Chandigarh, Jan. 25: Former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore was on Monday granted interim bail in two of three fresh cases charging him with attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, forgery, fabrication of records and illegal confinement.

But the relief for Rathore, convicted for molesting teenage Chandigarh schoolgirl Ruchika Girhotra (who later committed suicide), is temporary and valid only until February 15, the date of the next hearing on his pleas for anticipatory bail in the Punjab and Haryana high court.

Handing down her interim order, Justice Sabina granted Rathore benefit of a four-day notice from the CBI if it sought to arrest him in connection with the third FIR, charging him with driving Ruchika to suicide (Section 306 IPC: abetment to suicide). She, however, referred it to a division bench.

Investigations first initiated by the police in Panchkula, Haryana, on complaints from Ruchika’s father and brother, were later transferred to the CBI on all three FIRs. The agency, which has constituted a special 30-member team to work on the case, filed its response to Rathore’s bail plea in two FIRs but sought three weeks to respond to the charge under Section 306.

CBI counsel Anmol Rattan Sidhu, who opposed bail, said investigations were time-consuming and laborious since the events had occurred between 16 and 19 years ago.

 Asit Jolly

Baghdad, Jan. 25: At least 36 people were killed and 71 wounded in three massive apparently coordinated minibus-borne bombings that targeted hotels in Baghdad on Monday less than six weeks from a general election.

Iraqi politicians and US forces have warned of rising violence ahead of the March 7 vote, the second parliamentary ballot since the 2003 US-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein.

The first bomb struck near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in Abu Nawaz, close to where a giant statue of Saddam was symbolically toppled almost seven years ago, at around 3.30 pm, an interior ministry official said. The second and third blasts just minutes later targeted the Babylon Hotel in the central district of Karrada and the Hamra hotel in Jadriyah, he added.

—AFP

New Delhi, Jan. 25: The Congress closed ranks with its NCP ally and downplayed agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s remark on the "Cabinet’s collective responsibility to check food prices" to stop the BJP fishing in troubled waters.

Sources said the BJP, which asked Mr Pawar to resign, was trying to derive mileage from attacks on Mr Pawar by various parties — including some Congress leaders — on the price rise, and the party did not want things to snowball into a direct confrontation with a key ally.

Mr Pawar, who said on Sunday that he alone in the council of ministers was not responsible for rising prices, on Monday denied attacking PM Manmohan Singh. AICC media department chief Janardan Dwivedi said Monday: "Pawar just reiterated the constitutional position. It is the collective responsibility of the Centre and state governments to take steps to check food prices."

Congress sources said though the party was concerned over the issue, targeting the NCP chief would not help in finding a solution. It would also have sent a wrong signal to other UPA allies such as the DMK and the Trinamul Congress, they added.

Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said checking hoarding and black-marketing of foodgrain was the responsibility of state governments and a 23 per cent fall in rainfall last year did bring down food production. "Every state government should act against hoarding, whether it is Congress or BJP ruled," Mr Ahmed said. The BJP said earlier Mr Pawar was "making a mess" of India’s food economy.

Amit Agnihotri

New Delhi, Jan. 25: Law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily on Monday announced a six-month deadline, starting January 26, for the release of up to 70 per cent of the two lakh-plus undertrials languishing in prisons across the country.

This, he said, would be implemented by working with the various high courts in order to decongest jails. "The government expects 70 per cent of two lakh undertrials to be identified by July 31 for discharge or grant of bail," he said.

"The Jharkhand high court identified 436 and the Calcutta high court identified 37 undertrials ... who can be released immediately. Since tomorrow is a holiday, they can be freed on January 27," Mr Moily added.

 Age Correspondent

New Delhi, Freedom is defined as the ability to act according to one’s will, within accepted parameters, and not be forced to stop by a power greater than yours. Today the Republic of India completes 60 years, and you, the reader, must decide for yourself whether what was promised by the founding fathers of this country has been delivered in full measure.

We have been promised freedom, and for some of us this promise has been kept, notionally at least. We can live where we want in this country or overseas, we speak the language of our choice, we travel freely, we do the work we think will bring us the most reward and more people marry for love these days than they did half a century ago. Even the education system is starting to change. Most of all this holds true, in varying degrees, for most of the middle class and the elite. For all the rest, the story — and the promise — of modern India is still a work in progress.

In Maharashtra and certain other states, political outfits are trying to tell you where you may or may not live, work, even what language you must speak. This is but one example of how individual freedom is sought to be curtailed with an argument that has no backing except the threat of brute force.

This is not to say that there has not been progress on delivering on the promises that January 26, 1950 held out. Landmark legislation has been passed and legal decisions handed down, paving the way for greater social equality for ever-larger numbers of Indians.

Education and the options it throws up after college have expanded and the restrictions are starting to come loose, but much more needs to be done — for this area is crucial to the freedom of generations to come. School and college systems must change so that they encourage free thought, not rote learning, originality, not facsimiles. Every young parent must think about how their children will compete 20 years from now, when the world has become an even smaller place.

The world of the Indian consumer is probably expanding the fastest. More goods and services are available today than ever before but variety has a long way to go if it is to equal the power of choice that an expanding economy bestows upon its people.

A modern society makes possible the free flow of information. It helps research and productivity and maintains a balance between the government and the governed. The Right to Information Act, a landmark piece of legislation in itself, needs to be broadened and strengthened so that balance is created and maintained. In this direction, the large and growing number of the means of mass communication — electronic, print and Internet-based — is a healthy sign.

It is with your freedom in mind that today’s edition brings you articles on the very subject on almost every page. It offers you the choice to agree or disagree. Enjoy!

Age Correspondent

New Delhi, Jan. 24: Strongly denying that he is an RSS appointee imposed in the BJP, the party’s new chief Nitin Gadkari has claimed of having full support of party seniors. He also said that he is not a "puppet" of any of his senior colleagues.

A saffron loyalist, Mr Gadkari’s elevation to the top post is often attributed to his proximity to the RSS. Speculation had been rife both within and outside the BJP that it was the RSS which had put forward his name for the post of BJP chief. Speaking on the issue of his appointment as the new BJP chief and whether senior leaders, including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu, support him, Mr Gadkari, in a television interview, said: "I’m telling you that all leaders are with me. They are supporting me from the core of their heart and they have guided me very properly, taking all precaution about my activity, and they are supporting me."

Mr Gadkari, who has confessed to being new to Central politics, denied that these senior leaders were turning him into a puppet. "Not at all they have such type of intention. And the people who know me know that I will never become a puppet. I can make bonafide mistakes but I cannot make malafide mistakes," said the BJP chief.

On the RSS issue, Mr Gadkari said: "After the last four years as the president of the BJP in Maharashtra, the RSS is part of my life conviction. But RSS leaders never direct me, never give me any instruction. And even as BJP president, I am taking my own decisions."

He insisted that senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and his predecessor Rajnath Singh were the first to suggest that he should become BJP president.

He denied that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had imposed him on the BJP.

However, Mr Gadkari maintained that the BJP and the RSS have an "ideological relationship" and the party often discusses issues with the latter.

AGE CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Jan. 24: Former BJP leader and Bhartiya Janshakti Party chief Uma Bharti has claimed that she was offered by senior BJP leader L.K. Advani to contest on a BJP ticket from Uttar Pradesh during the last Lok Sabha polls but she declined.

Ms Uma Bharti asserted that she was offered the Amroha Lok Sabha constituency, which was later won by the BJP’s NDA ally, the RLD.

Ms Bharti maintained that she rejected the offer as she did not want to contest on "anyone’s mercy".

The BJS chief, who wants her outfit to be part of the BJP-led NDA, also said that she cannot be separated from the BJP due to similar ideologies, even though she does not want to join the BJP.

New chief of the Bhartiya Janata Party, Nitin Gadkari, had said that he wants old party leaders, including Ms Bharti, to be back in the party fold, though he had to later clarify that he has not got any proposal from these leaders on the issue.

Ms Bharti, who is awaiting the NDA’s response on her proposal to be part of the alliance, claims that her party’s core ideology is very similar to that of the Bhartiya Janata Party.

She said she had put up a proposal before Mr Advani and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav for her party to be allowed to become part of the NDA.

To a query whether the BJP has changed after she parted her ways, Mr Bharti said Ram Janmabhoomi and Article 370 are some of the issues on which the opinion of the party leaders may differ.

But these are the core issues because of which the workers are till date attached with the BJP, she said.

Ms Bharti said currently Bhartiya Janata Party workers consider her as their enemy but if she joins the NDA, they will again get close to her.

AGE CORRESPONDENT

Chennai, Jan. 24: When asked if she would meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the gathering, the word was mum from AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa, who left for Delhi on Sunday to attend the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Election Commission.

Ms Jayalalithaa said she was proud of her visit to the diamond jubilee celebrations of the EC that plays a key role in India, the largest democracy of the world.

"Mr Navin Chawla personally called up and invited me for the celebrations. I am proud of being part of this big event. I don’t want to comment on reports saying that I would meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the meeting," she said before the police pushed out the media.

Chennai airport witnessed a near stampede as AIADMK workers came in large numbers to see her off. In the melee, party organising secretary Sulochana Sampath fainted.

The police restrained the media from talking to Ms Jayalalithaa and stopped AIADMK functionaries from greeting her.

Age CORRESPONDENTS

New Delhi,Jan. 24: Charging that the prices of essential commodities skyrocketed due to the Centre’s "faulty" policies aimed at giving benefits to traders, the BJP on Sunday demanded the removal of agriculture minister Sharad Pawar from the Union Cabinet and a CBI probe into "all the scams" relating to wheat, paddy and sugar.

Accusing the government of failing to check spiralling prices, BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said: "Despite claims that all FCI godowns were loaded with wheat, the government imported poor quality wheat at Rs 19 per kg and today it is available at Rs 24 per kg. Similar is the case with rice, sugar and pulses which are available at skyrocketing prices to the common man. This is a scam." The BJP leader also demanded an explanation from PM Manmohan Singh on the alleged scams.

AGE CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Jan. 24: Questioning the legal status of the Copenhagen Accord, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed strong reservation over Danish Premier Lars Lokke Rasmussen and UN chief Ban-Ki-Moon pressing for meeting the January 31 deadline by declaring emission targets and climate action in India.

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, "In his reply to the joint letter from Mr Rasmussen and the UN Secretary General, Dr Singh has expressed his unhappiness over their insistence for definitive follow-up action to the Accord before the world body’s January 31 deadline."

Dr Singh’s reservations came while apparently questioning the legal status of the various provisions included in the Accord, which is silent on the Kyoto Protocol based on equity burden sharing among the member nations. "Before going ahead with targets submission, the PM wants to be clarified on certain issues which are silent in Mr Ban’s letter," the sources added. Since there was no consensus coming up at the Danish capital in December last year, the UN members had agreed to submit their voluntarily emission cuts as well as climate action plans.

Dr Singh has also expressed inability to detail the country’s action plan and targets in such a short period, the sources informed.

Age Correspondent