COURTS

MAMC CASE
Accused seek to produce witnesses
Tribune news service

New Delhi, January 24
In an about-turn, the prime accused in the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) student gang rape case, Rahul and co-accused Amit, today sought permission of a city court to produce witnesses for their defence.

On January 13, the accused had said during their statements before Additional Sessions Judge Chandra Sekhar that they did not want to produce any defence witness.

However, in an application moved in the court today, the duo said they had changed their mind after consulting their lawyers and prayed that they be granted permission to produce defence witnesses. The court then fixed January 27 for deciding the matter.

Rahul had denied allegations against him saying he was implicated by the police and that the matter should be heard by a juvenile court since he was a minor.

Another accused Mohan Lal, from whom police claimed to have recovered the mobile phone used by the victim at the time of the incident, had produced his brother Morari Lal as a witness. The police version of the time and place of Mohan’s arrest was wrong, Morari said, adding that Mohan had not handed over any mobile to police when he was arrested.

A week after the gruesome incident, Rahul was arrested on November 22, 2002. The fourth-year student of MAMC was allegedly raped by three youths at knife point on the terrace of ‘Khooni Darwaza’ monument on the busy Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.

CULTURE

Grand finale to Sangeet Akademi Golden Jubilee
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 24
Sangeet Natak Akademi, the apex institution for performing arts in the country, will be organising a valedictory ceremony of its Golden Jubilee year at Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi on January 27, 2004. The Vice-President of India, Mr Bhairon Singh Sekhawat, will address the ceremony.

Mr Jagmohan, Minister of Tourism and Culture and the recently appointed Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi, Mrs Sonal Mansingh, will also be present on the occasion. An audio-visual presentation incorporating rare glimpses from Akademi archives will be screened.

Sangeet Natak Akademi, Indian National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, completed 50 years of its existence on January 28, 2003.

The Akademi was inaugurated on January 28, 1953 by the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad. Coming as it did only days after the inauguration of India’s new Parliament, the Lok Sabha, the inauguration of Sangeet Natak Akademi signalled a new era in the nurturing and development of the performing arts of the nation.