DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015 (PAGE 9)

Allama Iqbal’s son dies in Lahore

LAHORE, Oct 3:

Renowned poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s sonJustice (retd) Javed Iqbal died here today at the age of 90.

He was under treatment for cancer at the Shaukat KhanumMemorial Cancer Hospital in Lahore.

He is survived by his two sons - Walid and Munib Iqbal - andwife Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal — a former Lahore high courtjudge.

Javed graduated from the University of Punjab.He served as chief justice of the Lahore High Court and senior

justice at the Supreme Court.He was renowned scholar and an expert on the writing of his

poet father. He frequently appeared on media to expound the phi-losophy of his father.

Allama Iqbal is known as national poet of Pakistan and is cred-ited for giving the concept of Pakistan in 1930.

Though he never used the word Pakistan and died years beforepartition in 1938.

Some experts of Iqbal consider him as an Indian nationalistwho had penned down the famous poem Tarana-e- Hindi ‘sarayjahan say aacha Hindustan hamra’. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Oct 3:

Delhi Police today filed asupplementary charge sheet ina city court against AAP leaderSomnath Bharti in a case ofalleged molestation of Africanwomen during his purportedmidnight-raid last year whenhe was the Delhi Law Minister.

In supplementary finalreport filed beforeMetropolitan Magistrate (MM)Ankita Lal, the policeinformed the court that prose-cution sanction against Bhartihas been accorded by the com-petent authority.

In its 22-page report, thepolice has also annexed theForensic Science Laboratory(FSL) report and arrayed FSLdirector and a scientist as wit-nesses.

The court fixed October 30for consideration of the reportfiled by Investigating Officer(IO) Vijay Chandel againstBharti, who is in police cus-tody in a domestic violencecase filed by his wife, LipikaMitra.

Earlier, the police had fileda report on Bharti's plea for

further probe in the case in asealed cover.

On January 16, the courthad issued notice to the DeputyCommissioner of Police andgiven a last chance to IO to getthe sanction for prosecutionagainst Bharti expeditiously.The police said it has receivedthe sanction on September 24.

In its charge sheet filed onSeptember 27 last year, DelhiPolice had said that "nineAfrican women were victimsof molestation and manhan-dling by a mob led by thenLaw Minister SomnathBharti".

In the charge sheet, Bhartiand 17 others have beenbooked under various sectionsof the IPC, including 354 (out-raging women's modesty), 323(voluntarily causing hurt), 506(criminal intimidation) and147 (rioting).

The police had arrayed 41people as prosecution witness-es in the case, including nineUgandan women, who wereallegedly beaten up andmolested by the mob led byBharti on the intervening nightof January 15-16, 2014.

In its charge sheet, policehad said forensic reports of thevictims' urine samples wereawaited but reports of videofootage collected from CCTVcameras installed at AIIMS,where the victims were takenfor medical check-up, andfootage from news channelshave been received.

The FIR was lodged onJanuary 19 last year on thecourt's direction after aUgandan woman hadapproached it seeking a direc-tion to the police to file a crim-inal case against unnamed per-sons.

Later, another Africanwoman approached the courtseeking registration of a sepa-rate FIR alleging that she wasalso molested by the group.

The court had on January29 last year asked the police tofile a status report while refus-ing to order lodging of a sepa-rate FIR on the plea.

However, it had asked thepolice that the woman be madea co-complainant in the firstFIR lodged on January 19 asshe was also a victim of thesame incident. (PTI)

Midnight raid: Police files supplementarychargesheet against Bharti

BHAGALPUR, Oct 3:

The future of both Bihar andthe country would be deter-mined by the outcome of the“crucial” polls in the state,Congress President SoniaGandhi said today while sharplyattacking Prime MinisterNarendra Modi whom shedescribed as an expert in “pack-aging and repacking”.

Voters of Bihar will decidewhether India would movetowards “divisiveness or harmo-ny”, she said at a poll rally inKahalgaon near here as she toreinto Modi’s 16-month rulewhich she described “harmful”for the country.

Taunting Modi “for spend-ing more time abroad than athome”, the Congress Presidentsaid had repackaged oldschemes of the previous govern-ment and represented them asnew packages because he wasan “expert in packaging andrepackaging”.

She also raked up the issueof reservation, which hasbecome a major talking point inBihar polls against the backdropof RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s

call for review of the quota pol-icy.

Without taking RSS’ name,Gandhi said, “there is match fix-ing going on between Nagpurand BJP. But I want to tell youthat Congress is committed toConstitutional provisions onSC, ST and OBC quotas.”

Calling the ensuingAssembly elections as “deci-sive, Gandhi said, “Bihar is atcrucial crossroads. From herewill be determined the future of

both Bihar and the country.You have to decidewhether from here on thecountry will move towardsdivisiveness or harmony.”

“Modi is trying to mis-lead the people of Bihar.The package he announcedis more farcical than real.What is the truth of thispackage?

“Prime Minister, anexpert in packaging andrepackaging, has simplyrehashed old schemes ofprevious governments andpresented them as a newpackage. What not he hassaid to belittle the people

of Bihar,” she said, asking peo-ple to choose whether they arewith secular forces or thosewhich divide the country.

Targeting the Prime Ministeron his foreign trips, she said,“Narendra Modi loves goingabroad very frequently. Heloves embracing famous peoplebut he has no time for the poor.He should go abroad but shouldstop playing politics of preten-sion with the people whoreposed faith in him.” (PTI)

Future of India, Bihar to be determined by poll outcome: Sonia

Congress president Sonia Gandhiaddressing an election rally inKahalgaon on Saturday. (UNI )

NEW DELHI, Oct 3:

In the face of growing con-cerns about air-borne threats tosecurity, the Government wasactively considering to regu-larise flying of unregulatedobjects, like smaller UAVs,gliders and drones, Chief ofIndian Air Force Air ChiefMarshal Arup Raha said today.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, coinciding with the83rd Air Force day, the AirChief said unregulated flying ofobjects is proliferating and thishas reached to a worrisomelevel.

“We need to have regularisa-tion for such rampant flying ofobjects. Ministry of Defence,Civil Aviation and the HomeMinistry are in touch to prepareguidelines for flying of suchobjects,” Air Chief Marshal

Raha said.The Air Chief’s comments

came at a time when flying ofvarious kind of objects, like,UAVs’ toy mounted cameras,gliders have become rampant,raising a new concern amongthe security agencies.

There were intelligencereports that terrorists might usesuch flying objects to attack

high value targets taking advan-tage of unregulated securityenvironment.

In recent months, there havebeen many intelligence inputsshowing that terror groups inSouth Asia could be trying toacquire capabilities to carry outaerial attacks. The move wouldprimarily cover gliders, UAVs,outdoor balloons and other fly-ing objects that could be used byterrorists.

The new guidelines, whichwill be issued by the DirectorGeneral, Civil Aviation, willrequire everyone to registerones flying object, its origin andaim of flying with the districtauthorities, said the Air Chief.

The regulatory mechanismwill be in place within a year’stime in the entire country, hesaid. (UNI)

Govt to regularise drone, glider flying: IAF Chief

BJP promises to provide petrol for scooty

PATNA, Oct 3:

In a bid to make their poll sop more attractive, BJP today saidit would also provide free petrol for the two-wheelers for twoyears, which they will give to 5,000 meritorious girls passing classX and XII examinations.

“In the event of formation of BJP-led NDA government, 5000girls passing out matriculation and Intermediate examinations infirst division would get scooty (two-wheeler) and they would alsobe provided free petrol for two years,” Sushil Modi told reportersat Patna airport before setting out for campaign.

Sushil Modi’s announcement came in the wake of ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar’s sarcastic comments as who would pro-vide petrol to run the two-wheeler.

“If we have decided to give scooty than nobody else needs tobother from where petrol for it will come. We’ll give petrol tothose whom we would be giving scooty,” Sushil Modi said.

Scooty formed a major attraction of BJP vision document forBihar elections which was unveiled by Union Finance ministerArun Jaitley on Thursday last.

Sushil Modi said the future NDA government would also pro-vide free LPG gas connection to BPL families.

Sushil Modi, who is frontrunner for post of Chief Minister ifNDA comes to power, said the future government would also ordera CBI inquiry into alleged medicine scam of over Rs 100 crorewhen Nitish Kumar was also holding charge of health portfolio.

The medicine scam relates to purchase of sub standard medi-cines for hospitals at a high rate. (PTI)

Nothing to fret for not doing‘Bajirao Mastani’: Aishwarya

MUMBAI, Oct 3:

Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who was earlier supposed toplay Mastani in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Bajirao Mastani”, says

she does not regret not being a part ofthe magnum opus project.

Considered as his dream project,Bhansali was keen to cast SalmanKhan and Aishwarya after the suc-cess of his home production “HumDil De Chuke Sanam” in 1999.

On being asked about the upcom-ing film, which now stars RanveerSingh and Deepika Padukone, the 41-year-old actress said, “Even at thestart of this movie (‘BajiraoMastani’), there was a certain castingthat he was looking for. If that was to

come to be... You all know that there was a possibility of me being‘Mastani’ if there was a certain Bajirao (referring to Salman) hewas trying to cast.

“But if that did not come to be then we had openly talked aboutit. It is not something to think over... Fret over. Every film has itsdestiny and finds the way it is meant to be,” Aishwarya told PTI.

The “Guru” actress, who will be seen after a gap of five yearsin Sanjay Gupta’s “Jazbaa”, said she even teased Bhansali on final-ly getting “Bajirao Mastani” in place.

Aishwarya and Bhansali have earlier teamed up to deliver hits“Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” and “Devdas”.

On her equation with Bhansali, she said, “It is a very closebond that I share with him and because of that creativity we shareclose personal bond. My relationship with certain filmmakers ispersonally strong. And it is not only about work,” she said. (PTI)

I&B panel slams students, faculty;defends FTII administration

PUNE, Oct 3:

An I and B Ministry panel has blamed the agitating studentsand the faculty of FTII for the prevailing situation at the campushere, as it defended the institute’s controversial decision to callpolice in the campus after the gherao of its director.

The three-member committee headed by S M Khan, who isRegistrar of Newspapers for India, said this in a report submittedto the Information and Broadcasting Ministry after visiting thecampus of the prestigious Film and Television Institute ofIndia(FTII) a month ago after the gherao episode that led to a mid-night crackdown by police in which five students were arrested.

The report accessed by an RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar heresaid, “the incidents leading to lodging of FIR by director and sub-sequent arrests are unfortunate.

However, if one views the video recordings of these incidents,one can understand the amount of mental trauma the director(Pathrabe) would have gone through. Hence, the director was wellwithin his right to call the police and lodge FIRs. Although every-one demanded withdrawal of FIRs the matter at present is beforethe court of law and the law will take its own course.”

FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe had alleged “mental torture”by the striking students who allegedly confined him to his officecabin for several hours on August 18 asking him to rescind hisdecision ordering assessment of incomplete film projects of the2008 batch students on “as is where is basis” to clear the backlog.

Coming as it did when the students’ strike demanding removalof actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan from the chairman-ship of the institute was on, the gherao incident and subsequentarrests of about 11 students further fuelled the campus unrest, stillbeing addressed by the ministry through talks with the FTIIStudents’ Association (FSA).

The committee, besides Khan, comprised two other members—SS Naganathan, Under Secretary (Films) and Anshu Sinha,Director (Films) of the I and B Ministry.

On the contentious issue of assessment of 2008 batch’s incom-plete film projects, the committee stated, “although the students aswell as the faculty blame various reasons for the delay for comple-tion of 2008 batch the records available clearly indicate there wasno dearth of facilities for completion of the project, mainly delayeddue to the fact that students were not ready with the scripts.”

Slamming the FTII faculty, the report said, “the academic fac-ulty keeps changing its stand. In fact the unfortunate incidents thatled to the lodging of FIRs were due to constant shifting of stand bythe faculty.” (PTI)

MUMBAI, Oct 3:

Former media magnateIndrani Mukerjea, prime accusedin the sensational Sheena Boramurder case, is still critical withthe next 48 hours going to be cru-cial for her survival, according toJJ hospital, where she was rushedyesterday from Byculla prisonwith suspected drug overdose.

“The next 48 hours will becritical for her,” J J HospitalDean Dr T P Lahane toldreporters today when asked if sheis out of danger.

“We can not say that Indraniis out of danger before the next48 hours. 72 hours are very criti-cal out of which 24 hours havealready passed. We will be able tosay only after 48 hours whetherher condition has improved ornot”, Lahane said.

He said “she is in a deep sleepright now but her blood pressureand pulse levels are normal. Sheis not on ventilator support butwe are providing her with oxygenbecause she is not able to breathautomatically,” he said.

“We did not find the drug inthe gastric test. If the drug musthave dissolved in the body wewill come to know when we getthe urine and blood sample reportby tomorrow evening,” he said.

Asked if any report hasemerged that she had attemptedsuicide in the prison yesterdaywhere she was lodged under judi-cial remand, he said “we can notsay anything about that for now.”

Wife of media baron PeterMukerjea, Indrani was arrestedby Khar police on August 25 for

her alleged role in the murder ofSheena, her daughter from anearlier marriage, in 2012.

Sheena, 24, was allegedlykidnapped from outside NationalCollege in Bandra and strangledto death in a car by Indrani, herformer husband Sanjeev Khannaand driver Shyamvar Rai.

Meanwhile, as ordered byChief Minister DevendraFadnavis yesterday, IG (Prison)began a probe, covering allangles, including possible lapseson the part of jail authorities andmedical staff there.

Indrani’s lawyer also moved alocal court seeking permission tomeet her in the hospital and courtsought a re-report on her healthcondition.

During the hearing, the CBI,

which has taken over the investi-gation in the Sheena murder case,told the court the probe is at aninitial stage and the gravity of theoffence is very serious.

JJ hospital doctors have beenprovided prison records whichshowed that Indrani was alleged-ly taking anti-epilepsy medicinessince September 11.

It is suspected that Indraniwent into depression after learn-ing about the demise of her moth-er in Guwahati on Tuesday.

Indrani was also prescribedanti-depressant and anti- anxietypills from September 12 to 25 bya J J Hospital psychiatrist. Theprobe will seek to find out if shehad gathered the pills beyond theprescribed numbers, if so, howdid she manage to do so. (PTI)

Indrani critical, next 48 hours crucial

Hamid Ansari to release ‘SouthAsia Bible Commentary’ today

NEW DELHI, Oct 3:

A one-volume commentary on all the books of the Bible,‘South Asia Bible Commentary’ (SABC), will be released by theVice-President Hamid Ansari tomorrow.

The commentary has been written by 90 scholars from fourcountries - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, Presbyter-in-charge at Cathedral Church of the Redemption Delhi Diocese, PaulSwarup said.

He said that it took them eight years to write SABC that wasconceived in 2007 when some biblical scholars got together inKolkata for a meeting and were encouraged to consider writing it.

“Vice-President Hamid Ansari will release the commentarytomorrow. SABC gives a section-by-section interpretation thatprovides a contextual, readable and immensely useful guide to theentire Bible,” Paul said.

He also said that readers will definitely appreciate its freshinsights and direct style that engage both heart and mind. (PTI)