Probes ordered into Bihar minister son’s alleged suicide bid
Gwalior: Gwalior District Collector and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) on Saturday ordered separate probes into the alleged attempted suicide by Adarsh Kumar, son of Bihar Cooperative Minister Jai Kumar Singh, studying in the prestigious Scindia School here, officials said. Fourteen-year-old Adarsh Kumar was found with a cloth tied to his neck in his hostel room in a suspicious manner on August 20, after which he was rushed to a private hospital for treatment. When his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to New Delhi’s Apollo Hospital. His condition was reported to be serious following which he was put on a ventilator. Adarsh is believed to have attempted suicide after an alleged ragging incident at the school. “Prima facie it appears that he had tried to hang himself from a ceiling fan,” an official said. Taking serious cognisance of the matter, District Collector P Narhari ordered a magisterial probe into the incident to be conducted by Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) S Saxena, the official said. SSP Santosh Kumar Singh also ordered Additional SP, Mohammad Yusuf Qureshi to conduct an inquiry into the incident in detail, especially the ragging angle as alleged by his parents. Efforts to contact the school authorities on the issue proved futile. (PTI)
Delhi’s child sex ratio at birth increases
New Delhi: The child sex ratio in the capital registered an increase from 886 females per 1,000 males in 2012 to 895 in 2013, the Delhi government said Friday. The infant mortality rate in Delhi (per thousand live births) saw a marginal dip from 23.93 during 2012 to 22.37 during 2013, said a report on Registration of Births & Deaths. “The total numbers of births registered in the city during 2013 were 3.70 lakh as compared to 3.60 lakh during 2012 and 3.54 lakh during 2011,” said a report prepared by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics for 2013. “Of 3.70 lakh total registered births, 1.95 lakh (52.8 percent) were male and 1.75 lakh (47.2 percent) were female,” said the report. “About 81.75 per cent (3.02 lakh) were institutional births and remaining 18.25 percent (0.67 lakh) were domiciliary birth,” the report added. The total number of deaths reduced from 1.05 lakh in 2012 to 97,185 in 2013. (IANS)
Pro-liquor lobby in Kerala goes into a huddle
Thiruvananthapuram: With the Kerala government deciding to close all the 730 bars in the state to bring about prohibition in a phased manner, the pro-liquor lobby has gone into a huddle on how to handle this situation. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who Friday finalised the new liquor policy, will submit to the Kerala High Court Aug 26 a road map that the state government has formulated to achieve total prohibition in the next 10 years. Biju Ramesh, the working president of the Kerala Bar Hotel Association, told IANS that the only option before them is to seek legal redress. “Tomorrow (Sunday), we are having a general body meeting to discuss the latest developments and we expect to come to a firm decision on how to move forward in the light of the state government’s decision,” said Ramesh. However, from the next fiscal, liquor would be available only in around 16 five star hotels operating in the state and the 344 state government owned retail outlets. The target date when Kerala would be declared a complete dry state has now been fixed as Oct 2, 2023. (IANS)
HC releases Rs 15.41 lakh spent on securing Shakti Mills
Mumbai: Maharashtra Government has informed the Bombay High Court that Public Works Department had recently spent Rs 15.41 lakh to build a boundary wall, barbed wire fencing, security cabin and the main gate of the defunct Shakti Mills where a photojournalist and a telephone operator were gang-raped in separate incidents last year. Amicus Curaie (friend of the court) Naushad Engineer pleaded that the amount may be released from the corpus of the official liquidator, who had visited the site and inspected the work carried out by the PWD. Accordingly, Justice S J Kathawala yesterday approved the release of this amount from the funds held by the official liquidator. The court was informed that the PWD had completed securing of the premises which was ordered soon after the gang-rape cases in June and August last year. The work was to be carried out in three phases. The first two phases — clearing the shrubbery and barbed wire fencing — are over. The third one involving electrification of the compound wall is underway. According to PWD, the total expenses for cleaning and securing the premises in Shakti Mills Compound would be to the tune of Rs 1.58 crore. The company, owned by the Poddar family, is under liquidation. Since the mill had turned deserted, incidents of gang rape took place on the premises, following which steps were initiated to secure the place and ensure that the entire area is well-lit during the night. (PTI)