Woman beheaded, family members injured by relatives
Jehanabad (Bihar): A 45-year-old woman’s head was chopped off and three of her family members seriously injured allegedly by her relatives in Dakshini Daulatpur village in the district on Thursday, police said. Some people carrying sword, rifle and other weapons raided one Mahendra Pal’s house and chopped off his wife Mira Devi’s head while she was serving lunch to her husband this afternoon, Superintendent of Police Aditya Kumar said. The assailants, said to be related to the Pal family, also attacked Mahendra, his daughter-in-law Kavita Devi and his five-year-old grandson Kunal, leaving all three seriously injured, the SP said. The cause behind the incident is yet to be ascertained, he said adding that the injured persons have been admitted to the hospital. A case has been registered in this regard and the police have launched probe to nab the accused persons, he said. (PTI)
7-year-old raped, murdered in Bihar; accused arrested
Bhagalpur : A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by a man in Bania village here and her mutilated body was on Thursday recovered from railway tracks, police said. The accused, Dilkhush Yadav, lured the minor yesterday to an isolated place where he allegedly raped her before murdering and dumping her on railway tracks, Superintendent of Police Shekhar Kumar said. The victim was later run over by a speeding train, he said, adding the mutilated remains of the body was recovered today and sent for post-mortem. The victim’s father, Md Jabbar, identified her and lodged a case against Yadav on charges of rape and murder, Kumar said. The accused, a native of Bhawanipur village, was arrested today, he said, adding the investigation is underway. (PTI)
Five injured while clearing debris at Kashmir gunfight site
Srinagar: Five people, all civilians, were injured Thursday in an explosion at a gunfight site in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian distric, police said. “Five people were injured due to an explosion at the gun battle site in Heff Shermal, Shopian. They were clearing the debris,” a senior police official said here. Two guerrillas of Hizbul Mujahideen were killed and four security men including a major injured in Wednesday’s gunfight in the village which went on till 10 p.m. The police officer said that that local people were advised not to go to the site as it may have some unexploded material and wait till the time till a bomb disposal squad clears the site. “Announcements to this effect were made yesterday (Wednesday) as well as today (Thursday) morning in the local mosque. However, people poured in and tried to clear debris and did not heed the announcements,” he said, adding the injured have been hospitalized. (IANS)
NDA ally PMK opposes land bill; to protest on March 3
Chennai: Yet another BJP ally PMK on Thursday came out against the controversial land acquisition bill, dubbing it as one that ‘strangulates’ farmers and announced to hold a protest over the issue on March 3. Criticising the BJP-led government for removing provisions, including farmers’ consent and launching social impact study from the previous version by the UPA government, the party said it amounted to ‘snatching away’ the rights of farmers. “In short, the government can just snatch away the land from farmers and hand them over to large private corporates. The farmers cannot even oppose this,” PMK founder S Ramadoss said in a statement here. PMK is the latest BJP ally to come out against the land acquisition bill. Shiv Sena, LJP and Akali Dal have already expressed their reservations. Ramadoss said lakhs of acres of land already acquired for Special Economic Zones (SEZ) had remained unused. “The bill strangulates the farmers and deprives them of their livelihood. PMK strongly condemns it,” he said. Describing as “very dangerous” the amended law, which the NDA government brought by an ordinance and has now introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to seek Parliamentary approval, he said PMK will stage state-wide protests on March 3 and he would also participate in it. (PTI)
Hostel supt, aid booked for forcing girls into obscene chats
Raigarh: The Superintendent of a hostel for destitute children and her associate have been booked for allegedly forcing minor girls into obscene phone chats and attempting to trade them in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district, police said on Thursday. A case was registered against Superintendent of Shree Chakradhar Bal Sadan hostel, Priya Gupta and her friend Omprakash Rathore based on a complaint by Chairperson of Child Welfare Committee Jessy Philip. Working for the betterment of needy children, Chakradhar Bal Sadan had received the presidential award. Earlier, Phillip had alleged in her complaint that Priya Gupta had forced girls to speak to unknown men over phone that involved them in obscene talk and later send them with those men, the SHO said. (PTI)