Month: July 2013

Tension prevailed in the old city area here when members of two groups engaged in brick-batting and arson during a religious procession, police said wednesday.

The incident took place this morning when a procession to commemorate the death anniversary of Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet, was being taken out in old city by the members of Shia community, they said.

As soon as the procession reached near Bhadeva telephone exchange in Bazar Khala locality some persons started pelting stones leading to a stampede-like situation.

Senior IPS officer Sharad Kumar was on Tuesday appointed as the new chief of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The post of the Director General (DG) of the agency was lying vacant for about last two months following the retirement of incumbent S C Sinha. Sinha was later appointed as a member of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Kumar is a 1979-batch Haryana cadre officer and he takes over the top post of the probe agency at a time when it is investigating important cases like Hyderabad blasts and the recent Bodh Gaya blasts in Bihar.

PTI

Days after pesticide-laced lunch killed 23 school children in Bihar, UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation today asked developing countries like India to speed up the withdrawal of hazardous pesticides from their markets.

“The tragic incident in Bihar, India, where 23 school children died after eating a school meal contaminated with monocrotophos, is an important reminder to speed up the withdrawal of highly hazardous pesticides from markets in developing countries,” FAO said in a statement.

The verdict on the juvenile accused in the Dec 16 gang rape case is likely to be put on hold as the Supreme Court Wednesday fixed for Aug 14 its hearing on a petition on the legally defined age for a juvenile.

Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy has petitioned the apex court, challenging the law fixing 18 as the age of juvenile, and the court Wednesday asked him to inform the Juvenile Justice Board that it will hear the petition Aug 14.

India leads the world in prison reforms even though the jails here are not as secure as those in the West, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi has said.

“India is ahead in prison reforms. I am making a confirmed statement as I visited more than 40 prisons around the world. The reforms which we have been able to do are not seen elsewhere,” Bedi told reporters here.

In town to promote upcoming Hindi film ‘Calapor’ which is based on prison reforms, Bedi said jails in the western countries are very secure as they follow the rulebook strictly.

Bhim Sain Bassi, the new Police commissioner of Delhi, has his priorities clear – he wants to make the national capital safe for women.

Bassi, who took over from outgoing chief Neeraj Kumar, said on Wednesday that he will work to ensure that a slew of new steps are being introduced to ensure that women feel safe at all times in the city.

“We have identified routes which are frequented by ladies or young girls. Special patrolling is being ensured along those routes,” Bassi said in an interview.

The Bahujan Samaj Party demanded splitting of Uttar Pradesh into four smaller states Wednesday, a day after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) urged the government to form a separate state of Telangana.

“We have always supported smaller states,” BSP chief Mayawati said here at a press conference.

She said Uttar Pradesh should be divided into four smaller states — Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and Pashchim Pradesh.

“When this population is divided between four states, development will increase,” she said.

In yet another first, the country’s largest prison Tihar Jail has now got its very own FM radio station.

Director General of Prisons Vimla Mehra today launched the ‘TJ FM Radio’ at Central Jail No 4 in the Tihar complex.

“The FM Radio has been established to meet the twin objectives of entertainment and training of prisoners as Radio Jockey (RJ). The prisoners can engage themselves in creative activities and also get trained as Radio Jockey (RJ),” Tihar Jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta said.