Briefly Region

Man booked for raping four-year-old girl
Amritsar: The Chheherta police booked a 32-year-old man on Wednesday on charges of raping the four-year-old daughter of his friend. According to the child’s mother,accused Arvind Kumar was like a brother to them and he stayed in the same room with their children,including the victim. On the night of September 26,the complainant said,she heard the loud cries of her daughter. On reaching the room,they found her in a serious condition. As the family got busy taking the bleeding girl to hospital,the accused fled. The family told the police they initially hesitated to report the matter to the police but later decided to bring the accused to book. The police have registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC and are on the lookout for the accused.

Work to improve sex ratio: Faridkot DC to health dept
Faridkot: Deputy Commissioner Dr S Karuna Raju has asked his health department and health committees to ensure that the child sex ratio at birth improves in Faridkot district,which is 834 girls per 1,000 boys. At a meeting of the advisory committee of health department on Wednesday,Dr Raju announced: “I will personally visit and honour the families,which are content with daughters or where women have refused to undergo abortion after they came to know that they could be carrying a girl child.” The DC has also asked the health department to “immediately report any incident of female foeticide”. He added: “Female foeticide is one area which I have asked the health committees to concentrate on. This will remain our priority.” Raju also asked the department to promote birth control measures among the public. “Drug addiction is another area which we need to address,” he added. With the festival and marriage season round the corner,the DC also asked the health department to keep a close watch on the sale of spurious milk and khoya.

Four arrested with 5 kg heroin
Amritsar: The Amritsar police arrested four persons and recovered five kilograms of heroin from their possession. SSP (Rural) Gurmit Singh Chauhan said the four seemed to be in touch with smugglers in Pakistan. Those arrested are Harjit Singh,Charanjit Singh,both residents of Panj Garayian,and Joginder Singh and Gurwinder Singh,residents of Ghumrain. Their accomplice,Avinash,a local resident,is absconding. “They have admitted to their links with the smuggling racket in Pakistan. Further investigations are on,” said Chauhan.

GNDU bags research project
Amritsar: The Department of Biotechnology (DBT),Ministry of Science and Technology,Government of India,has sanctioned a major research project under the scheme,“Joint Indo-German agreement on Biotechnology”,to Dr Vanita Kumar,Reader,Department of Human Genetics at Guru Nanak Dev University. She will work on the Rs 1.7-crore project,“The Neurobiology of Hereditary Retinal Diseases: Genes and Molecular Dysfunctions Underlying Disorders of the Neuroretina”,for three years,a university statement said on Wednesday. Kumar said the major objectives of the research proposal were identification of genes and mutations for night blindness and other retinal diseases.