Rahul
Gandhi visits family of Dalits killed in
Chambal region
AMINABAD, UP, Mar 15:
Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi today visited the
family members of the five Dalits who
were killed by Dacoits in this
bandit-infested southern region of Uttar
Pradesh.
Gandhi
drove straight to the house of Vishram
Singh Dohre who along with four other
members of his family were killed in an
armed attack allegedly by a dacoit gang
from a nearby village on Tuesday night.
Gandhi
spent almost an hour talking to the
surviving family members and elders of
the village, enquiring about the
unfortunate incident.
Dohre
(52), his wife Longsri, son Arjun,
daughter-in-law Soni and grandson Rinku
were brutally killed on the intervening
night of March 12 and 13 while the
police, stationed at close proximity
proved helpless to save them.
Dohre, an
activist of a Dacoit reformist movement,
‘Chambal Ghati Vinoba Bhave
Mission’, lived nearly 500 metres
away from Ekdil police station and had
also been threatened of dire consequences
for his reform work in the past.
He
survived by four grandchildren, all girls
between the age of three to seven months.
Dohre’s son-in-law Survesh who was
visiting the family on the fateful night
also survived the assault and is the
complainant and prime witness in the
case.
Uttar
Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita
Bahuguna Joshi, who is accompanying
Gandhi, said the party has announced Rs
2.5 lakh as compensation to the family
members the victims.
"The
women in the village told Gandhi how
their life was insecure in the Chambal
belt due to dacoits and also about a lack
of political will to combat the
menace," Joshi said.
After
vising the family, Gandhi held a detailed
discussion with the village elders and
asked them about the extent of dacoit
terror in the region.
"He
asked us to put forward a united front
against the dacoits and promised all help
from his side to fight terror,"
Asharam, an elder of the village, said.
In his
attempts to have one-to-one meeting with
people, the Amethi MP stopped his carcade
a few meters away from the village and
visited a potato field and spent
substantial time with the farmers working
there.
Sitting
down in the field, he also shared lunch
with one of the labourer family before
leaving the village.
"He
asked us if we have some food to share
with him. We offered him ‘chapaties
with chutney’ to eat," Askari
Begum of nearby Ekdil village said.
Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and
Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav too
had visited the village in the past two
days.
Some local
people also alleged that Dohre was
involved in a land dispute which, they
say, resulted in the killings.
Uttar
Pradesh Police, though denied any formal
statement on the issue, have claimed they
have arrested one person in this
connection. (PTI)
HC
directs Govt to fill up existing
vacancies
CHENNAI, Mar 15: The Madras High
Court today directed the state Government
to fill up the existing vacancies in the
lower courts and the state consumer
disputes redressal commission within a
month.
The First
bench comprising Chief Justice Mr A P
Shah and Justice Praba Sridevan delivered
a judgment on a nine-year old pending
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by
a senior advocate of the High Court here,
C Lakshmi Narain.
The bench
directed the Government to fill up the
vacancies with respect to the post of
presiding officers of all courts under
their respectivce jurisdiction.
In the
future the vaccancy should be filled up
within a period of one month from the
date of its occurrence, by plannig well
ahead.
Mr Narain,
said there were vacancies in the
subordinate courts and in the consumer
disputes redressal district forums, state
commission, family courts at Madras and
also in the city civil courts of Madras.
At the
time of final hearing last week, the
petitioner submitted an existing list of
vacancies as on March 30, 2008 and also
submitted an ensuing vacancy list as on
Septenber 30, 2008.
The bench
allowed the PIL and directed the State
Chief Secretary, Food and Civil Supples
and Co-operation Department Secretary and
the Registrar of Madras High Court to
call for applications from the eligible
advocates and retired district judges for
the post of presiding officer of the
consumer disputes redressal forums within
two weeks and fillup other existing posts
within one month. (UNI)
179
candidates forfeit security deposit in
Meghalaya
SHILLONG, Mar 15: Altogether 179
candidates of the total 331 have
forfeited their security money following
their failure to bag the requisite
minimum votes in the recently-concluded
elections to the eighth Meghalaya
assembly.
While 55
of the total 73 independents lost their
security deposit, all the 18 candidates
fielded by the Lok Janashakti Party, a
new entrant to state politics, have also
forfeited their money, official sources
here said.
Among
others, 21 are from BJP, 17 from NCP, 21
from UDP and 14 from MDP.
Seven
candidates garnered less than 100 votes.
LJP’s H T Lyngdoh has the dubious
distinction of getting the least number
of votes, 58, contesting from Laitumkhrah
seat.
State’s
chief electoral officer P Naik said that
a candidate loses his security deposit if
he fails to get one-sixth of the total
votes polled.
The
security deposit for a general category
candidate is Rs 5,000, while for an ST
candidate it is RS 2,500.
Lone BJP
MLA A L Hex got the maximum of 13086
votes from Pynthorumkhrah seat.
Meghalaya
Democratic Party president and former
state Forest Minister M N Mukhim was
defeated by his rival by a narrow margin
of just 66 votes.
Elections
to 59 of the 60 assembly seats of the
state were held on March 3. The polls
threw up a hung verdict, with the
Congress emerging as the single largest
party with 25 seats. (PTI)
|
