MP CM lands in row after visiting
murder accused in hospital

INDORE, Jan 3: Already under attack over the way the case of Ujjain Professor H S Sabharwal was investigated, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has landed in yet another controversy following his visit to a hospital where he met an accused in the murder case.

During a surprise visit to the Government-run M Y Hospital here yesterday, he met Vimal Tomar, one of the accused in the case, in the intensive care unit besides other patients, official sources said.

The CM undertook the visit to know the condition of the hospital and facilities available there, they said.

However, the Chief Minister did not apparently see anything wrong with the visit. "Yes, I also met him (Tomar). I met many patients admitted there and I met Vimalji also," Chouhan said.

Tomar, a former leader the BJP’s student wing, ABVP, was shifted to the hospital from Ujjain’s Central Jail following complaint of chest pain nearly a week ago.

Sabharwal, a professor at Ujjain’s Madhav college, died in September 2006, after being allegedly assaulted by students protesting the cancellation of college union polls.

Opposition Congress, which has accused the BJP Government of mishandling the murder case since beginning, has questioned the rationale behind Chouhan visiting the accused.

State Congress chief Subhash Yadav alleged that the BJP Government was acting under the pressure of RSS and Bajrang Dal in the case.

After the present incident, the Chouhan Government has no right to remain in power, he said. (PTI)

32 lakh tourists visit Taj Mahal in 2007,
breaks earlier records

AGRA, Jan 3: A record breaking 32 lakh tourists visited to adore the beauty of monument of love Taj Mahal here in 2007.

According to the Archeological Department sources, "no sooner the Taj Mahal was included in the ‘new seven wonders’ last year, it observed a hike in the number of tourists, both national and international, visiting the place."

As many as 32 lakh tourists came here in 2007, which included 25 lakh national and seven lakh international tourists respectively.

The figure is much higher than that recorded in the preceding year.

In 2006, nearby 25.5 lakh tourists, comprising around 20.5 lakh national and 5 lakh international tourists respectively, came to Taj Mahal, while in 2005, the figure was recorded around 23 lakh that included 19 lakh national and 4 lakh international tourists respectively.

The mushrooming number of tourists had also drawn good returns to the hotels and created employment opportunities here. (UNI)

Two arrested with worth Rs 7 lacs leopard skin

NASHIK, Jan 3: Local Crime Branch (LCB) sleuths here have arrested two people along with leopard skin worth Rs 7 lakh.

According to police sources, acting on a tip off, LCB Nashik sleuths led by senior PI Anil Akade raided a room in Suyash Lodge, situated at Manmad Square in Malegaon and arrested Bhaiyubhai Pir Mohammedji (35) and Lalsigh Bajesingh Solanki (30) both residents of Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh, last evening.

Police seized leopard skin worth Rs 7 lakh from them. Two mobiles worth Rs 4250 were also recovered. Primary investigations revealed that the skin recovered is of a female leopard, around seven years old.

Case has been registered against the two under sections 9, 39, 40, 48 (a) and 49 of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 with Quila Police Station in Malegaon and further investigations are on.

The two accused will be produced in court today, police sources added. (UNI)

When city of dreams turned nightmare
for molestation victims

MUMBAI, Jan 3: Recounting the tale of horror, one of the victims of the new year day molestation case here described how the hooligans pinched and groped her, while the woman’s husband narrated how he felt when around 50 people were trying to get at his wife and cousin.

In an interview to a city tabloid, she said, "I just want to get over the horror. I want to stop seeing my face on TV. When we came out of the hotel (early) on January 1, I did not sense any trouble. But when we were walking, the crowd just kept getting closer."

"They touched my butt and pinched me. They also began grabbing my cousin sister-in-law. People just watched as my husband tried to protect me," she said.

"I believe Mumbaikars are not willing to stop and help people in trouble."

Her husband told the newspaper, "we are the victims. We were at J W Mariott from 9 pm on December 31 and at around 2 am we (he, his wife and two cousins) decided to leave (the hotel) and take a rickshaw back to Hotel Royal Gardens."

"Just as we stepped out, we saw a group heading towards us. They reached us and immediately began grabbing my wife. Since we were walking against the crowd it was difficult to move ahead. But then it got worse. It seemed like the whole crowd was on my wife and my cousin," he recalled.

"Then somebody pushed all of us on the ground. It seemed like they were 50 people around .... All trying to get at my wife and cousin."

The victim’s husband said "my brother and I tried to fight the crowd, but they were too many. That’s when some photographers started clicking us."

"All of a sudden from the crowd, there emerged a man wearing a red T-shirt who tried to help us and started shouting for the police. The cops arrived in a few minutes and the crowd thinned out," he said.

"I told the police that my wife and cousin were molested. They put us in their vehicle and took us to the Juhu Police Station from where we were put in an auto and we went to our hotel."

Explaining the reason for not filing a police complaint, the victim’s husband said, "we could not identify any of the molesters as it happened too fast. For the record neither the police nor the J W Mariott Hotel should be blamed."

"We are all based in California and I got married just a day before this horrible incident. I have been coming to Mumbai for the last five years, but this experience on new year has changed my perception about Mumbai," he added.

"We don’t want to be bothered by the media and want to enjoy whatever is left of our vacations. And yes, I want to thank the man in the red T-shirt (who helped us)," he added. (PTI)

Pakistan’s banned ‘burqavaganza’ to be staged in India

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: A satirical play depicting the oppression of women that was banned by the Pakistan Government will be staged at the annual theatre festival of India’s National School of Drama which begins in New Delhi today.

"Burqavaganza", which makes a "tongue-in-cheek comment on a serious issue" was banned by the Pakistan Government last year because it was against "quranic injunctions on the veil". It will staged at the Kamani auditorium on January 12.

Madeeha Gauhar, the head of Ajoka Theatre Group that create the play, said: "We are taking `burqavaganza’ to India at the invitation of the NSD for their Golden Jubilee Celebrations."

"Burqavaganza" was first staged by Ajoka in Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural capital, in March last year before being banned after some women Parliamentarians of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal religious coalition raised it in the national assembly.

"There was only a verbal ban, there was noting in writing. We have filed a writ against the Government," said Gauhar. Her husband Shahid Nadeem said the ban was announced by a federal minister, though such a step could only be taken by provincial authorities under Pakistani laws.

"The play is an exposure of a lot of the hypocrisy that goes on behind the burqa. It is also a critique of the US policy for this region," said Gauhar. "It is not just a comment on Pakistan but on the larger implications of the whole attempt to Islamicise politics."

Some have even compared the play’s subject matter to the aggressive behaviour of burqa-clad students of Jamia Hafsa, the girls’ seminary attached to Lal Masjid, the Islamabad mosque that was stormed by the military to flush out armed militants.

Gauhar, who was recently in Islamabad to stage the very famous play "Bulha", said, "there is nothing offensive in the production against Islam or any other religion. The play uses the burqa as a metaphor for double standards and cover-ups in society. The play shows all characters (men and women) wearing burqas, including politicians, terrorist leaders and policemen.

"It had been made very clear in our brochure and before and after the play that the theme of the play is not critical of any one’s religious beliefs or dress preferences, but about the hypocrisy and double standards and the feudal-tribal mindset," she said.

Nadeem, who is also the writer and director of ‘burqavaganza’, said it was regrettable that the play was banned because it would have enabled people to think about a serious issue. The play is about what the world would have been like if the Jamia Hafsa brigade had succeeded, he remarked.

"The play has a message for Muslims everywhere. It also has a message for the non-Muslim world that muslims should not be identified with the Hijab alone. We are a society as diverse and modern as others. Muslims have much to offer to the world," said Nadeem.

Gauhar, whose group is the oldest theatre company in Pakistan, said they had faced censorship before, particularly during the regime of late General Zia-ul-Haq. "But we never expected this from President (Pervez) Musharraf’s Government as he has been talking about `enlightened moderation’," she said.

Nadeem, who has been imprisoned by three military regimes and is banned from having his plays on Pakistan’s state-run TV, had to leave the country in the 1980s during Zia-ul-Haq’s regime. (PTI)

My time to lead will come: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Bilawal Bhutto, son of assassinated former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, admitted that he was not a born leader but said he was determined to fulfil his duties regardless of the "critical danger" to his life.

In a web posting on his page on social networking site facebook, the 19-year-old Oxford student said, "I am not a born leader. I am not a politician or a great thinker...My time to lead will come."

Replying to hundreds of messages of condolences, the newly-appointed chief of Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party said, "for now, I’m the one asking questions, not the one answering them."

He said he was still just a student who enjoyed eating junk food and watching television, but added that he would try to learn.

On queries about his elevation to the top post of Pakistan’s largest political party, the Bhutto scion said : "People have questioned why I talk about the virtue of democracy whilst coming into power through such undemocratic means.

"I can say this much in response: These are the right questions to be asking. These questions are what the foundations of democracy and a free society are built on. The important thing is not to stop questioning."

Bilawal spent much of his life outside Pakistan, attending schools in London and Dubai. He enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford, last year.

Bilawal went on to thank the people for their messages of support, describing them as his "brothers and sisters," and paying tribute to the other people who died in the gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27, 2007. (UNI)

Machine capable of revealing our most private thoughts

LONDON, Jan 3: Scientists have developed a machine which is capable of reading our mind and revealing our most private thoughts.

American researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that with the aid of a sophisticated scanner and computer programme, they were able to determine how the brain lights up when thinking about different subjects.

Using an advanced form of MRI scanner, they analysed how the brain reacted to ten drawings of tools and buildings. They then used a computer programme to work out whether a person was thinking about a tool or a building.

"We hope to progress to identifying the thoughts associated not just with pictures but also with words and eventually sentences," said Dr Svetlana Shinkareva, one of the researchers.

The device’s possibilities can be extended and the team envisage a time when it will be used to conduct infallible lie detector tests, while the accurate interpretation of a person’s intentions could allow police to arrest criminals before they break the law, as seen in the film minority report.

The researchers’ analysis was found to be 97 per cent accurate. Despite being limited to picking up the thoughts behind just ten pictures, the researchers are confident that they will soon be able to identify entire sentences.

The study, published in the journal Plos One, also showed that different people think about the same thing in the same way.

"This part of the study establishes, as never before, that there is a commonality in how different people’s brains represent the same subject," the study, reported in the daily mail of Britain, said. (PTI)

3 Indian students killed in house fire

SYDNEY, Jan 3: Three Indian students were charred to death when a massive fire engulfed a house today in the western Melbourne district of footscray in Australia.

The three victims— aged 30, 24, and 22— could not be saved as the fire spread quickly through the house, which firefighters said, had no smoke alarm.

The bodies of two of the men were found at the rear of the house once the blaze had been extinguished, Metropolitan Fire Brigade Spokesman Trevor Woodward was quoted as saying by local media.

The third victim was found a short time later in the hall, he added.

However, a man, a woman and their daughter managed to escape the fire unharmed, he said. "They are in shock and the families of the Indian victims are being contacted," Mr Woodward added.

House owner Mr Phong Nguyen said the house had been rented by a family of three for the last 18 months, adding he did not know the three students were living at the property.

"They’re certainly not on the rental list," he said.

Officials said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained yet.

The roof of the house was totally destroyed by the huge fire, which broke out at 1245 hours while trees and shrubs in the front yard were burnt. (UNI)