Security personnel take position around the army family quarters at Sunjuwan Military Station during the terrorist attack, in Jammu on Sunday. PTI

Bakrah (Kathua), February 11

He faced a group of heavily-armed desperate terrorists with bare hands, took scores of bullets on his chest and arms, yet ensured that the assailants could not inflict much harm on his family.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Subedar Madan Lal Choudhary, 50, eventually fell to the AK 47 bullets fired by the terrorists, who attacked his quarter at Sunjuwan Army station in Jammu, but still foiled their plan to cause maximum damage.A pall of gloom descended on this non-descript hamlet after the news of Madan Lal Choudhary’s death reached here.Yet, the people of the border belt of Hiranagar in Kathua district are proud of the brave son of soil who took on armed intruders with bare hands and saved his family and kin.Madan Lal Choudhary’s family had come to his quarter in the Military Station, Sunjuwan, as they need to shop for the wedding of a relative.”He mustered a lot of courage and saved the life of other family members very tactically by not allowing the terrorists to enter his quarter,” his brother Surinder Choudhary said.Surinder Choudhary said his his brother managed to facilitate the exit of family members from the back as he blocked the entry of terrorists.However, Madan Lal Choudhary’s 20-year-old daughter Neha received a bullet injury in the leg while his sister-in-law Paramjeet also received minor injuries. But all of them managed to survive.”I am proud of my younger brother who braved bullets, fought heavily-armed militants with bare hands to save family members and kin. Had he failed to save them, the entire family would have been wiped out. He foiled the militants’ plan to cause maximum causalities,” Surinder Choudhary said.Madan Lal Choudhary, who rose to the post of a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) — a Subedar — belonged to a family of defence force personnel.His elder brother Shamsher Singh is an ex-serviceman, his son Ankush a Captain in the Indian Army, and his nephew Sandeep is in the Indian Air Force.He is survived by father Inder Chand and mother Banti Devi besides three brothers.The elderly parents father and mother were unaware about their loss till last evening even as the people and relatives thronged their residence.It was only when Madan Lal Choudhary’s wife Karamjeet and his elder brother Shamsher reached home, that they were told the news of his death.People of the village, who witnessed the terror of partition in 1947 and are refugees from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), were proud of Madan Lal Choudhary’s sacrifice.”We are proud of him. He has fought armed terrorists with bare hands and save all of the family members and some kin. He should be awarded,” Dhyan Chand, a villager, said.Family members, however, lament that at a time they were preparing for the marriage of his nephew Sandeep in April, they are forced to come to grips with this painful reality.Five Army men, including two JCOs, and a father of another personnel died and 11 injured in a attack by JeM terrorists on the Army camp in Sunjwan in Jammu city. — PTI 

The father of Army Major Aditya Kumar had moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the FIR against his son.

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 12

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed all proceedings in connection with an FIR registered by the Jammu and Kashmir Police naming Major Aditya Kumar as an accused with regard to Shopian firing incident.

A three-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India — which had on February 9 agreed to hear the matter — also directed that no coercive measures shall be taken against Major Aditya Kumar.

The Bench issued notice to the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir Government and asked the petitioner — Major Aditya Kumar’s father Lt Colonel Karamveer Singh to serve a copy of his petition to the office of the Attorney General to enable him represent the Union of India.

The order came on a petition filed by Major Aditya Kumar’s father seeking quashing of the January 27 FIR against his son.

The petitioner was represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi while Attorney General appeared for the Centre.

Besides quashing of the FIR, Petitioner Lt Colonel Karamveer Singh has sought guidelines to protect soldiers’ rights and adequate compensation for them. Two civilians were killed when Army personnel fired at a stone-pelting mob in Ganovpora village in Shopian, prompting the chief minister to order an inquiry into the incident.

The FIR was registered against the personnel of 10, Garhwal unit of the Army, including Major Kumar, under the Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code.

The Army had on February 1 presented its version of events contradicting the police FIR. It reiterated that soldiers opened fire on protesters in “self-defence” to prevent imminent lynching of an officer, snatching of weapons by villagers and burning of the Army vehicles.

The petitioner contended that FIR had been illegally filed against Major Aditya Kumar.

In his petition, Lt Colonel Karamveer Singh has contended his son had been “wrongly and arbitrarily” named in the FIR as the February 27 incident related to an Army convoy on bona fide military duty in an area under the AFSPA, which was isolated by an “unruly and deranged” mob pelting stones causing damage to military vehicles.

“The petitioner is constrained to file the present writ petition for quashing of FIR, directly before this court in view of the extremely hostile situation on the ground, whereby an FIR has been registered by local police against the son of the petitioner, who is a service Army officer and was performing bona fide duties as directed by the Union of India,” read his petition. He urged the top court to lay down guidelines to protect rights of soldiers and adequate compensation so that no Army personnel is harassed by initiation of criminal proceedings for bonafide actions in exercise of their duties. He also demanded registration of FIR against those involved in terrorist activities which caused damage to government property.

The petitioner said the intention of his son — a Major in the 10 Garhwal Rifles — was to save Army personnel and property and the fire was inflicted “only to impair and provide a safe escape from a savage and violent mob engaged in terrorist activity”.

The unruly mob was asked to disperse and not to obstruct military in performing their duties and not to damage government property but when the situation reached beyond control, a warning was issued to disperse, the plea said.

As the unruly behaviour of the “unlawful assembly” reached peak and when they got hold of a Junior Commissioned Officer and were in the process of lynching him to death, warning shots were fired fire to disperse the violent mob and protect public property, the petitioner submitted.

Singh also referred to last year’s incident of a mob lynching of DSP Mohd Ayub Pandith to highlight the situation in the troubled state and the condition in which Army officials were working to control violent mobs in Kashmir.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh during his visit at the Jang-e-Azadi memorial at Kartarpur in Jalandhar on Saturday. A Tribune Photograph

Tribune News Service

Kartarpur (Jalandhar), February 10

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will dedicate the second phase of the Jang-e-Azadi memorial to the nation on March 6.A decision to this effect was taken by the Chief Minister at a meeting held at the memorial with Barjinder Singh Hamdard, chairman of the Jang-e-Azadi Foundation and Managing Editor, Ajit Group of Newspapers, along with other officials.The meeting came a day after the Punjab Government released Rs 5 crore for the project, with the remaining sum of Rs 9 crore set to be released soon. The Chief Minister had sanctioned the final instalment of Rs 15 crore for the completion of the second phase of the memorial last year.The first phase of the project was completed in June 2017. The Chief Minister was updated about the work on the second phase of the memorial during the meeting.He said once inaugurated, the state-of-the-art memorial would give a major fillip to the tourism sector in the state and lead to Kartarpur’s emergence on the world tourist map. Earlier, Dr Barjinder Singh Hamdard, president of the executive committee of the Jang-E-Azaadi Foundation, welcomed the Chief Minister to the memorial and apprised him of the progress of the project being managed by Jang-e-Azadi Foundation.The project, spread across 25 acres, was sanctioned in July 2012 at a cost of Rs 315 crore.Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, Media Advisor to Chief Minister Raveen Thukral, OSD to Chief Minister Gurpreet Singh Sonu Dhesi, Lok Sabha Chaudhary Santokh Singh, MLAs Pargat Singh, Sushil Kumar Rinku, Chaudhary Surinder Singh and Bawa Henry, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma, Inspector General of Police Arpit Shukla, Commissioner of Police Praveen Kumar Sinha, Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Congress leader Tejinder Singh Bittu, Director Land Records Vinay Bublani and Deputy Mayor Jalandhar Harsimranjit Singh Bunty were present during the meeting.

New Delhi, February 5

The Delhi High Court today asked how the Army could object to the recruitment of married women in its legal branch JAG after the display by women fighter pilots and the BSF all-women bikers’ contingent on Republic Day.A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said the Army should take a “legal stand” against the objections instead of filing a response to the affidavit.“After the Republic Day display by the women (the fighter pilots and the BSF bikers), how can you (Army) still maintain these objections (to recruitment of married women in the Judge Advocate General),” it said and listed the matter for further hearing on March 19.The observation by the court came during the hearing of a PIL by a lawyer claiming that there was “institutionalised discrimination” against married women by not inducting them in the JAG service, the legal branch of the Army.Advocate Charu Wali Khanna, appearing for petitioner Kush Kalra, told the Bench that earlier there was a bar on recruitment of married women, but this prohibition was extended to married men after filing of the PIL. — PTI

Punjab is possibly the only state to follow the system of government paying taxes for all ministers and MLAs.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 5

In view of the severe financial constraints faced by the government, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday suggested that all elected representatives in the state, including ministers and MLAs, should pay their own income taxes.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Currently being paid by the government, these taxes are draining the exchequer of the much needed funds, the Chief Minister pointed out, mooting the proposal for self-payment of taxes by all elected representatives, including himself.Punjab was possibly the only state in the country to follow the system of the government paying taxes for all ministers and MLAs, Captain Amarinder pointed out, adding that the income tax being paid by the Punjab government on this account stood at Rs 11.08 crore.While the bulk of Rs 10.72 crore was for payment of income tax of MLAs, the remaining was for the ministers, disclosed an official spokesperson after a meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Fiscal Management, where the proposal was mooted by the Chief Minister.The suggestion, if implemented, would lead to a saving of this entire amount, which the state could then use for various important development works and implementation of welfare schemes, many of which are facing serious hurdles due to paucity of funds.In a bid to boost savings for the state government, the Chief Minister also reiterated his appeal to party colleagues and rich farmers to give up free power subsidy. Captain Amarinder had first made this appeal during the Vidhan Sabha session in June last year, when he personally set an example by giving up his own subsidy. 

The Union Budget 2018-19 evoked a mixed response. Tribune reporter Ramkrishan Upadhyay speaks to a cross section of people

For senior citizens, the exemption limit on income from interest has been raised five times to Rs 50,000 per year

New Delhi, February 1

Announcing a series of benefits for senior citizens, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the exemption limit on income from interest for them has been raised five times to Rs 50,000 per year.At the same time, the Finance Minister raised limit of deduction for health insurance premium and medical expenditure to Rs 50,000 from Rs 30,000 under section 80D.“All senior citizens will now be able to claim benefit of deduction up to Rs 50,000 per annum in respect of any health insurance premium and/or any general medical expenditure incurred,” he said while presenting the Budget for 2018-19.Besides, the Budget has increased the limit of deduction for medical expenditure in respect of certain critical illness to Rs 1 lakh in respect of all senior citizens, under section 80DDB.“In addition to tax concessions, I propose to extend the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana up to March, 2020 under which an assured return of 8 per cent is given by Life Insurance Corporation of India,” he said.The existing limit on investment of Rs 7.5 lakh per senior citizen under this scheme is also being doubled to Rs 15 lakh, he added.Noting that a life with dignity is a right of every individual in general, more so for the senior citizens, he said, “to care of those who cared for us is one of the highest honours…these concessions will give extra tax benefit of Rs 4,000 crore to senior citizens.” — PTI 

Move aimed at facilitating ‘free-flowing’ talks between leaders to thrash out vexing issues

PM Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Ahmedabad. PTI file

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 28

In a bid to hold more meaningful India-China conversation and build greater trust amid increasingly contentious issues, plans are afoot to have Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in informal settings.Preparations for the new diplomatic initiative are under way with the idea that such a meeting in informal settings would facilitate free-flowing conversations between the two leaders, diplomatic sources told The Tribune.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The idea for such a meeting came up during the last BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China, and if things proceed according to the plan, India will be only the second country after the US with which President Xi will hold such a conversation.Xi, who has emerged as one of the most powerful leaders in contemporary China with his governing thoughts enshrined in the Constitution, has held informal meetings with US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald J Trump so far.The idea is to go into a setting without an agenda and have a free-flowing conversation, which is not pre-scripted, something like retreats are aimed at, a senior official privy to discussions said.After the last August 73-day standoff over Doklam, Modi’s participation at BRICS Summit was made possible only after Indian and Chinese troops “mutually disengaged” from the tri-junction with Bhutan.Though sections of media continue to report through satellite imagery of Chinese infrastructural build-up at the site, the Ministry of External Affairs has denied this so far. China’s veto shield to terror mastermind Masood Azhar at the Security Council and its opposition to India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) remain big sticking points in ties. Beijing though feels India needs to “focus on the larger picture instead of insisting on discussing the contentious subjects”