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NEW DELHI: Australian cricketer Luke Pomersbach, who is accused of molesting US national Zohal Hamid, got bail on Saturday even as a determined Zohal opened a new front in her battle for justice, slapping a legal notice on Bangalore IPL team director Siddharth Mallya for defaming her. Siddharth is team owner Vijay Mallya’s son.

In her notice, Zohal demanded an unconditional apology within 24 hours for his derogatory comments against her on a social networking site. Her lawyer said the notice was faxed to Siddharth on Friday night. “What he said was completely untrue and very hurtful. I’ll take legal action against him, if he does not apologize,” a livid Zohal said on Saturday. Mallya had tweeted on Friday: “She (Zohal) was all over me last night and asked for my BBM pin, so if he was her fiance she wasn’t exactly behaving like a future wife.”

Zohal also submitted a written complaint to the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Saturday. “I’ve received a complaint and we’ll take it up on Monday,” DCW chairperson Barkha Singh said.

“The comments made by Siddharth Mallya are derogatory. They defame my client and amount to assassination of character without any basis. We have asked for an unconditional apology within 24 hours of the receipt of the notice which should be written or to the satisfaction of my client. We will wait till Tuesday evening and initiate legal action if the apology is not made,” senior advocate Rajneesh Chopra, heading the team of lawyers assisting Zohal, said.

Meanwhile, metropolitan magistrate Navita Kumari Bagha gave bail to Pomersbach after she found no evidence to show he had trespassed into the complainant’s hotel room where the incident occurred.

Judge Bagha went through the CCTV footage of the alleged incident provided by the police and said no charge of “house trespass or wrongful restraint” was made out against the Australian. Since the other sections, including causing hurt and trying to outrage the modesty of a woman are bailable, the cricketer walked free. He has since left for Hyderabad.

The court directed the 27-year-old Team Bangalore player not to approach Zohal and gave bail on a personal bond of Rs 30,000 with two sureties of like amount. He was directed to surrender his passport and cooperate with the police.

Pomersbach later told TOI: “I’m innocent and relieved to have been given bail. It’s been a trying time for me, but I have full faith in the Indian judicial system and these baseless allegations will be proved false. I have a girlfriend back home too.”

On Saturday evening, he submitted his passport to the New Delhi district police.

“He has furnished the Mumbai address of Avinash Yadav, manager of the IPL team. He will be contacted on this address for assistance with investigations, whenever required. We’ve taken his passport and he has an Indian visa till 2014,” a senior police officer said.

Scrutiny of the CCTV footage showed two witnesses to the events at the victim’s hotel room. “Sahil Peerzada and his fiance were accompanied by their friend Miraz Khan and Luke Pomersbach when they first entered Sahil and his fiance’s room, the footage shows. Pomersbach left after some time with a beer bottle in his left hand as his right hand appeared to have been fractured. Later, when Luke tried entering the room a second time, a hotel guard tried to stop him. The guard has been identified as Vikas Yadav. We are questioning both witnesses,” the officer said.

The police also submitted to the court the medical report of Peerzada, who is undergoing treatment. Sahil is stable and at Chanakyapuri’s Primus Hospital. “He has been moved out of ICU and is recovering from the ear surgery. His wound is healing well and hearing is almost back to normal. His dressing will be changed on Sunday by the plastic surgeon. He’ll be discharged from hospital either on Sunday or Monday,” Dr DK Baluja, executive director of the hospital, said.

Pressing for rejection of bail, the prosecutor said the incident took place when Pomersbach entered the hotel room with the woman, Sahil and Miraz. The investigating officer told the court that a little later, Pomersbach returned with a man and tried to re-enter the room forcibly, but was pushed back from inside. Therefore, a charge of trespass with the intention of causing hurt; assault or wrongful restraint was made out against Pomersbach. The public prosecutor said Pomersbach was pre-determined to commit the offence as he had returned to the woman’s room.

Pomersbach’s counsel, senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, conceded that his client was present there, but the entry into the room was friendly. “Bail should be granted. But as he is a foreigner, the investigating officer or this court may have the apprehension of his fleeing, so in that case, he will surrender his passport.”

Gupta argued the alleged incident took place between 4am and 5am and the court must keep in mind that all parties involved were drunk. He said no ground for arresting Pomersbach had been mentioned in the records. “Even if any case is made out, the court should not send him to jail. For what purpose will he be sent to jail? Only because the media is interested in this case, he should not be sent to jail,” he said.

In another move, Zohal lodged a new complaint against five unnamed people, three of whom she claimed were IPL players. She said when she returned from the police station after lodging the molestation FIR, they had threatened to kill her if she didn’t take back her complaint.

Police investigation revealed that the room where the incident took place was booked in the name of Venkat Reddy, who owns the Hyderabad IPL team. “Sahil’s father’s friend is an ex-official of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. Sahil was originally staying at Hotel Leela, and shifted to Sheraton,” said a police source.

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NEW DELHI: Acting on recommendation of a parliamentary committee, the government has directed all ministries and departments to strictly adhere to the timeline for disbursing post-retirement benefits to retired public servants and to take action against those who cause ‘delay’.

Penalty against erring officials would include recovery of ‘penal interest’ from their salaries.

Under the existing rules, pension of retiring public servant has to be authorized on hhis last working day, while PF claims have to be settled within 30 days.

Though the specific rules for disbursement of Provident Fund (PF), gratuity and pension have been in the statute book for long, they are often adhered to, leading the ministry of personnel to send a ‘reminder’ to all the central ministries.

Referring to the rules, the ministry reminded all other ministries of the provision which makes labour commissioners and dealing officials or head of office liable for delay in disbursing PF and gratuity, respectively, to retired public servants.

The parliamentary panel – standing committee on home affairs – in one of its reports had noted that the ‘delay’ not only causes distress to retired babus, but puts additional burden on the exchequer in the form of huge interest that courts and Central Administrative Tribunal impose for delay in disbursal of superannuation benefits.

Taking note of the Committee’s observation, the ministry of personnel has through its office memorandum (OM) advised all departments to either pay all the post-retirement dues to public servants without any delay or sanction “provisional pension” wherever delays are anticipated.

“Thus, in case where regular pension is not authorized at the time of retirement, provisional pension should invariably be sanctioned,” said the ministry’s OM on May 1.

In case of gratuity, it said: “Once it has been decided to pay the gratuity, the amount should be paid immediately pending a decision regarding payment of interest. This would reduce the interest liability, if any, on payment of delayed gratuity.”

Reminding the labour ministry’s rules for Provident Fund, the ministry of personnel made it clear that “in case the commissioner fails without sufficient cause to settle claim complete in all respects within 30 days, he or she will be liable for the delay beyond the said period and penal interest at the rate of 12% per annum may be charged on the benefit amount and the same may be deducted from the salary of the commissioner”.

Similarly, in respect of delayed payment of gratuity wherever it results in payment of penal interest, secretary of the administrative ministry of department is authorized to fix responsibility at all levels to recover the amount from the concerned dealing official, supervisor and head of office “in proportion to their salary”.

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NEW DELHI: Australian cricketer Luke Pomersbach, who is accused of molesting US national Zohal Hamid, got bail on Saturday even as a determined Zohal opened a new front in her battle for justice, slapping a legal notice on Bangalore IPL team director Siddharth Mallya for defaming her. Siddharth is team owner Vijay Mallya’s son.

In her notice, Zohal demanded an unconditional apology within 24 hours for his derogatory comments against her on a social networking site. Her lawyer said the notice was faxed to Siddharth on Friday night. “What he said was completely untrue and very hurtful. I’ll take legal action against him, if he does not apologize,” a livid Zohal said on Saturday. Mallya had tweeted on Friday: “She (Zohal) was all over me last night and asked for my BBM pin, so if he was her fiance she wasn’t exactly behaving like a future wife.”

Zohal also submitted a written complaint to the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Saturday. “I’ve received a complaint and we’ll take it up on Monday,” DCW chairperson Barkha Singh said.

“The comments made by Siddharth Mallya are derogatory. They defame my client and amount to assassination of character without any basis. We have asked for an unconditional apology within 24 hours of the receipt of the notice which should be written or to the satisfaction of my client. We will wait till Tuesday evening and initiate legal action if the apology is not made,” senior advocate Rajneesh Chopra, heading the team of lawyers assisting Zohal, said.

Meanwhile, metropolitan magistrate Navita Kumari Bagha gave bail to Pomersbach after she found no evidence to show he had trespassed into the complainant’s hotel room where the incident occurred.

Judge Bagha went through the CCTV footage of the alleged incident provided by the police and said no charge of “house trespass or wrongful restraint” was made out against the Australian. Since the other sections, including causing hurt and trying to outrage the modesty of a woman are bailable, the cricketer walked free. He has since left for Hyderabad.

The court directed the 27-year-old Team Bangalore player not to approach Zohal and gave bail on a personal bond of Rs 30,000 with two sureties of like amount. He was directed to surrender his passport and cooperate with the police.

Pomersbach later told TOI: “I’m innocent and relieved to have been given bail. It’s been a trying time for me, but I have full faith in the Indian judicial system and these baseless allegations will be proved false. I have a girlfriend back home too.”

On Saturday evening, he submitted his passport to the New Delhi district police.

“He has furnished the Mumbai address of Avinash Yadav, manager of the IPL team. He will be contacted on this address for assistance with investigations, whenever required. We’ve taken his passport and he has an Indian visa till 2014,” a senior police officer said.

Scrutiny of the CCTV footage showed two witnesses to the events at the victim’s hotel room. “Sahil Peerzada and his fiance were accompanied by their friend Miraz Khan and Luke Pomersbach when they first entered Sahil and his fiance’s room, the footage shows. Pomersbach left after some time with a beer bottle in his left hand as his right hand appeared to have been fractured. Later, when Luke tried entering the room a second time, a hotel guard tried to stop him. The guard has been identified as Vikas Yadav. We are questioning both witnesses,” the officer said.

The police also submitted to the court the medical report of Peerzada, who is undergoing treatment. Sahil is stable and at Chanakyapuri’s Primus Hospital. “He has been moved out of ICU and is recovering from the ear surgery. His wound is healing well and hearing is almost back to normal. His dressing will be changed on Sunday by the plastic surgeon. He’ll be discharged from hospital either on Sunday or Monday,” Dr DK Baluja, executive director of the hospital, said.

Pressing for rejection of bail, the prosecutor said the incident took place when Pomersbach entered the hotel room with the woman, Sahil and Miraz. The investigating officer told the court that a little later, Pomersbach returned with a man and tried to re-enter the room forcibly, but was pushed back from inside. Therefore, a charge of trespass with the intention of causing hurt; assault or wrongful restraint was made out against Pomersbach. The public prosecutor said Pomersbach was pre-determined to commit the offence as he had returned to the woman’s room.

Pomersbach’s counsel, senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, conceded that his client was present there, but the entry into the room was friendly. “Bail should be granted. But as he is a foreigner, the investigating officer or this court may have the apprehension of his fleeing, so in that case, he will surrender his passport.”

Gupta argued the alleged incident took place between 4am and 5am and the court must keep in mind that all parties involved were drunk. He said no ground for arresting Pomersbach had been mentioned in the records. “Even if any case is made out, the court should not send him to jail. For what purpose will he be sent to jail? Only because the media is interested in this case, he should not be sent to jail,” he said.

In another move, Zohal lodged a new complaint against five unnamed people, three of whom she claimed were IPL players. She said when she returned from the police station after lodging the molestation FIR, they had threatened to kill her if she didn’t take back her complaint.

Police investigation revealed that the room where the incident took place was booked in the name of Venkat Reddy, who owns the Hyderabad IPL team. “Sahil’s father’s friend is an ex-official of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. Sahil was originally staying at Hotel Leela, and shifted to Sheraton,” said a police source.

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NEW DELHI: India and Italy seemed headed for a diplomatic showdown on Saturday with Rome stepping up the pressure to secure the release of two of its naval guards, who were arrested for the killing of two Indian fishermen, while expressing strong “displeasure” over how the Indian government handled the situation.

The Italian foreign ministry summoned Indian ambassador in Rome, Debabrata Saha, to convey its “concern” over the trial of the naval guards.

With the visiting deputy foreign minister Steffan de Mistura saying the “absurd accusation of premeditated murder” against the duo was unacceptable, and India sticking to its stand that it would not interfere with their trial, ties appear to be souring.

De Mistura told a foreign agency that Italy summoned its envoy, Giacomo Sanfelice, back to signal its “profound displeasure” with the way India has handled the arrests of the two naval guards, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who were denied bail by a Kerala court on Saturday.

MEA sources reacted cautiously to these developments, but made it clear that Italy’s aggressive posturing was not going to make them change their stand that the law be allowed to take its course. They confirmed that Saha was “called” to the Italian foreign ministry on Saturday and that he met the director general there. “The concern of the Italian government at the charges filed against the naval guards in custody in Kerala was conveyed to him. He assured that he would communicate these concerns to the appropriate authorities in India,” said a source.

De Mistura, who is on his third mission to India to secure the release of the two Italians, also said that “Italy was sending a strong signal to avoid damaging our relationship”. He also said the decision to recall envoy followed hectic diplomatic activity by Italy, including calls by its PM Maria Monti to his counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Indian officials, however, maintained that Rome has to understand that Indian judicial system cannot be influenced politically or through diplomatic pressure. “We have said this time and again in the past and this is why the Indian government has never given even a thought to out-of-court settlement,” said an official.

The Indian government was not a party to Italy’s decision to pay Rs 1 crore each to victims’ families after which the family members decided to withdraw charges. While describing this compromise as “illegal” and “astonishing”, the Supreme Court had said in an observation that Italy was playing with Indian laws.

De Mistura said in a TV interview on Friday that Rome wants the trial to take place under international laws in Italy because the accused were military personnel. He said Italy could accept charges of accidental killing but not murder.

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While Salim-Javed have been in the news for demanding royalty from the producers of the Zanjeer remake, the bigger story is Javed Akhtar’s single-minded championing of the cause for directors and lyricists to get a share of the profit pie that is due to them.

With the Rajya Sabha passing the amendment to the Copyright Act on Thursday, May 17, as Mirror has learnt, Akhtar has every reason to smile.

Ecstatic at the news, Akhtar’s wife Shabana tweeted, “Hurrah, copyright amendment bill passed in Rajya Sabha. Javed’s historic moment to give lyricists, composers, 12 per cent of their rightful share.” While the amendment will be put to vote in the Lok Sabha, the industry appears divided in its response.

Lyricst Sameer sounded elated when we called him on Thursday afternoon. “We’ve won. Full marks to Javed Akhtar. Our fraternity has had many people who have lived in miserable conditions in their last days. I think this amendment will save the situation in many ways.”

Music composer Pritam was overjoyed. “This change in copyright law was long awaited and now in true sense, creative people like composers, lyricists, scriptwriters and singers will derive some commercial benefit from the popularity of a song amongst others who are also provided with certain rights for their creation. We will be waiting for the act to be passed and brought into effect,” he said.

By contrast, Mukesh Bhatt, who’s been on the producers’ side through all of this, seemed resigned to fate. “If rape is inevitable, why not enjoy it? Akbar ke darbaar mein Tansen tha. Kapil Sibal ke darbar mein shayad Javed Akhtar hai,” he laughed.

Explaining why producers are against the amendment, Mukesh said, “We were never against the concept of royalty per se. Our bone of contention was simply that royalty should not be given from day one. Instead, it should be given after two

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DHARAMSALA: Pacers Umesh Yadav and Morne shared seven wickets between them before David Warner slammed 79 as Delhi Daredevils registered a comprehensive six-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab to push them out of the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

Scorecard | Watch: IPL Highlights

Delhi overhauled the 142-run target with 10 balls to spare and ensured that they end the league engagements on top of the table with 22 points, which means that they will have two chances to make it to the title clash.

Punjab needed to win Saturday’s contest to stay in play-off contention but putting up just 141 for eight did not help their cause.

Delhi’s win has also ensured Mumbai’s entry into the knockout stage as even if Mumbai lose Sunday’s match against Rajasthan Royals they will still end with 18 points, which is enough to get fourth position in the table.

Delhi’s win has also kept CSK in the hunt. If Bangalore lose on Sunday, they will be tied on 17 points with Chennai and the defending champions will sneak into the next stage due to better Net Run-Rate.

It was Delhi’s pacers, who set up the win as Umesh Yadav (3/19) ripped apart the Punjab top-order and Morkel (4/20) rocked the middle and lower order.

Punjab owed their total to Siddhath Chitnis (38), Azhar Mahmood (36) and Gurkeerat Singh (26), who lifted the side to a fighting score from a precarious 20 for four at one stage.

Delhi openers Warner and Unmukt Chand (18) came out all guns blazing and put on a 82-run stand in nine overs to set the tone for easy win.

Warner’s blistering 44-ball knock was studded with 10 fours and four sixes while youngster Chand supported him well with his 24-ball knock, containing two sixes.

Warner was quite harsh on Parvinder Awana, whom he hit for three sixes and four in the seventh over. The Australian was dropped in the last ball of that over when he was on 46.

Mahmood dismissed Chand and later Ryan Harris (2/19) accounted for Warner and Irfan Pathan (5) but Y Venugopal Rao (21) batted sensibly to guide the side to finish line.

When the Punjab side batted, the wicket at the HPCA stadium helped the pacers as the bowl swung and bounced a lot but it eased out when Warner and co. took guard.

Earlier, electing to field, Delhi bowlers stuck to their task from the onset, barring a few overs in the middle, to stop Punjab from posting a big total at the HPCA stadium.

Punjab were off to a worst possible start in their must-win last league fixture as they slumped to 20 for four inside the mandatory power-play. The hosts were never allowed to get off the hook by the Delhi bowlers.

Punjab lost opener Mandeep Singh (0) in the second over of the match to Umesh, who induced an edge that was taken by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha.

Skipper Adam Gilchrist (9) departed in the fourth over bowled by Umesh when he went for the pull but only ending up getting a top-edge that was lapped up by Varun Aaron at mid-on.

Paul Valthaty’s miserable run in the tournament continued as he was caught by Irfan Pathan at third-man off Morkel while trying an upper cut.

Umesh made the matter worse for the hosts as he got the dangerman David Hussey (3) caught at mid-on by Pathan to leave Punjab tottering at 20 for four.

With his team struggling, Chitnis strode to the crease and responded to the situation by running a few quick singles and hitting the occasional boundaries.

Chitnis, along with Mahmood, tried to take Kings XI to a comfortable position but the Maharashtra player holed out to fine-leg fielder Pathan off the bowling of Andre Russell after being involved in a 57-run stand.

Chitnis’ 32-ball knock was laced with one six and five fours. After his dismissal of Chitnis, Mahmood and Gurkeerat tried to provide the late flourish, but the Delhi bowlers were equal to the task.

Ryan Harris accumulated 15 runs off the last over bowled by Umesh to take his team past 140.

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