It’s fun game for female cops targeting eve-teasers

NEW DELHI, Jan 5: The women constables of Delhi Police used as decoys to catch eve-teasers are finding their new task, though embarrassing and dangerous at times, quite an amusement.

The deployment of these constables as decoys forms part of the special drive of the Delhi Police to control eve-teasing in the capital.

"At times we feel very embarrassed by the way people make comments and deal with us, but on some occasions it provides some fun to our otherwise overstressed job," narrated a woman constable, stationed at the Delhi University campus.

The north campus of the Delhi University, which houses prestigious colleges like St Stephens College, Hindu College, Hansraj College, Kirorimal College, Miranda House and Indraprastha College was one of the areas which was most affected by the eve-teasing menace.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sanjay Beniwal says between August and December alone, when the drive was being carried out, the area reported 466 cases in which 383 people were arrested.

A woman constable (name withheld), part of a four-member team which includes two male personnel, told UNI that while some of the eve-teasers would pass-by making comments, some would even go to the extent of getting physical.

Among others, some would whistle, some would stop and stare, some would stalk, eve try to hold the hand or resort to other gestures.

She said on occasions she had to answer to various questions of the eve-teasers to convince them that they were not being framed. "Questions like, are you a college student?, which college you are studying in?, Do you have a college I-card? were frequently asked before the eve-teasers fell prey," she recounted. Leaving nothing to chance in ensuring a fool-proof operation, senior officials even arranged I-cards of a college for her and her senior partner.

"One of the eve-teasers who had doubts about my being from the police even wanted to know the names of a couple of teachers from my college. Now since I had studied in Daulat Ram College I could tell him the names and he was finally convinced," she said.

However, unfortunately he was caught by the back-up team waiting nearby after he asked me to come with him to a nearby park.

The lady constable, who joined the force a couple of years ago and is unmarried, said being posted as a decoy, luring people, was quite an amusing exercise at occasions. "At times I felt like laughing my heart out on the ignorance of these men (eve-teasers) that they were being trapped."

"Eve-teasers would approach me as a prospective customer and get caught. And this was quite funny. Once the day was over, we used to have a great laugh on those who became our victims."

"There were also occasions when I felt as if I would be exposed. But had to control myself and carry out the operation with full seriousness. This at times was quite difficult," she said.

Narrating an incident in which the eve-teaser turned violent, the constable said, "there was one such man, in his late fifties and drunk, who caught hold of my wrist and wanted to forcibly take me along with him. As I resisted and before the back-up team could arrive, he got wild and tried to drag me."

"I got several bruises on my hands," she said.

Such incidents though did not scare her, definitely embarassed her at times. "My family, however, did not object as they are pretty well aware that I was just carrying out the responsibility assigned to me, even if that included resorting to such unethical things." Eleborating on the operation, her senior in the drive said their operation was mainly centred around women colleges and used to be operated from near a bus stop. While the constable posing as a decoy would stand a few yards away from the bus stop, the other member of the team would wait for her signal.

Once a person approached the constable a close watch was maintained and as soon as the signal would come from her, the team would nab the culprit. The signal varied from a wave or simply moving towards the bus stop.

Whenever there were apprehensions that the eve-teasers may flee, the constable would smoothly take out the keys of the vehicle. And during times when the eve-teasears succeeded in fleeing the scene, the registration number of vehicle would help the police trace him.

The police did not spare the eve-teasers at this alone. As a social embarassment, the police personnel made either the wife or mother of the accused come to the police station and stand as surety for him.

An analysis of the cases which occurred in Delhi University proved that in more than 50 per cent of the cases, eve-teaser used a two-wheeler.

Majority of the eve-teasers were businessmen or in private jobs. Unemployed constituted for 15 per cent of the crimes and only four per cent were committed by students. Labour and Government employees contributed to only four and three per cent respectively.

Most of teasing were done by people in the age group of 20 - 40 years. But eve-teasing was also committed by people of the 50-plus age group.

Majority of the cases were being committed by people who were either graduates, matriculates, XII pass outs or by those with middle school level education. Professionals accounted for just one per cent of the cases, while illiterates were responsible for six per cent of the cases. (UNI)

‘Stringent punishment must to curb corporate frauds’

NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Amid a deluge of cases of corporate "misgovernance" and crumbling ethics, there is a growing consensus favouring a legislation for stringent punishment that could act as a deterrent for perpetrators of fraud.

Cutting across professional lines, politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers and chartered accountants agreed at a three-day conference here that Indian law lacked teeth to deal adequately with corporate frauds. "The country needs a strong legal structure so that none can bypass the law or get away after fraud," they said at the 15th All India Conference of Chartered Accountants which concluded today.

Department of Company Affairs Secretary Vinod Dhall said, "people try to take advantage of the system and gain at the expense of others’ money. We agree that punishment under company law is weak and there is need for a more stringent law.

"A group has also been constituted to look into rationalisation of law in this regard," he added.

Recent cases of fallen giants like enron, worldcom and arthur andersen lend urgency to corporate governance so that misuse of the system is avoided. Investors lost 175 billion dollars due to auditing fraud in telecom major worldcom. Enron concealed losses running into billions of dollars from investors. CA firm Arthur Andersen continued to assist Enron because it was dependent on it for a major part of its earnings.

In India, stock market scams of 1992 and 2000 were a major blow to the markets. While financial loss cannot be quantified, the loss in terms of public confidence, market capitalisation and difficulty in raising money in the markets is immense, he added.

"Such malpractices show how urgent it is to take note of the situation," Mr Dhall said.

Taking a serious note of the issue involving billions of rupees, eminent lawyer Abhishek M Singhvi said, ‘’there is an absence in corporate and legal lexicon of the term ‘punishment’. That element remains under emphasised in India. Ethical codes are good for those who have a conscience but for the rest, legal codes are a must."

He added that Indian legislation should remember the quote: "Do not fail to bestow a reward or punishment." This apart, Mr Singhvi went on to underline the need for a ‘whistleblower’s statute’, promising impunity to the one who discloses corporate fraud, on the lines of the us, as "it is a necessary adjunct to good corporate governance".

The view was endorsed by senior Congress leader and member of Parliament Mani Shankar Aiyar who said, "punishing a dishonest auditor will go a long way in promoting ethics and restore the confidence of masses in the profession. It is important for the institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to draft proposals of punitive action against defaulters."

"A school principal must not only tell boys to brush their teeth. He should also demonstrate what happens to the boy who does not brush," he quipped.

Mr Aiyar even called for a separate, "evil" body to oversee regulatory issues if the present mechanism was found inadequate to deal with them.

Mr Y H Malegam, noted Chartered Accountant and chairman of the committee on disclosure requirements, set up by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), echoed the sentiments in this regard. He said the guidelines within which cas should work should be clearly defined and then, "if someone is found violating them, he should be duly punished."

"It is the responsibility of the governing body to discipline the members if they are found lacking in conduct," added Mr Malegam who also headed the corporate positioning committee for the Unit Trust of India. (UNI)

Days of "buggies" and "vintage cars" back in Delhi

NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Old Raj days are going to be here again.

The days of ‘buggy’ (horse-pulled-cart) on the roads of national capital will be soon back with Delhi Tourism planning to ply these carriages around the inner circle of famous India Gate by the month end.

"In a bid to re-live royal history of the national capital, we are making an effort to provide the visitors with a feeling of travelling in the ancient India," Delhi Tourism Managing Director Rajiv Talwar told PTI here.

Being the most frequently visited place, the India gate, a monument to commemorate the 70,000 Indian soldiers killed in world war I and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the department was also planning to display some vintage cars owned by denizens here, he said.

"We are also planning to display some vintage cars at the venue both for photography and for a ride. We have spoken to owners of some of these cars. Some of them have shown interest in the proposal," Talwar said.

Informing that the department was awaiting a nod from various authorities, including the Defence Ministry, for the approval of the proposal, Talwar said they were in touch with the officials and were hopeful of getting the permission soon to go ahead.

"We are talking to various officials in the concerned authorities including defence ministry. We are hopeful that we will get the approval for the proposal," Talwar said.

Asked if the proposal could harm the monument in any way, he said "no, rather more and more visitors to national capital would visit the place and will become aware of the significance of it."

On the cost of a "buggy" ride, Talwar said though the modalities have not been worked out, broadly, the ride should

cost somewhere around Rs 25.

"Besides the overheads of the project, the buggy owners will have to pay tax to NDMC. So, broadly, I think a ride per person should cost somewhere around Rs 25," the Delhi Tourism Managing Director said.

In the beginning, two buggies will be plied, Talwar said, adding however, the number could be increased depending on the demand and requirement of the visitors.

Besides, horse-pulled-carts, the department was also planning to have camel and elephant rides but due to strong protests by the wild life activists, the plan was dropped, he said.

The effort is to attract more and more visitors to the national capital and make Delhi the "happening tourist destination", he said. (PTI)

Nearly half of deaths and births are left unregistered

NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Despite enforcement of compulsory registration of births and deaths 30 years ago, the country’s overall registration rate has barely managed to reach the half way mark, with States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar not even having a consolidated record for the past seven years.

"Country as a whole is able to register only about 56 per cent of the births and about 47 per cent of the deaths," according to a recent data released by the office of Registrar General of India.

The report highlights the "drastic" disparities in the level of registration in various state of the country with States like Kerala, Goa and all union territories recording almost cent per cent registration while the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh along with Assam not even reaching the half way mark.

The State of Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for 15 per cent of the entire Indian population, has not even supplied the registration data to the concerned officials since 1996, jeopardising the system and making it difficult to assess the actual levels of registration in the State, it said.

"It has been observed that though the registration in urban areas is some how done, the work of registration is completely at a standstill in the rural areas," the report laments.

According to the report, the "most recent" information available for the State of Bihar was of 1995, which showed a registration rate of 18.7 per cent for births and 25.6 per cent for deaths.

Pointing out that in most of the states the rate of registration of births was more than that of deaths, it said only in the States of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where was a reverse trend.

The report mentions that poor collection of monthly reports from the registration centres, apathy of the persons concerned with the work, non-availability of funds and low level of awareness were the main cause of this dismal performance even after three decades of enforcement of the law.

In a bid to improve the situation, the report stressed on strict implementation of the provision of the registration act for punishing defaulting institutions, strengthening the system of notifiers and also ensuring proper flow of funds as these were essential to guarantee a steady increase in the registration percentage to take it to cent per cent level. (PTI)

BJP dissidents leader returns to party fold

LUCKNOW, Jan 5: Marking a virtual end to the dissidence in Uttar Pradesh unit of BJP, leader of rebel legislators Ganga Bhakt Singh today returned to the party fold.

"We have no complaints now" as the State and the Central BJP leadership has assured to look into the issued raised by the dissidents, Singh, who was convenor of the Save BJP Committee said at a joint press conference with senior party leader Lalji Tandon at his residence.

He said UP BJP chief Vinay Katiyar and Tandon have taken steps to redress the grievances of the party legislators over regional imbalance in the Cabinet expansion a few months back, government apathy towards party legislators and indifferent attitude of the officials.

Stating that he had never left the BJP, Singh said his campaign was "only to strengthen the party and it would not be correct to call me a rebel".

Asked what prompted his return to the party fold when the campaign against the dissident legislators was continuing and several MLAs were in jail, he said the cases against the rebel legislators would be withdrawn and their persecution would also stop.

Tandon said he was happy at Singh’s return to the party fold. "Singh has shown magnanimity by forgiving me for the mistakes committed unknowingly by me", he said and assured that Singh would be accorded due respect in the party.

Admitting that the cabinet expansion was carried out in a hurry giving rise to resentment in some quarters, he indicated that another expansion might take place in the near future.

Asked whether Singh would be inducted in the ministry, tandon, evading a direct reply, said "the matter would be resolved through mutual consultations".

When asked which of the dissident’s demands had been conceded, Singh said "talks were going on with the party’s central leadership and we have been assured that our demands would be accepted".

He evaded a direct reply when pointed out that the rebels had earlier rejected the offers for talks by tandon and other senior leaders saying "all dissident legislators have agreed to resolve the matter through dialogue and have put forward their point of view to tandon".

On the his reported announcement to launch an agitation after the arrest of independent legislator Raja Bhaiya, Singh denied having said do and put the blame on media saying "they were all gift of the media".

It was Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who had said that his party would lanuch an agitation to protest Raja Bhaiya’s arrest, he said.

Tandan, at a press conference attended by four rebels Badshah Singh, Anil Verma, Ganga Bux Singh and Daya Shanker Verma, had yesterady claimed that seven of the 11 dissident MLAs have returned to the party fold.

He had said that three rebels Ram Pratap Singh, Narendra Verma and Chandra Kant Mani Singh were not present as they could not reach Lucknow due to inclement weather. (PTI)

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