Former Cong minister Henry loses citizenship

 

Jalandhar, September 19
The Ministry of Home Affairs (Foreigners Division) has ceased the Indian citizenship of senior Congress leader and transporter Avtar Henry.

In a communication to Principal Secretary (Homes) DS Bains, Undersecretary, Union Government, SN Garg has said the Centre, while exercising powers under Sections 9(2) of the Citizenship Act-1955, had ceased Henry’s Indian citizenship from the date he acquired British citizenship and passport in 1969.

Henry, however, is at liberty to acquire Indian citizenship by following the procedures laid down under the law.

In the letter, Garg stated that an inquiry report forwarded by the Additional Director General of Punjab Police specified that the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, was not in possession of any record that could be used to ascertain whether Henry had submitted an application to acquire Indian citizenship or not. Henry had acquired an Indian passport in 1981 and subsequently in 2004. The passport can be issued only to an Indian citizen.

But the records of the Foreigners Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that the division had not granted Indian citizenship to Avtar Henry from 1981 onwards.

The letter sent by Garg to Bains stated that the fact that he had acquired a British passport conclusively proved that he had acquired British citizenship and thereby automatically ceased to be an India citizen under Sections 9(1) of the Citizenship Act-1955 from the date of the acquisition of British citizenship.

Case history

Henry had landed in a trouble following allegations of dual citizenship levelled by his son Gurjit Singh Sanghera. The Union Home Ministry had summoned him to Delhi to clear his stand.

Henry was asked to appear before the ministry on July 10, 2012. Henry had appeared before SM Garg and recorded his statement.

In November 2009, Sanghera had accused his father of possessing two passports. In his complaint, Sanghera had alleged that Avtar Singh ‘Sanghera’ had been to England on an Indian passport, which he had procured from the passport office in Delhi by posing as Lakhbir Singh Sanghera’s son. Lakhbir Singh Sanghera is, in fact, Henry’s elder brother and his father’s name is Joginder Singh.

The complainant had further alleged that Henry had made a false averment in the British passport that his “father”, Lakhbir Singh Sanghera, had died in 1905. Lakhbir Singh had actually died in November 2006.

The complaint further read that Avtar Henry (‘son’ of Lakhbir Singh) took British citizenship on the old passport issued by the Indian Government. He later managed to get a passport from the British government and returned to India in September 1969. He yet again got a passport prepared from the Jalandhar passport officer, showing himself as the son of Joginder Singh (the real father) and born in Pakistan.

The complainant had sought charges under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 494 of the IPC against Henry. The Jalandhar police acted on the complaint, but the files were gathering dust at the SSP’s office.

The case was later reopened by the city police after Sanghera, through his friend Ajay Sehgal, an RTI activist, moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The court had directed the Union Home Ministry, Punjab Chief Secretary and the DGP to complete an ongoing probe into a complaint against Henry in four months.

Son relieved

Gurjit Singh Sanghera has expressed satisfaction at the union government’s decision to cease Henry’s Indian citizenship. Talking to The Tribune, Sanghera claimed that he would move an application before the city police Commissioner seeking his arrest.

BJP veteran Bakshi Ram Arora is Amritsar Mayor

Amritsar, September 19
The BJP high command today appointed veteran leader Bakshi Ram Arora as the city Mayor, putting to rest the tussle between two factions of the local unit lobbying hard for respective candidates.
The three-time BJP councillor’s name was proposed by SAD Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inderbir Bolaria and seconded by BJP Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi during the first meeting of the fifth Amritsar Municipal Corporation House at Town Hall.
SAD councillors Avtar Singh Truckanwala and Avinash Jolly were unanimously elected Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively. Their names were proposed by Joshi and seconded by Bolaria.

The presiding officer, Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner SR Ladhar, administered the oath to the newly elected councillors.

Chandigarh gets rid of its ‘disturbed area’ tag after 29 years

Chandigarh, September 19
Around three decades after it was labelled a “disturbed area”, Chandigarh today finally managed to shrug off the tag, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashing a notification to that effect.

The tag was given to Chandigarh in 1983 during the dark days of militancy in Punjab. The intention was to bestow special powers on the Administration, the police and the security forces for effectively dealing with militancy between 1981 and 1992.

Since Punjab was mostly under President’s Rule, Chandigarh was also brought under the Punjab Governor’s purview. He was, in fact, made the UT Administrator.

Punjab gave up the title in 1997. But nearly two decades after militancy was wiped out from the state, Chandigarh refused to let go the “disturbed” status. This was despite the fact that no major terror incident took place in the city after 1995.

As a petition filed in public interest on the issue came up for resumed hearing before the high court this morning, the Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain held that Chandigarh was no longer a disturbed area, as the notification had ceased to have any relevance in present times.

The Bench minced no words in holding that the Chandigarh Administration had failed to justify the relevance of such notifications in present times, particularly when no terror incident had been reported in the city for the past many years.

The court also observed chances were that the tag was acting as a deterrent for tourists. So many of them would obviously be reluctant to visit the city after finding it labelled on the Internet as a disturbed area, the Bench added.

The development is significant also because the Chandigarh Administration had, just about two days ago, made clear its intention of not withdrawing the notification declaring Chandigarh a disturbed area.

Appearing before the high court during a hearing on the petition filed by Janata Dal (United) president Surinder Bhardwaj, the UT senior standing counsel Sanjay Kaushal had claimed that besides accommodating government functionaries of Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh was also catering to the security needs of protected persons actively involved in the fight against terrorism.

ADMINISTRATOR STAYS

• Though the “disturbed area” tag has gone, the Punjab Governor remains the Chandigarh Administrator
• The petitioner said after the issuance of the notification, the Punjab Governor was appointed the Chandigarh Administrator. But after 1986, no such notification was issued, he argued while seeking revival of the Chief Commissioner’s post
• The high court refused to accept the plea stating the relief was not even sought in the petition

Bank strike in India cripples services

 

Mumbai, August 22
A two-day strike by employees of nationalised banks, 12 old generation private banks and eight foreign banks crippled banking services across the country.
The strike call by the United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU), the umbrella organisation of several trade unions and officers’ associations of banks, received overwhelming response with more than a million employees staying away from work, the UFBU said in a statement here.
The All-India Bank Employees Association, the biggest of the unions, said the strike aimed at preventing passage of the banking reforms Bill that aimed at amending the banking laws to allow managements to fix salaries as per their banks’ financial performance. The proposals also involved greater leeway for managements to promote and recruit employees directly from the market in addition to raising qualifications for employees, AIBEA general secretary Vishwas Utagi said.
Under the garb of banking reforms, managements were being allowed to outsource important functions to third-party operators, unions alleged. This, they said, would jeopardise the rural initiatives of major nationalised banks.
According to the unions, routine banking services for customers, foreign exchange transactions, cheque clearance and capital market activities were affected. Analysts said the volume of transactions in the forex markets was low as only the major private banks were operating today.
Customers were depending more on the ATMs as the bank managements had made advance arrangement for loading the machines with cash. “Several banks, including the SBI, have outsourced cash-loading business with private firms. Most of the ATMs have enough capacity,” a senior SBI official said. However, the fund movement of individuals and corporates would get affected because of delays in cheque clearances.
The volumes in the government bond and share markets were also impacted.

PROTESTING REFORMS

Over 10 lakh employees and officers all over the country joined the strike

The call for the two-day strike was given by the United Forum of Banking Unions

The strike aimed at preventing passage of the banking reforms Bill

The Bill would allow managements to fix salaries as per banks’ financial performance

AROMA MURDER

Charges framed against eight accused

Chandigarh, August 17
A local court today framed charges of culpable homicide against eight accused involved in the murder of a youth at Aroma lights in January this year. Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Preeti Sahni framed charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the IPC against all the accused.

While the UT police had initially registered a case of murder following the incident, it had dropped the charges of murder and converted the charges to culpable homicide in the chargesheet filed in the case in April.

The court framed charges under Section 304 IPC against Sukhjit Singh Sooch, a Mohali resident, Harsimranjeet Singh (28), a resident of Sector 44, Chandan Singh (24), Sandeep Kumar (27), Gautam Singh (23), all residents of Burail, Anand Singh (27) and Mahavir Singh (25), both residents of Sector 41, and Prashant Kumar Dabral (31), a resident of Sector 49.

The incident had occurred past midnight when 28-year-old Harminder Singh was killed following a scuffle outside the Aroma lights in Sector 22. The victim, an MBA student, had recently returned from Ireland and had gone to Aroma when he got into a scuffle with a group of youths. He was murdered in a spur of a moment and the attack was not pre-planned, the police had stated.

During the course of arguments of framing of charges, it was argued that the accused came out of the coffee shop while they were having ice-cream. The group then got into a scuffle with the youth and following verbal arguments, they beat Harminder up and stabbed him to death. The assaulting youths had fled leaving behind their Scorpio's number.

The case is now listed for next hearing in September when the trial will begin.

Balkrishan released from jail

 

Dehradun, August 17
Balkrishan, close aide of yoga guru Ramdev, was released from the Sadhowala jail in Dehradun this evening after he was granted bail by the Nainital High Court yesterday. A single Bench of Justice Tarun Aggarwal granted bail to him. He also ordered Balkrishan to furnish two personal sureties of Rs 10 lakh and directed him to appear in person in lower court for further hearing.

Balkrishan was arrested by the CBI for forgery and the violation of the Indian Passport Act. He appealed to the high court for bail after his bail plea was turned down twice by lower courts. A Special CBI court rejected his bail plea on July 20, the day he was arrested from Haridwar and by the Dehradun District Courts on July 31.

After coming out of the jail, Balkrishan said the UPA government would not be able to quell discontent growing against black money stashed in banks in foreign countries. He added he along with Ramdev would continue to wage a fight against corruption and black money.

Balkrishan said the UPA government had implicated him in a false case to divert attention from its scams and it would not be able to prove anything against him.

Ramdev said his fast against black money held in New Delhi was a runaway success. He added trust shown by the public in him had encouraged him to intensify his agitation. The convoy of Ramdev and Balkrishan passed through many parts of the city, including Clock Tower and Rajpur Road, where their supporters raised slogans in their favour. They also showered flowers on the duo. 

6 killed, several hurt in U.S. gurudwara shooting

Wisconsin - At least six persons have been killed and several injured, some critically by one or more gunmen at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, a gurudwara, in what appeared to be a hate crime in Oak Creek, a quiet suburb of Milwaukee. (reports said that an "active shooter” killed at scene and 6 others have been killed at the gurudwara).

After news of the shooting broke around mid-day local time, media reports quoted Lee Biblo, Chief Medical Officer at nearby Froedtert Hospital, saying that three male adults had been brought into the operating room in critical condition, with gunshot wounds to abdomen and the face.

Meanwhile aerial television footage showed at least one body lying near a parking lot outside the gurudwara. A CNN report quoted Gurcharan Grewal, president of the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin, saying that multiple sources had confirmed that “there were wounded people still inside the temple and that there may have been multiple perpetrators.”

Reports also quoted an unnamed member of the Sikh community saying that a Sikh priest visiting from New Delhi, India, was said to have been shot at, at the scene of the crime. Even as breaking news indicated that at least one gunman may still be inside the gurudwara, law enforcement officers were said to have “returned fire and [a] shooter was put down.”

One police officer was injured in an exchange of fire. Chief Bradley Wentlandt of the Greenfield, Wisconsin Police said that “multiple rounds were exchanged and the officer was shot multiple times,” and the shooter was “presumed deceased.” Mr. Wentlandt however noted that based on information on police scanners there was still no clear evidence that there were multiple perpetrators.

While Mr. Biblo said no women or children had been brought into the hospital yet, Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh council on Religion and Education in Washington said that women and children may have been among those in the gurudwara at the time of the shooting, generally on site at this time of day to prepare the community meal.

However, other local hospitals reportedly received victims from the shooting incident too and a full list of potential victims was not yet available. Amardeep Kaleka who said his father was in the gurudwara at the time of the attack, said to media outlets that his father had sought refuge apparently hid in a closet and said to his son on the phone, “They’re out there.”

Mr. Kaleka added that the police informed him around "26 to 28 people had been shot", including the head priest who was "bleeding profusely."

Meanwhile the Indian embassy in Washington said that it was "seized of the situation and has been in touch with the National Security Council in Washington, D.C." While the Indian Consulate General in Chicago too has been in "close touch with the local authorities to monitor the situation," the embassy also noted that an official has been deputed to visit the site "to ascertain the situation on-the-spot."

Police describe chaotic scene

Authorities were on the scene on Sunday of shootings at the Sikh Temple near Milwaukee, where police and witnesses described a chaotic situation with an unknown number of victims, suspects and possible hostages.

Police were called to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in the suburb of Oak Creek on Sunday morning, when witnesses said several dozen people were gathering for a service. They responded with a dozen ambulances, although Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt said it wasn’t clear how many people had been shot.

Mr. Wentlandt also said it wasn’t clear how many suspects were involved, although one opened fire on an officer and the officer “put down” that man. Wentlandt said the officer was shot multiple times.

Three shooting victims, all men, were taken to Froederdt Hospital in Milwaukee, the main trauma center for the area, spokeswoman Carolyn Bellin said. One was in the operating room, another in a surgical intensive care unit and the third was being evaluated in the emergency room, she said.

Sukhwindar Nagr, of Racine, said he called his brother-in-law’s phone and a priest at the temple answered and told him that his brother-in-law had been shot, along with three priests. The priest also said women and children were hiding in closets in the temple, Mr. Nagr said.