Porn VCD Case

Medical re-examination of Anara ordered

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 10
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Jammu, Yash Pal Bournay has issued a direction to Government Medical College (GMC) here to constitute a medical board to re-examine former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta, who was allegedly found featuring in porn VCD in 2004.

Sources told The Tribune that the CJM, Jammu, issued directions to the GMC authorities to constitute a medical board of doctors to re-examine Anara. The sources in the GMC confirmed that order copy of the CJM had been issued to GMC medical superintendent Dr Ramesh Gupta.

Acting upon the court order, the doctors’ panel would be constituted in a day or two to re-examine Anara Gupta, they said, adding that the medical board would examine certain marks on the body of former Miss Jammu so as to draw parallel between Anara and the girl that featured in the porn VCD. Subsequently, the report would be submitted to the court, they said.

A week ago, the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of Jammu and the Kashmir police had moved an application before the CJM with a request that it wanted another medical examination of Anara.

After minute analysis of the porn VCD in question, the SIT noticed some marks on the body of the girl featured in the VCD and, hence, it requested the court to get Anara Gupta re-examined so as to come to a logical conclusion, they said.

The SIT had already completed its investigations recording the statements of those associated with the case, but it had been finding itself in a tight spot due to two conflicting reports of FSL Hyderabad and Chandigarh. If FSL Hyderabad had given a clean chit to the beauty queen, FSL Chandigarh had claimed that the girl featured in the porn CD had resembled with Anara Gupta.

Ultras strike at Samba

Photojournalist among 8 killed

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service

Kaily Mandi (Samba), May 11
In an election year and just ahead of annual Amarnath yatra, heavily-armed Pakistani militants struck in a big way today killing six people including a politician, two soldiers and a senior photojournalist of a local daily besides injuring six others, two of them critically.

In an encounter that lasted for about 12 hours, security forces eventually killed two militants using heavy mortar after rescuing five people, who were held hostage by the militants in a house.

The militant attack has raised questions on the BSF’s claim to have foiled an infiltration bid by Pakistani militants in Bainglad area close to the international border in Samba sector on Thursday night.

The militants killed state general secretary of Indian National Democratic Party (INDP) Hoshiyar Singh, his wife Shashi Bala, 6 Garhwal Rifles soldier Atul Negi, 20 JAK Rifle Lance Havildar Aziz Mohammed, senior photojournalist of a local daily Ashok Sodhi and a woman Madhu Sharma besides injuring six others, including a Major of Territorial Army Mukul Chauhan and SP (Operations) Mubasir Latifi.

The gun battle, which started at 6 am came to an end when 6 Garhwal Rifles of the Army, the BSF and the police launched the final assault at 5.30 PM killing the militants.

Defence PRO Lt-Col S.D. Goswami told The Tribune, “Security forces eliminated the two militants and the operation has been called off.”

Earlier, striking in a big way in the plains of Jammu after a gap of six years, militants in Army fatigues entered the house of Hoshiyar Singh this morning at around 6 am in Kaily Mandi and opened fire killing him and his wife.

Eyewitness Virinder Singh said this morning he woke up to gunshots and being aware of the intrusion bid in Bainglad he along with other villagers immediately alerted the local police and soldiers in nearby Army units.

“Acting upon the information, security forces rushed to the spot and cordoned off the entire area,” he added.

After killing Hoshiyar Singh and his wife besides injuring their married daughter and her mother-in-law Darshana Devi, who had come from Amritsar, militants ran towards the house of Suresh Singh (Hoshiyar’s driver).

Another eyewitness said, from Suresh Singh’s house militants started firing at the troops, which by then laid a cordon around it.

A police officer said militants after critically injuring Suresh’s tenant Madhu Sharma, held his wife, children, mother, brother and sister as hostages, adding that Madhu Sharma later succumbed to her injuries.

They resorted to indiscriminate fire from their automatic weapons and hurled grenades on the troopers, he said.

A vehicle of a television news channel too was hit by a grenade.

However, after rescuing the hostages, the Army used heavy mortar killing the two militants. The security forces launched a “mopping-up operation” searching the area, he added.

According to the Army, Pakistan’s ISI has moved over 400 militants in different launching pads on other side of the IB.

Earlier talking to The Tribune, DGP Kuldeep Khuda said, “Five people including a couple, a photojournalist and a soldier have been killed while two others have been injured.”

“It is quite possible that some of them might have sneaked during their intrusion bid in Bainglad area on Thursday night and carried out the attack this morning,” he added.

It may also be mentioned here that the Tiger Division during the intervening night of May 9 and 10 had seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition including 10 kg of RDX in Sujani forests of Samba district.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080512/main1.htm)

6 feared dead in Doda cloudburst

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria/TNS

Jammu, June 9
Six persons, including two shopkeepers, a driver of an earth mover, six roadside eateries and four vehicles were washed away in flashfloods triggered by a cloudburst at Baggar in Doda district, around 157 km from here, last evening.

However, Doda Deputy Commissioner Farooq Ahmed Khan has put the number of those feared killed in the incident at three. According to him, debris can be seen spread in an area of over five km, while one-km stretch of the Batote-Doda national highway (NH1B) has been affected at nine places.

The district administration, the BRO, the police and the Army launched a search operation to trace missing persons, but they could not find anyone till 11 pm yesterday, when the operation was halted, Khan said.

The operation was re-launched this morning and now the Batote-Doda road was being cleared. Those missing might have been buried under the debris, the DC said.

“The road is intact, but mounds of debris can be seen at several places. We are at work and the entire stretch will be cleared by tomorrow evening,” Khan said.

For the time being, the district administration has made an arrangement of transshipment by deploying buses at both ends of the affected stretch to ferry passengers.

The DC, however, feigned ignorance about any damage to the Baglihar hydroelectric project, around 26 km away from Baggar. “I don’t think that the cloudburst has caused any damage or posed any threat to the power project over the Chenab in Chanderkote,” he said.

However, a local journalist from Doda contradicted the claims of the Deputy Commissioner. “I travelled up to the affected area and found that the road between Batote and Assar has been washed away at several places,” he said. It would take at least a week for the administration to restore the road connectivity, he added.

As of now, the road link of Doda and Kishtwar districts has been snapped from the rest of the country, he added.

Doda SP Mohammed Arif Reshu also confirmed damage to the road, but added that there was scope of diversions at such places.

The Army has deployed a company of 4 Rashtriya Rifles, comprising 75 soldiers and officers, while the BRO has pressed into service its bulldozers to clear the debris. Though the administration has launched the operations on a war-footing, it cannot be immediately ascertained as to how many vehicles were swept away in the Chenab because of the massive mudslides. Three out of suspected six missing persons have been identified as Mohan Lal (22) of Rangarh (Baggar), Khalid Hussain (27) of Kurmail and Abdul Razaq (37) of Kurmail.

A resident from Chanderkote said though there had been no damage to the Baglihar dam and its second phase, at least 26 workers were trapped inside a tunnel near the existing power house and a security guard was buried under a heap of debris. The security guard was later identified as Vikram Singh, engaged by Dogra Placement Services.

Two dumpers outside the tunnel were also buried in the debris, he said. The workers, trapped inside the tunnel around 12.30 am yesterday, were eventually rescued around 5 am this morning.

TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION
Several vehicles, shops also washed away
Army, BRO, police launch rescue operations
Debris spread over 5 km area
Kishtwar, Doda cut off from rest of the country
26 workers trapped in Baglihar project tunnel rescued

Jammu scientist blazes new trail

Discovers 14 new species of midge fly; possible to free water bodies from pollutants

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Jammu, September 19
She learnt French for two years to undertake a research project and then she came out with a startling discovery of 14 more species of chironomus, popularly called “midge fly”, that fetched her “International Educator of the Year” award. The International Biographical Centre of Cambridge in the UK conferred upon her the award.
The larvae of 14 new species, very sensitive to pollutants in water, would now be applied to study pollutants in water bodies and remedial measures would be suggested to free water bodies from contamination of all sorts, be it sewerage waste, domestic refuse or industrial effluents.

And, in turn, clean and safe water for human beings and animals may become a reality, at least in river-rich Jammu and Kashmir, provided the discovery and remedial measures were taken seriously by those at the helm of affairs.

The seven out of 14 species have been named after 35-year-old expert from Jammu, Pragya Khanna, as PK1 to PK7.

In the backdrop of Pragya’s discovery, scientists like Dr Blinov of Germany, Dr Jon Martin of University of Melbourne (Australia), Dr Michailova and Dr Petrova of Russia, have started working on the new species, which hitherto were unknown to the world.

Talking to The Tribune, Pragya said, “Since most of the literature on chironomus was either in French or in Russian, I first learnt French for two years to acquaint myself with the subject and then I started my research work.”

“Being a cytogeneticist, I had to face a gruelling time while getting information. I succeeded in my endeavour when I got in touch with Dr Jon Martin of the University of Melbourne, who had been working on the chironomus since 1953,” she said.

Based upon my research, Dr Jon was able to uncover 14 news species of chironomus, out of which seven were reported for the first time in the world, said Pragya, adding that all the seven new species had been named after her (from PK1 to PK7).

Her studies were based on genotoxic effects of some heavy metals and pesticides on the polythene chromosomes of chironomids of the Jammu region. Elucidating further, she said, the new species form an important basis for the study of new taxa/genra because these organisms were not known to the world earlier.

“Now research has started on these organisms, which in turn will be employed in the study of major pollutants in water bodies,” she added.

“Since water bodies are infested with pollutants and biological oxygen demand (BOD) is increasing, aquatic organisms are dying out. So the new species discovered by me will be applied for studying contamination in water bodies,” she said.

Pragya focused on chromosomal studies of midge fly as bio-indicator of stress vis-à-vis impact on major water bodies of the Jammu region. “Now I want to focus on minor water bodies like tube-wells and “bowlies” and once done with the research work I would be suggesting remedial measures to prevent contamination of water bodies,” she added.

“The midge fly, which resembles a mosquito, is omnipresent, but never before the 14 new species were uncovered, out of which seven were reported for first time in the world,” she said.

A lecturer of zoology at the Government College for Women here, Pragya has presented 30 research papers, five monographs, 90 popular articles and two books on the subject of her expertise. She has also attended 35 conferences in the past eight years in the country.

The woman scientist, who has brought laurels to the state, thanked Dr OP Sharma and Dr Narinder Kumar Tripathi, experts, who guided her in her research.

Picturesque Basohli in neglect

A bumpy and dusty drive to the town from Lakhanpur exposes the tall claims of the government of having carpeted the road right up to Basohli

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 22

Even as the state government claims it has taken up the development of the Lakhanpur-Basohli-Sarthal tourist circuit under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Programme at a cost of Rs 7.99 crore, a lot needs to be done to bring the picturesque Basohli on the tourist map of the state.
Basohli, a small town and a tehsil headquarter, is situated on the right bank of the Ravi at an altitude of 1,876 ft. Famous for its miniature paintings, the town was founded by Raja Bhupat Pal in 1635.
“On May 23 this year, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the much awaited 592-m-long cable-stayed bridge on the 10.5 km Dunera-Bani road over the Ravi. However, basic amenities in the form of proper roads, electricity and water are yet to reach the people in villages and hamlets adjoining Basohli,” said Bodh Raj, a schoolteacher.
“The government in the last Assembly session in Jammu had claimed that it had spent Rs 4.7 crore till August 2010 on the development of infrastructure under the circuit, but the fact of the matter is that we still need properly carpeted roads in our area,” he added.
It may be stated that the government has already completed the construction of an Art Development Centre at Basohli and a Tourist Development Centre at Sarthal.
Being a hilly area, the road network should be improved without further delay, said Mukul Sharma, another resident of Basohli.
“We are living in the lap of nature but that doesn’t mean that we should be left at the mercy of the nature. Development has to be done by the government whose representatives come to us every six years to seek vote,” he said in an apparent reference to the politicians.
Driving on serpentine roads in a hilly area is always risky. It is high time the government widens the roads besides installing crash barriers as a safety measure, said Sharma.
A bumpy and dusty drive to the town from Lakhanpur exposes the tall claims of the government of having carpeted the road right up to Basohli.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110723/jkplus.htm#1)

Amarnath Yatra, 2011

Pilgrims pray for lasting peace

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria in Baltal Base Camp


Pilgrims on way to the Amarnath cave shrine are enjoying peace in the Kashmir valley and are praying it lasts forever. It is a pilgrimage for peace for them.After having witnessed four-month violence during the summer last year, a positive change is being felt by the Amarnath pilgrims arriving here and the local residents.

Talking to The Tribune, Suresh Kumar, a pilgrim from New Delhi, who has been visiting the cave shrine since 1996, said, “I witnessed the unrest during the summer last year when I came for the Amarnath yatra, but this time a congenial atmosphere has restored the confidence of the pilgrims and the tourists visiting the Valley”.
An influx of Amarnath pilgrims into the Valley was a good omen for the people of Kashmir, he added.
“In 2010, stone throwing and the imposition of the curfew were routine and I was shaken by the situation then. But this year, it seems, peace has finally returned. Now, we should not allow the elements inimical to peace to vitiate the atmosphere again,” said Suresh.
Triloki Nath, a pilgrim from Gwalior, said it was better to forget the past and move ahead. “ In 2011, I hope peace will prevail throughout the year and, if possible, forever, because Kashmir is one of the most popular tourist places in the country.It should not face any law and order problem,” said Nath. “We all know that peace brings prosperity and tourism being the mainstay of the state’s economy, the people of Kashmir should come forward to give peace a chance,” he added.
A CRPF jawan, Deepak Kumar, guarding Hanuman Mandir in Srinagar city, told this correspondent on Tuesday that there was a realisation among the common man that peace was necessary for more tourist and pilgrim arrivals in the Valley. “After witnessing militancy for the past two decades and the unrest during the summer last year, the people have realised the importance of peace because everything from academics of children to livelihood and tourism were badly affected last year,” he said.
A cab driver, Latif Ahmed of Srinagar, the only breadwinner of a family of seven, like several others, had to face a harrowing time last year. “Last year, the entire tourism sector was adversely affected by a continuous cycle of violence. Thank God, this time the arrival of pilgrims has improved a lot. Overall, I can say that there is a 75 per cent improvement,” said Ahmed.
“Now, I can think of paying bank instalments of my cab on time,” he said, and added that Kashmir faced a continuous shutdown during the unrest last year.

Amarnath Yatra 2011

Trek of Faith

They limp, they cripple, they crawl, but they still are a cut above the able-bodied, reports Ravi Krishnan Khajuria from Amarnath shrine

By now, Raju, Kabira and Rahul would have paid obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum here. So, what’s the big deal, one may ask.
Well, both 26-year-old Raju and 36-year-old Kabira have lost a leg each in road mishaps while 28-year-old Rahul is polio-ridden since birth.
While able-bodied think twice before embarking upon the arduous pilgrimage, this trio from Sai Mandir on Lodhi Road in New Delhi has been visiting the shrine since 2003.
“I lost my left leg in a road accident in Delhi, but undeterred by the physical disability, I have been visiting the shrine since 2003,” said Raju while supporting his feeble body with crutches.
Kabira, who was a driver by profession, also lost his right leg in a road mishap while Raju has been crippled by polio.
“Being staunch devotees of Lord Shiva, we all met at Sai Mandir in Delhi in 2002 and since 2003, we have been coming to the cave shrine to pay obeisance,” said Rahul.
To them worldly affairs do not mean anything. “We have devoted our lives to Lord Shiva and would keep coming here again and again till we our last breath,” said Kabira.
One of the six siblings, born in a penury-ridden family of a farmer in Kerala, Kabira had neither qualification nor a job to support his family. Subsequently, he moved to Delhi where he became a truck driver, but destiny had something else in store for him. In 2001, he met with a road accident in which he lost his right leg.
“The accident shattered me completely, but somehow I gathered courage and devoted my life to Lord Shiva. In 2002, we (Kabira, Rahul and Raju) met at Sai Mandir, from where our rendezvous with Lord Shiva started,” Kabira said smilingly.
“We do face a lot of difficulties in covering the arduous journey, but it’s our unflinching faith in the Lord that keeps us going,” said Rahul, who uses a pair of chappals in his hands to cover the distance.
When asked about his disease, he said, “Born in an illiterate and poor family, someone had to pay the price and it was me”. He was, however, more interested in talking about the pilgrimage.
“I still remember when initially I thought it to be an impossible task but Raju and Kabira encouraged me and once I reached the cave, I was on cloud nine,” he said, adding that, “Soon I realised that it was Lord Shiva, who had given me the strength to have a glimpse of one of His many manifestations”.
Physically challenged pilgrims like Raju, Rahul and Kabira do invite attention of other pilgrims who salute them for their infallible faith in the Lord of the Lords.

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110706/jkplus.htm#2)