Delhi underground

15 minutes of fame

The Arushi Talwar-Hemraj double murder is one of the most high-profile cases that the Ghaziabad court has ever seen. While the CBI has a separate set of lawyers,the criminal case advocates in Ghaziabad have all been wanting to represent one of the parties in the case. The ones who are already part of the hearing are trying to make the best use of media attention. One of the lawyers involved,who represents a domestic help initially named as an accused,now has a board outside his chamber. It reads,“Arushi case mein shaamil. Rashtriya khyati prapt abhivakta,” courtesy of all the media attention.

Never lie to the court

What could have initially appeared as an innocuous exercise to skip a summons by the court has put a Delhi Police constable in trouble. In March,the constable,posted with Seelampur police station in Northeast Delhi,sent a letter stating that he could not appear in court as he was on medical leave. Three months on,Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Rana has started criminal proceeding against him for perjury and not attending the court as per an order. The reason: The magistrate asked the area ACP if the constable was actually on medical leave on March 20. It turned out that he was not. Incensed with the falsity,the magistrate forwarded a complaint to his senior judge for taking action against the constable.

DU is Arjuna,SOL Eklavya

Though it admits more students every year (about 1.2 lakh) than all Delhi University colleges put together,DU’s School of Open Learning (SOL) is usually treated as poor cousin to campus colleges. SOL officials are critical of the disparity in resources allotted to the school compared to colleges. But they seem to have made their peace by looking at Indian mythology. “We consider ourselves to be on the side of Eklavya. It is a more important task. Our students don’t have all that Arjuna has,but it is our duty to make sure they learn as Eklavya did — from a distance. Except that they shouldn’t lose their thumbs,” said a senior SOL official.

Early bird catches worm

In the race for pushing its World Heritage City nomination,Ahmedabad has not only left the Capital behind but the latter’s indifference has now begun to irk conservationists. Top heritage experts rued that while the Chief Minister of Gujarat himself took initiative to see the nomination dossier come through and got all officials including the municipality to expedite work,it took over eight months for Delhi to organise its first stakeholders meet this month. “Ahmedabad,which conceptualised and developed its bid to be a heritage city much later than Delhi,is already on the tentative nomination list while the Capital is yet to figure on it,” said a conservationist.

To curb thefts

Some police vehicles which were earlier deployed at India Gate have now been sent to Barakhamba Road to check increasing daytime thefts and robberies. According to a police officer,a number of police vehicles,including Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs),PCR vans and the Vajra vehicle have now been moved to Barakhamba Road area. “Not many people visit India Gate during daytime due to the heat However,thefts and daytime robberies at Barakhmba Road have increased. There are a number of banks and financial institutions there and people carrying money exiting and entering these offices are at risk. So,the QRTs and PCR vans keep a watch in the area during the day and go back to India Gate at night,” the officer said.