Varsity scraps pregnancy clause

Shimla (PTI): A controversial order of the Himachal Pradesh University asking married women applying for admission to B.Ed to furnish ?not-pregnant? certificates has been dropped after the state women?s commission slapped a notice terming the provision ?inhuman and discriminatory?.

Taking suo motu notice of news reports saying married women were asked to produce such certificates during counselling for the course, the commission issued the notice demanding clarification on the “discriminatory” provision.

The commission’s chairperson, Viplov Thakur, said she was shocked to know that such a provision existed. It reflected a clear bias against married women and was “untenable”, she added.

Kids’ home chief in sleaze net

Akola (PTI): The president of the now-defunct Mahesh Murti children’s remand home at Umri on the city’s outskirts has been arrested in connection with a sexual exploitation case.

The accused is the wife of Aurangabad district social welfare officer Sahebrao Laxmanrao Jadhav, and has been taken to Aurangabad for interrogation, police said.

Jadhav was earlier arrested and released on bail for alleged misconduct and outraging the modesty of girls in the remand home run by his wife.

Another case of sexual exploitation was registered against the couple at Aurangabad police station on a complaint filed by two girls in the remand home there. They alleged Jadhav exploited them several times with the active connivance of his wife.

RDX ruled out

Lucknow (PTI): Preliminary investigations into Thursday?s blast on the Shramjeevi Express indicate that ammonium nitrate was the explosive used, not RDX.

Assistant director-general of railways B.K. Bhalla said there were “no features of RDX being used”.

Rane in cabinet

New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission has declared the results of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2005. The selected candidates have qualified for the Civil Service (Main) Examination, an official press release said.

Poachers held

Tiruchirapalli (PTI): Two persons have been arrested for allegedly killing a deer in Kaikalathur area. Forest officials caught the poachers carrying the carcass in a gunny bag, police said.

A fast track court in Namakkal in Tamil Nadu has delivered a judgment in a murder case in 22 days, sentencing a person to life imprisonment after examining 21 witnesses.