HC accepts Shekhawat's plea

NAGPUR: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Thursday admitted a petition filed by Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat, husband of President Pratibha Patil. Justice Arun Choudhari also stayed the lower court proceedings at Jalgaon-Jamod in Buldhana till the pendency of petition in high court. Shekhawat had sought quashing of criminal proceedings against him in an abetment to suicide case. The case pertained to alleged suicide by Kisan Dhage, a teacher in a school run by Vidya Bharati Shikshan Prasarak Mandal. Dhage had ended his life on November 15, 1998 at Songaon village in Buldhana district and allegedly blamed Shekhawat and three others for harassment. Court seeks govt view on Batta commission report: The court in another case directed the state government to either file its objections on Justice R K Batta commission's report or the document would be treated as final. Justice R K Batta had looked into 100 cases in which surplus government land was allotted to politicians allegedly flouting the law. A division bench of justices Bilal Nazki and B P Dharmadhikari granted two weeks time to government to file a reply. During last hearing, the court had asked the government to study and give its opinion in the cases mentioned in the report. The court also sought details of the action that the government is contemplating on the alleged discrepancies mentioned in the report. Enumerate steps to prevent entry of stray animals: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Thursday asked the state government about the steps it proposed to take for preventing the entry of stray animals inside public utility premises like hospitals. The court's directions came while hearing a petition on dogs eating an infant inside Government Medical College and Hospital, due to alleged negligence of hospital authorities. The incident happened on August 2006, when a pregnant woman Laxmi Mohan Dhurve gave birth to a female child in GMC's waiting room. However, when she was sleeping with her baby, stray dogs mauled and ate the flesh of the infant. The half-eaten body was later found near GMC's X-ray department.
THE TIMES OF INDIA; 28 Mar 2008, 0409 hrs IST , TNN