06032023-TT-01.qxd 05-03-2023 22:42 Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 143 NO. 64 | 12 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2021-2023 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  HIMACHAL PRADESH CHINA RAISES DEFENCE BUDGET AS XI BEGINS 3RD TERM WORLD /thetribunechd REORIENT FARMING TO BUILD HEAT TOLERANCE INFOCUS DRUG MONEY FLOWING TO PAKISTAN TO FUEL TERROR: DGP J&K PM: NANO DAP FERTILISER TO MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR FARMERS BACK PAGE monday | 6 march 2023 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Life sentence for Captain for Amshipura ‘staged’ encounter Nine Oppnparties write to PM on ‘misuse’ of probe agencies, slam Sisodia’s arrest Subject to confirmation by higher Army authorities Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 5 A general court martial (GCM) has recommended life imprisonment to a Captain in connection with the killing of three civilians in a “staged encounter” at Amshipura in Shopian district of Kashmir in July 2020. The GCM’s verdict is subject to confirmation by the Army headquarters in Delhi, following which the officer will have the right to move a civilian court. Sources said the punishment recommended after the GCM proceedings undergo a rigorous process till it is finalised by the Army HQ after due legal consultation. The officer has pleaded not guilty to the Claim India transitioning from democracy to autocracy |Cong, DMK, Left not among signatories ABOUT THE JULY 2020 CASE ■ Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed Aditi Tandon and Mohammed Ibrar from Rajouri dist were killed in a village of Shopian on July 18, 2020, and labelled ‘terrorists’ ■ Following protests in Kashmir, a court of inquiry (CoI) was convened by the Army ■ CoI held that AFSPA provisions were misused & SOPs violated ■ J&K Police also set up a SIT, which filed a chargesheet against three persons, including the Capt, for ‘fake encounter’ ■ Tabish Nazir & Bilal Ahmed Tribune News Service Lone, also named in the chargesheet, in police custody ■ Identity of the youths was confirmed through DNA test I Bodies were handed over to kin in Baramulla in Oct 2020 and buried in native village charges levelled against him. Captain Bhoopendra Singh was subjected to the GCM proceedings after a Court of Inquiry and Summary of Evidence found that the powers vested under the continued on page 9 Arrested in Rohtak with illegal weapons, trainee SI suspended New Delhi, March 5 Leaders of nine opposition parties sans the Congress, DMK and the Left, on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging misuse of central probe agencies and Governors to “settle scores outside the electoral battlefield” and said India “appeared to be transitioning from a democracy to an autocracy”. The opposition leaders said the trend was “condemnable as it did not bode well for democracy”. “We hope you would agree that India is still a democratic country. The blatant misuse of central agencies against FAREWELL TO TENNIS INTERNATIONAL WRESTLER WAS ASIAN CHAMP I urge everyone, including lawyers, to join Kapil Sibal sahib’s ‘Insaaf ke Sipahi’. It’s an important initiative & we’ll fight ‘injustice’ together. Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in police custody. FILE PHOTO the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy,” said the letter signed by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee (TMC), her coun- A teary-eyed tennis legend Sania Mirza with her son as she ends her path-breaking journey, at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. PTI Tribune News Service Karnal/Hisar, March 5 After fetching a good price in the past two years, mustard crop has disappointed farmers this year. It is being procured by private players below the minimum support price (MSP), which is Rs 5,450 per quintal. Farmers say the government is yet to start procurement while private players are buying their produce in DELHI CM Abdullah, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The leaders wrote to the PM close on the heels of the February 26 arrest of AAP’s Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Drunk student pees on co-flyer aboard NY-Delhi flight, booked New Delhi, March 5 A drunk flyer was booked on Sunday for allegedly urinating on a fellow passenger on a New York-New Delhi flight. The accused has been identified as Aryan Vohra, a 20-yearold student doing post-graduation in a US university. The incident happened on American Airlines flight AA292, which took off from New York on Friday and landed at the Indira Gandhi international (IGI) airport in New Delhi on Saturday, after BARRED BY AIRLINE ■ Incident took place on an American Airlines’ flight ■ Airline has imposed a flying ban on the student ■ DCP said a case registered, investigation underway a journey of nearly 14 hours. The airline has imposed a flying ban on the passenger. “American Airlines flight 292 with service from John F Kennedy International Airport to Indira Gandhi international airport was met by local law enforcement upon arrival in Delhi due to a disruptive customer. The flight landed safely at 9.50 pm,” American Airlines said in a statement. “Upon aircraft arrival, the purser informed that the passenger was heavily intoxicated and was not adhering to crew instructions on board. He was repeatedly arguing with the operating crew, was continued on page 9 ■ Naina Kanwalhas participated in international wrestling events in Mongolia, Hungary & Romania ■ Won gold in U-23 Asian Championship in Mongolia in 2019 registered a case against her under the Arms Act and arrested her. The police also seized the two country made pistols she had thrown out. On Saturday, the police produced her in court which sent her into judicial custody. Her father Ramkaran and mother Bala Devi were former sarpanches at Sutana from 2005 to 2015. Born in February 2006, Naina was fond of wrestling from her continued on page 9 Prison clash video viral, jail supdt held No student, Himachal denotifies 286 schools 2 accused in Moosewala Tribune News Service Chandigarh/TarnTaran, March 5 Seven officials of the Goindwal Sahib jail were suspended and five of them arrested after a video went viral in which gangsters claimed responsibility for the murder of two members of the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang, both accused in the Moosewala case, during the February 26 prison clash. Sukhchain Gill, IGP said , casewere killed on Feb 26 Iqbal Singh Brar, Vijay Kumar, Jaspal Singh, three ASIs and an SI had been suspended. The video purportedly shows Sachin Bhiwani and Ankit Sirsa of the Bishnoi gang celebrating the killing of Mandeep Singh Toofan and Manmohan Singh. The jail authorities have already shifted 18 inmates to jails in other states to avoid any more clashes. Sources say of the 25 accused persons in the Moosewala case lodged in the Goindwal jail, 18 have been shifted to jails in Kapurthala, Ferozpur, Ropar, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar. The Tarn Taran police had booked Manpreet Bhau, Sachin Bhiwani, Ankit, Kashish, Rajinder, Arshad Khan and Malkit Singh, all members of the Bishnoi gang, after the clash. Low yield, poor prices disappoint mustard farmers Parveen Arora/ Deepender Deswal terparts BRS’ K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana), AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi) and Bhagwant Mann (Punjab), RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, NC chairman Farooq Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Panipat, March 5 Naina Kanwal, a woman trainee sub-inspector (SI) of the Rajasthan Police, who was arrested from Rohtak on Friday is an internationallevel wrestler and hailed from Sutana village of the district. She is active on social media platforms and has a long list of followers. After the arrest, she has been placed on suspension by the Rajasthan Police. On Friday, Haryana police personnel — along with the Delhi Police — went to arrest Sumit Nandal, who is wanted in a kidnapping case registered in 2021 at Mohan Garden police station, Delhi, from an apartment at Rohtak. As the Rohtak police team knocked on the door, a woman with two pistols in her hands opened the door. When she saw the police, she threw the illegal weapons outside the house. The police team immediately nabbed the woman, who was later identified as Naina Kanwal, trainee SI in Rajasthan Police. The police JOIN SIBAL’S FRONT the range of Rs 4,600 to Rs 5,000 per quintal. Farmers have asked the government to start the procurement process at the earliest so that they can sell their produce at least at the MSP . Agriculture Minister JP Dalal today announced in Bhiwani that the government would start procurement of mustard from March 28. Ajay Kumar, a farmer of Khera village in Indri block, said in 2022, mustard was procured between Rs 6,000 and PROCURED BELOW MSP ■ Crop being bought by private play- ers below MSP which is ~5,450 , per quintal ■ Farmers have asked the govt to start the procurement process at the earliest ■ Agriculture Minister JP Dalal announced that procurement A woman harvests mustard crop. would start on March 28 Rs 6,600 per quintal by private purchasers, while in 2021, it was procured between Rs 5,000 and Rs 5,500 per quintal. “During the off season in 2021, I sold mustard at Rs 8,000 per quintal. This season has been bad,” he said. “The MSP of mustard is Rs 5,450 per quintal, but it is being procured between Rs 4,600 and Rs 5,000 per quintal, which is a loss to the farming community. The procurement prices are coming down with each passing day,” said Nawab Singh, a farmer. “Farmers are being forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices by the private players as the government is yet to start procurement,” said Jai Singh, another farmer. continued on page 9 Tribune News Service Shimla, March 5 The state government has denotified 286 schools, including 228 primary and 56 middle schools, with zero enrolment. “There was not even a single student in these schools during the past five years. So, it has been decided to denotify these institutions,” said Education Minister Rohit Thakur while announcing the decision to shut down these schools here today. The minister clarified that most of these institutions were opened in the past five years during the BJP regime. Thakur said the government had worked out the parameters to decide the fate of around 320 educational institutions opened by the previous Jai Ram government towards the fag end of its tenure. “Whether these schools will continue will be decided on the basis of the strength of students in these institutions. For primary schools, the minimum strength will be more than 10, excise policy scam, and said the allegations against Delhi’s former Deputy CM “were baseless and smacked of a political conspiracy”. This is the first time a grouping of prominent opposition leaders has directly engaged the PM on the alleged “vendetta politics through the misuse of central agencies”’, though all of them have individually been raising this issue. The opposition leaders further accused probe agencies of “going slow” on corruption cases involving opposition leaders who joined the BJP , and asked why no agency was investigating a “certain continued on page 9 IN BRIEF Punjab-cadre officer to be Chandigarh SSP CHANDIGARH: Kanwardeep Kaur, a 2013-batch Punjab cadre IPS officer, will soon take charge of SSP, Chandigarh. Kaur is presently posted as SSP, Ferozepur. She will hold the office for three years. TNS Man accused of issuing threat to PM acquitted NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has acquitted a man, identified as Mohd Mukhtar Ali, accused of threatening to kill PM in a call to police helpline, saying the prosecution failed to show evidence to prove the charge. PTI Actor Sheezan Khan out of jail on bail THANE: TV actor Sheezan Khan, in jail since December 25 last year for allegedly abetting the suicide of co-actor Tunisha Sharma, on Sunday walked out of jail after a court granted him bail. PTI STAFF RATIONALISATION India, Sri Lanka mull using rupee for trade ON GOVT’S MIND ■ Fixes criteria to decide fate of 320 educational institutions opened by previous Jai Ram govt ■ Education Minister says govt working on rationalisation of staff to reform education sector for middle schools, it will be 15, for high schools, it will be 20 and for senior secondary schools, it will be 25,” he said, adding that the schools meeting the criteria would continue to function. For colleges to stay functional, the minimum strength had been fixed at 65. Thakur said the government had taken a liberal view as the minimum strength criteria had been relaxed for continued on page 9 COLOMBO: India and Sri Lanka are exploring the possibility of using Indian rupee for economic transactions and have discussed the initiative that will help build a stronger partnership through trade, investment. INSIDE