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Girija Vyas appointed new NCW chief

    New Delhi: The government today appointed senior Congress leader Girija Vyas as the new chairperson of National Commission for Women (NCW). She succeeds Poornima Advani, a NDA appointee. Advani's term ended on January 24. Her name has been cleared by the Union Ministry for HRD for the post, informed official sources. An official announcement on the appointment is expected shortly. Girija, a former Union Minister, will have the rank of Cabinet minister. Girija has also been the chief of the Rajasthan Congress. She currently heads the party's media unit at the AICC. In the last Lok Sabha general elections, she lost from Udaipur. Other names, which were being considered for the post were those of actress Shabana Azmi and social activist Nafisa Ali.

Suspect in Kislay kidnapping killed (Go To Top)

    Patna: The main suspect in the abduction of the DPS boy from Patna, Kislay, has been killed in Patna in an encounter with the police. The encounter was a joint operation by the Patna police and the Special Task Force (STF). Body of Thakur has been sent to the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) for post-mortem examination. Kislay Kaushal was kidnapped on January 19 and was released on February 2 near Patna following widespread protests and police action. The killing of Thakur comes a day after three of his associates were arrested in Delhi. Their interrogation revealed that they had made an elaborate plan for kidnapping Kislay. Investigations have revealed that Kislay was first kept in Muzzafarpur in Bihar, but was later moved to places near Patna when police pressure mounting on the kidnappers. According to the police, Chunu Thakur, who is lodged in Hajipur jail, masterminded the kidnapping. The release of the DPS boy came after Chunu Thakur's mother and sister were arrested.

Geelani said to be out of danger (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Prof SAR Geelani, who was acquitted for any involvement in the attack on Parliament in 2001, has been operated successfully and is said to be out of danger. Geelani is recovering at the capital's AIIMS hospital, a day after being shot by some unidentified assailants outside his lawyer Nandita Haksar's house in South Delhi. As the teacher of Arabics was being operated, several of his supporters turned up at the hospital and showed their anger over the attack. Now, the Delhi Police have a task to themselves-to find out who tried to kill Geelani-one of the main suspects in the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack. Two days after the Parliament attack, Geelani, who was a teacher of Arabic at the Zakir Hussain College since 1998, was arrested by the Delhi police and was charged as one of the main conspirators of the terrorist attack. He was arrested by the police on the basis of intercepts of a call from his mobile phone to his stepbrother in Srinagar. Later, he was found guilty by a POTA court and was subsequently awarded death sentence. However, the Delhi High Court in 2003 found that the evidence against him was inadmissible in court and acquitted him. Soon after being released, Geelani started a campaign against the human rights violations in Kashmir.

      Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today directed the Delhi Police to submit a progress report on its investigations into Tuesday's attack on Professor S.A.R. Geelani.