NDTV – A first for Punjab: Man sentenced to death for killing his daughter

NDTV Correspondent, 13 November 2011

Sangrur:  It’s a tale of tragedy but also of hope. Tragedy, because casual labourer Mukesh Kumar killed his 2-day old daughter in the presence of his wife. Hope, because Kumar’s own wife had the courage to go to court to complain against his heinous act.  What’s more a trial court in the Sangrur district of Punjab has handed out the death sentence to the labourer, thereby sending out a strong message that female infanticide if practised, would receive the highest possible punishment.

The judgement is a first for Punjab where female infanticide is rampant.

In its ruling the court said: “it is seen that the aggravating circumstances out-weigh the extenuating circumstances and as such the only punishment that can be awarded to convict (Mukesh Kumar) is extreme penalty of death.”

Speaking to reporters Manju Devi, wife of Mukesh Kumar said frankly when asked for her reaction to her husband’s fate: “He killed my daughter, I am happy with the verdict as I wanted to teach him a lesson and set an example for others.”

Lawyers too expressed their happiness with the court’s verdict. Preet Inder Kaur, a lawyer said, “The court has awarded a sentence that can act as a deterrent…a father instead of protecting his child killed her…the sentence will now set an example to others.”

Article from NDTV Website
http://www.ndtv.com/

The Tribune – Black flags greet Sukhbir in Patiala

Akali leaders fight it out among themselves before Deputy CM holds meeting on Moga rally

Umesh Dewan/ Gagan K Teja, Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 14 Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was greeted with black flags by protesting Patiala pharmacists, demanding revision of pay scales and promotions this afternoon.

Though the protesters were not allowed to reach the Circuit House where Sukhbir was to hold a meeting of Akali leaders regarding the party’s preparations for the December 18 Moga rally, they staged a dharna outside Government Rajindra Hospital and later held a march in the city.

On a call given by the Punjab State Pharmacists Associations, the pharmacists gathered in the morning and staged a massive demonstration. With black strips on their mouths, the protesters, men and women, carried placards and black flags, demanding strict implementation of the Pharmacy Act. They raised anti-government slogans to express their anger against the Deputy CM.

District convener of the association Harinder Singh Chahal said the pharmacists in the district were on casual leave en masse (December 12 to 17). “If the government does not accept our demands, including revision of pay grades, change of designation to pharmacy officers and a separate directorate of pharmacy, we will intensify our agitation. The Punjab Government is acting in an autocratic manner but we will not succumb to pressure,” he said.

It is learnt there was a verbal dual between certain Akali leaders before the start of the meeting. Presiding over the meeting of Akali leaders from six districts, Sukhbir said the Moga rally would be one of the largest ever held.

“More than five lakh people from all over the state would attend the Moga rally. Over 250 acres of land has been identified for the venue, out of which 130 acres would be used for parking and over 100 acres for seating arrangements”, he told mediapersons.

Sukhbir said nodal organisers in each constituency would facilitate the movement of the party cadres. “The SAD has always launched its victory march from Moga and this time too it will begin from there. The rally will mark the beginning of the decimation of the Congress and it will be wiped out in the elections”, he claimed.

On finalising candidates, Sukhbir said the Political Affairs Committee would meet soon. Talks with the BJP were on to swap a few seats, he said.

Meanwhile, chaos prevailed inside the walled city as traffic on several roads was diverted on account of the VIP movement. The traffic cops miserably failed to make proper arrangements to regulate the traffic.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111215/punjab.htm#1

The Hindu – Government confident of tabling Lokpal Bill in Winter Session

New Delhi, 15 December 2011. Acknowledging that consensus eluded the all-party meeting on Lokpal issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Thursday said government was confident that it would be able to table the proposed bill in the Winter Session itself.   “I believe that it would be possible.

On Wednesday, there was an all-party meeting where 35 different parties participated. All had different views on the issue. To say there was broad consensus on the issue would be wrong. This has increased the work load of the government,” Mr. Bansal said.

“How to compile these 35 different views and then also bringing in government views and to make amendments in the proposed bill,” Mr. Bansal said, referring to the task at government’s hand.   However, “We are working hard on it and I am confident we will be present it in this session,” he said.

When pointed out that only one week of the Parliament session was remaining, Mr. Bansal said, “We will have to do a lot of hard work and only then it would be possible.”

“Even if we do it by 20-21st I don’t think why it cannot be done. On one day it can be discussed in one house and on the other day it can be done in the second house,” he said.   Mr. Bansal said that there was a range of opinions expressed at the all-party meeting held over Lokpal.

“There was no consensus at the all party meeting. Some were of the view that why were we hastening up the whole process. Our aim is how to find a consensus view from the different views given by the parties,” he said.

“Some were of the view that Group C should be brought under the Lokpal and some were opposed to the idea as it involved 35 lakh central employees. And how will one institution look after the complaints received against them,” Mr. Bansal said.

“Government has started working now on the issue and its sole effort is to see how we can come up with the bill as soon as possible,” he said.   Asked what if the Bill cannot be placed during this session of Parliament, Mr. Bansal said, “This question does not arise at this moment. This is too premature and I will say we are working on it.”

When asked what would be his request to Anna Hazare, he said, “We are not talking to him, whatever he does is his right. But being an honourable citizen of the nation he should understand that Parliament’s job can be done by Parliament only.”

“People’s ‘fatwa’ is with Parliament, which includes more than 500 members of Lok Sabha and more than 240 members of Rajya Sabha and they have been given the responsibility that they have to make laws. And we are doing our work,” Mr. Bansal said. (PTI)

 http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2717005.ece

Belgium, Ieper (Ypres) commemoration of World War I soldiers 11/11/2011

 

Meensestraat Menenpoort (Menen Gate)

Meensestraat Menenpoort (Menen Gate)

Meensestraat Menenpoort (Menen Gate)
Father & Son

Meensestraat Menenpoort (Menen Gate)
Ariana Barku and Johan Boucneau

To see more Ieper pictures go to :

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157621976532703/ 

More Ieper pictures to follow  
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

Special to The Tribune – Murder trial reveals ‘racist’ face of UK

Shyam Bhatia in London

At a time when racism seems to be part of a more distant and less pleasant era, an ongoing trial in London has reminded Indians and other non-white members in Britain just what it used to mean to have a different type of skin.

For many British whites in the 21st century, racial discrimination, including slurs and jibes, is now an obscene and totally unacceptable form of social behaviour that is firmly rooted in the past. All mainstream UK political parties seem to have endorsed this stand against racism. It is quite evident from the current tough legislation against racial abuse and creation of institutions like the Commission of Racial Equality.

But the trial of the two white men accused of killing a black teenager 20 years ago has revived uncomfortable memories of the past when racial bias was prevalent in London and other parts of the UK.

‘Paki’ and ‘nigger’ were common epithets used to describe south Asians and black people. Many Indian journalists and NRIs from those earlier days will testify to the ‘no blacks or Asians’ signs that used to appear on the windows of rental accommodation. Gary Dobson and David Norris, two white men now in their mid-30s, are alleged to have been part of a gang that stabbed and killed 19-year-old black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993 as he waited for a bus in the south London suburb of Eltham.

Stephen, who was studying design and technology and physics at school, was the son of a carpenter, Neville, and his wife, Doreen, a teacher. Both parents fully supported their son who wanted to be an architect. One of the witnesses at the time heard a gang member shout, “what, what nigger” before crossing the road and stabbing the unfortunate teenager. Stephen tried to escape by running away, but he collapsed after covering a short distance.

The pathologist report commented: “It’s surprising that he managed to cover 130 yards with the injuries he had. Also, the deep penetrating wound of the right side caused the upper lobe to partially collapse his lung. It is a testimony to Stephen’s physical fitness that he was able to run the distance he did before collapsing.”

Dobson was one of the members of the gang who was arrested, but never convicted for the murder, prompting an inquiry at the time to conclude that the London police had mishandled the investigation and that the police force itself was ‘institutionally racist’.

However, nearly two decades after the tragedy, and following discovery of new evidence, Dobson is one of two men on trial for Stephen’s murder. Some of the evidence includes sensational hidden black and white recordings from a secret police camera hidden inside Dobson’s London flat.

The video tape records him as saying, “If I was going to kill myself, do you know what I would do ? I would go and kill every black, every paki, every copper, every mug that I know, I’m telling you.”

He goes on to say, “I would go down to Catford and places like that, I am telling you now, with two sub-machine guns, and I am telling you, I would take one of them, skin the black alive, mate, torture him, set him alight. I would blow their two arms and legs off and say, ‘Go on, you can swim home now’.”

Dobson has told the court he is “disgusted and ashamed” by what he has seen of himself. Whether the jury believes him and his plea that he is not guilty of the Lawrence murder remains to be seen.

The Lawrence trial coincides with the recently released video footage of other, more recent incidents of racial abuse in the UK. Compared to 20 years ago, however, they seem to be less common than they used to be. One of the videos recently shot on a London bus is of a middle-aged and apparently drunk white woman who screams, ‘I’m a great white c***’ before adding: ‘Do you know what, I really don’t know whether you’re afro-bian, Caribbean’.”

Another example is of a white woman on the London underground who confronts a non-white male passenger and screams, “Learn the lingo and then think about coming back you ******* r*****”. She goes on to screech, “We have got enough of you ******* muppets in our country, stealing out jobs, ******* taking the English jobs.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111215/main3.htm

BBC News – Liège attack: Belgian police find body in killer’s shed

Liège (French), Luik (Dutch) or Lüttich (German) is only about 35 kilometer from Sint-Truiden
There is a Gurdwara in Liège

14 December 2011

Police in Belgium have discovered a woman’s body in a shed belonging to a gunman who went on the rampage in Liege, killing four people and himself.

The body was found with a bullet wound to the head, say Belgian justice officials.

Nordine Amrani launched his attack with guns and hand grenades in a busy marketplace in Liege on Tuesday, causing panic among Christmas shoppers.

About 125 people were wounded, five of whom are in intensive care.

The body found at the killer’s property was that of a cleaner, reported to be 45 years old, who worked for one of Amrani’s neighbours.

Also found in the shed were two weapons and a stockpile of ammunition, the public prosecutor, Daniele Reynders, told a news conference.

No message has been found from the attacker, she said.

Officials say the shed was used by Amrani to grow cannabis.

The authorities are trying to determine what motivated Amrani to go on his killing spree.

Police have said he was known to them for previous drugs and firearms offences and acted alone in the attack.

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said it had been “an isolated case”.

The city is to hold a minute’s silence and a vigil at midday on Wednesday, the AFP news agency reports.

A 17-month-old girl became the fourth victim late on Tuesday, dying in hospital despite undergoing hours of emergency treatment.

Belgium’s Home Affairs Minister Joelle Milquet said four people remained in a critical condition.

Warnings missed?

The BBC’s Matthew Price, in Liege, says the central Place Saint-Lambert, where the attack took place, has been reopened to the public, but blood stains, shattered glass and bullet marks remain.

Officials have ruled out organised political terrorism or a known mental illness as Amrani’s motives but have yet to determine why he opened fire.

They will now need to examine whether there was anything to indicate in advance that he might have posed a danger to the public, says our correspondent.

Amrani, a resident of Liege, had been jailed for 58 months in September 2008 for possessing firearms and drugs, media reports said.

Officials did not confirm this, but said they were aware he had spent some time in prison.

“At no moment in any of the judicial proceedings against him was there a sign of unbalance,” Daniele Reynders, the public prosecutor for Liege, told reporters.

Amrani is reported to have been on parole and on Tuesday had been asked to attend a police station for an interview in connection with charges against him.

Instead, he took an assault rifle, revolver and hand grenades into the busy town centre square, close to the courthouse.

At about midday, he threw three grenades at people waiting for buses then opened fire, sending hundreds of people fleeing in panic.

“He wanted to hurt as many people as possible,” journalist Nicolas Gilenne told AFP. “I heard four explosions and shots during about 10 seconds.”

A 15-year-old boy died instantly, while a 17-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died later in hospital.

One official told AFP that a Christmas market was meant to be taking place in the square that day but its opening had been postponed because of bad weather.

“Otherwise many more would have died,” said the official.

Amrani died at the scene, but officials said he had not been shot by police. Some witnesses said he had shot himself in the head.

Mr Di Rupo, who has only been in office since last week, said there were “no words to describe this tragedy”.

“The whole country shares the pain of the families affected. We share the shock of the population,” he said as he visited the square.

But he said: “This is an isolated case. This is not about terrorism.”

Belgium’s King Albert II and Queen Paola also visited Place Saint-Lambert on Tuesday evening to pay their respects. Liege’s mayor Willy Demeyer, said the attack had “sown sorrow in the heart of the city”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16172662