Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Full body scanners to be installed at all British airports

London, Dec. 29 (ANI): In the wake of the recent Detroit-bound flight bombing bid, the British Government has decided to install full body scanners at all UK airports.

As part of the massive overhaul of airport security, the government planning to spend as much as necessary to buy the X-ray machines, which can see through clothing and even detect items swallowed or concealed inside the body.


British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said that the use of advanced scanners would stop the need for full body searches and end the delays they cause.

"We intend to be at the cutting edge of this technology and to ensure we put it in place as quickly as possible," The Sun quoted Johnson, as saying.

New scanners are also being introduced at Holland's Schiphol airport where Abdulmutallab took his US flight.

The microwave detectors there can see unusual objects on the body or hidden under clothing, but are not as efficient as the full scanners.

US-bound passengers had to go through a second round of security checks at the gate, including full bag searches and a pat- down body search.

At London's Heathrow, flyers were also told to sip from drink bottles they had bought in shops after going through security to prove they were not being used to hide chemicals used in bombs. (ANI)

No discussion with ULFA on sovereignty: Gogoi

There will be no discussion on the sovereignty issue during peace talks with insurgent group ULFA, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said on Monday.

"There will be no discussion on the sovereignty issue when the peace talks are held with the ULFA. One thing is clear: there will be no compromise on sovereignty", Gogoi talking to reporters here.

He said "the process for (initiating) the talks has almost started but I don't say that much progress has been made or any breakthrough achieved. Attempts are being made...let's hope for the best", he said.

Meanwhile, ULFA's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa had a night-long meeting with his top colleagues Raju Baruah, ULFA vice-president Pradip Gogoi,`foreign secretary' Sashadhar Choudhury, `finance secretary' Chitrabon Hazarika and publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary in the central jail here, sources said.

Sharing the same cell for the meeting, all the ULFA leaders were at ease and were seen talking animatedly throughout the night well into Sunday morning, the sources said.

According to Bijan Mahajan, defence counsel of all the six ULFA leaders, "the night-long meeting is a welcome sign as far as the talks are concerned. It is a positive move on the part of the government to have allowed Rajkhowa and Baruah to be sent to jail".

‘No compromise on sovereignty’

There will be no discussion on the sovereignty issue during peace talks with insurgent group ULFA, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said on Monday.

“There will be no discussion on the sovereignty issue when the peace talks are held with the ULFA. One thing is clear: there will be no compromise on sovereignty,” Gogoi said.

He said, “the process for (initiating) the talks has almost started but I don’t say that much progress has been made ... Attempts are being made...Let’s hope for the best.”

NIA probe into politician-ultra nexus

Kolkata is fast turning into the hub of hawala trade and arms dealing for myriad militant outfits of the Northeast. The maiden charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reveals this.

Earlier this year, the NIA was given its first case - diversion of developmental funds in Assam's troubled North Cachar Hills district to militant outfits, primarily the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel). The probe led it to the hawala racket and an international small arms ring operating from the West Bengal capital.

Investigations revealed one Vanlalchchana of Mizoram was the DHD (J)'s major arms supplier, who in return received money from Mohet Hojai, the deposed Chief Executive Member (CEM) of North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC).

Vanlalchhana had visited Singapore and Thailand and met Jewel Garlosa and Niranjan Hojai to procure the arms. Garlosa, arrested from Bangalore earlier this year, is chairman of DHD(J) while Niranjan Hojai is its military head.

Vanlalchchana, one of 14 charge-sheeted by NIA, was a frequent visitor to Kolkata. He disclosed to NIA that he frequented Kolkata to convert Indian currency to dollars.

The man from Mizoram, said the charge-sheet, visited Kathmandu with a friend named Chhungup to hand over the dollars to Niranjan Hojai for procurement of arms. He had thrice converted to dollars more than Rs 1 crore he had received out of funds siphoned off projects meant for NCHAC. Vanlachhana revealed he was getting Re 1 for every dollar he converted on Niranjan Hojai's behalf.

The analysis of Vanlalchchana's call data record (CDR) revealed that a Mizo woman named Malsawmkimi was helping him in converting the money in Kolkata. The CDR also revealed he was in constant touch with another accused named George Lamthang in Kolkata.

Investigation further revealed that a portions of funds allotted to Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department and Social Welfare Department were utilized by the DHD(J). Rs 13.5 crore was siphoned away directly from the bank account of Social Welfare Department in the 2008-2009 fiscal besides a large amount by other means and Rs 3 crore siphoned away from the PHE Department this year.

Funds were then received in Kolkata by accused Sandip Ghosh, Debasish Bhattacharjee and Jayanta Kumar Ghosh and then handed over to Phojendra Hojai, all contractors handling projects in NC Hills. The first three are Kolkata-based.

On three occasions in 2009, Mohet Hojai sent money. Jayanta Ghosh received the money directly or through Sandip Ghosh and Bhatttacharjee before relaying it to Phojendra, whose preferred haunts were Madhumilan Guest House and Hotel Shalimar in Kolkata.

The first Rs 1 crore, in two installments, was brought in cash from Guwahati by two go-betweens named Imdad Ali and Bapi and delivered at Madhumilan Guest House at Bara Bazzar. This happened after the Council was formed in January 2008. "Money was collected from Marwaris whose addresses were given by Mohet Hojai and Imdad Ali. The system of identification with the help of the number of a note at the hands of the recipient was followed," the charge sheet said.

After these deliveries, another consignment of more than Rs 1 crore was delivered at Hotel Shalimar to Phojendra Hojai in January this year. The same system was followed. Money was again sent in February and in March, after Mohet Hojai had succeeded Depolal Hojai as the CEM.

New complaints against Rathore, teen-molester-cop

Ruchika Girhotra's family has formally complained to the police against police officials for protecting SPS Rathore and have asked for two new First Information Reports (FIRs) to be filed against the former Haryana top cop, who molested the 14-year-old in 1990.

The complaints have been filed by Ruchika's family's lawyer on Tuesday. He says now that he has documents to back his claims, he's accusing Rathore of dereliction of duty, and of misleading the investigation against him.

The Centre had said yesterday that complaints should be treated as FIRs. However, Panchkula police has said it will consult legal experts and decide by Tuesday evening on registering the FIRs.
PIL to be filed against Ruchika's school
More and more questions are being raised about why Ruchika was expelled from her school. It's alleged that once again Rathore used his influence to have her removed. This isolated her further and compounded her depression. A PIL will now be moved in the matter.

Ranjan Lakhanpal, Senior Advocate says that they will file a case against everybody involved, including the school.

Ruchika Girhotra studied in Sacred Heart, one of Chandigarh's most prestigious schools. In 1990, she was in Class X when the then Inspector General of Police S P S Rathore molested her. Within weeks after her family filed a complaint, Ruchika was expelled from school.

Her family was told she had paid the fees late. But they were not convinced.

"Rathore used his influence. One day the Principal called me and told that we are removing her from the school. Don't send her to school any more," says Ruchika's father S C Girhotra.

The expulsion isolated Ruchika mentally and contributed to her depression. And most of her classmates knew nothing about it.

"We had heard that she was going abroad and we thought she has gone abroad after the incident, that's why she is not showing up and we had also heard that she had left school, that's it," says Geetanjali Giyatri, Ruchika's classmate and former student at the Sacred Heart School.

The school is keeping mum on why such action was taken against Ruchika, but say off the record that some disciplinary action was taken against her. However, they don't want to elaborate on that.

"We will be seeking action against the school also as to why she was expelled, what were the reasons, and under whose pressure it was done," says Ranjan Lakhanpal, a senior lawyer in Chandigarh.

"I think school should have taken a very responsible role in this case. You see without knowing the facts they were suppressed by the police force. Is that the way schools in our country going to run?" says Kirat Sodhi, a teacher at St Stephen's School, Chandigarh.

Imagine a girl in her mid-teens, molested, expelled from school, harassed and threatened by a supposed law keeper and repeatedly being denied justice. Pushed to the edge, Ruchika committed suicide three years later.
The first FIR sought to be registered accuses Rathore of fabricating documents related to Ruchika's death and the inquest that followed. In 1993, at the age of 17, Ruchika killed herself by drinking poison. Today is her 16th death anniversary.

After Ruchika filed a complaint against Rathore, he allegedly retaliated by harassing her family. Under pressure from him, Ruchika was expelled from school - Sacred Heart in Chandigarh. Her brother, Ashu, was framed in a series of theft cases and was jailed. He was released only after Ruchika died. (Read: Inquiry ordered against school)

The second, accuses Rathore of falsely implicating Ashu Girhotra.

Rathore retired in 2002 as Director-General of the Haryana Police. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to six months in prison. National outrage has followed the sentence and the discovery that Rathore was protected by politicians.

A series of police officers and the CBI, who investigated the case, say it's clear that Rathore used his position as one of Haryana's most senior policemen to persecute the Girhotras.

From 1990, when he committed the crime, to 2000, Rathore enjoyed a free run. A police inquiry had recommended action against him, but four successive chief ministers of Haryana did not allow this to happen.

On Tuesday morning, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has also been filed asking for action against all those who shielded Rathore. It also asks Ruchika's school to explain why it expelled her, a move that depressed and shamed her. (Read: PIL filed against Ruchika's school)


Govt asks Ruchika's school to explain her expulsion
Sixteen years after Ruchika Girhotra committed suicide unable to bear the trauma of being molested and expelled from school, the Chandigarh Home Secretary has ordered an inquiry against Sacred Heart school where Ruchika studied. The school has been asked to explain why she was asked to leave.

The action comes following nation-wide outcry against the grave injustice a traumatised teenager had to undergo. As her classmates have narrated how Ruchika became the object of her peers' gossip after the ex-Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) molested her; the school had asked her to go citing flimsy charge that her fees had not been paid on time. Ruchika incidentally had been attending the school for 10 years.

Quick takes:

* School wasn't coming forth with any reaction
* So Home Secretary ordered enquiry
* Ruchika's friend Aradhana's mother had written to him
* PIL against Rathore asking case to be reopened (Read: PIL to be filed against Ruchika's school)
* School ordered to give their side of the story
* She had become the talk of the school then she was expelled, added to her depression

Ruchika's father Subhash Chandra Girhotra has said how the ex-police official used his power to get Ruchika expelled from her school and against CBSE norms.

"Rathore had illegitimately used his influential position to get Ruchika removed from the school. My daughter took admission in that school in nursery class and studied there for 13 years," SC Girhotra told reporters in Chandigarh on Sunday.

"The school authorities did not give us any substantial reason behind her sudden expulsion from the school. They cited some late fees related issue as a reason behind this, which was totally baseless," he added.

Ruchika was studying in Sacred Heart School in Sector 26. Coincidently, Rathore's daughter was Ruchika's classmate in the same school.

Also lashing out at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Girhotra said: "Rathore was the only reason behind the suicide of my daughter and I do not know why CBI did not include the abetment to suicide charge against him. Now we will again file a case in the higher court and appeal to include this charge against Rathore."

Lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj, who has fought the Ruchika case free of cost for the last 13 years, said that there were many loopholes in the CBI's inquiry.

The school still doesn't have a counselor.