Chief Ministers on protest is becoming a 2014 trend. After Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Kumar Reddy, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has now called a bandh in his state to protest against the Centre.

Mr. Kumar is miffed that while the Centre was quick in announcing special status for Seemandhra – the region of Andhra Pradesh that will form the residuary state once Telangana is carved out – it has not accepted Bihar’s longstanding demand for a similar grant.

Appealing to all political parties to strike work on March 1 in a state-wide protest against the UPA government’s “betrayal,” Mr. Kumar said, “We don’t mind Seemandhra getting special status, but Bihar has been waiting for special status for long.”

Soon after he ended his alliance with the BJP last year, Mr. Kumar was seen as cosying up to the Congress with an eye on a possible partnership for the general elections due by May.

But the Congress, which rules at the Centre, is more inclined to partner with his arch rival Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Mr. Kumar is the third chief minister to publicly protest this year. In January, Arvind Kejriwal, then Chief Minister of Delhi, led a dharna in the heart of the capital against the Delhi police and the Centre.

Earlier this month, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy sat on a ‘dharna’ at Jantar Mantar in protest against the move to bifurcate his state to create the Telangana state.

Saradha Group chairman Sudipto Sen was sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment by a Bidhannagar court on Friday in a provident fund default case, making it Sen’s first conviction in a slew of cases involving a multi-crore chit fund scam.

A Bidhannagar sub-divisional court magistrate convicted and sentenced Sen to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000.

Sen, whose Saradha Group ran the ponzi schemes under different names, would have to undergo another six months’ imprisonment if the fine is not paid, the court directed.

He was convicted under section 406 (criminal breach of trust) for default in depositing provident fund of employees, to which Sen confessed before the court.

He was also sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for ‘conspiracy’ under section 120B of IPC in connection with the PF default.

Both the terms would continue concurrently and the number of days he has already undergone imprisonment since his arrest in April, 2013 would be deducted from his imprisonment term.

Several hundred cases are still pending against Sen, accused of duping lakhs of depositors in West Bengal and other states.

This one is straight out of a Bollywood potboiler. An American, who fell for an auto driver here and married him, was viciously stabbed to death by her husband. The man then blew himself up.

American social worker Erin White alias Kiran Sharma in September last year married Bunty Sharma alias Ashok, an auto driver. They had met when Erin, 35, visited Agra alongwith a group of Americans.

She was stabbed Thursday evening in the auto which her husband Bunty drove. Her body was thrown out of the auto and found around 8 p.m., police said.

Bunty returned home in Sanjay Nagar after the murder. He shut himself up in his room, opened a gas cylinder valve and blew himself up.

Senior police officials alongwith the dog squad visited the two spots.

The Union Home Ministry and the American embassy in New Delhi have been informed.

Shalabh Mathur, a senior police official, told media persons that the incident took place due to personal problems between the two, following which Bunty killed her and then committed suicide.

Erin and Bunty married on the rooftop of a hotel in Tajganj, against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal.

Police said the couple were having marital problems for the past few months and had visited a family counsellor to resolve their differences.

Bunty accused Erin of lying that she was not married while Erin charged Bunty with cruelty, greed, infidelity and also concealing the fact that he was already married once.

The Karnataka State Human Rights Commission on Friday took a suo motu cognizance after a Facebook campaign launched by tourists from 26 countries complained of police atrocities on Valentine’s Day.

The complaint, signed by around 82 people, spoke of brazen assault on nearly 200 tourists by “drunk policemen” at a beach in the coastal town of Gokarna. The assault lasted nearly 30 minutes, the complaint said and added that many were injured.

The complaint is accompanied by photos of some of the injured.

The police, however, has defended itself, saying it was a raid against drug trafficking.

“After the Nigerian nationals incident in Goa, we have been doing these raids against drugs. We have arrested one person and recovered 20 grams of drugs,” Pratap Reddy, Inspector General of Police, Western Range said.

The police, however, has also ordered an inquiry into the allegations by the tourists. The Karnataka Home department has said it will take action after the police report is out.

Gokarna is situated 50 kilometres south of Goa in the Uttara Kannada district. It is a popular tourist destination.

A woman in Bihar gave birth in the examination hall where she was appearing for her class 12 exams, an official said.

The incident took place at a college in the state’s Saran district where Manisha Devi, in her early 20s and married, was taking an exam on Thursday when she started feeling uncomfortable followed by labour pain, said SK Singh, a college official.

“Before the ambulance could arrive in the college, she had given birth to a healthy child,” Singh said.

Later, she was admitted to a hospital.
The delivery was normal and both mother and child are safe, healthy and recovering fast, doctors attending to the woman said.

The class 12 examinations began last week at 882 centres amid tight security with non-teaching college employees in the state on an indefinite strike.

This year 981,778 students, including a record 410,662 girls, across Bihar appeared for the exams, board officials said.

Doctors at the Regional Cancer Centre in Raipur are treating an unusual medical case of an 18 year old girl, who developed oral cancer due to self sustained bites on her inner cheek. She has no history of tobacco consumption whatsover.

Though extremely rare, this type of oral cancer, known as buccal mucosa, affects a couple of middle aged people (above 40 years) every year in Chhattisgarh.

The girl who hails from Ambikapur, felt pain in her jaw few months ago. She went to a local doctor who administered medicines thinking that she may have bitten her inner cheek quite badly. However, when the pain did not subside, he advised her to go the Regional Cancer Centre for a biopsy, she said.
The biopsy confirmed she had oral cancer.

Dr. Vivek Choudhary, head of Regional Cancer Centre, said oral cancer is quite common among the lower socio-economic groups, including women, due to tobacco chewing. However, cancer caused by self sustained bites on the inner cheek is extremely rare and though every year a couple of people affected by it are treated at the centre, they are usually middle aged, he said.

“I just couldn’t imagine that an innocuous bite could lead to cancer”, the girl told, adding that she is now worried about her future and the scars that the surgery would leave on her face.

According to doctors treating the girl, her case has been detected at an early stage. After surgery, she will have to stay in the hospital for at least 2 weeks and then come for regular check-ups. The doctors are hopeful that this young girl she will able to recuperate.