Bill to shield kids from police

New Delhi: The government has decided to table two bills in Parliament’s monsoon session to reform the criminal justice system for juveniles and give more teeth to the National Human Rights Commission.

The first, amending the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2005, aims to protect children from police exploitation. It redefines juvenile as persons under the age of 18. At present, boys under 16 and girls under 18 are considered juvenile.

The bill makes it mandatory to produce a juvenile before the Juvenile Justice Board within 24 hours of arrest and eliminates the role of policemen in dealing with them.

The second legislation amending the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, will empower the NHRC to carry out surprise jail visits to inspect the living conditions of undertrials and convicts.

Sahil gets back car

New Delhi: Sahil Zaroo, a co-accused in the Rahul Mahajan drug abuse case, will get back his cherry red Chevrolet Aveo that was seized by police. On Thursday, the court asked the police to return the car, believed to have been used to get the drugs consumed on the night of June 1 at Mahajan’s house.

“The police cannot hope to find any new evidence that they have not yet discovered, from the car now,” special judge S.N. Gupta said. The car, which cost Sahil’s father Rs 7.35 lakh, was bought on May 24.

Rahul, who wants his cell phone back, will have to wait till July 10 when the judge will decide on his plea. His lawyers said the late Pramod Mahajan’s son needs the phone to “renew his deep rooted ties in Mumbai society.”

Submarines

New Delhi (PTI): The cabinet committee on security has approved the purchase of three more Russian stealth warships and 28 submarine-fired cruise missiles.

The three frigates would be acquired at a cost of Rs 5,114 crore, defence minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday.

SIMI ban

New Delhi (PTI) The Supreme Court has refused to lift the ban imposed on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) since 2001. When the court made it clear that it was not inclined to entertain SIMI’s petition, its counsel withdrew the petition, which was dismissed as “withdrawn”.

Cop kills man

Ahmedabad (PTI): A head constable allegedly stabbed a youth to death in a scuffle on Wednesday night.The cop had asked the youth to clear dues owed to a pan shop owner, after which they had a scuffle.

The Tamil Nadu Agriculture University has developed a variety of genetically modified brinjal, which offers high resistance to the shoot and fruit borer pest.