HC concerned over safety of visitors at Hauz Khas Village eateries

Delhi High Court on Monday raised concern over safety of the people visiting restaurants and pubs running in the Hauz Khas Village which are allegedly in violation of building by-laws and the master plan.

“If there is terrorist attack how will NSG commandos will reach the spot on time,” the high court remarked noting that most of the restaurants in Hauz Khas Village have single point of entry and exit and there is no emergency exit point provided by the owners.

It said owners have to comply with the law to run their business in the area.

It also raised concern over security saying how fire tender or emergency vehicle would enter the area.

The court also asked the Delhi Jal Board to inspect and file a report about the source of water for the restaurants at the village and and also the number of effective bore-wells in that area.

The Archaeological Survey of India was also asked to inform it whether some of the eateries have their boundary walls attached with any protected monument.

The court was hearing two petitions claiming illegal constructions and encroachments in Hauz Khas Village. Earlier, it had asked authorities to ensure strict enforcement of law in the area.

Hauz Khas Village -- a hub of restaurants, pubs, art galleries and fashion studios -- in south Delhi came under the scanner of the High Court after the petitions pointed out that a number of restaurants were running illegally, bars serving liquor without licence and no safety norms were being followed by them.

In all, 120 restaurants and pubs have come up in the area in the past 10 years without any building plan approval from the SDMC, said the pleas, seeking a complete ban on pubs and bars running illegally in the village.

Cleanliness has been a top priority of the Modi government after coming to power in 2014 as it launched a nationwide drive, Swachh Bharat, to make India clean and free of open defecation in five years.

The Prime Minister also linked Vande Mataram, composed by pre-Independence Bengali poet and author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the 1870s, with respect to women.

He said he will bow a hundred times before a person who respects women. “But ask yourselves, do we really respect women … how can you then say Vande Mataram?”

To bolster his point of showing respect to women, he took to Vivekananda’s opening words — “brothers and sisters” — during the spiritual leader’s address in Chicago in 1893.

“One feels elated hearing ‘brothers and sisters’, but we should ask ourselves, do we respect women?” Modi asked.

Vande Mataram, which means “I praise you, mother”, was an inspiring slogan during India’s freedom struggle and continues to remain so. In 1947, India adopted the first two verses of the poem as the national song.

Modi recalled what he said before promoting the Swachh Bharat campaign: toilets, not temples, should be built first. “Today I am happy that there are daughters of India who vow not to get married if there’s no toilet (in the bridegroom’s home).”

He called the youth agents of change, drawing cheers from his young audience. But he reminded at the same time: “During student union elections, several promises are made. But I am yet to hear students saying ‘we will make our campus clean’.”

Posters pasted on walls, graffiti and other campaign material littering the campus are a common sight during college elections.

Modi said student organisations campaigning for college polls should give priority to cleanliness. The PM hailed people working tirelessly to keep India clean, saying they imbibe the true spirit of Vande Mataram.

His speech had a message for fringe elements opposing western celebrations such as Valentine’s Day and Rose Day in colleges, and thrashing young revelers. “I don’t oppose celebrating events such as Rose Day. I don’t want the youth to turn into robots,” he said.

Modi, an ardent follower of Vivekananda, said his government has introduced schemes that the philosopher had thought about more than a century ago such as uprooting social evils and bringing a revolution in agriculture, innovation and skill development.

Officials said the test will be made available to students at the individual-level too, at a later stage. The exercise will be divided into verbal and non-verbal sections, and possess seven sub-tests. Besides testing the verbal, mechanical, abstract, spatial and perceptive rationale of the child, it will use diagrams and figures to assess his/her reasoning abilities. “Students, for instance, will be given a pattern and asked to find out how it will shape up through various steps taken in accordance with logic. As far as verbal reasoning is concerned, they will be initially assessed on the basis of language – from synonyms and meanings of proverbs to overall aptitude,” the official said. The test will focus on job-related abilities too, he added.

The test module is being tested at regional institutes of the NCERT, including Kendriya Vidyalayas.

Sources said the council has already held discussions with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), so it can be implemented in affiliated schools. “We will provide the CBSE with all the tools and materials for the test, so it can be conducted at the convenience of its schools. We should be able to finish preparing it by the end of this year, so it can be put to use from 2018,” said another NCERT official. “Norms for the test are being finalised and tested. Though it has not been conceptualised as an online test so far, we hope to achieve that too. The test will run for 1.30 hours,” the official said, adding that the exercise will act as an “additional tool” aimed at helping students make the right choice.

Other states are welcome to approach the NCERT if they also wish to make use of the test.

Though Al Hussein said he was “heartened” by protests against Lankesh’s killing and other lynchings, he noted that rights defenders working for the most vulnerable groups, including people threatened with displacement by infrastructure projects such as the Sardar Sarovar Dam, were being subjected to harassment and criminal proceedings, or denied protection. Such groups, he added, should be considered allies in creating a more inclusive society.

Al Hussein, who described the Myanmar government’s handling of the Rohingya issue as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, specifically targeted minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju for his stance on deporting Rohingya refugees.

“I deplore current measures in India to deport Rohingyas at a time of such violence against them in their country,” he said.

“The minister of state for home affairs has reportedly said that because India is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention the country can dispense with international law on the matter, together with basic human compassion,” he said, noting that 40,000 Rohingyas had settled in India.

On Saturday, India asked Myanmar to handle the situation in Rakhine state with restraint while focussing on the welfare of both civilians and security forces. It also called for violence in the region to be ended expeditiously.

Al Hussein also regretted what he described as the “reluctance” of India and Pakistan to cooperate with his office on “human rights concerns”, including a failure to grant access to Jammu and Kashmir on both sides of the LoC.

He said his office is remotely monitoring the rights situation in Kashmir in order to make the findings public in the near future.

The child was found with his throat slit outside the school’s toilet on September 8.

The boy’s father asked for comprehensive guidelines for all schools to prevent such crimes. He also sought a national tribunal to look into such cases across the country.

“The petition relates to … command the authorities of the school management and the promoters to take steps so that safety and security is sustained and no one is affected,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.

Besides the government, the CBI, Haryana police and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) were asked to submit their stand in three weeks.

The court took up the case as an “urgent matter” after the visibly shaken father requested for an early hearing.

He wants a CBI investigation, saying police failed to unearth the conspiracy behind the “coldblooded murder”. The parents think there is more to the murder.

“It is not possible that my son was killed within 10 minutes of entering the school without any motive,” the father said on Sunday. They think their son was killed because he must have seen some dirty secret in the school.

“The murder was a conspiracy and more people were involved,” his lawyer Sushil Tekriwal said.

The father accused the school management of lax security, a fact corroborated by a government-appointed inquiry committee. The panel found that around 40 adult staff, including drivers and conductors, shared toilets with students. Washroom windows were broken and there were no guards.

The Ryan management is also accused of not conducting a background check of the bus conductor, who worked for a private agency contracted by the school to provide non-teaching staff.

Police found that the bus conductor, a native of Ghamroj village near Gurgaon, was sacked by another school eight months ago for his “sexually predatory behaviour”.

“The school management is responsible for negligence in providing safety and security to the students,” the boy’s father said.

His petition underscores growing concern across the country over a spurt in students facing sexual violence in schools, especially by non-teaching staff.

The father said a committee headed by a former top court judge should be appointed to suggest safety guidelines for schools.

His plea seeks instant revocation of licences to schools that “either fail to adhere to the requisite criteria”.

Union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar suggested that drivers, conductors and non-teaching staff in schools should be women to prevent sexual assaults on children.

“There should be more and more woman employees in schools and school buses can also have woman drivers... We can have woman security guards too,” he said.

According to Gurgaon police, Ryan group’s regional head Francis Thomas and human resource chief Jayesh Thomas were arrested and charged with section 75 of the juvenile justice act. This section deals with cruelty and crime against children in a person’s care.

Francis faced charges before when a student of Ryan International School in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj drowned in a water tank on the campus last year.

The CEO of Ryan International, Ryan Pinto and parents Grace and Augustine Pinto, applied for anticipatory bail.

He had gone there after work with a friend and colleague from Garmin, a GPS major. The assailant mistook them for West Asians and shouted “get out of my country” before he opened fire.

The killing caused international outrage and was linked to a sudden spurt in hate crimes against African Americans, Muslims and Jewish people following the election of President Donald Trump.

Dumala has lived in the US for a long time, since enrolling in college 10 years ago. She married Kuchibhotla in 2012 and applied for permanent residency (a green card) on Kuchibhotla’s H-1B visa, which is issued to highly skilled foreign workers.

It wasn’t clear how close they were to getting theirs as the wait for Indians in the queue for green cards is usually more than 10 years. In Dumala’s case, however, she may have to start all over again. She wrote in a letter to The Star, “On the fateful night of Feb. 22, I not only lost my husband but also my immigration status … I’m very fortunate that many people came to my rescue to get me back on a temporary status ... and are continuing to work on a permanent fix.”

The Supreme Court then gave the IRP a month and a half to come up with a plan that would address the concerns of over 30,000 homebuyers. It also declared its intention to nominate a lawyer who would participate in meetings called by the IRP to espouse the cause of homebuyers.

“This is a human problem of great magnitude. Banks cannot be selfish. We need to look into the interests of homebuyers too,” the court said, allowing Jaiprakash Associates to sell its land for depositing the money with its registry.

The sale, however, can only take place with the court’s approval.

The case, which is being closely watched in view of several construction projects falling apart due to paucity of funds, will now be heard in November.

Article 35A empowers the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide special rights and privileges to them. Also, it empowers the legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge from other states or any other right guaranteed by the Constitution.

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti welcomed Singh’s statement on issues confronting Jammu and Kashmir, saying the positivity would go a long way in putting balms on the wounds of the people.

The home minister said the security situation in Kashmir has improved, compared to last year. He appealed to tourists to visit the region known for its scenic beauty.

“I assure tourists from India and rest of the world that Kashmiris are ready to welcome you,” Singh said.

Singh met about 55 delegations of civil society and political representatives, but refused comments on why separatist Hurriyat leaders were not invited for talks.

Trying to reassure the Valley’s youth angry over alleged excesses by security forces fighting militancy, he said: “I have asked security forces to treat youth below 18 years, who are involved in criminal activities (militancy), as juveniles. They should be tried in juvenile courts.”