The Tribune – Gurdaspur violence: Sikh clergy faces villagers’ ire; Uneasy calm in town, curfew remains

SIT formed to look into chain of events leading to violence

Ravi Dhaliwal, Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, March 30. An uneasy calm prevailed in the town today. The curfew, clamped yesterday following communal clashes, continued to be in force for the second day. The state government has formed a special investigating team (SIT) to look into the sequence of events leading to the curfew.

The team comprises DIG (Border Range) Ram Singh, Tarn Taran SSP Manminder Singh and SP (Headquarters) Jaspal Singh.

The cremation of 18-year-old Jaspal Singh, killed in the police firing yesterday, will be held at his native village Chour Sidhwan tomorrow.

Jaspal Singh was a BTech (Electronics) student of the local Beant College of Engineering and Technology. Shocked students and staff of the college held a meeting this morning to express grief over his death. Principal Dyal Chand termed the killing as a “dastardly act”.

Jaspal’s body was taken to his village amid tight security after a post-mortem was conducted by doctors of the Civil Hospital here.

The situation in the city remained tense with paramilitary forces keeping a strict vigil to prevent any untoward incident following Intelligence reports that the situation could take a turn for the worse.

Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh, Damdami Taksal head Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma, former Jathedar of Akal Takht Bhai Jasbir Singh Rode and Dal Khalsa spokesman Kanwarpal Singh had to face the ire of nearly 2,500 villagers when they visited Jaspal’s village this morning. The angry residents blamed the clergy for the sorry state of affairs.

The police accompanied the team till the village outskirts but no further. There were reports that the police could be targeted by the angry village residents.

Dera Baba Nanak legislator and president of the Gurdaspur District Congress Committee Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa urged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to hold an all-party meeting to discus the situation in the town.

He also asked the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the kin of the deceased and Rs 5 lakh to Ranjit Singh who was injured in the violence yesterday. The latter is recuperating at the Civil Hospital, Amritsar.

Gurdaspur Member of Parliament Partap Bajwa claimed that the law and order situation in the state was deteriorating.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120331/punjab.htm#8

The Tribune – Supreme Court dismisses plea on Rajoana clemency

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 30. The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL seeking relief to Balwant Singh Rajoana, sentenced to death in July 2007 for his role in the assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in August 1995.

A Bench comprising TS Thakur and Gyan Sudha Misra observed that no third party could be allowed to seek clemency or commutation of the death sentence to life term, that too through a PIL.

The PIL was filed by advocate Abhinav Ramakrishna. He had contended that since the Punjab and Haryana High Court had on October 12, 2010 commuted the death sentence awarded to Jagtar Singh Hawara, a co-accused, Rajoana should also be given relief. Further, Hawara had already come to the apex court challenging the high court verdict, the PIL pointed out.

However, the Bench was not convinced. “The convict himself does not want to appeal against the sentence.

What is your locus standi?” it asked. Senior counsel PS Narasimha, arguing for the petitioner, quoted SC verdicts to contend the state should come to the rescue of those whose Fundamental Right to Life was being violated in such a manner. It was duty of the state to assess points in favour of the convict and mitigating circumstances, he argued.

“If there is a violation, we will certainly look into it. But the aggrieved person should come to us,” the Bench said.

When the Bench firmly said the PIL “is not maintainable” as rights of the petitioner were not being violated, Narasimha said his client would like to withdraw the plea as he had merely wanted to bring the anomaly to the notice of the apex court. The Bench passed an order stating the PIL was dismissed as withdrawn. The Bench allowed withdrawal of two other petitions filed by Lawyers for Human Rights International, challenging the HC’s March 22 order. The court had dismissed petitions against the March 5, 2012 order of the Additional Sessions Judge, Chandigarh.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120331/main3.htm

The Hindu – Bibi Jagir Kaur, Punjab Minister gets 5-year prison term

Bibi Jagir Kaur, a former SGPC chief, was convicted of forcibly causing her daughter’s miscarriage

Sarabjit Pandher

Patiala, 30 March 2012. Though acquitted of murder charge, the special CBI court in Patiala on Friday convicted Punjab Minister and former president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Bibi Jagir Kaur of abducting, illegally confining and forcibly causing
abortion of her daughter, Harpreet Kaur, almost 12 years ago.

Judge Balbir Singh handed down the sentence of a five-year prison term and ordered Ms. Kaur to pay Rs. 5000 as fine. She broke down after she was taken into custody from inside the court premises to be lodged in the Patiala Central Jail.

Steps down as Minister

Soon after the verdict, Ms. Kaur stepped down as Minister by sending her resignation letter to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Ms. Kaur was made the Minister for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation, Defence Services Welfare, Removal of Grievances and Welfare of Pensioners after she successfully contested the Bholath constituency in Kapurthala district. She is also the head of a religious sect that is headquartered in Begowal in the same district.

According to Central Bureau of Investigation counsel R.K. Handa, the court acquitted Ms. Kaur of the murder charge.

However, she was found guilty under Section 120(b) read with Sections 313, 365 and 344 of the IPC, which related to entering into criminal conspiracy to cause an abortion without a woman’s consent, kidnapping and wrongfully confining a person for more than 10 days.

Of the six others who were tried, one died during the trial and two were acquitted.

Three others pronounced guilty

The remaining three, including Nishan Singh, who was Ms. Kaur’s personal security officer, were also pronounced guilty and handed separate sentences, which would run concurrently.

On April 20, 2000 Harpreet Kaur was cremated after she died under mysterious circumstances. However, no post-mortem was conducted as Ms. Kaur, who then headed the SGPC, claimed that her daughter died of severe food poisoning.

However, a case was registered when a youth, Kamaljit Singh from their village Begowal, claimed that Harpreet Kaur had married him secretly and was pregnant by their child. He accused Ms. Jagir Kaur of getting Harpreet Haur abducted and forcing her to abort the foetus, which ultimately caused her death.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court entrusted the case to the CBI.

Many twists and turns

The case, investigations and trials saw many twists and turns. Many witnesses, including Mr. Kamaljit Singh, turned hostile.

Subsequently, he reiterated his charge.

In his reaction to the court decision, president of the State unit of the Congress Amarinder Singh hailed the verdict, saying: “The law has ultimately taken its course and the guilty stand punished.” He said that Ms. Kaur’s conviction had reaffirmed the faith of people in the judiciary.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3262977.ece

5 February 2012 – Snowy Sint-Truiden Winter Walk

Sint-Truiden – Speelhof
Cyclists, you are approaching junction 189 !

Sint-Truiden – Speelhof
Crossing the field

Sint-Truiden – Speelhof
I was not the first to walk here

Sint-Truiden – Speelhof
Not a Russian Tundra

Sint-Truiden – Speelhof
Nice white house !

To see more Belgium (mostly Limburg) pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622046344528/

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Man in Blue

The Tribune – Supreme Court: 2010 executive panel to run SGPC; New board in limbo; Makkar hails order

R Sedhuraman & Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Amritsar, March 30. Putting the newly elected Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) board in limbo, the Supreme Court today allowed the executive committee constituted in November 2010 with Avtar Singh Makkar as its president to manage gurdwaras and institutions under the SGPC till further orders.

SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar has welcomed the judgment. He said it would bring back on the track the SGPC affairs that had been adversely affected due to delay in holding elections of the board office-bearers.

Passing the order, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and HL Gokhale observed that the board elected in September 2011 without Sehajdhari Sikhs’ participation could not be allowed to hold its first meeting and elect office-bearers in the light of the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict restoring the voting rights of Sehajdharis.

The Sehajdhari Sikh Federation (SSF) headed by Dr PS Ranu had come to the apex court opposing the SGPC poll.

The apex court, on September 20, 2011, allowed the holding of the election, clarifying that the results would be subject to the HC verdict on the voting rights to the Sehajdharis.

The HC delivered its judgment on December 20, 2011, quashing the October 8, 2003, notification of the Central Government that disenfranchised the Sehajdharis. The HC, however, did not clarify the status of the newly elected SGPC board.

In view of the HC verdict and the SC order, the Centre was reluctant to convene the first meeting of the new SGPC board and came to the SC seeking its clarification despite notifying the board on December 17, 2011.

The SGPC also approached the apex court, seeking a direction to the Centre to convene the first meeting of the new board, thereby facilitating election of its office-bearers.

The SGPC had contended that unless the executive committee was put in place immediately, the functioning of 111 colleges, schools, hospitals and 78 gurdwaras run by it would come to a grinding halt as the 2012-13 budget had to be passed before the April 1 deadline.

During the arguments today, the Bench acknowledged that the “very legality of the new board has become suspect and the election has been rendered bad in law” in the light of the HC verdict and the September 2011 SC order.

In Amritsar

The police foiled a bid by 31 members of the SGPC House of 2004 to hold a budget meeting in Amritsar

Members gathered at SAD (1920) senior vice-president Raghubir Singh Rajasansi’s house, but the police didn’t allow them to to leave the place

Later, a resolution was passed on the lines of the SC verdict

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120331/main2.htm

BBC News – Aung San Suu Kyi: Burma election not ‘free and fair’

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi: “What has been happening in this country is really beyond what is acceptable”

Saturday, 30 March 2012. Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spoken of irregularities ahead of Sunday’s by-election.

Speaking ahead of the 1 April vote, she said the election campaign could not be considered ”genuinely free and fair”.

But the Nobel laureate said she was ”determined to go forward” and did not regret taking part in the poll.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) party head is expected to win her seat in Kawhmu, south-west of Rangoon.

In a press conference, Aung San Suu Kyi said the irregularities went “beyond what is acceptable for democratic elections”.

In the constituency she is contesting, the names of hundreds of deceased had been listed on the electoral roll, while those of more than 1,300 people eligible to vote were missing, her party said.

Ms Suu Kyi also cited cases of intimidation and vandalism of campaign materials.

“Still we are determined to go forward because this is what our people want,” she said. “We don’t at all regret having taking part.”

Foreign observers

The by-election is being seen as a milestone in Burma’s journey towards political reform.

This is the first election since the military-backed civilian government assumed power a year ago.

The vote will fill 45 parliamentary seats left vacant when cabinet members and deputy ministers assumed their posts.

It also marks the first time foreign election observers have been allowed in the country.

A small number of representatives from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean), along with the European Union and United States, have been invited to observe polling.

More than 100 foreign journalists are believed to have received permission to cover the voting in the country.

The by-election will also be the first time that Ms Suu Kyi will participate in an election.

She was under house arrest in 1990 when her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the election by a landslide. It was not allowed to take power.

The NLD boycotted the 2010 election that saw the military-backed civilian administration of President Thein Sein replace the military junta, because of election laws it said were unfair.

Ms Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in November 2010, shortly after that election.

She is seeking office in the rural township of Kawhmu. It was one of the areas hit hard by Cyclone Nargis, which left at least 138,000 people dead in the Rangoon region and Irrawaddy delta in 2008.

The by-election will almost certainly see her take a seat in parliament and her party, the National League for Democracy, become the official opposition.

It comes amid a process of reform in Burma that has seen Western nations re-engage with the formerly military-ruled nation and some sanctions eased.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17558542

The Tribune – Devinder Pal Bhullar case; Supreme Court can’t review President’s refusal of mercy plea: Centre

R Sedhuraman, Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 29. The Centre today pleaded with the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, sentenced to death for the 1993 assassination attempt on then Youth Congress chief MS Bitta, contending that the court had no Constitutional mandate to sit in judgment over the President’s refusal to grant pardon.

During his daylong arguments before a Bench comprising of Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukho-padhaya, Additional Solicitor General Haren Raval quoted a judgment of a Constitution Bench to aver that the role of the apex court had ended with the rejection of Bhullar’s appeal against the death sentence. The President, after a lapse of over eight years, dismissed Bhullar’s mercy plea on May 25 last year.

Anyone who had exhausted his legal and Constitutional options of appeal and review in the Supreme Court and the mercy plea to the President had no right to come back to the apex court seeking commutation of the death penalty to that of life term on the ground of delay by Rashtrapati Bhavan in rejecting his clemency plea, the Additional Solicitor General argued.

On the pleas of Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC) that the convict should not be hanged in view of his mental status, Raval said what mattered the most was his mental health at the time of committing the crime and not at the time of execution. Bhullar is undergoing treatment at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) here for hypertension, psychiatric illness and suicidal tendencies.

Concluding his arguments that lasted two days, the Additional Solicitor General quoted several apex court judgments to drive home his point that persons involved in such terrorist activities did not deserve leniency.

Bhullar’s senior counsel KTS Tulsi will argue tomorrow.

What the Centre said

The apex court has no Constitutional mandate to sit in judgment over the President’s refusal to grant pardon

The role of the court ended with the rejection of Bhullar’s appeal against the death sentence

Persons involved in terrorist activities (like Bhullar) did not deserve leniency

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120330/main5.htm

The Tribune – Curfew in Gurdaspur after clashes

Ravi Dhaliwal, Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, 29 March 2012. Curfew was imposed in the town following the death of a youth, identified as Jaspal Singh (18) of Chour Sidhwan village, in police firing this afternoon. Jaspal was killed when the police opened fire to prevent a communal clash on the busy Tibri Road area in the heart of the city.

Another youth, identified as Ranjit Singh (20) of Pandher village, was seriously injured and referred to the Civil Hospital, Amritsar, by doctors at the Gurdaspur Civil Hospital. The Chief Minister has ordered a probe by SDM Tejinder Pal Singh Sandhu.

The police was on its toes since late last evening when members of radical organisations held a meeting at Geeta meeting at Geeta Bhawan Temple to “condemn the manner in which some youths had brandished sharp-edged weapons during the bandh on Wednesday in protest against the hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana.” After the meeting, the Shiv Sena gave a bandh call for Thursday.

As members of radical groups took to the streets brandishing arms, the authorities decided to impose a curfew after a high-level meeting, said Varinder Pal Singh, SSP.

There was tension in the air since late last evening when the police booked Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) chief Harvinder Soni for allegedly damaging motorcycles.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120330/main3.htm

The Asian Age – Don’t harass North-East, Ladakh folks: High Court

Ridhima Malhotra, Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 30 Mar 2012. The Delhi high court on Thursday appointed a team of lawyers to ascertain how many people detained by the city police, to prevent pro-Tibetan independence protests during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the capital, were genuine cases.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also directed the Delhi police to not harass people from the Northeast and Ladakh because of their resemblance to Tibetans, during their effort to prevent anti-China protests by members of the Tibetan community-in-exile demanding autonomy/independence for Tibet which was annexed by China in 1950.

“It is the duty of the police not to harass people in the name of maintaining law and order in the city. We permit the team of lawyers to meet those persons who were arrested and lodged in Tihar Jail or detained in police stations to find out whether they are from Tibet or the Northeast,” the bench said.

The court, however, refused to restrain the police from detaining Tibetan protesters to maintain the law and order situation.

The bench directed the police to shift the Tibetans, who were lodged in Tihar Jail, to Ambedkar Bhavan where nearly 200 others have been detained for staging protests.

The order was passed after an oral submission by lawyer Arun Asthana that for the last two days the police has been harassing people from the Northeast and Ladakh as they look like Tibetans. Harassment to citizens is violative of their personal liberty, Asthana said, citing the experience of two fellow lawyers from the Northeast who faced police interrogation on Thursday morning.

Appearing for the Delhi police, standing counsel (criminal) Pawan Sharma told the bench that on March 27 an order was passed by the Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) under the Foreigners’ Act to detain Tibetans who did not have genuine identity proof and indulged in protests in the city.

Mr Sharma also submitted that 197 people have been picked up from various parts of the city and lodged in Ambedkar Bhavan. He added that they would be allowed to leave as soon as the Chinese President leaves the country on March 30 after the conclusion of the BRICS summit.

Meanwhile, the VIP movement and curbs for the BRICS Summit made the going really tough for commuters as traffic almost came to a standstill in New Delhi area and adjoining roads.

http://www.asianage.com/delhi/don-t-harass-n-e-ladakh-folks-hc-419

5 February 2012 – Snowy Sint-Truiden Winter Walk

Sint-Truiden - Diestersteenweg

Sint-Truiden – Sint-Trudo Ziekenhuis (hospital)

Sint-Truiden – Diestersteenweg

Sint-Truiden – Speelhof

 Sint-Truiden – Speelhof

To see more Belgium (mostly Limburg) pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622046344528/

More Belgium pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue