Drunk driver to maintain park

NEW DELHI: Caught driving in a drunk state, a man will now have to maintain a park as part of his punishment.

A trial court recently modified the magisterial order, which sentenced the man to five-day imprisonment, and instead gave him an opportunity to reform himself while directing him to prune a park at a district court.

"To grant an opportunity to reform himself, he shall do the community service till he is able to complete the job," additional sessions judge Savita Rao said.

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Aviation research centre to shift away from Aerocity

NEW DELHI: To ensure there are no roadblocks to the recently approved Aerocity project—once red flagged by the home ministry over security concerns—the government is relocating the Aviation Research Centre (ARC) infrastructure from its present location in the Indira Gandhi International (IGIA) airport complex.

The clandestine intelligence agency that operates a fleet of aircrafts for surveillance and secret missions has a hangar close to the upcoming Aerocity hotels. This hangar, sources said, is now being moved to the technical area of the airport, away from the hotels.

Sources said, at present the hangar is not more than 60 metres away from the under-construction JW Marriott Hotel in the Aerocity premises.

Early this year, the home ministry had raised concerns over Aerocity, saying such high-rise buildings near an international airport like IGIA could facilitate anti-national elements to undertake sabotage activities from its rooftops or hotel rooms, targeting the proximate line of sight assets such as aircraft, runways, taxiways, parking bays, VVIP operational areas, ARC operational areas and even the nearby Palam Air Force base used by the aircraft of PM and President.

The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) approved the plan on Wednesday with government assuring of security concerns having been taken care of. "One can only say that national security has had to bow to commercial exigencies," said an officer from the security establishment of the development.

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Cops: We’ve evidence to chargesheet Navy wife

NEW DELHI: Days after the arrest of a 25-year-old language student from Jawaharlal Lal Nehru University on charges of forgery following her case against her Navy officer husband for coercing her into participating in "wife-swapping evenings", south district police have said they have enough evidence to chargesheet her.

"She applied for two credit cards using a fake belt number which she ascribed to her estranged husband. The naval commanding officer's name she had mentioned in her application form was found to be fake and so were the signatures," said an investigating officer.

The woman was arrested in Mumbai earlier in another case of cheating, police said. Vasant Vihar police will now be visiting Mumbai to collect details. Her husband is posted in Kochi naval base. Police said that they made sure she was not unnecessarily held at the station. "Even though it was late at night we did not oppose her bail," added the officer.

DCP (South) B S Jaiswal said they acted after receiving a complaint that the woman, who had recently taken admission in the first year at JNU, had submitted forged documents to SBI's IIT branch to acquire a credit card. He added that since the woman used Navy emblems, a charge under the Emblem and Name (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 has been slapped on her. Kamini Jaiswal, the victim's lawyer, said the "incident smacks of victimization". "She was picked up from her rented residence in Jia Sarai. She was not even allowed to wear her slippers," she said.

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Burari scam: Witness plea granted, later order recalled

NEW DELHI: A city court that allowed Anil Chhikara—prime witness in the multi-crore commercial vehicle fitness paper scam in Delhi government's transport department—to record a statement under section 164 of CrPC (before a magistrate) recalled its order three days later, after it was contested by Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

Chhikara, a serving motor licensing officer (MLO) at the Burari inspection transport authority, had requested recording of his statement under Section 164 of CrPC, alleging that the investigating officer has not been recording his statement (under section 161 of CrPC before the police) in a way in which "truth will be revealed". A statement made under section 164 of CrPC can be used as evidence in a court of law. Also, retracting from a statement made under this section amounts to perjury.

According to the FIR registered in the case, the government's transport department is accused of giving undue favours to a private company. It is also alleged that the company after winning the contract for giving "fitness certificates" to vehicles at the Burari authority, cheated people by charging them for tests which were never conducted due to unavailability of the equipment.

On July 23, the court allowed Chhikara's application, stating that "the investigating officer being a middle rank officer is under pressure from the seniors and is deliberately avoiding recording of the statement". The judge also took into account Chhikara's claim that he was under constant threat from the main accused persons and was even assaulted at their instance on June 1. "The witness and IO shall appear before the CMM, Tis Hazari courts, on July 24 for compliance of order," reads the first order.

However, the ACB sleuths contested it on July 24, seeking a stay on the application. On July 27, after arguments on the application, the same court recalled its order noting, "This court fails to understand the source of knowledge of the witness that his statement is incompletely or incorrectly recorded."

It further relied on a higher court's judgment placed before it by the ACB saying, a "magistrate is not expected to record statement under section 164 of the code without the investigating officer moving for it and this does not indicate that such statement, if recorded by the magistrate, is either inadmissible in law or cannot be admitted in the evidence."

The court also said that the earlier order was passed on the premise that Anil Chikkara has not yet recorded his statement under section 161 (before police). "The IO on July 24 clarified that two statements of the witness have already been recorded," reads the order.

Chhikara, speaking to TOI, said he had been wanting to record a statement before the court to disclose the names of all senior politicians and bureaucrats who were involved in the scam. The witness, who claims to be under constant threat, has also recorded a CD, giving names of senior bureaucrats and politicians who he claims must be held guilty in case of his death. Chhikara was attacked on June 1 by goons who threatened him for acting as a whistleblower. He reportedly provided documents to the complainant, Vivek Garg, an RTI activist, under the RTI Act.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Dr Harshvardhan has demanded a CBI inquiry in the case. "How do you expect a fair probe in the case by a body (ACB) that falls under Delhi government, a department of which is the main accused in the case," asked Harshvardhan. He further said that the ACB should have at least picked up threads from the statement of Chhikara and sent notices to the officials and politicians allegedly involved in the case. "Strangely, ACB has been suppressing all the facts," he alleged.

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DU professor under lens for Maoist link

NEW DELHI: The arrest of a Maoist sympathizer in Assam and his purported statement to police implicating a professor from Delhi University has brought the spotlight back on ultra-Leftist activities in the capital.

The revelation comes on a day Delhi Police confirmed it had received tip-offs on Naxalites hiding in various hostels in the city on earlier occasions. They had even surrounded a hostel inside Jawaharlal Nehru University on an Intelligence Bureau tip-off but the suspect gave them the slip. Sources said police were alerted after Aklanto Rama alias Mahesh and Anukul Naskar from Barak Valley, who were arrested in April, claimed that this academic—a popular face in JNU and teaching in DU for the past several years—has now become member of the state committee of a Maoist outfit.

Sources said that this professor, who runs an NGO by the name of Revolutionary Democratic Front, was helping Maoists spread their tentacles in urban centres and that RDF was a front organization of the Maoists. "His profile is stopping us from taking any action against him," said an official with special branch.

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Spurt in molestation, stalking cases in JNU

NEW DELHI: It seldom figures in the news for crime but, police say, JNU campus is not a particularly safe place. What's worrying is the recent upswing in cases of molestation and stalking. Wednesday's murderous attack on a student by a jilted lover, and his subsequent suicide, have also drawn attention to the easy availability of illegal firearms on the campus.

Police officials TOI spoke to on Wednesday admitted on condition of anonymity that some gun-runners had confessed to delivering country-made pistols near Delhi University and JNU campuses to people who looked like students.

Sources say crimes against woman are frequently reported from the campus now. In June, a JNU alumnus was arrested for allegedly molesting and trying to rape a 21-year-old student inside Narmada Hostel after a party. In the same month, an English literature student was allegedly molested by two students of her class inside Lohit Hostel. A case of molestation was registered at Vasant Kunj police station and two men, Rajiv Kumar and Gautam Vashishth, were arrested. Recently, a 57-year-old canteen in-charge was also arrested.

A foreign student had also alleged molestation on the campus. The girl was friendly with the accused, a PhD student. On the day the alleged incident occurred, she had lunch with him in his room before he molested her.

In October last year, a PhD scholar at JNU's School of Languages was suspended after he allegedly molested a girl inside a university hostel. The Vasant Vihar police registered a case. "The victim was a history student at DU and claimed she was invited to the accused's room in JNU's Brahmaputra Hostel where she was locked up and molested," a police source said.

In November 2011, a 35-year-old PhD scholar was arrested for allegedly molesting his 14-year-old domestic help. The girl, who was from Odisha, worked for and lived with Mohammed Azimuddin and his wife at JNU's Mahanadi Hostel.

Police say the administration's closed style of working is creating conditions for such crimes and a major incident is waiting to happen.

New Delhi: A failed romance seems to be at the centre of Wednesday's incident in JNU but police say it certainly isn't a 'crime of passion'. From the way Aakash Kumar was armed-with a pistol, an axe, a knife, and two kinds of poison-and calmly confronted Roshni Gupta in a classroom, he must have spent weeks, if not months, planning, they said. Also, he managed to keep his plan and preparations secret from not only Roshni and the other classmates but even his roommate in Jhelum Hostel.

Police are investigating how Aakash acquired the weapons. They will check with shopkeepers in Munirka and nearby areas who might have sold him the poison, knife and axe. But finding out the source of the pistol will be difficult.

Aakash's background is being analyzed to ascertain his frame of mind. His father is an ailing farmer in Neerapur, Gaya, while Roshni's parents live in Ramanna, Muzaffarpur. Sources said Aakash had dropped out of school for a few years between classes X and XI. Police will find out what he did in these gap years and whether he had a crime record.

"There has to be a reason for Roshni distancing herself from him. His friends have told us that he was not in the right state of mind for some time. He had fared poorly in academics. He kept to himself of late," a source said. Some students and professors said Roshni had contemplated complaining about Aakash to the disciplinary committee but kept delaying, fearing the matter would get out of hand.

Aakash was "shy", a police source said. "He would not share his problems, and not open fully even to his roommate, who did not have an inkling of his plan," the source said.

Aakash, police said, approached Roshni several times to patch up with her but she did not respond. Even on Wednesday, he is said to have asked her to accompany him but she had refused.

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JNU horror: Recalling nightmare, eyewitnesses shudder

NEW DELHI: As a shocked JNU community tried to come to terms with the tragedy that had unfolded inside a classroom, students reacted with horror. The news that a BA final year student of Korean language had hacked his classmate to death and then attempted suicide spread like wildfire. Eyewitnesses were in a state of shock and refused to even speak about the incident. For hours these students were with the police who were trying to make some sense of the gory incident.

"It's just too gruesome and I think I will have nightmares for the rest of my life. I just don't want to talk about it anymore and probably I will leave the campus for a couple of days," said Ankita (name changed), who was right outside the classroom when the incident happened.

Abhishek Pandey, a student, rushed upstairs on hearing the commotion. What he saw left him shaken. "There was blood all around. Roshni was lying in a pool of blood and she was still. As we (a teacher and some students) tried to stop Aakash, to our horror he tried to slit his throat with a knife. There was a strong smell of chemical and later we realized he had consumed sulphas pills. He collapsed next to Roshni with blood oozing out of his neck. He was conscious while being taken to the hospital," he said.

Another student, who was threatened by Aakash, said: "No words can describe how ghastly it was. He threatened us, we left...and as I turned to see what he was doing, he took out the axe and hit her on her head. There was blood and I could not watch any further. We returned within minutes but Roshni had collapsed - her legs moved for sometime before going still. Aakash too collapsed beside her. There was blood and some strong foul smell in the room making it all unbearable," said the student, whose identity is being withheld since he is one of the main witnesses.

The chairperson of Centre for Spanish Studies, Aparajit Chattopadhyay, was on the first floor when the incident happened. He too like many others rushed to the room. "The girl had already collapsed and the boy had consumed poison and slit his neck as I reached the scene. I held his hand. I was amazed that he was in perfect sense even after consuming poison. He was repeatedly saying 'I am going to die.' I asked him why did you do this and he said 'Yeh to hota hai'. I was surprised. Thereafter, both of them were shifted to the hospital."

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Skull broken, clot in brain: Girl critical, say doctors

NEW DELHI: The condition of Roshni, the JNU student who was attacked by her friend on Wednesday, continues to be critical. Doctors at Safdarjung Hospital, where she is admitted, said the 22-year-old has severe injuries on the skull bone and the wrist and tendons of her right hand are fractured.

"The girl has suffered from compound depressed fracture on the head. Her skull bones have been broken into pieces due to the impact of the object with which she was hit and the covering of the brain has also been damaged," said Dr B D Athani, the medical superintendent of the hospital.

He said the girl was rushed to the hospital around 12pm. Within hours, a multi-disciplinary team of doctors operated on her. "The emergency surgery was conducted to clear the wound, remove bone pieces from the skull area

and repair the covering of the brain. The fracture in the wrist and tendons was also repaired. After that she was shifted to the ICU," said another senior doctor.

Around 9pm, Roshni had to be rushed to the operation theatre once again for a surgery as a blood clot had formed in her brain. "It could be due to some bleeding vessel. We will try to clear the clot," said one of the doctors, who did not want to be identified. He added that the chances of her survival were bleak.

Some JNU students claimed that precious time was lost earlier in the day as the girl was refused admission at AIIMS - a charge denied by the latter. "Like in the Nirbhaya case, here too, the victim was denied admission in the first place which is a major lapse," alleged Kamal Mitra Chenoy, professor at the School of International Studies in JNU.

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JNU: Magical boulevard of impossible hopes & innermost desires

NEW DELHI: They say, JNU is all about Marx. For many small-town and non-public school boys like me, it was also about Freud.

In the mid-1980s when I landed in the campus from a small-town in south Bihar, everything - the passionate posters screaming 'Down with US Imperialism', the cyclostyled pamphlets at the breakfast table expressing solidarity with Nicaragua's Leftist president, Daniel Ortega, the bookstore owner in Kamal complex who looked like Engels and stocked Marxist literature, indeed every lecture and prescribed textbook of history - pointed Leftwards.

Most small-town boys like me adjusted slowly to this new ideological climate. But it was tougher negotiating the changes that a place like JNU potentially promised in our social life. Who even in his most improbable dreams would have envisaged living in a common hostel for boys and girls as Jhelum was in the 1980s with both sexes sharing the mess and the common room? For many, it was a curiously, schizophrenic situation. In classrooms, dhabas, canteens, library, everywhere on the campus, you had proximity to hundreds of attractive girls without either having the confidence or the social tools to converse or engage with any of them.

Many of us resented the smart city boys, their polished accent and poise, their ability to talk to a girl looking into their eyes and not stray downwards, to be able to ask them out for a triple sundae at the Nirula's near Priya, a rundown single-screen theatre then.

The sight of guys sneaking into hostel rooms with their girlfriends, young couples slipping into the dark, anonymous corners of a comfortable rock late night, bred resentment and fed repression for those without a partner and desperately seeking one. One senior social science student would wait for hours outside the Godavari hostel for a particular girl student who had caught his fancy. He spent months doing just that without ever talking to her and sunk into a deep depression that required psychiatric attention. Several others having failed in their attempts to find love lost interest in career and life.

Like the male protagonist in 'Raanjhanaa', taking rejection was tough for most of us who came from semi-feudal backgrounds where patriarchy ruled. We were just not socially conditioned or mentally prepared to face such a situation.

Coming from a social background where women were always neatly categorized into wife/mother/sister, it took us time to understand that every girl who laughs at your joke may not be willing to be a girlfriend. Decoding signals of behaviour takes time, especially if two individuals belong to different backgrounds. It was, as if, we had suddenly leaped from one world to another.

In this backdrop, politics was a route to socialising for quite a few. Being member of a political party immediately gave you access and a valid reason to chat up a girl. You always had a good chance to score if you were in politics. At least it was an appropriate and socially sanctioned way of getting an introduction.

Small-town girls who became friends told me that JNU gave them the real rush of freedom. From a situation where you seldom left home unescorted even during day time to being able to sit at the dhaba alone with friends or take a walk on the wild side of the campus with your boyfriend, if you had one, it was like living on another planet. There is no greater freedom than the freedom to choose your life. And this freedom was so intoxicating; it lifted most of them to become an improved version of themselves.

Some relationships between a small-town boy and girl collapsed because the former insisted on fitting his girl to the categories that he felt comfortable with. Yet, the number of small-town boys and girls (sometimes from cosmopolitan cities too) who fell in love and got married was incredibly high. Most of these marriages cut across caste and community. Some even overcame the ultimate social barrier, class. It was, in its own way, a silent social change. These girls chose their partners, their jobs; overall, their own life; something pretty radical for the 1980s. For them, JNU was like a magical boulevard where impossible hopes and innermost desires came true.

But to generalize about JNU would be inaccurate. Like truth, JNU has many versions. All I can say is, this is mine.

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12 schoolchildren injured as bus hits tree

GHAZIABAD: Twelve schoolchildren were injured when their school bus hit a road side tree on National Highway 24 here on Thursday morning.

The incident occurred near Colombia Asia Hospital when the driver of the bus, which was on its way to Ryan Public School with about 25 students, lost control of the vehicle and it rammed into a tree, according to police.

Students suffered minor injuries in the mishap and were discharged from the hospital after preliminary medical treatment, they said.

District magistrate SVS Ranga Rao had recently directed all schools operating in the district to keep their institutions closed from July 31 to August 5 in view of Kanwar Yatra.

Sources, however, claimed that most of the schools were not following the DM's directive.

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