Special to the Tribune – Dalip Singh’s guardian wanted £1,000 annuity from Maharaja

Shyam Bhatia in London

The Scottish surgeon who was appointed as guardian to Maharaja Dalip Singh was not above trying to feather his own nest at the Maharaja’s expense. Newly released documents show that Dr John Login tried and failed to persuade the East India Company to give him a £1,000 annuity from the personal privy purse of the deposed Maharaja.

In terms of present day values measured by average earnings, this amounted to more than £600,000 per annum.

Login was appointed as Dalip Singh’s guardian in 1849 shortly after the Second Anglo Sikh war. At the time, the young Maharaja and son of the legendary Maharaja Ranjit Singh was only 11-year old.

Login’s controversial duties at the time included taking charge of Dalip Singh’s impressive legacy, including land, palaces and, most importantly, the legendary Kohinoor diamond which was presented to Queen Victoria.

The 186 carat diamond, a prized asset of the Mughal dynasty, was said to be the size of a large egg. Victoria sent it to diamond cutters in Amsterdam who re-shaped and reduced the gem to 108.9 carats before it was placed on the imperial crown.

Login was Dalip Singh’s guardian for nine key years, effectively his mother, father and guardian all rolled into one, both in India and later in the United Kingdom.

When Dalip Singh came to London in 1851, shortly after converting to Christianity, it was Login and his wife who took care of him and introduced him to the British society.

One well documented anecdote has Login showing Dalip Singh the re-cut Kohinoor and allowing him to handle it shortly before the deposed ruler handed it over formally to Victoria.

Although Login retired from his job as guardian in 1858, after Dalip Singh came of age, he was awarded a generous annual pension of £300. Measured by the average earnings index this would today amount to more than £180,000.

Not content with the pension he had been awarded, Login wrote to the East India Company on March 1858: “Having been aware that it has not been in my power to save much from my allowances or make sufficient provision for my family during the nine years in which I acted as his guardian, he (Dalip Singh) has in a very generous and considerate manner spontaneously proposed to settle an annuity upon me during his life of £1,000.”

Earlier, in support of his application for the £1,000 from Dalip Singh’s privy purse, Login wrote in a letter seen by The Tribune, “It has been a source of much gratification and thankfulness to me that I have been able with God’s blessing to establish and confirm a feeling of goodwill, loyalty and respect towards the British government on the part of one from whom such sentiments could scarcely be expected.”

Notwithstanding all his efforts, Login was destined to be disappointed. East India Company Secretary Norman Melvill wrote back to him saying, “The receipt of any present or gratuity from a native of India, by any officer of the Company, is prohibited..the arrangement cannot receive either the approval or the sanction of the Court of Directors.”

Login died in 1863 and Dalip Singh paid for the headstone above his grave.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120131/main8.htm

The Tribune – Delhi HC Blast Fallout; Government begins regulation of cyber cafés

Owners to keep record of visitors’ ID, maintain log register

Arteev Sharma, Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 30 Almost four months after a blast rocked the Delhi High Court, which was masterminded in a cyber café in the hilly Kishtwar town last year, the Jammu and Kashmir government has started the registration of all cafés in the state to keep a strict vigil over the Netizens.

The sensitive Jammu and Kashmir — unlike other states of the countries — currently doesn’t have a “regulation or licencing authority” to regulate the functioning of cyber cafés.

The plan aims at ensuring maintenance of registers bearing the name, addresses and other details of the Internet users frequenting cyber cafés.

“Cyber café owners and network service providers, who provide computer services, including Internet access to general public either against payment or free of charge for any purpose, including recreation or amusement, shall register their cyber cafés and network service,” District Magistrate, Udhampur, Pandurang K Pole said while taking a lead in regulating the functioning of cyber cafés in the state.

He said though there was a decline in militancy, untoward incidents couldn’t be ruled out and prevention needed to be taken.

The District Magistrate said the decision was taken as anti-national elements, including militants and over ground workers (OGWs) were using new technology for communication and spread of hatred and terror.

“Cyber cafés and computer centres shall ensure proper identification of users before allowing them to use their computer resources. Proper maintenance and safety of log register and identification documents shall be ensured by café owners or operators,” Pole maintained.

The Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HUJI) militants had sent a terror email after the Delhi High Court blast in New Delhi, in which 15 people were killed, from a cyber cafe in Kishtwar district in September last year.

Inspector General of Police, Jammu, Dilbagh Singh, however, said there was no regulation or licencing authority to regulate the functioning of cyber cafés in the state.

“At official level, there is no restriction on anyone to run a cyber café in the state. But, we have directed all café owners to follow the standard set of norms,” the IGP said.

He added that all district superintendents of police had been directed to closely monitor the functioning of cyber cafés.

“We have also directed all cafés to install closed-circuit televisions to keep a vigil on Internet users,” Singh added.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120131/j&k.htm#3

The Hindu – Record voter turnout in Punjab

Sarabjit Pandher

One person dies in group clash in Ferozepur Rural constituency   Barring a few incidents, the single-phase polling for the 117-member Punjab Assembly on Monday remained peaceful as initial estimates indicated a record turnout, which is likely to surpass the 75.45 per cent registered in 2007. When reports last came in, one person was killed and nine cases of poll-related violence were registered.

Talking to journalists, Chief Electoral Officer Kusumjit Sidhu said one person died of bullet injuries when rival groups clashed in the Ferozepur Rural constituency. An old woman suddenly collapsed and died inside a polling station of the Anandpur Sahib constituency.

Thanking the people and those involved in the process for the smooth conduct of the elections, Ms. Sidhu said the final turnout figures would be compiled after the returning officers sent the reports from the constituencies separately. The commission had not ordered repoll anywhere across the State.

Polling across the State began at a brisk pace and there was no let up throughout the day. She said long queues were reported at polling stations after 5 p.m.

Journalist manhandled

A woman journalist of a leading Punjabi daily was manhandled in Nabha, while a scribe was allegedly slapped by Akali Dal legislator Amarpal Singh Bony in Ajnala. The police registered cases in both incidents.

The authorities replaced 70 malfunctioning electronic voting machines, though early reports said an attempt was made to tamper with a machine in Mansa district.

There were interesting reports of people using the 49-O facility to reject all the candidates in their constituencies. At Garhshankar in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, as many as 80 citizens of a locality opted for the facility to voice their resentment against apathy by the authorities in providing basic civic amenities since Independence.

Ms. Sidhu said six television channels — Aaj Tak, Star News, Zee News, PTC, Times Now and NDTV — along with three newspapers — Ajit, Dainik Jagran and Jagbani — were issued notice for violating code of conduct on poll day.

On a complaint, the media monitoring committee scanned the content of the PTC coverage and found that the channel had interviewed more Akali Dal-BJP leaders than Opposition leaders. However, a final decision would be taken by the Election Commission, she said.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2845575.ece

Brussel, Bruxellles, Brussels, 20 December 2011

Grote Markt – Grand Place

 Grote Markt – Grand Place

 Grote Markt – Grand Place

 Grote Markt – Grand Place

To see more Netherlands and Belgiun pictures go to:

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More Belgian pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Outrage over President’s medal to SP who ‘tortured’ tribal teacher

Aditi Tandon, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 30. Women’s groups are up in arms against the award of President’s Police Medal to the officer who allegedly supervised the sexual torture on Soni Sori, an adivasi teacher currently under trial in Chhattisgarh for alleged links with Maoists.

Dantewada Superintendent Police Ankit Garg, who won this year’s President Gallantry Award, was on duty in the Dantewada police station where Sori was sexually tortured on the night of October 8, 2011.

The 35-year-old’s horrific tale would have remained untold had it not been for the intervention of the Supreme Court that ordered an independent probe into her physical condition, which Chhattisgarh doctors were underplaying.

The probe by NRS Government Hospital, Kolkata, established the presence of pebbles in Sori’s private parts. The report was submitted to the apex court on November 25, 2011 after which Sori was shifted out of Dantewada to Raipur Central Jail where she is now lodged.

Flagging the issue today, Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS), a national network of women’s organisations, slammed the award to Ankit Garg. “We are shocked and outraged by the conferring of President’s Police Medal for Gallantry on Dantewada SP Ankit Garg. Ankit has been named by Soni Sori in several letters to the SC stating that he ordered sexual violence against her on the night of October 8, 2011 when she was in his custody.”

In the case before the court, Sori wrote that while she was in custody in the Dantewada police station, she was stripped before Ankit Garg and given electric shocks on his directions.

She said that not only did he use abusive language against her, he ordered three police personnel to “punish her” by sexually torturing her for disobeying his command to name social activists such as Agnivesh, Medha Patkar and Arundhati Roy as Naxal supporters. “NRS Government Hospital Kolkata under the direction of the Supreme Court confirmed Sori’s sexual torture after they recovered stones embedded in her private parts,” women’s groups said.

Importantly, human rights activists including CPM Politbureau member Brinda Karat and National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy had in a letter to the Supreme Court Chief Justice on January 24 sought Sori’s protection from the Chhattisgarh police, stating how the truth of her misery was sought to be buried by the state. “On October 10, 2011, Sori was taken to be produced in the Magistrate’s Court in Dantewada. But she was unable to get out of the police van due to pain. The police said she slipped in the bathroom and hurt herself. Doctors at Dantewada District Hospital and Government Medical College, Jagdalpur, said she had a history of unconsciousness and was unable to stand due to pain in the lumbar region,” the letter signed by human rights activists said.

In all her statements to relatives and the letter she addressed to the Supreme Court last year, Sori narrated her custodial torture at the hands of Ankit Garg, stating how she was “pulled out of her cell in Dantewada police station on October 8, 2011 night and taken to Ankit Garg’s room where she was stripped and administered electric shocks and stones and batons inserted into her private parts.”

Who’s Soni Sori?

A 35-year-old adivasi schoolteacher, she’s warden of a government school for tribal children in Jabeli, Dantewada. Was arrested in Delhi on October 4, 2011 after exposing evidence of being framed by Chhattisgarh Police in multiple cases. Soni is being tried for links with Maoists.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120131/main6.htm

Dawn – Cleric sentenced to death in blasphemy case

Nabeel Anwar Dhakku

Chakwal, 31 January 2012. A ‘blasphemy’ accused was sentenced to death and also to 10 years’ imprisonment on Monday, sources told Dawn.

Soofi Mohammad Ishaq of Talagang town had been facing the charge since 2009.

On Monday, an Additional Sessions Judge of Jhelum sentenced him to death and 10 years’ imprisonment and fined him Rs200,000.

Soofi Mohammad Ishaq was settled in United States where he worked as a cleric. He returned to Talagang in 2009 and was given a warm welcome by hundreds of his disciples. His followers also kissed his feet, but some people objected to the act of “bowing down before Ishaq” and later accused his followers of branding him a prophet.

Later, Ishaq’s rivals launched a campaign against him and a young man named Asadullah, allegedly at the behest of his Deobandi mentors, lodged a complaint at the Talagang police station. He accused Ishaq of committing blasphemy.

Police booked Ishaq under sections 295A and 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code and his case was heard by Chakwal’s Additional Sessions Judge Sajid Awan.

After completion of hearing, the judge set a date for announcing the judgment, but later he wrote a letter to the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench, informing it that he could not announce the verdict because of security risks. “Judge Sajid Awan pleaded to the LHC that as he is deputed in Chakwal, he cannot announce the verdict because of security risks and, therefore, the case should be referred to another district,” said Advocate Chaudhry Mehmood Akhtar, the counsel of the accused.

The LHC referred the case to Jhelum’s district and sessions judge, who marked the case to his subordinate Additional Sessions Judge Chaudhry Mumtaz Hussain, who announced the verdict on Friday.

Informed sources told Dawn that Soofi Ishaq had been appointed Gaddi Nasheen of the shrine of Pir Fazal Shah. This, according to sources, infuriated complainant Asadullah, who belonged to Pir Fazal Shah’s family, and he used the opportunity to register the blasphemy case against Ishaq.

“My client pleaded to the court that he cannot even think of committing blasphemy.” He told the court that he believed that the holy prophet (peace be upon him) was the last Messnger of Allah,” Advocate Chaudhry Akhtar Mehmood said.

When contacted by Dawn, Asadullah claimed to have seen followers of Ishaq bowing their heads before him and heard them chanting slogans of “Yaa Rasool Allah”. When asked why other religious leaders did not move against Ishaq, he said: “I was the first to see the way Ishaq’s followers behaved and I recorded it on my camera. And Allah has given me the courage to move against the blasphemer.”

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/31/cleric-sentenced-to-death-in-blasphemy-case.html