Faridabad :
While complaints regarding cyber crime — mostly financial frauds and cheating through misuse of debit and credit cards — have been piling up, the cyber cell of the local police seems to be grappling with problems of staff and facilities.

The proposal of setting up a separate cyber police station has been hanging fire for the past year, it is reported.

The cyber cell working from the Police Lines here has received around 1,200 complaints so far this year. The figure is likely to touch the 1,800 mark by the end of the year.

According to the police, the success rate has been 50 to 60 per cent. Several complaints remain unsolved due to “poor” facilities.

Admitting that the complaints were on the rise, Vinod Kumar, incharge, cyber cell, sought proper facilities and support from various agencies like the telecom companies. Setting up of a separate cyber police station would prove beneficial in tackling the complaints, he added.

A spokesperson of the Police Department claimed that work on the cyber police station was in progress, but did not give any deadline.

Majority of the complaints pertain to online frauds. Though the cyber cell incharge failed to provide details of the total cases solved this year, it is reported that the amount of money lost by the complainants each year had been more than Rs 2.5 crore. Three cases of cheating amounting to Rs 5 lakh surfaced last week.

“A common man doesn’t have the proper knowledge to approach the authorities concerned on time,” said Hema Kumari, wife of an Army man, who lost more than Rs 75,000 through ATM card cheating last year.

Kurukshetra :
The Kurukshetra University Non-Teaching Employees’ Association (KUNTEA) started indefinite strike demanding release of arrears as per the 7th Pay Commission recommendations and relaxation in qualification for promotion as the key demands.

Administrative work at various departments of Kurukshetra University was adversely affected as members of the association stayed away from the duty. It is the third major call of strike by KUNTEA in the last eight months.

There are about 1,600 non-teaching staffers. Only 700 outsourced employees worked on Wednesday.

No protest was held on the campus, and KUNTEA members did not report at work. Meanwhile, the KU administration has invoked ‘no work no pay’ rule while stating various demands raised by KUNTEA has been agreed upon by the authorities.

An official spokesperson said the Vice-Chancellor had appointed a five-member committee of Deans and the KUNTEA leaders had been invited for a dialogue.

The spokesperson said the VC had announced that university would disburse the arrears of Rs 10 crore as and when the funds were received from the state government.

The KU has not much financial resources to immediately pay the arrears to the employees. But the arrears are the legitimate right of KU staff and they would get it soon, he added. The spokesperson said the promotions for various posts would be done strictly as per the university rules.

Demand law to ban intra-gotra weddings | Will meet Modi, Shah

Kurukshetra :
Representatives of khap panchayats from various states have resolved to form a united platform — Jan Kalyan Manch — to push for their demand to legally ban intra-gotra marriages.

At a mahapanchayat held in Jind on Tuesday, the community leaders unanimously elected prominent khap leader from Delhi’s 360 villages Ram Karan Singh Solanki as the national patron, whereas Tek Ram Kandela of Sarvjatiya Khap Panchayat as the national convener of the manch.

A social and political leader from Jind, Kandela said the apolitical front was supported by khap leaders from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. He said the manch would soon nominate committee members with specific tasks to achieve their goals.

Kandela said the khap leaders decided to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and others to garner support for amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act.

“We want a Central legislation banning marriages within the gotra and villages. Such practices are breach of the traditional brotherhood in rural society. Matrimonial alliances of intra-gotra or villages are against the socially accepted norms and traditions of villages,” said Kandela.

Also, the community leaders demanded pension scheme for former members of panchayats on par with the MPs and MLAs, complete waiver of farm loans, a pension of Rs5,000 for each farmer above 42 years of age and implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report.

Kandela said Jind was a centrally located district of Haryana, and the government should promote an industrial hub for the development of the district.

Chandigarh :
In a unique initiative under “Haryana-Ek Sudhar” programme of the Khattar Government, farmers in Kaithal pledged not to burn stubble in a bid to reduced pollution and protect environment.

Scores of farmers, led by Guhla Cheeka MLA Kulwant Bazigar, converged at Kaithal and took pledge not to burn stubble and reiterated their resolve to protect environment. “In fact, this is perhaps for the first time in the region that farmers, who are usually blamed for stubble-burning resulting in large-scale pollution, have come forward to say no to stubble-burning and contribute their bit for environment protection,” Rocky Mittal, Project Director of “Haryana-Ek Sudhar” programme, told The Tribune here on Monday.

In fact, to replicate the Kaithal experiment across the state, the BJP government also initiated the preparation of the documentary on the issue of stubble-burning under “Haryana-Ek Sudhar” programme. Under the programme, started by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar a few months back, a specific reform is initiated every month by the state government for welfare of the public.

“Various aspects related to stubble-burning, including ill-effects of the stubble-burning, state government’s efforts to curb pollution through subsidies for the management of the stubble disposal through alternative means and various uses of stubble for the fertility of the soil, would be highlighted in the documentary. The documentary will be shown across the state to motivate the farmers not be burn stubble and use alternative methods to dispose of the crop residue,” Mittal asserted.

Meanwhile, sources said 112 farmers’ societies in Kaithal and 42 in Guhla Cheeka had been selected for grant of subsidy for crop residue management by the state government.

Bhiwani :
A day after a gangrape victim reportedly committed suicide over police “inaction”, the police on Tuesday arrested one of the three accused, Pradeep Kumar, even as her family started an indefinite dharna at the Civil Hospital here, refusing to take the body for cremation.

Members of her family demanded arrest of the other two accused and action against police officials, who they alleged drove the girl to commit suicide. The three accused are also Dalits.

Kumar’s family, too, started a dharna at the Mini-Secretariat, claiming that the victim’s family was implicating him as he had an old enmity with them.

The police have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Gohana Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Narender Bijarnia to investigate the alleged incident of gangrape and suicide by the victim.

The gangrape victim had committed suicide by hanging herself in her house at a village in Bhiwani district on Monday night. Her family alleged she took the extreme step because of the failure of the police to arrest the accused.

On the night of August 17, she was allegedly kidnapped from her home and raped.

On Tuesday, the SIT chief held a meeting with an 11-member committee, which was constituted to fight for justice for the victim and her family. After the meeting, he said the Director General of Police had ordered him to conduct the inquiry. “One of the accused has been arrested. The police are gathering evidence,” he added.