Day: September 23, 2019

US couple alleges adopted child assaulted at Gaya centre, 5 held

Source: hindustantimes.com

PATNA: The Bihar government on Saturday closed an adoption centre in Gaya after a US-based couple complained that a child adopted by them from there in August this year was physically abused.

A case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has also been lodged and five persons have been arrested, officials said on Sunday. They said all 13 children from the centre have been shifted to other centres.

“Following the allegations made by the US couple, we have been asked by the CARA [Central Adoption Resource Authority] to get the medical examinations done of all other children at the Gaya adoption centre and submit a report by end of September,” said Rajkumar, the director of Bihar’s social welfare department.

CARA works under the Union women and child welfare ministry and deals with inter-country adoption.

The US-based couple had adopted the five-year-old girl on August 17 from the social welfare department centre being run by a non-government organisation in Gaya. All the 13 children who lived there are all below six.

“After completing the formalities in Gaya, the couple left for Patna to get the passport of the adopted girl. They returned to the US on August 30,” said another social welfare department official, who is aware to the adoption case but not authorised to speak to the media.

CARA, in the first week of September, received a letter from the couple alleging that the child may have been mistreated at the Centre on basis of “discomfort in walking” and her “uneasiness” in seeing the pictures of the adoption centre in Gaya.

The official said that the allegations made by the couple were surprising as the girl underwent a medical test at a leading hospital in Delhi and was issued a fitness certificate before leaving for the US.

“Soon after the receiving the letter, the matter was reported to Mufassil police station, Gaya, by assistant director, child protection unit, and an FIR for offences under various sections of POCSO Act was lodged against the adoption centre. Five persons were arrested on Saturday,” the official said and added that the centre has been sealed.

Rupesh Kumar Sinha, station house officer of Mufassil police station, Gaya, said the case was registered on the basis of the complaint by assistant director, child protection unit, Gaya. “It was alleged in the letter that the baby girl might have gone through some physical abuse at the [adoption] centre. Five persons from the NGO, which used to run this Centre, have been arrested in this connection. The accused have been sent to the jail and adoption centre has been closed,” he said.

Bihar Man Blows Away Skulls of RJD MLA’s Kin, Her Male Friend After They Resist His Rape Attempt

Source: news18.com

Munger: A woman, who is an RJD MLA’s niece, and a young man were found dead in Bihar’s Munger district with their skulls blown away by gunshots in what police described as a double murder.

The bodies of Mohammed Asif and Twinkle Yadav, both aged 25, were recovered from the Sadar block premises in Mofussil police station area — around 180 km east of Patna — on Friday evening, district Superintendent of Police Gaurav Mangla said.

Yadav, who was living in Delhi for some time and preparing for medical entrance tests, had come home, the SP said. Her paternal uncle, Vijay Kumar Vijay, is the sitting Rashtriya Janata Dal legislator from Munger and had also represented the Lok Sabha constituency in 1990s.

Asif was a local resident whose father eked out a living in Saudi Arabia, according to Mangla, who had said earlier in the day that it initially appeared a case of “failed love affair”.

Later, it emerged that Asif’s friend, Danish, who was accompanied by some of his associates, allegedly tried to rape the woman, but faced stiff resistance from the two, the officer said. “In a fit of rage, he (Danish) shot them dead and fled.”

Earlier, Danish, who was picked up for questioning, said he had provided Asif with a firearm. He claimed that Asif shot Yadav dead before pulling the trigger at himself, according to the SP.

Danish claimed that Asif reached the spot with Yadav on Friday night to receive the firearm. It was not clear yet for what purpose Asif had sought the weapon, the SP said.

“We recovered the pistol used in the incident and the mobile phones of the deceased from Danish,” Mangla said. “Based on inputs from forensic investigations, we grilled Danish intensively and he spilled the beans.”

Efforts are on to nab the other associates of Danish, the officer added.

Non-teaching varsity staff in Jharkhand to gherao CM residence next week

Source: hindustantimes.com

Rattled by the ‘indifferent attitude’ of the state government in fixing 5th and 6th pay commission salary, non-teaching employees of all seven universities and 65 constituent colleges in the state have decided to gherao Chief Minister’s residence on Tuesday.

Jharkhand State Universities, Colleges Non- Teaching Federation (JSUCNTEF), the frontal organisation of non-teaching staff, on Saturday announced that since government did not respond on directive of chancellor (governor) and has been procrastinating, the organisation has been left with no option but to hit the streets.

Over 50,000 non- teaching staff of all seven state universities, Ranchi, Kolhan, Sido Kanhu Murmu, Vinoba Bhave, Koylanchal, Shymaprasad Mukerjee and Nilamber Pitamber University, would assemble at Ranchi University campus on September 24 (Tuesday) and takeout a procession for the gherao.

JSUCNTEF president Anil Kumar said that non- teaching staff have been working for 30-35 years but still are drawing 4th pay benefit. Education department has held up their 5th and 6th pay scale. Though governor had ordered to appoint nodal officer in each university and fix the pay by holding special camp. However, in the last three months no step has been initiated till date.

Anil Kumar said, after gherao of chief minister’s residence, the federation would wait for one week for government’s response and would proceed on indefinite fast at Ranchi.

“Government and its officers of higher education department have become insensitive. Teaching staff of university/colleges are being paid 7th pay scale but at the same time non-teaching staff has been denied the same. Actions of government is prompting employees on agitation path,” he said.

Chief Minister said his government wants ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikash’ but his action looks only for selected class, said JSUCNTEF.

However, a senior official of human resources development (HRD) said that since posts of several non-teaching staff were not sanctioned, they can’t be given benefit of 5th and 6th pay commissions.

Mesra student death triggers food slur

Source: telegraphindia.com

A first-year polytechnic student of BIT-Mesra, Nishant, died while being shifted from one hospital to another here on Saturday night, spurring some 50 of his classmates to block NH-33 near the campus around 11pm and hold the “substandard hostel food” responsible for the death.

The institute authorities, however, have denied the students’ allegation that hostel meals led to Nishant’s death by food poisoning.

A polytechnic student of computer science, Nishant, who hailed from Ramgarh district’s Giddi, came down with high fever in BIT-Mesra around 10 days ago. He was initially treated at the institute’s dispensary, said polytechnic director Sandeep Singh Solanki.

Solanki said they also informed Nishant’s parents, who came around eight days back and took him home.

“They kept him at home for two days,” Solanki said. “Later they shifted Nishant to a private hospital in Ramgarh named Hope Hospital, where his condition took a turn for the worse. The boy was referred to Ranchi. His father told us that Nishant was shifted to Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital in Ranchi on Friday evening, where he stayed in the ICU for around 10 to 14 hours. As his father could not afford the expenses at Medica, and there was no sign of improvement, the family decided to shift Nishant to (state-owned) RIMS. Unfortunately, he was declared dead on arrival at RIMS on Saturday night.”

Solanki added he had no idea why a section of students were alleging that hostel food was so substandard that Nishant died of food poisoning.

“Can you believe contaminated food and drinking water will fatally affect only one student?” Solanki said.

“The rest of the students have no health complications. I don’t know why some students have made such a misleading statement. Even some newspapers carried the misleading report that painted our institute in bad light. We don’t compromise with health and education of students,” said Solanki.

Nishant’s parents were unwilling to have an autopsy performed on their son’s body, said DSP Sadar Deepak Kumar Pandey.

The DSP added that they learnt that Nishant frequently had high fever. “The theory of food poisoning doesn’t seem to be genuine under the circumstances. It may be possible that some students had a problem with the hostel canteen and food so they made it a point during the protest,” the policeman said.

He said the highway blockade lasted for some 20 minutes. “Then, students withdrew the blockade on our persuasion. We decided not to file any FIR in connection with the blockade,” the DSP said.

Asked about Nishant’s death, RIMS superintendent Dr Vivek Kashyap said: “I am not aware of the case and medical history of the boy.”

Kashyap added that post-mortem was done under certain circumstances, including when the relatives of the deceased suspect foul play and file a complaint and when the police demand autopsy, but here it did not seem to be the case.

RJD’s Raghuvansh Singh Joins Issue with Tejashwi Over ‘No Entry’ for Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Source: news18.com

Patna: Fissures within the opposition RJD in Bihar came to the fore on Sunday when one of its founding members sought to join issue with the heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav over his proclamation of “no entry” for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar into the multi-party Grand Alliance.

Former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, one of the national vice-presidents of the RJD, spoke disapprovingly of the remark made by Yadav jailed founding president Lalu Prasad’s younger son at a meeting of the party’s minority cell here last week.

“It does not sound like a political comment. And where does the question of no entry arise when we have not yet received a request for entry, in the first place,” Singh told reporters, when asked about the stance adopted by Yadav, who has been declared the party’s chief ministerial candidate for next assembly polls.

He also remarked wryly that “people tend to initially disagree with every idea that I propose. They tend to concur six months afterwards.

Notably, Singh has been advocating Kumar’s return to the Grand Alliance – which the latter walked out of in 2017 since the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year in which the five-party formation managed to win just one out of a total number of 40 seats in the state.

The RJD, which was floated by Lalu Prasad in 1997, contested 19 seats but drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections its worst-ever performance since inception.

The poll debacle led to question marks being raised over the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, who spearheaded the campaign for the Grand Alliance which comprises, besides the RJD, the Congress, former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahni’s VIP.

Allies like Manjhi have revolted, threatening to go it alone in the assembly elections due next year. Tejashwi Yadav, 29, went into a sulk after the Lok Sabha polls, refusing to attend party meetings and assembly session despite being the leader of the Opposition. He has shown signs of recovery from the shock with renewed interest

in political activities for the past few weeks.

He had made his political debut in the 2015 assembly polls which was followed by his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister at a tender age. His name, however, cropped up in a money laundering case relating to alleged irregular land deal under his father’s watch, when he was the Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009.

Nitish Kumar resigned as chief minister after the RJD refused to heed demands that the young leader step down. He formed a new government with the BJP, which promptly came up with an offer of support.

Kumar had made a made a veiled attack on Tejashwi Yadav a day after the latter made the “no entry” remark. “Some of their leaders come up with an idea. Somebody

else rises up and says no, it is not needed. Little do they realise that nobody is giving them any importance,” Kumar had said at the JD(U)’s state council meeting, without mentioning Yadav or his party by name.

He had also asserted that the NDA in Bihar, which also includes BJP and Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, will win “more than 200” seats in the 243-strong state assembly.

‘He is a Babu…’: Giriraj Singh Castigates Official in Bihar for Sitting in Car While Talking to Him

Source: news18.com

Begusarai(Bihar): Union minister Giriraj Singh on Sunday gave a dressing down to a government official in his Lok Sabha constituency here for apparently showing reluctance to alight from a vehicle while speaking with him.

Singh has been touring flood-affected areas of his Lok Sabha constituency since Saturday. This morning, while he was travelling on foot, accompanied by supporters, local residents and a Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashish Anand, the car of Nishant, Sub-Divisional Officer of Teghra, pulled up close by.

When Singh addressed the official, he replied from within the car, irking the minister’s supporters.

The firebrand BJP leader got sore and remarked, “Why would he alight from his vehicle. He is a babu (an honorific used in Bihar to describe bureaucrats). I greet him with folded hands.”

The official, subsequently, got out of his car and tried to placate Singh, who gave him a piece of his mind.

“While touring this area I have heard a lot of tareef (praise) for you from the people. Please ensure that more of this does not happen,”

Singh remarked with trademark acerbity.

“You must ensure that relief is provided to all the people of the sub-division without any discrimination. I remember that a relief camp had been set up here in 2016 when areas were similarly inundated. A camp should be set up again. Else I am going to stage a dharna in front of your premises,” he told the official, who nodded with folded hands.

Singh also said that he would apprise the chief minister and the chief secretary of the flood situation in his constituency. “And please do not remain under the illusion that I will be content with speaking to you. I am going to speak to the Chief Minister as well as the Chief Secretary about the flood in my constituency. So you better set your house in order,” he warned.

Singh gave up his sitting seat of Nawada in the general elections this year and retained Begusarai for his party by trouncing CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar by over four lakh votes.

Meat-chop lynching in Jharkhand

Source: telegraphindia.com

A man was lynched and two others were injured on Sunday by a Jharkhand mob that accused them of cow slaughter.

Police sources said a crowd had attacked Kalantus Barla, Philip Horo and Phagu Kachchap in Jaltand Suari village, Khunti district, after word spread that the trio had been seen chopping meat, with the remains of a cow strewn around them.

Cow slaughter and beef sale are banned in Jharkhand, which has emerged as a lynching hotbed, accounting for 17 of the 44 deaths the country witnessed at the hands of mobs between May 2015 and December 2018. Most of the lynchings in the state were related to suspected cow slaughter or beef possession.

“As soon as the local police learnt about the attack, they rushed to the spot and rescued the trio. They were brought to the local hospital, from where they were sent to RIMS, Ranchi,” an officer in Khunti said.

“Seven people have been detained for questioning. An FIR will be lodged,” A.V. Homkar, deputy inspector-general of police, South Chhotanagpur, said.

He added: “Preliminary investigation suggests the three men were selling prohibited meat. They were caught by the mob and thrashed. Additional police forces have been deployed.”

Vivek Kashyap, RIMS superintendent, said Barla, 38, had been dead on arrival and that the post-mortem report would establish the cause of death. He said both Horo and Kachchap had multiple injuries, without elaborating.

Khunti police sources said the village was tense.

The lynching trend has continued in Jharkhand this year, with a mob killing Tabrez Ansari, 24, on suspicion of theft at Dhatkidih village in Seraikela in June.

Footage suggests the mob forced him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”.

The police, who recently filed the chargesheet in the case, have reinstated the murder charges against the 13 accused after having dropped them.

Jharkhand Government to appoint 110 senior residents in 5 medical colleges in 4 days

Source: hindustantimes.com

In order to fulfil its undertaking to Medical Council of India (MCI), state government would appoint 110 senior residents (SR)/tutors on vacant posts of different departments in all five medical colleges through walk-in interviews within four days.

Deputy secretary health, medical education and family welfare department of government Abhishek Srivastava on Saturday issued a vacancy notice for appointment of senior residents and tutors in all five medical colleges including Patliputra Medical College Hospital (PMCH) Dhanbad and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Hospital (MGMMCH) Jamshedpur.

Last month (August) on directive of Supreme Court, Jharkhand government had given undertaking to MCI to compliance faculty deficiencies in three months in newly set up its three medical colleges, Hazaribagh, Palamu and Dumka to start teaching from current session.

State’s all medical colleges including PMCH and MGMMCH are reeling under shortage of senior residents and Tutors. At PMCH, only 36 are working against sanctioned posts of 70 while at MGMMCH only 44 are deployed against sanctioned posts of 97.

“Since classes have been started, 110 senior residents/tutors would be appointed this month to cater the requirements. A two-day walk-in interview has been called at IPH Institute, RCH campus Ranchi on September 25 and 26”, said deputy secretary Srivastava.

On first day (September 25) they would be appointed in faculties of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, medicine, TB and Chest, pediatrics, surgery, orthopedic, ENT, eye, gynecology. On second day (September 26) doctors for microbiology, FMT, Pharmacology, PSM, radiology, radiotherapy, anesthesia, skin, Psychiatric and physical medicine and rehabilitation would be selected.

Highest number of doctors (11) would be selected for biochemistry department followed by 10 each in physiology and anatomy. Besides this, eight doctors would be selected for radiology department and 7 in anesthesia.

“Senior residents are being appointed for three years on a fixed honorarium of Rs 60,000 per month and their job would be spontaneously terminated after completion of tenure as per the health service rules of Jharkhand government”, said deputy secretary.