Pregnant minor gets DNA test order

Bhubaneshwar (PTI): Orissa High Court has ordered a DNA test to be conducted on a pregnant minor and the person accused of fathering her child to determine the paternity of her two children.

A division bench of the court comprising Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice M.M. Das has directed the sub-divisional police officer of Parlakhemundi in Gajapati district to collect blood samples from the accused, the two children and the petitioner and conduct a DNA test.

According to the court order, the report should be submitted to the additional sessions judge of Parlakhemundi within eight weeks.

The directive comes in the wake of a writ petition filed by the minor, in which she has alleged that K. Rabi of the same district had lured her into a physical relationship when she was 14. She later gave birth to a girl.

When she conceived for the second time, Rabi refused to marry her and instead offered her Rs 10,000 for aborting the foetus. The woman later filed an FIR at Parlakhemundi police station and moved the court of the additional sessions judge.

The petitioner’s advocate told the court that unless conclusive proof was collected through DNA tests, the children would face social stigma and his client’s reputation would be at stake.

Dead student’s dues released

Kochi (PTI): The Kerala government will extend all benefits, totalling around Rs 1.14 lakh, that were due to Rajani S. Anand, the Adoor Engineering College student who committed suicide, SC/ST minister M.A. Kuttapan said on Saturday.

Saying he was being “unfairly” targeted for the incident by the Opposition, Kuttapan told a news conference that reports stating that the student had not been allowed to study in the college since she was unable to pay her fees were “incorrect”.

In the first year, the SC/ST department had allotted around Rs 59,407 towards the student’s fees, stipend, and a lumpsum grant to Adoor Engineering College while in the second year nearly Rs 55,000 was released, inclusive of tuition fees and special fees.

The minister said the student had got admission in the payment seat and since the college did not have hostel facilities, she was staying at the NSS working women’s mess.

He added that since Rajani was staying at a private mess, according to rules, the government could not pay her hostel fees in full. Only a stipend of up to Rs 315 and an annual grant of Rs 1,000 could be extended to her, Kuttapan said.

Life sentence cut to a fine

Akola (PTI): Former wrestler Shravan Bhirad Pehalwan, who was awarded life imprisonment for assaulting senior BJP leader and municipal councillor Ganesh Dhage in 1985, has got a reprieve after his sentence was commuted to a fine of Rs 20,000 in accordance with a Maharashtra government order.

The 74-year-old, popularly known as “Rustam-e-Berar,” was on parole due to ill-health at the time of the receipt of the order five days ago, family sources said.

Doctor surrenders

Agra (PTI): Absconding psychiatrist S.K. Gupta, the Agra Mental Hospital doctor accused of issuing false medical certificates, surrendered before the chief judicial magistrate here on Friday. He has been remanded in five days, judicial custody. The psychiatrist had failed to get anticipatory bail from Allahabad High Court.

Fire at ONGC plant

New Delhi (PTI): Production at ONGC’s Uran plant near Mumbai was stopped on Saturday morning after a minor fire broke out, a senior company official said. “The fire broke out in the storm water unit of the plant at 7.30 am but it was extinguished within 10 minutes. Production is likely to be resumed in the next couple of hours,” he added. No loss of life or damage to property was reported.

Ammonia gas leak

Phagwara (PTI): Residents of Banga Road area panicked after ammonia gas leaked from an ice factory nearby. The situation was brought under control after firefighters sprayed water for nearly 45 minutes to neutralise the effect of the gas. The sub-divisional magistrate has ordered closure of the factory for three days and set up a five-member panel to probe the leakage.

Power protest

Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) (PTI): An angry mob, protesting against power cuts, tried to storm into the office of the regional deputy manager of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation, prompting the police to lathicharge at Buxipur. The demonstrators pelted stones at the sub-station and locked it up on Friday night.

A 10-km-long cloth banner on road safety was put up in Chennai on Saturday to break the current Limca record on the longest banner. Nearly 3,000 schoolchildren and road safety volunteers held the banner as part of a campaign on road safety.