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News of Jan
4, 2007
Once an Obscure Village, Now a VIP Halt
By Prashant K. Nanda
Nithari
(Uttar Pradesh), Jan 4
For 22 months, no one - barring sections of the media - lent them a
sympathetic ear. Even the kidnapping and recovery of the son of a
rich businessman in the vicinity did not move the authorities to act
on the disappearance of 38 children from poor families here. But
now, as India's goriest crime saga unfolds in chilling detail, VIPs
are making a beeline to Nithari village.
Thursday was the turn of Uttar Pradesh PWD Minister Shivpal Singh
Yadav to descend on Nithari, an overgrown, filthy semi-urban village
in Noida, an IT hub bordering the Indian capital.
Yadav, brother of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, was the first
minister from the state to visit the bereaved families -- almost six
days after skeletal remains of at least 20 children were unearthed
from a drain in Sector 31, just yards away from the Nithari village.
But his remarks over the macabre crime saga were shocking.
"Such incidents keep happening and have happened in the past also.
However, what deserves to be appreciated is that our policemen have
worked out the case so fast," he told reporters.
"And you can see that we have also taken prompt punitive action
against officials who were guilty of neglect," he added, referring
to the dismissal of six policemen and suspension of a superintendent
of police and a senior superintendent of police Wednesday.
Yadav, who is also the minister of energy and agriculture marketing,
distributed cheques worth Rs.500,000 to a number of family members
of those children whose remains have been identified.
A four-member central government committee, set up Wednesday by
minister of women and child development Renuka Chowdhary, also
visited the unfortunate village.
Manjula Krishnan, joint secretary in the ministry, interacted with
the villagers and the inconsolable parents. The members also visited
the bungalow of Moninder Singh Pandher, a businessman and the main
accused in the horrifying case.
On Wednesday, a clutch of Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leaders,
whose Noida functionaries had not bothered to sound any alarm all
these months, converged at Nithari.
BJP leader Vinay Katiyar made a round of the village, home to over
25,000 migrants mainly from West Bengal, and demanded that the state
government resign on moral grounds.
"The Nithari killings are just not a result of police negligence but
also government apathy," Katiyar said.
BJP's local MP Ashok Pradhan, who residents alleged had never
bothered to pay attention to their plight for two years also, met
the villagers in the glare of the media and blamed the state
government for the killings.
Former
prime minister V.P. Singh and Jan Morcha leader Raj Babbar have also
visited Nithari. While Singh demanded a Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) probe, Babbar blasted the government and police
for inaction for two long years.
The villagers are, however, not impressed.
Subash Kumar, a rickshaw puller, derided the government's efforts to
dole out money to parents of the innocent children who were killed
allegedly by Moninder Singh and his aide.
"For two years nobody listened us. Nithari's residents kept going to
the police station and the police was not bothered," Kumar told IANS.
"Nobody listened to us. Now everyone is coming here. Can the money
bring back the children?"
IANS
News of Jan
4, 2007
Noida Crimes: Blot on Civilized Society
All That Remains of Their Daughter – A Stained Stole
Nithari Killings: Two Top Cops Suspended,
Six Dismissed
Central
Government Panel to Probe Nithari Killings
Parents of Dead Nithari Kids are Given
Money
Moninder Pandher: A Disturbed Childhood
Serial Killer's House Ransacked
Serial Killers Derive Sadistic Pleasure: Experts
Police Chief Admits 'Laxity' over Serial
Killings
Skeletons of 17
Children Found, 9 Identified
Children's Killer Preyed on Victims for Two
Years
Police Did Not Act Because We Were Poor
Noida Police Unearth More Skeletons
Crime Against Children On The Rise in India
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