Call for teeth to curb harassment

New Delhi (PTI): Former chief justice J.S. Verma has called on civil society to give suggestions on a proposed law for prevention of sexual harassment of women in their workplace.

The government is already examining a draft bill on prevention and redressal of such harassment.

?People have to be vigilant and should give their suggestions to the government on the draft bill to ensure that we don?t land up with a half-baked, inadequate and ineffective law,? he said on Saturday while unveiling a manual on legal remedies to deal with sexual harassment at work, formulated by a non-government organisation with support from Oxfam.

The government should get support from ?people who know? on creating a legislation that acts as an effective deterrent and also provides adequate redressal when required, Verma said.

Merely the law will not be enough in dealing with the problem. ?Social sanction is always more powerful than law, so what is required is creating an atmosphere where women are respected and sexual harassment is not taken lightly,? the former chief justice said.

HC eye on Pokhran radiation

Jodhpur (PTI): Rajasthan High Court has issued notices to the Centre and state governments on a public interest litigation alleging adverse effects of nuclear tests on people, animals and plant species in the Pokhran region, where such tests were conducted in May 1998.

A division bench, consisting of Justices .. Mathur and K.K. Acharya, issued notices to the central government and others on Friday on a PIL filed by Pokhran resident Rajkumar Vyas, who alleged that there had been no proper monitoring of effects of radiation in villages around the Pokharan nuclear test site.

After the nuclear tests in Khetolai village in Pokhran tehsil, there was a need for continuous monitoring of effects of nuclear radiation. However, a central team of experts, after visiting the area only once, reported that there was no visible effect of radiation on people of the surrounding villages but no research or monitoring centre had been established there, the petition said.

Death penalty for rape

Bhagalpur (PTI): A local court on Saturday sentenced two persons to death in connection with the rape and murder of a minor in this district of Bihar.

A fast-track court, headed by the additional district and sessions judge, found Vinod Yadav and Virendra Yadav guilty of raping and subsequently killing eight-year-old Neelam Kumari in August 1988.

Stamp racket

Madurai (PTI): A three-member gang was arrested in Tuticorin on charges of selling used court-fee stamps after treating them with bleaching powder to remove the seal marks. Police, acting on a tip-off that these used stamps were selling in the court complex, started a probe. On Friday, they noticed three persons moving around suspiciously carrying bags. When the bags were examined, the police found the stamps.

Bombs seized

Ahmedabad (PTI): Police recovered 15 crude bombs from a garbage dump in Shaherkotda area of the city on Saturday. ?All the bombs are crude in nature and were stuffed inside tins and pan masala cans,? the deputy superintendent of police said. The police control room got a call around 8.55 am from a resident of the area after which a team rushed to the spot and seized the explosives, he said. A bomb disposal squad was defusing the bombs.

Bush meet

Washington (PTI): US President George W. Bush will meet Sister Nirmala next week. The nun, who succeeded Mother Teresa as the superior general of Missionaries of Charity, will meet Bush on Tuesday evening in New York.

Director dead

Mumbai (PTI): Film director H.S. Rawail passed away at his suburban Bandra residence on Friday following prolonged illness. He was 84. Born in 1920 in Lyalpur, now in Pakistan, Rawail came to Calcutta in the 1940s and then moved to Mumbai. His hit films include Mere Mehboob, starring Sadhna and Rajinder Kumar, and Laila Majnu.

Patriarch of antioch and all the east, Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka Iwas, will be in Kerala from Monday for silver jubilee celebrations of his enthronement to the holy apostolic throne of St Peter.