One
killed, 6 injured in road accidents
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 2: One person was
killed and six others received severe
injuries while as six persons allegedly
consumed poisonous substances in separate
incidents.
Police
spokesman said that an unidentified
person was knocked to death by a speeding
mini-bus bearing registration number
JK02A-7514 in front of Police
Headquarters.
He was
immediately rushed to Government Medical
College Hospital where he was pronounced
as brought dead. The body has been kept
in the mortuary for identification and
post-mortem.
Meanwhile,
six persons were injured in two separate
road accidents. All have been
hospitalised and condition of two of them
was stated to be critical when reports
last came in.
Four of
them have been identified as Karamjeet
Singh, son of Bhagwan Dass of R S Pura,
Chander Bahadur, son of Gori Lal of Karan
Nagar, Nadeep Singh, son of Raghupati
Singh of Hiranagar, Jatinder Paul, son of
Rattan Chand of Kathua. Identity of two
injured could not be immediately
established.
The
spokesman said that six persons allegedly
consumed poisonous substances at their
respective residences. They have been
hospitalised and their condition was
stated to be out of danger.
They have
been identified as Sain Dass, son of
Raseela Ram of Nagrota, Ankush Sharma,
son of J P Sharma of Sarwal, Shashi
Kumar, son of R P Saini of Sanjay Nagar,
Rakesh Kumar, son of Nain Sukh of Miran
Sahib, Sukhbeer Singh, son of Shamsher
Singh of Bale Bagh and Rakesh Kumar, son
of Krishan Lal of B C Road.
Mahabalidan
Tyranny and the crusaders
By Ravinder Kaul
The land
of Duggar is replete with tales of
crusaders against tyranny. Bawa Jitto,
Mian Dido, Arjun Singh Chanasia, Jora
Langeh, Data Ranpat, Birpa Nath, Ram
Singh Pathania and Banda Bairagi are all
a part of Dogra folklore who, at some
point of time in the history of Duggar,
rose against the powers of the day and
fought against oppression. Another
positive feature in this regard is that
although Dogra society has essentially
been a patriarchal society, women have
not lagged behind in fighting against
injustice. We have Naratu of Cheneni and
Bua Bhagaan, on whose life story was
today’s play "Mahabalidan"
presented by Sangam Tru Art Production in
the Festival of Plays based, who raised
their voice against exploitation.
The play
highlighted the atrocities of Kutal, a
representative of the King, against the
villagers. He treats them like dirt and
subjects them to forced labour. He
unleashes a reign of terror against them
through his employees Lardaar, and the
Chowkidar. While the poor villagers are
finding it hard to make ends meet, they
also have to obey the dictatorial diktats
of Kutal. The Lambardar of the village is
their sympathiser but he too is helpless
as he can not disobey the orders of
Kutal. However, Lambardar’s wife,
Bua Bhagaan is a vocal critic of the
atrocities against the villagers and at
one stage, when her husband has gone out
of the village to mourn the death of a
close friend, she leads the villagers and
pleads before Kutal their case against an
increase in land revenue. Kutal
misbehaves with her and his minions
virtually manhandle her. In a bid to help
the villagers, she offers the ultimate
sacrifice of life and commits suicide.
I have
often wondered as to why there are so
many instances in Duggar of people
committing suicide in order to fight
oppression. I must thank my friend, the
well known writer Mohan Singh, who has
enlightened me on this account. There has
been a belief among the people of the
region that ‘Brahm-Hatya’ or
being instrumental in the death of a
human being and that too of a Brahmin, is
the ultimate sin that a human being can
commit. The people also believed that the
person who commits this sin and his
entire clan will forever be doomed to
disaster. Thus we have Bawa Jitto and Bua
Bhagaan taking this course to fight for
justice.
The play
written by Shiv Dev ‘Susheel’
was successful in highlighting the plight
of the hapless villagers that provoked
Bua Bhagaan to come to their rescue.
Although, the writer has his own
justification for ending the play where
it ends, I would have personally liked to
know as to what happened after the
sacrifice of Bua Bhagaan? Did it have the
desired effect of the life and fate of
the villagers? How did the husband of Bua
Bhagaan react when he learnt about the
sacrifice of his wife on his return to
the village? Did the news of Bua
Bhagaan’s sacrifice reach the King?
What was his reaction? Did Kutal and his
men have to pay for their atrocities
against the villagers? These details may
not be available in the original story
but when a contemporary play is based on
it, I think the writer can take some
artistic liberty to add details that he
finds missing in the original story.
The
artists gave a good account of
themselves. Jeet Raj Gondi was very
impressive as Kutal and he could bring in
his portrayal the ruthlessness and
authority expected of his character.
Kanta Sharma also did well as Bua Bhagaan
although one has a feeling that the play
was somewhat under-rehearsed. Paramjit
Kumar was also effective as Laardar and
so was Sunny Mujoo as Bhimu.
The live
music utilised in the play was very
effective. Jogi Bishambar Nath gave a
very authentic feel to the whole
performance with his impressive rendering
of the story in his own inimitable folk
style.
Costumes
by Vijay Jeetu were quite appropriate and
the Make-up by Shammi Dhamir was also
good. R.K. Sehgal, the director of the
play, had assembled a cast of 18 persons
for this play, which is not a mean task
in the times that we live in. He had also
visualised the play imaginatively but a
few more rehearsals would have made it
into a more worthwhile experience.
Unison
Cultural Troupe presents its play "Na
Khuda Hi Mila Na Visaal-e-Sanam"
on Wednesday. Vijay Malla directs.
HC
directive on petitioners' results
Excelsior
Correspondent
Jammu, Jan 2: Justice YP
Nargotra of the State High Court Jammu
wing in an application filed by Manoj
Kumar and others, who have appeared in
the selection process of Medical
Assistant and other related posts
advertised by the Service Selection
Board, directed the selection Board to
declare the result of petitioner and
their names be reflected in the select
list at the appropriate place as per
their merit, if they make the grade.
This Court
direction was passed in a writ petition
wherein it was submitted that vide the
advertisement notice September 29, 2004,
the Service Selection Board invited
applications for different posts
including the posts of Pharmacist,
Medical Assistant etc. The minimum
eligible qualification for the post was
10+2 with diploma from State Medical
Faculty or any other recognized
institution. The petitioners were
Matriculates and being ineligible under
the prescribed eligibility qualification,
could not submit their application forms.
They filed a petition challenging the
minimum eligibility qualification
prescribed by the advertisement notice.
Vide order dated October 15, 2004, the
High Court issued directions that subject
to objections from other side and till
next date of hearing it is directed that
if interviews are being conducted, the
forms of petitioners be accepted and they
be allowed to participate in the
selection process.
However,
their result shall not be declared.
Pursuant to the direction passed by the
High Court, the petitioners claim that
they submitted their application forms
and were interviewed, but their result
has not been declared.
On July,
2005, the petition of petitioners was
dismissed for having been rendered
infructuous, in view of the submission
made by the Deputy Advocate General at
the bar that a corrigendum stood issued,
whereby the minimum eligibility
qualification prescribed in the
advertisement notice was brought down in
consonance with the recruitment rules.
While
dismissing the petition of the
petitioners, no orders as to declaration
of result of the petitioners were made.
The petitioner filed present CMP seeking
a direction to the SSRB for declaring the
result of the petitioners and reflecting
their names in the select list as per
their merit, provided they make the
grade.
At this
Stage Advocate SK Shukla appeared for the
selection board and submitted that in
view of the circumstances of the case, he
would have no objection for granting the
prayer made by the petitioners.
Upon this,
Court directed SSRB to declare the result
of the petitioners.
DB
directive on lawyers' chambers
Excelsior
Correspondent
Jammu, Jan 2: In a writ petition
filed by Bar Association Jammu regarding
the construction of lawyer’s
chamber, Division Bench of the State High
Court Jammu wing comprising Chief Justice
BA Khan and Justice Mansoor Ahmed Mir
issued directions to the State.
Accordingly
compliance report has been filed by the
Commissioner/Secretary Law and
Commissioner/Secretary Finance
Department, in which it has been stated
that Rs one Crore has been sanction for
lawyers' chambers at Srinagar and matter
relating to second face of lawyers
chambers at Jammu was being processed for
being submitted to the competent
authority for decision and some more time
was required.
The
Division Bench took serious note for
non-allocation of funds for the District
Court Complex at Srinagar, where work has
come to stand-still. It was also told to
the Court that till date no funds have
been made available for this year by the
Govt despite announcements made by the
Chief Minister, as a result no head-way
has been made even in commencing the
construction of this complex, though
three years have gone after the land was
allotted for it.
"Going
by this approach and attitude of the
Govt, it would not be possible to
complete the construction of this complex
even for decades and the result would be
that subordinate judiciary in Srinagar
would not be able to function at
all", it was opined.
The
Division Bench directed Govt and its
concerned functionaries including Chief
Secretary, Commissioner/ Secretary
Planning, Commissioner/ Secretary
Finance, Commissioner/ Secretary Law and
Commissioner/ Secretary Public Works
Department to take immediate steps for
allocation of requisite funds for
carrying out the construction work of
this complex and compliance report filed
before the Court with the observation
that the subordinate courts being a part
of administration of justice.
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