Over 57 per cent voting was recorded during the fifth phase of Uttar Pradesh elections on Monday, the Election Commission said.

"Till 5 p.m., 57.36 per cent voting was recorded. It is expected to go up to 60 per cent as polling was still on," Deputy Election Commissioner Vijay Dev told reporters here.

The polling was held in 51 assembly constituencies spread across 12 districts of the state.

Dev said elaborate security arrangements were made to ensure free and fair elections. 

"The voting, in all constituencies, passed off peacefully," he said.

A total of 184,463 trouble-makers were identified and required legal action was taken against them, he added.

Till now in the five phases of the Uttar Pradesh elections, Rs.1015.43 crore, 20.65 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs.58.85 crore and gold and silver worth Rs.25.15 crore have been seized, Dev said.

With Monday's polling, a total of 313 of the 403 assembly constituencies have voted in the elections which began on February 11. The last two rounds of voting will take place on March 4 and 8.

The results of the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab will be known on March 11.

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear, on March 2, a plea filed by an association of women dancers, waitresses, singers and other performers working in bars and hotels in Maharashtra challenging the constitutional validity of a 2016 state law putting conditions on dance performances.

A division bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar said it would hear the plea filed by 'Bharatiya Bargirls Union' along with related matters on March 2.

The other petition was filed by the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA), which challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women Act, 2016, and the rules framed under it.

Saying the new Act "stigmatised their work", the Bharatiya Bargirls Union, has termed it as arbitrary and violative of their right to earn a livelihood through legitimate means.

It alleged that the term "obscene dance" in the act has been deliberately kept vague to allow police to harass women performers.

The new law unreasonably interferes with free choice of expression through dramatic performances and the right of women to practise the occupation of self-expression through such dramatic performances, said the plea.

The 2016 law for regulating dance bars came after the apex court on July 16, 2013 had struck down the restrictions imposed by the state police on the dance performances of any type in an eating house, permit room or beer bar.

On September 21 last year, the Supreme Court had directed dance bars in Maharashtra will continue to operate under the old terms that permitted serving of liquor, and the CCTV cameras kept only at the entrance.

The court did not put on hold the new rules that require installation of CCTV cameras in the dance bar area, limit the timing of the dances from 6 p.m. to 11.30 p.m., and prohibit serving of liquor in the bar room where dances are staged.

Mumbai slumkid and "Lion" star Sunny Pawar basked in the limelight at the 89th Academy Awards ceremony where he won accolades from the audience having some of the world's greatest actors after re-enacting a scene from "The Lion King" with host Jimmy Kimmel. The seven-year-old was selected from 2,000 children across schools in India to play the role of the young Saroo Brierley.

A Class 3 student of the Air India Model School where he is good in studies, Sunny and his younger brother and sister, live with parents Dilip Pawar, a former government office sweeper, and home-maker mother Vasu, in a slum in Kalina in the western suburbs, near the airport.

Despite his humble background, Sunny zoomed through auditioning rounds in Mumbai and Pune to land a plum role in the blockbuster Hollywood biographical film "Lion', sources close to his family and the production house said.

"Sunny was selected from around 2,000 talented children in a hunt in schools all over India, culminating in the final auditions held in Mumbai and Pune some one-and-half year ago. He fitted the role perfectly," a source told IANS.

Sunny is cast in the role of a young Saroo Brierley, who was stranded in a train which catapulted him hundreds of kms away from home to busy Kolkata. There, he ekes out an existence on the footpaths, before a young Australian couple adopts him. The elder version of Saroo was played by Dev Patel in the film.

Though he could barely speak English, Sunny's bubbly, charismatic presence more than made up the communication shortcomings, with the cooperation of the entire film crew.

"Film director, Garth Davis had to put in a lot of efforts with Sunny during the shooting in India and Australia. For instance, he used sign language to make Sunny understand the dialogues, enact the sad or emotional scenes," said the source.

The first half of the film, mostly hogged by the little Sunny, is in Hindi and he delivered the dialogues with ease and finesse.

But on the sets – his shooting schedules spanned over three months in Kolkata and Madhya Pradesh in India, and Melbourne, Tasmania in Australia – he was accorded ordinary treatment.

"No pampering of any sort, no special treatment in any manner. After all, he was playing a very emotional role and was required to keep that demeanour," the source explained.

But, he chilled out a lot with his on-screen mother, Nicole Kidman, who he also taught to play cricket, and with his on-screen father, David Wenham. Some of those scenes finally figured even in the released film.

At the shootings, Sunny was accompanied by his father and translator Rahul to interact with the production team and others.

Sunny has become the most popular child star of the awards season.

Close on the success of "Lion", "Love Sonia" featuring Sunny and another Mumbai girl Frieda Pinto is ready for release later this year.

"However, he has not exactly been swamped with offers from Bollywood. But that is because he has remained extremely tied up with 'Lion' and 'Love Sonia' and was away from the country for several spells," the source said.

It is not known when Sunny will return home, but he can surely expect a Lion's welcome!

Incidentally, exactly 10 years ago, some slum children from Mumbai had grabbed global attention with Danny Boyles' "Slumdog Millionaire", which incidentally starred a much-younger Dev Patel in a key role.

The main child actors in that multi-Oscar winning film – Rubina Ali, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar – are now grown-up teenagers leading normal lives in Mumbai, away from the arc lights.

A total of 2,580 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel have been injured in over 200 violent incidents in Jammu and Kashmir after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani last July.

Data from the CRPF said that its troopers were injured in 142 stone pelting incidents, 47 grenade blasts, three firing incidents and 43 instances of acid attacks or petrol or kerosene bomb attacks in the state. 

Of the injured troopers, 122 inflicted grievous injuries, the data said.

The unrest in Jammu and Kashmir began July 9, a day after the death of Wani in a gunfight with security forces. Over 90 civilians were killed and around 12,000 injured in the violence.

"An additional 158 companies (over 16,000 personnel) of the CRPF were deployed in Jammu and Kashmir considering the surge in violence both in terms of militant activities and law and order situation," outgoing CRPF Director General K. Durga Prasad told IANS.

He also said the attacks on the force's personnel by Jammu and Kashmir's civilians came as they were threatened by the militants. 

"Locals in the state are obstructing our counter-militancy operations as they are under duress by the militants. However, the situation has improved compared to last year," Prasad said. 

Prasad, who will retire from the service on February 28, also said that the Home Ministry as well as the Central Welfare Fund of CRPF will provide financial assistance to the troopers injured in the stone pelting attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. 

The CRPF chief said that the Home Ministry would provide Rs 2,500 to those who suffered minor injuries and Rs 7,500 for the personnel injured grievously. 

"We will provide financial assistance to our men from CRPF's welfare fund but it is divided in different categories. Those suffered minor injuries will be given Rs 4,000, and grievously injured will get Rs 25,000 after hospitalisation. Those grievously injured after being hit by bullet or blasts during operation will get Rs 50,000. 

"For grievous injuries in action during operational duties leading to hospitalisation, we provide Rs 1 lakh," Prasad added. 

The Himachal Pradesh Communist Party of India (Marxist) has sought chief minister (CM) Virbhadra Singh’s intervention to resolve the labour dispute at the 450 MW Shongthong-Karcham hydro power.

In a written communiqué to CM Virbhadra Singhh here, state member secretariat CPIM, Tikender Singh Panwar has blamed inefficiency on the part of the Kinnaur district administration in dealing with the struggle.

“Instead of positive intervention into resolving the issue that has even led to the loss of some valuable lives, including that of the workmen and a policewoman, the administration is busy cosying up with the private company executing the project to ensure that maximisation of profit is ensured to them at the cost of the workmen and the nature along,” he alleged.

Drawing attention of the CM, he charged of the mischievous role played by two of the officers of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL), who are instrumental in precipitating the present unrest and also that one of them has a brilliant track record of minting lots of money whilst executing hydro power projects.

Urging CM's intervention to look into the matter, he urged sacking of replacing them with other efficient officers to ensure that the work is executed in the manner as mentioned in the book and through the procedure.

The Budget Session of Haryana Assembly, which commenced on Monday with the House paying homage to prominent personalities and martyrs of the state, is likely to be stormy from on Tuesday as the Opposition today has announced to encircle the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the ongoing Jat agitation and controversial Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) issue.

The leader of Opposition and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala today said that their party would raise the issue in the House seeking clarification from the ruling party.

"While marching towards the Punjab, the INLD leaders and workers were arrested by the Punjab police on the border. Even the Haryana police had also put up the barricades at three places to stop us. Instead of co-operating us on the SYL issue, leaders from the ruling BJP is alleging that the INLD is trying all this to hit the headlines but we will answer this in the House," said Chautala, reaching here after his release from Patiala jail.

Apart from this, the ruling would be questioned on the issues, including the ongoing agitation by the Jat community for their various demands, pathetic condition of farmers, power and water crisis in the state, he added.

Congress party too has announced to encircle the ruling on several issues, including the Jat agitation saying that the state government has failed to reach an agreement with the agitators despite the fact that the ongoing protest has been going on almost for one month in the state.

A total of 17 calling attention motions and four government Bills have been received by the Assembly for the Budget Session.

Apart from this, the Vidhan Sabha has received 510 starred questions, including 123 from BJP, 99 from Congress, 239 from INLD, 11 from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), 20 from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and 18 from independent legislators.

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to release gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari on parole for canvassing in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh polls.

Justice Mukta Gupta set aside the trial court's order granting bail to Ansari till March 4 to campaign and said: "A right to contest the election cannot imply that the candidate gets a right to be released from jail for canvassing as a candidate for being elected.

"If the candidate is in custody for an alleged offence, it would be the discretion of the court to release him or not, depending on the facts and circumstances of the case," the court added.

When a person in custody fills up nomination as a candidate, he "does not get a vested right" to be released for canvassing, said the court.

It said he (candidate in jail) runs the risk of not being released on bail to contest election from custody.

Ansari is contesting from Mau Sadar on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.

The High Court had on February 17 stayed the custody parole after the Election Commission moved the court seeking its cancellation on the ground that Ansari might influence witnesses in the 2005 murder case.

A special court in Delhi earlier granted bail to Ansari in the murder case of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Krishnanand Rai for which he is facing trial.

The Uttar Pradesh government and the complainant in the case also opposed Ansari's release from a Lucknow jail. 

The poll panel had said that Ansari's release may create fear in the minds of the voters if he was allowed to roam around in the constituency.

Rai, along with six supporters, was shot dead at Bhanwarkol in Ghazipur district on November 29, 2005. The case was transferred from Ghazipur to Delhi by the Supreme Court in 2013 on a plea filed by Alka Rai, wife of the murdered BJP leader.

A four-time legislator from Mau Sadar, Ansari is in jail since 2005. He has more than 40 criminal cases against him, including murder and kidnapping. 

The BSP had welcomed him and his family in January after his Qaumi Ekta Dal merged with the party ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Although the Union Government is making efforts to digitise economy and all payments after demonitisation, experts have raised concern over misuse of biometrics and called for legal framework to protect citizens’ rights.

Raising serious concern over UID or Aadhar project and other new digital platforms collecting and using citizen's data, experts during a workshop on the issue of the Sambhaavnaa Institute in Palampur in Kangra district warned that digitisation is undermining our economy, democracy and sovereignty.

Usha Ramanathan, a Law Researcher, said at a time when several instances of misuse of biometrics by banks and payment portals have come to light, we need to raise the issues regarding the Aadhar and linking it to a variety of services.

“After demonitisation, the government has gone into an overdrive promoting digital platforms like Aadhaar Enabled Money Transfers, Universal Payment Interface, USSD, Paytm and other digital wallets. This enthusiastic compelling of the citizens to change their financial and commercial activities overnight is riding on the claim that almost all Indians now have an Aadhaar/UID number and bank account linked to this number – the combination of which will facilitate India becoming a predominantly cashless economy,” she said.

Ramanathan said, however, there is neither any policy document nor any specific legal framework that ensures that the fundamental rights of the citizens are not harmed in the process of, and after the achievement of this shift to digital.

Eminent social activist Nikhil Dey said the use of authentication using Aadhar for delivery of public services is leading to widespread misery and excluding lakhs of people from getting basic services like rations and pensions.

This is despite the fact, there is a clear Supreme Court interim order that Aadhar cannot be demanded for basic services and that has been rampantly violated by many state governments, he added.
“It is the private financial technology companies, both multinational and domestic, whose interests are being served, be it by the UID or the cashless India project,” he said, adding the government has been pushing these projects in the name of security or removing corruption and black money. “But we have no evidence to indicate how corruption will be solved just by bringing in technology. We need to challenge this idea,” he added.  

“Now more than ever, we as citizens need to educate ourselves on the impacts of mass digitisation in India,” said Mohammad Chappalwala, a former IT Engineer and Programme Coordinator at Sambhaavnaa Institute.

“We have also launched a campaign called 'Rethink Aadhar' on social media through which we intend to spread awareness about the problems with UID across the country,” he added.

India's shooting pair of Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu won the Gold medal in the 10M Air Pistol mixed team event on the fourth day of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup at New Delhi on Monday.

Jitu-Heena outclassed the Japanese duo of Tomayuki Matsuda and Konishi Yukari 5-3 in the finals to claim India's first gold at the mega-event. Team Slovenia clinched the Bronze medal with the third-place finish.

Earlier at the qualifying stage, the Indian pair had shot a combined score of 475 to finish seventh among 25 teams.

In the Men's Double Trap event, Ankur Mittal finished as runner-up, claiming India's second Silver medal at the World Cup. James Willet of Australia won Gold, while the Bronze medal went to Great Britain’s James Dedman.

It was a close defeat for Mittal as he concluded with a score of 74, just one less than the gold medalist Willet. Dedman managed to score 56 points to claim a podium finish.

Earlier on Day 1, Pooja Ghatkar had won Bronze medal in the Women's 10m Air Rifle. By the end of the Day 4, India were placed fourth in the medals tally with a Bronze and a Silver. Mixed gender team events are being tested for the first time in an ISSF World Cup edition and thus, the medals won will not being counted in the standings.

China enjoyed the day to the fullest as they claimed Gold in the Women's 50M Rifle 3 Positions to reach the double digit in the medal tally. The leaders have won ten medals so far, with six Gold and four Silver medals.

Men’s 10M Air Pistol and Men’s 50M Rifle Prone are the two medal events lined up for the fifth day on Tuesday. 

Numbness gave way to throbbing pain as this minor girl, Neena (name changed) from an extremely remote area of Himachal Pradesh tried to come to terms with reality, sitting beside the bed of her twin sister, who is under treatment for depression and physical injury at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) hospital here.

Neena’s sister was brought to the hospital last week in a state of shock and fear, after she was allegedly beaten up in a house in Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur district, where the two sisters were reportedly made to work.

“We were beaten up in routine on small mistakes. We could not share our agony with anyone they threatened us of dire consequences,” said Neena, 13. “We had agreed to live with the family eleven months ago, hoping for a better future. But everything is shattered,” Neena said in a choked voice, as she refused to elaborate further.

After the issue was brought to light by the Shimla based Umang Foundation and the father of victim girls lodged a complaint with the Police headquarters here last week, the Sirmaur Police registered a case under Section 8 of POCSO (The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act against one accused and arrested him.

A second case under Section 323 of IPC and Section 23 of Juvenile Justice Act has been registered against his wife and the investigation is on.

Sources said the hapless struggle of the twin sisters, who are from backward Kupvi belt of Shimla district, has to do with the alleged ‘link-ups’, taking advantage of abject poverty and unawareness of folks in the interiors of the hill state.

The poor parents often send their daughters to live with well off families in cities reportedly as undeclared domestic help in the name of better education and care.  

In this case, the minor girls were sent by their illiterate father, a poor farmer having six children (including five girls) to live with a family in Paonta Sahib through an acquaintance in adjoining Ronhat area.

 “The person in Ronhat said his God sister’s family in Paonta Sahib would take care of my daughters and get them admission in the school. In lieu, the girls would help them at home after school hours. I didn’t know that they would torture my daughters like this,” he said. 

The father said he was informed by the family last week that one of his daughters was admitted to a private hospital in Dehdradun as she was sick. “My daughter was unconscious, but they did not come to see her, after I reached there,” he said.

He said he was sent an ambulance from Shimla by a known in IGMC canteen to bring his ailing daughter from Dehdradun.

The Railways will now provide space to postal department and private players to ferry their parcels in the guard's compartment of some selected trains.

According to the partnership with Department of Post (DoP), which aims to increase the national transporter's revenue, the front portion of the guard's compartment will be allowed to be used to carry upto one tonne of parcel at a rate of Rs.12,954.

"Parcel is the fastest moving freight business of Indian Railways. Through this new Business Parcel Policy not only India Post but any private player can also book space in trains for movement of their business parcel," Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said Monday while launching the parcel service in Mumbai-Howrah Mail.

Railways, which earns about Rs.2000 crore a year from parcel buisness, aims to attract more parcel with the increased e-commerce activities.

While DoP will collect the parcel, it will be the railways responsibility to ensure its faster transportation.

Six trains, including Mumbai Mail have been identified for the parcel service, and later more trains will be added to it, Prabhu said.

Before launching the scheme, the Railways had tried the service in Howrah-Dibrugarh Kamrup Express and Hyderabad- Nizamuddin Deccan Express.

In a series of pre-poll violent incidents in Manipur, a bomb exploded in Imphal, while separately police personnel were attacked by villagers and two jeeps vandalised, police said on Monday.

The incidents occurred on Sunday night in the Khundrakpam constituency.

"An intelligence input was received saying Khogen, a police Sub-Inspector, has live bullets in his house. During the inquiry, an unruly mob attacked the police party," an official said.

"Police had to resort to tear gas and firing of rubber bullets to disperse the mob," the police official added.

Some persons, including a seven-month old baby, were injured in the police action.

The Congress committee of the Khundrakpam constituency in a statement said the party had no hand in the incident.

Villagers said there was a political motive behind the attempt to arrest Khogen, adding that nothing incriminating was found. Besides, the police commandos, who failed to produce warrant of arrest, also allegedly refused to issue an arrest memo, the villagers said.

Meanwhile, some youths, who identified themselves as members of an insurgents outfit, had left a bullet with John Maibam, a worker of the North East India Development Party in the Wangkhem constituency.

The youths also reportedly told him that if he ignored the warning to not work for the party, he will face dire consequences. There were increasing reports of pre-poll clashes from other constituencies as well.

On the other hand, some candidates from remote hill areas cannot go to their respective constituencies and were carrying on the election campaign through some hardcore supporters. Most of them have escaped assassination attempts in the past.

The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) on Monday termed demonetisation a black chapter in the history of the country.

Addressing the 'Jan Vedna' meeting against demonetisation held here, HPCC chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, the demonetisation move of the BJP lead government at the Centre will be registered as a black chapter in the history of independent India that has forced the commanman to suffer with rise in inflation, unemployment in the face of a dwindling economy of the country.

“The decision was aimed at favouring handful of the corporate houses, and those associated with the BJP party,” he charged.

He said that the Congress-led government in the state in its last four-year term has made bountiful and unprecedented development in the state, with schemes and programmes in the interests of the public.

“The Congress government has fulfilled almost all promises made in the 2012 election manifesto,” Sukhu said, adding that the party workers will take to the masses the achievement of the government.

He further stated that the senior party leaders, after arriving at a uniform consensus on the issue of unemployment allowance to the youth in the state, will meet the chief minister Virbhadra Singh to discuss and formulate a solution.

An umbrella body of nine bank unions has called a day-long strike on Tuesday to protest the government's "anti-people banking reforms" and to press for compensation to employees for extra work done on account of demonetisation and booking loan defaulters.

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), comprising nine unions — AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBEF, INBOC, NOBW and NOBO — will observe the strike, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary CH Venkatachalam said in a statement here.

The strike will cover employees and officers in all public sector banks, including SBI, all old-generation private banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks. 

"The real menace affecting the Indian banking industry is the rise in bad loans and the number of wilful loan defaulters. Fixing accountability for bad loans and taking action against the bank officials and wilful defaulters are the need of the hour and not formation of a 'bad bank'," Venkatachalam said.

The Economic Survey 2016-17 suggested establishment of a "Bad Bank" to deal with the non-performing assets (NPA) or the bad loan issue.

According to Venkatachalam, the idea was nothing but transferring the bad loans from one government entity to another.

"The unions have been fighting for more than two decades against the reform measures of the government as these are against the interests of the general public and labour force in the country," the AIBEA said.

"Further, every effort is being made to outsource permanent jobs in the banking industry, which is fraught with risks," it added. 

He said around 10 lakh bankers — ranging from officers to clerks — belonging to the nine unions will join the strike.

Venkatachalam said the strike call comes after all attempts to find a solution to the demands raised by the unions yielded no results.

The conciliation meeting before the Chief Labour Commissioner on February 21 failed to break the deadlock as the bank management body — Indian Banks Association (IBA) — did not agree to the union demands.

Most state-run banks have informed customers that functioning of branches and offices will be hit if the strike is observed on Tuesday.

Top private lenders — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank — are not part of the union and will continue to function normally but cheque clearances would not take place. 

Besides, cash transactions will also be hit and the ATMs are likely to be emptied early during the day.

The Grand Alliance government in Bihar headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday presented the Rs.1.60 lakh crore revenue-surplus for the new fiscal in the state assembly with no proposals for new tax in a major relief to the common man.

This was the second successive budget of the GA government which came to power in November 2015.

The budget which was presented by state Finance Minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui covered every section of the society with prime focus on education (Rs.25,251.39 crore), energy (Rs.10,905.03 crore) and health (Rs.7001.52 crore). Rural development and road construction department were also given top priority.

“We have presented a revenue surplus budget with no proposal for fresh taxes,” finance minister told media after presenting the budget.

The FM added the state government had maintained the fiscal prudence despite non-cooperation from the Centre coupled with demonetisation drive. 

Wondering over the Centre’s failure to grant special category status and special package to Bihar, the FM said the state would have prospered had the Centre fulfilled its commitments.

The opposition BJP, however, criticized the budget describing it anti-poor and anti-farmer.

“The budget appears to be misguided. Neither it talks about the welfare schemes nor it mentions the steps to be initiate to improve the condition of farmers,” state BJP president Nityanand Rai commented.

He wondered how the state government had given no priority to the agriculture sector in the budget despite around 80 percent of the state population dependent on farming for survival.

Bihar Opposition leader and BJP leader Prem Kumar too hit out at the government saying budget betrays the common men.

“It is a betrayal with the people of Bihar. The government has provided nothing in the budget for the poor, farmer and Dalits,” alleged Kumar.

He said it was for the first time that the finance minister concluded his budget speech so quickly in the house and also rejected the government’s claim that the implementation of total prohibition had led to fall in crime graph.

Ghaziabad police have registered a complaint against the city's well-known Yashoda Hospital on charges of cheating and extortion of a retired Indian Air Force officer, who was admitted there for treatment, police said on Monday.

The officer was allegedly forced to buy expensive medicines from the hospital pharmacy despite being covered under the central government's Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) and was told that if certain medicines were not bought, his life would be at risk.

Angry over the hospital's "tricks to extort money", the officer's son Amit Tyagi lodged a complaint at the Indirapuram Police Station on February 24 last.

The FIR was registered after the Ghaziabad Chief Medical Officer (CMO) submitted its report against the hospital on the instruction of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's office from Lucknow. The report supports the officer's allegations of cheating and extorting money.

"It seems that the patient was referred to another hospital due to the patient's complaint regarding charging of payments in violation of ECHS rules to provide cashless treatment," the CMO's report states.

According to the FIR, the retired IAF officer — Sergeant Yashvir Singh Tyagi — was admitted on 26/05/2016 with a history of carcinoma soft palate and some other complications.

During the treatment, the condition of the patient worsened from "acute renal failure" to "chronic kidney disease". Later, the patient was referred to Fortis Hospital in Noida allegedly after Yashoda Hospital authorities came to know about the complaint against them.

The FIR seeks legal action against Director of the hospital Upasna Arora, Dr. Vikram Grover and others. However, while the column in the FIR provided for giving the names of suspect/accused does mention the names of Dr AP Singh, Dr Vikram Grover and Dr Sudhir Tyagi, Director Upasna Arora's name does not find a mention there.

"The FIR has been registered and arrests would be made soon," said SP City of Ghaziabad Salman Taj Patil.

When the officer was informed about the anomaly — omission of Director Upasna Arora's name from the list of suspects in the FIR, the SP City said: "It does not make any difference. If the (FIR) content has her name, she would be treated as a suspect and the investigation would include her role also."

The FIR further states that after admitting the officer, the hospital told Yashvir Singh Tyagi's son to buy medicines from the hospital pharmacy, saying that certain items were not covered under ECHS.

Amit had to buy costly medicines from the pharmacy several times. Although Amit met consultant Dr. Vikram Grover, who talked to the ECHS officials and said no medicines would be bought any further, they kept forcing Amit to buy medicines.

On May 5, 2016, Dr AP Singh told Amit that his father was critical, so they were referring him to the Army's Research & Referral Hospital. But Amit preferred to get his father shifted to the nearby Fortis Hospital, where attending doctor told him that his father was alright. After nine days of treatment in ICU, they shifted him to a private room and also did not charge any cash.

Amit then lodged the complaint with the Managing Director of ECHS. Later, Amit lodged similar complaints with the Prime Minister's Office, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office, CEO of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, and the Union Health Minister. He also posted the matter on social media.

Following his complaints, the hospital authorities, instead of addressing the complaint, started threatening him. Finally, Ghaziabad police registered the FIR against the hospital.
 

Ghaziabad police have registered a complaint against the city's well-known Yashoda Hospital on charges of cheating and extortion of a retired Indian Air Force officer, who was admitted there for treatment, police said on Monday.

The officer was allegedly forced to buy expensive medicines from the hospital pharmacy despite being covered under the central government's Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) and was told that if certain medicines were not bought, his life would be at risk.

Angry over the hospital's "tricks to extort money", the officer's son Amit Tyagi lodged a complaint at the Indirapuram Police Station on February 24 last.

The FIR was registered after the Ghaziabad Chief Medical Officer (CMO) submitted its report against the hospital on the instruction of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's office from Lucknow. The report supports the officer's allegations of cheating and extorting money.

"It seems that the patient was referred to another hospital due to the patient's complaint regarding charging of payments in violation of ECHS rules to provide cashless treatment," the CMO's report states.

According to the FIR, the retired IAF officer — Sergeant Yashvir Singh Tyagi — was admitted on 26/05/2016 with a history of carcinoma soft palate and some other complications.

During the treatment, the condition of the patient worsened from "acute renal failure" to "chronic kidney disease". Later, the patient was referred to Fortis Hospital in Noida allegedly after Yashoda Hospital authorities came to know about the complaint against them.

The FIR seeks legal action against Director of the hospital Upasna Arora, Dr. Vikram Grover and others. However, while the column in the FIR provided for giving the names of suspect/accused does mention the names of Dr AP Singh, Dr Vikram Grover and Dr Sudhir Tyagi, Director Upasna Arora's name does not find a mention there.

"The FIR has been registered and arrests would be made soon," said SP City of Ghaziabad Salman Taj Patil.

When the officer was informed about the anomaly — omission of Director Upasna Arora's name from the list of suspects in the FIR, the SP City said: "It does not make any difference. If the (FIR) content has her name, she would be treated as a suspect and the investigation would include her role also."

The FIR further states that after admitting the officer, the hospital told Yashvir Singh Tyagi's son to buy medicines from the hospital pharmacy, saying that certain items were not covered under ECHS.

Amit had to buy costly medicines from the pharmacy several times. Although Amit met consultant Dr. Vikram Grover, who talked to the ECHS officials and said no medicines would be bought any further, they kept forcing Amit to buy medicines.

On May 5, 2016, Dr AP Singh told Amit that his father was critical, so they were referring him to the Army's Research & Referral Hospital. But Amit preferred to get his father shifted to the nearby Fortis Hospital, where attending doctor told him that his father was alright. After nine days of treatment in ICU, they shifted him to a private room and also did not charge any cash.

Amit then lodged the complaint with the Managing Director of ECHS. Later, Amit lodged similar complaints with the Prime Minister's Office, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office, CEO of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, and the Union Health Minister. He also posted the matter on social media.

Following his complaints, the hospital authorities, instead of addressing the complaint, started threatening him. Finally, Ghaziabad police registered the FIR against the hospital.