AAP govt corrupted two more exams in Punjab: Akali Dal

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Chandigarh, July 28 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Tuesday revealed how the AAP government has corrupted two more examination processes, even as he called for a high court-monitored probe into all examination paper leaks in Punjab.

Majithia told the media that though there had been six major paper leaks in the past four years, more scams were surfacing. He said in the case of the examination for recruiting Senior Assistants, 13 candidates had answered the same questions wrongly in two different sets of the paper.

“This proves the candidates were guided on which exact questions to answer wrongly, pointing to corruption in the entire examination process,” he alleged.

The former Cabinet minister said that in the Punjab State Rural Livelihood Mission examination, 30 marks fixed for interview were awarded arbitrarily to such an extent that the High Court had stepped in, formed a committee, and asked it to meet in his chamber to take corrective steps.

“This is the level to which the system has been destroyed that judges are forced to intercede to treat the rot,” he said.

Majithia added that the High Court had also stayed the Excise Inspector examination paper due to large-scale irregularities, including fictitious names of institutions being listed in the selected list of candidates.

He also exposed what he described as the AAP government’s lie that no paper leak had occurred in Punjab.

He presented a tweet released by the Chief Minister on March 13, 2023, in which the latter admitted that the Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test (PSTET) had been leaked.

“This, coupled with recent paper leaks, including the Pharmacy Officers paper leak in which Bluetooth devices were used to leak the paper from the examination centre, proves that the entire examination system has been compromised. Only a high court-monitored probe can provide justice to the five lakh affected students as well as ensure exemplary punishment to those guilty, including ministers like Harjot Bains,” Majithia said.

He demanded that Education Minister Harjot Bains, Health Minister Balbir Singh, and the Chief Minister tender their resignations immediately by accepting accountability for the paper leaks.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday turned away a petitioner who, citing video footage and visuals related to the February 15 night stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station, claimed that the death toll had been suppressed by the authorities, thereby, denying ex-gratia to families of many victims.

Refusing to issue directions to the authorities on crowd management, a Bench comprising Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice P.K. Mishra asked the petitioner to present figures to support the claim that not all deaths had been accounted for.

Have you come across any incident where ex-gratia has not been paid to family members of a dead person, the court asked petitioner Anand Legal Aid Forum Trust.

The court asked the petitioner if it had figures to support it claims, “so that we can appreciate what you are saying… that 200 died but only 50 have been accounted for”.

Asking the petitioner to approach the Delhi High Court, which is hearing a related matter, Justice Gavai and Justice Mishra said the affected persons can approach the court in case of denial of ex-gratia.

“If any person has died and their family member has not received ex-gratia, the kin can approach the court and say that our name is not there,” said the court.

Last week, the High Court issued notice to the Central Government and the Railway Ministry over a petition seeking effective steps to prevent stampedes at railway stations.

Earlier, the petitioner trust sought proper implementation of the National Disaster Management Act and rules for crowd management.

“Incidents of stampede have become recurrent…Railways has issued notices to people to remove videos that are being uploaded…200 people have died,” the petitioner submitted.

The petitioner claimed that there were videos and accounts of eye-witnesses which indicated that the death toll was higher.

The stampede at the station claimed at least 18 lives, as per the official figure. The Railways announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the families of the deceased, Rs 2.5 lakh for the seriously injured passengers and Rs 1 lakh for those who suffered minor injuries in the stampede.

The incident was triggered due to the huge passenger buildup on platforms from where trains were scheduled to leave for Mahakumbh at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.

A two-member committee was also set up to enquire into the stampede. The committee, comprising Narsingh Deo, PCCM/Northern Railway, and Pankaj Gangwar, PCSC Northern Railway, secured the video footages of platforms 14 and 15 of the station where the massive crowd of passengers had gathered just before the tragedy.

–IANS

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Minor’s sexual assault and murder: Karnataka court orders disposal of body of accused shot dead by police

Hubballi (Karnataka), April 29 (IANS) A court in Karnataka’s Hubballi on Tuesday ordered disposal of the body of the accused involved in the kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of a minor girl and shot dead by the police later.

The authorities were not able to track the family of Ritesh Kumar, 35. The efforts of the state police teams to find out his family members in Bihar had not yielded any results. Following this, the court passed its order.

The accused was shot dead on April 13, when he tried to escape from the police, while showing his place of residence.

The court had earlier issued directions to the authorities to strictly adhere to the Supreme Court guidelines regarding the body of the accused and also asked them to preserve body part samples.

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Karnataka Unit and women’s rights activist Madhu Bhushan had filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the case.

The counsel for the petitioner had stated that the body of the deceased had to be preserved by the authorities so that evidence, as may be required during investigation, is available. If the body is cremated, the evidence would be lost and the rule of the law would suffer, the counsel underlined.

After conducting the autopsy, the CID and the Karnataka Medical College and Research Institute (KMRCI), Hubballi, were awaiting the orders in this regard from the court. The KMRCI had written to the CID to take action regarding the disposal of the body, as it was decomposing.

The CID, in turn, had informed the court about the need for the disposal of the body, and it consented.

The CID sleuths have stated that they will conduct the final rites of the body of the accused by Wednesday (April 30).

The police investigation gathered that the accused had claimed that he is from Patna. The police department had sent three teams to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and other regions in northern India to track his family.

The shocking incident came to light in Hubballi on April 13 when Ritesh Kumar allegedly attempted to sexually assault a five-year-old girl and later strangled her to death for resisting.

The incident occurred within the jurisdiction of the Ashokanagar police station in Hubballi.

According to the police, the accused took the girl to a shed and attempted to assault her. When the girl screamed for help, locals rushed towards the spot.

Upon noticing the approaching people, the accused allegedly strangled the girl to death and managed to escape. The CCTV footage of the accused taking away the girl, holding her in his arms, had emerged, creating outrage among the public.

PSI Annapoorna, who shot the accused dead, had become a celebrity and received appreciation.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi had expressed his grief over the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Hubballi, saying it was deeply shocking and saddening.

“While arresting the accused, he tried to escape and even attacked the police. As a result, the police had to shoot him, and the accused also died. It is being said that the deceased accused had consumed drugs. The menace of drugs has increased significantly in recent days in Karnataka. Strict action must be taken to eradicate it,” he added.

–IANS

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MP ATS intensifies probe into radicalisation-spying network after mastermind arrested

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in Madhya Pradesh has intensified its crackdown on suspected anti-national activities, continuing raids for the second consecutive day and arresting alleged mastermind and senior agent Naeem Qureshi in a major development in the case.

The arrested accused was taken into custody from the Sarangpur area of Uttar Pradesh and later produced before the court, where he was remanded to four days of ATS custody for further interrogation.

He is accused of sharing sensitive information with foreign elements, training Bhopal resident Mohammad Faraz, and planning to send him to Afghanistan. Evidence of jihadist literature, suspicious documents, and calls to Afghanistan and Pakistan have been found.

Officials said that during the investigation, evidence, including suspected jihad-related literature, suspicious documents, and financial transaction records linked to religious institutions, was recovered.

ATS sources further stated that digital examination of the accused’s mobile phone revealed communication with numbers based in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Investigators also found evidence suggesting the accused used an application to communicate with foreign contacts.

The probe has also indicated that photographs and videos from multiple cities in Uttar Pradesh were allegedly being sent to Pakistan, raising concerns about a wider cross-state network.

Investigators suspect that the module may be spread across several states and could be operating in a sleeper-cell-like structure. Agencies are now working to identify additional members and establish the full extent of the alleged network.

A statement issued by the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) said the operation also led to further arrests and detentions. It said ATS arrested Haji Azhar from Dhar (Madhya Pradesh) and also brought a suspect from Nuh, Haryana, to Bhopal for questioning.

The agency further alleged that a handler based in Saudi Arabia was inciting youths for jihad-related activities.

Officials said the investigation is ongoing, and further arrests are likely as agencies continue to examine digital evidence, financial trails, and communication records connected to the case.

–IANS

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