The Tribune – SC to hear Rajiv Gandhi, Bhullar cases together

R Sedhuraman, Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, October 10. The Supreme Court today agreed to hear the petition of Devender Pal Singh Bhullar seeking commutation of his death sentence together with another plea relating to the case of assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

A Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya listed the Rajiv Gandhi case for hearing on October 19, when the Bhullar case would also be taken up.

The Bench passed the order after the petitioner pleaded for the transfer of the petitions filed by the three convicts (Santhan, Murugan and Arivu) in the Rajiv assassination case from the Madras High Court to the SC.

The petitioner, advocate L K Venkat, contended that both the Rajiv Gandhi case and that the Bhullar case involved identical grounds for commuting the death sentences.

Both the cases were the result of long delays on the part of the government in rejecting their mercy petitions.

The government took 11 years in the case of the three convicts and 9 years for Bhullar, the petitioner argued.

Venkat contended that the situation was not conducive to hearing the petitions in the Madras HC as the State Assembly had passed a resolution seeking revocation of the death sentence on the ground of delay.

Further, hearing the Bhullar case in SC and the other in the HC would result in multiple proceedings on a single legal issue: Delays in deciding the mercy pleas.

While Bhullar was sentenced to death for his involvement in the 1993 bomb attack on then Youth Congress chief M S Bitta in Delhi, Santhan, Murugan and Arivu got a similar penalty for the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

During arguments today, the three convicts and the Tamil Nadu government opposed the plea for transferring the case from the HC.

The Bench directed both the parties to file their affidavits within a week.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111011/main7.htm

The Asian Age – CBI books and raids Maran brothers

Asian Age Corespondent

Chennai/New Delhi, 11 October 2011. Investigators from the CBI on Monday searched the premises of former IT & communications minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother, Mr Kalanithi Maran, chief of Sun Network, in Chennai.

The searches were conducted at their bungalows at the posh Boat Club and the Sun TV office in connection with the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal that dragged Mr Dayanidhi Maran into trouble, forcing him to resign as textiles minister from the current Union Cabinet. Sources said the CBI sleuths also questioned Ms Suneeta Reddy, executive director of Apollo Hospitals, who holds stake in Aircel, and conducted searches at her residences and offices.

Sun Pictures, owned by the Maran family, is being probed by the Tamil Nadu crime branch CID in connection with a number of cheating cases filed against its COO. The CBI registered a case against Mr Dayanidhi Maran on Sunday in connection with the Aircel-Maxis deal and booked Mr Kalanithi Maran, Maxis owner T. Ananda Krishnan, senior executive Ralph Marshall and three companies — Astro, Maxis and Sun TV — on charges of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. After registering the case, the agency carried out searches at the residential and official premises of all accused persons at nine places in Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad. All the accused will be called for questioning, sources said.

CBI sources claimed that quid pro quo on the part of the then telecom minister has been established during the probe and that the probe has also revealed that files (related to spectrum allocation) of former Aircel chief C. Sivas-ankaran were deliberately delayed during Mr Maran’s tenure.

Sources said the CBI might have also used the opportunity to verify the allegation that BSNL was forced to set up a telephone exchange connecting the Sun TV office and Mr Dayanidhi Maran’s Chennai residence through dedicated underground cables when he was IT & communications minister. CBI officials and a BSNL official went up to the terrace of Mr Maran’s residence in Chennai and checked a communication tower there.

http://www.asianage.com/india/cbi-books-and-raids-maran-bros-974

Sangat Sahib Gurdwara, Halmaal, Sint-Truiden – Sevadars

Pictures taken on 18 September 2011

 Nanak Singh & fellow sevadar

Our chief-cook Nanak Singh

Cutting the vegetables

Hard at work

To see more Sint-Truiden Gurdwara pictures go to :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157624495772533/

More Belgian pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Australia is new address of sham marriages

Kanchan Vasdev, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 10. After the US and Canada, Australia is the new address of sham marriages. In their pursuit of the dollar dream, young men and women are using the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) way to enter Australia.

With more Punjabi girls than boys able to clear the IELTS, they secure admission into Australian colleges and universities with relative ease. They then start looking for a groom willing to pay the hefty fee.

There have been several cases of such brides being abandoned by their spouses on reaching Australia. Manpreet Kaur, 25, from Tusse village in Ludhiana, who married Kulvinder Singh of Sujapur, is one such victim. Having scored 5.5 bands in IELTS, she struck a deal with Kulvinder in 2008. The latter agreed to pay her fee for a diploma in management from a Melbourne college. He sent her back to India in January this year, promising that he would join her later. He never returned.

“It was then that I realised I was defrauded. He wanted to be in Australia and he used me,” said Manpreet, who reported the matter to the Jagraon police.

Jyoti Rani’s tale is no different. Having scored five bands in IELTS, she struck a marriage deal with Rakesh Kumar of Goraya. They flew to Melbourne in April 2009. Rakesh paid her fee for the first semester, but refused to pay for the rest of the course.

“Rakesh deserted my daughter in March 2010. Since then she has been living alone there. We have filed a complaint with the Nawanshahar police. The case is pending with the women’s cell,” said Jyoti’s father Harmeet Singh. Amar Singh Chahal, SSP, Ludhiana (Rural), said he had received a large number of complaints regarding such marriages.

“I have received applications from at least 20 young girls with IELTS certificates seeking grooms who can fund their study in Australia,” said Kaur Singh Grewal, a travel agent. Lok Bhalai Party chief Balwant Singh Ramoowalia said such marriages were nothing but “deals” and bound to be doomed.

He claimed that last month alone he had received at least 10 such complaints.

After Jalandhar, Ludhiana district has seen the maximum number of crimes involving NRIs.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111011/punjab.htm#12

BBC News – Indian singer Jagjit Singh dies

10 October 2011

Renowned Indian singer Jagjit Singh has died in Mumbai (Bombay), aged 70.

Mr Singh, who was famed for his semi-classical ghazal songs, suffered from a stroke last month and had been in a coma in hospital ever since.

Popularly known as the “Ghazal King”, Singh sang in a number of languages.

He is survived by his wife, Chitra Singh, who is also a leading ghazal singer. They had commercial success with songs recorded together in the 1970s and 1980s.

Singh’s admirers say he revolutionised ghazal music and made it accessible to the wider public.

He also sang tracks for a number of popular movies, including Sarfarosh.

He was the first prominent ghazal singer from India in a genre dominated by Pakistani singers.

“He was the first real ghazal singer from India. Before him there were clones. The poetry in his music was beautiful,” actor Anupam Kher said in a tribute.

“His music was gentle, soothing and went to your heart.”

Ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas said that Singh had made ghazal so accessible that his audiences “could sing along with him”.

Jagjit Singh recorded more than 50 albums, many of them major commercial successes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15236222