarians from Punjab on
May 25 in Islamabad, they added.
Vatican warns Catholic women against
marrying Muslims (Go
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Washington:
The Vatican has advised the Catholic women not to marry
with Muslim men, the Daily Times reported Sunday. With this,
said the paper, the divide between Muslims and non-Muslims
in the wake of 9/11 became wider. In a message which would
be seen by many advocates of inter- religious harmony as
"ill timed," the Vatican on Friday called on Catholic women
to think hard before entering into marriage with a Muslim,
while asking Muslims to show more respect for human rights,
gender equality and democracy. Calling women "the least
protected member of the Muslim family," the report spoke
of the "bitter experience" the western Catholics had with
Muslim husbands, especially if they married outside the
Islamic world and later moved to his country of origin.
The
comments in a document about migrants around the world were
preceded by remarks about points of agreement between Christians
and Muslims, but they seemed likely to fuel mistrust between
the world's two largest religions. The document said that
the Church discouraged marriages between believers in traditionally
Catholic countries and non-Christian migrants. It hoped
the Muslims would show "a growing awareness that fundamental
liberties, the inviolable rights of the person, the equal
dignity of man and woman, the democratic principle of government
and the healthy lay character of the state are principles
that cannot be surrendered." When a Catholic woman and Muslim
man wanted to marry, it said, "bitter experience teaches
us that a particularly careful and in- depth preparation
is called for."
It said one possible problem was with Muslim in-laws and
advised future mothers that they must insist on Church policy
that children born of a mixed marriage be baptised and brought
up as Catholics. If the marriage is registered in the consulate
of a Muslim country, the document said, the Catholic must
be careful not to sign a document or swear an oath including
the shahadat, the Islamic profession of faith, which would
amount to converting. The migration document also discouraged
churches from letting non-Christians use their places of
worship. This issue arose last month when Muslims in Spain
asked to be able to pray in Cordoba cathedral, which was
once a mosque. A senior Vatican official said this would
be "problematic".
New government to be sworn in on May
19 (Go
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New
Delhi: The new government at the Centre is likely to
be sworn in on Wednesday. A Congress-led government is likely
to be installed after successfully sealing deals with allies
and new partners, party sources said on Sunday. Party president
Sonia will meet President APJ Abdul Kalam on Monday armed
with letters of support from several parties to stake her
claim to government, they said. Left parties, which won
a pivotal 60-plus seats, have pledged to support Sonia,
were on Sunday debating whether to join the coalition or
simply back it from outside. They also debated a joint economic
policy with an eye to reassuring investors after the rupee
and shares crashed on Friday to their lowest in months.
The Congress has secured enough support from its allies,
almost to guarantee Sonia will be the next Prime Minister
- and the country's first foreign-born leader. She will
also be the family's fourth prime minister after her slain
husband, Rajiv, mother-in-law Indira and Indira's father
Jawaharlal Nehru. Despite routing BJP-led NDA coalition,
Congress fell short of a majority in the 545-seat Parliament
and Sonia is still caught up in hectic negotiations to settle
on the size and shape of her coalition. So far, the Left
is divided on whether to formally join Sonia. Some Communist
groups are in direct Opposition to the Congress at the state
level.
Naveen Patnaik sworn in for second innings
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Bhubaneshwar:
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took the oath of
office and secrecy for a second successive term here Sunday.
Alongwith him a 22-member BJD-BJP coalition ministry was
also sworn in. Official sources said that the BJD would
have 14 members in the ministry, including the chief minister,
while the BJP's representation will be eight. The BJD-BJP
combine defied the national trend to sweep the polls by
claiming 61 and 32 seats, respectively, in the 147- member
Assembly.
DMK pledges support to Cong.-led Govt
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New
Delhi: DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi on Sunday pledged
support to a coalition government likely to be headed by
Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He extended the support
during a meeting with Sonia at 10 Janpath. Tamil Nadu Congress
chief G.K. Wasan was also present at the meeting. The DMK
has bagged 16 seats in the just concluded general elections.
However, Karunanidhi said that his party needed more time
to decide on the issue of joining it the ministry. He added
he would put pressure on the government to scrap the POTA.
Giving details about the meeting, senior Congress leader
Kamal Nath said: "Karunanidhi met Sonia Gandhi today and
gave her a letter addressed to the President expressing
support for her government. She asked him to join the government
and he said he would do that at a later date." After the
45-minute meeting, Karunanidhi said: "I did not say we will
not be joining. This is a decision to be taken by the party's
working committee."
Stating
that Sonia had requested him to join the Government, the
DMK leader said the issue may take "a few weeks to a few
months" to decide. Asked whether he was still in favour
of repealing the anti- terrorism law POTA, Karunanidhi said,
"We will insist on repealing POTA." Karunanidhi, who arrived
here this morning from Chennai, said he would be attending
a meeting of Congress's allies and supporting parties at
Gandhi's residence this evening, which would be followed
by dinner. This is his first visit to Delhi in over four
years. DMK had earlier said that it would not be participating
in the ministry as of now, but had authorised Karunanidhi
to take an appropriate decision. The DMK chief is likely
to meet CPI (M) General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet
and former Prime Minister V P Singh during the day.
