Death
sentence for two rapists in Bihar
Bhagalpur
(Bihar): A local court awarded death sentence to two
convicts for the rape and murder of an eight- year-old girl
around four years ago. The girl, from a village near Bhagalpur
town, had been abducted by the duo while working in her
father's farm in 1998. Her body was found days later in
a dumpyard. It took the police close to two months to nab
the culprits and their trial has been going on ever since.
"Two convicts - Vijendra Kumar Yadav and Vinod Yadav - have
been given death sentence." Shahwaz Mohammad Khan, the public
prosecutor told reporters in Bhagalpur. The convicts however
maintained that they were innocent. "I do not have faith
on their judicial system at all. They have not been fair
to me," Vinod said. On August 14, the country's first death
sentence in 13 years took place when Dhananjoy Chatterjee,
who was convicted of raping and killing a teenaged girl
in Kolkata was hanged to death, amid widespread protests
for clemency.
PM
takes chopper to reach IGI airport, avoids traffic snarls
(Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: While embarking on his maiden US visit after
becoming Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh made sure that
the movement of his convoy to the Indira Gandhi International
Airport didn't create any traffic snarls. He took an IAF
helicopter from the Safdarjung Airport to the IGI airport
from where he caught his flight. Normally, as a security
measure, before PM movement all roads from the PM residence
to the airport, a distance of nearly four- five kms, are
blocked for the traffic. Manmohan Singh also organised his
departure ceremony at his residence only so as to ensure
that his ministers do not go all the way to the airport
to bid him farewell, and create traffic problems for the
commuters. Those who were present at the ceremony UPA chairperson
Sonia Gandhi, union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh,
Shivraj Patil, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ram Vilas Paswan, Chandrasekhar
Rao, Santosh Mohan Deb, S Jaipal Reddy, Kapil Sibal, T R
Baalu, P R Kyndiah, Sis Ram Ola and Delhi Chief Minister
Sheila Dikshit. The three service chiefs and top officials
were also present. Earlier, Singh had used the same route
when he had gone on his first official visit abroad in July
to attend the BIMST-EC summit in Bangkok. At that time due
to lack of information, some his ministers had reached the
airport to bid him farewell.
The
PM will attend the UN General Assembly session in New York
He will also hold talks with US President George W Bush,
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, British Prime Minister
Tony Blair. During his meeting with Bush, Manmohan will
hold talks on matters related to cooperation on high-technology
transfers, civilian uses of space technology, civilian nuclear
activities and missile defence.
Left
not totally against FDI: Prakash Karat (Go
To Top)
Agartala:
The Left Front is not totally against the policy of
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in general. However, it
has objection on FDI in certain sectors, CPI politburo member
Prakash Karat said while speaking to reporters in Agartala
today. Karat said that his party agrees with the common
minimum programme of the UPA for more FDI in the country,
but is not in favour of the proposal of 74 percent FDI in
the telecom sector, which plays a vital role in the Indian
economy. Moreover, he fears that with the 74 percent FDI
in tele-communication sector means that the control shall
go to the foreign hands. Karat added that the Left parties
have objected to the proposal of inclusion of representatives
of foreign agencies like the World Bank in the consultative
bodies of the Planning Commission as with the inclusion
of such multinational and international agencies, these
bodies shall get a better scope in influencing the policy
making of the country, which according to him to some extend
is already being influenced by such agencies. Regarding
the coming election in Maharastra he said that the Left
parties main aim shall be to defeat the force of BJP-Shiv
Sena alliance and for that matter going to support the Congress
and NCP so that the secular vote is not divided. He also
announced that the Left parties are going to contest from
ten seats only where the party has effective strength to
fight.
Five
militants killed in Poonch (Go
To Top)
Poonch:
Security forces shot dead five militants in a gunbattle
in Poonch, Indian Army officials said today. Brigadier G.C.
Bakshi, Commander of Poonch Brigade, said acting on a tip
off from the villagers they were able to nab the five militants
in Surankote area of the Poonch district. Two of the slain
militants belong to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT)
and the other three are senior commanders of Hizb-e- Islami
group. "There were repeated encounters with the rebels Two
LeT militants fought with us but could not hold on for long.
Their code signs are Victor 1 and November 1. They are foreign
terrorists. Besides them HeI militants were there namely
Shahzad, Zubaid, Shahnawaz. They could not run and tried
to hide in a forest. We were able to kill them all," Bakshi
said. Baskhi said they have recovered five AK 47 rifles,
one mobile phone, three radio sets alongwith a huge quantity
of ammunition. In all 15 rebels were gunned down by security
forces on Saturday.
Sikhs
express concern over their low sex ratio (Go
To Top)
Amritsar:
Sikhs have expressed concern at their lowest sex-ration
as revealed by the latest census report. The number of Sikh
females is said to be the lowest at 886 for every 1000 males.
The International Sikh Women Council, based in the UK, organised
a two-day seminar in Amritsar to discuss the reasons for
the gap in the sex ratio. Women experts, intellectuals and
the religious leaders gave their opinions and suggestions
as to how they could follow the teachings of the Gurubani.
Harjinder kaur, former mayor of Chandigarh said, "This information
has come at the moment, when I think the whole Sikh world
is celebrating the 'Shatabdi Samorah'. This is the right
moment to be committed to the bani of Guru Granth Sahib
and start living sikhi when we become true Sikh. When we
start living gurubani, all these problems will be sorted
out". Jaswant Kaur, a Sikh interlectual said, "Its all because
of social evils in us that we have started killing unborn
babies. The ratio decline is because we don't want to carry
the burden. We don't want a girl because she is a burden,
on the one side you take care of her and secondly pay dowry
while getting her married. As compared to a boy, we ignore
the girl and her personality development and diet. This
is the cause of the emerging difference in the sex ratio".
If the girl-boy ratio shows severe lopsidedness, there also
exists a huge dichotomy between foeticide of the female
on the one hand, and the huge strides made by women in all
streams. Whether it is the classroom or science, or governance,
or making her presence felt in industry and social work,
women have made a radical difference everywhere."
Experts
are of the opinion that creating awareness about the girl
child can only change the situation. Bibi KIranjot Kaur,
member, Shiromani Gurudwara prabhandhak Committee said,
"To bring about an awareness, seminars are effective to
a certain extent, but besides it, an interactive session
can help in addressing the problems of young generation.
Usually, during seminars we start focusing on the history
and traditions and forget to focus on the present emerging
problems and their solutions. All these can be possible
in these seminars only". As per the census, while Hindus
have a ratio of 894 females per 1000 males, Muslims considered
to be the largest of the minority communities, have the
best sex-ratio among the three with 907 females per 1000
males.
