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Virendra Kapoor |
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| October 13, 2001 |
| HOME | NEWS | CAPITAL BUZZ |
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Virendra Kapoor |
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| October 13, 2001 |
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And so we have a legal battle in London. Between Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Hardeep Puri and Gauri Advani, nee Sabharwal, Union Home Minister L K Advani's estranged daughter-in-law. Puri accuses Gauri, who works with a London firm, of trying to implicate him in a case of wrongful confinement and misuse of official position. Gauri's complaint to the Indian authorities that Puri tried to force her to settle her marital dispute with husband Jayant is a pack of lies, he claims. The case is due to come up for hearing later this month. Puri, a senior Indian Foreign Service officer, says he has known Gauri for several years since he was friendly with her journalist father Pran Sabharwal -- in fact, so close was he that Gauri often dropped in at his London office. He vehemently denies Gauri's complaint to the ministry of external affairs and Delhi police that he confined her to a room and told her to 'settle her marital dispute here and now.' On the day she mentions, Puri says Gauri had dropped in at his office. They had gone out for a meal. When she brought up the subject of her marriage, he did suggest in an avuncular fashion that since she had irreconcilable difference with Jayant, the best course was to part company in an amicable manner -- and that was all, he says. The MEA had received Gauri's complaint against Puri some months ago. He had taken the position that it was a private matter that did not call for official intervention. Subsequently, she filed a complaint with the Delhi police alleging Puri was trying to coerce her into granting Jayant a divorce. Following investigations, the Delhi police had concluded that Gauri's complaint was baseless.
Operation Eject
For decades it had been allotting houses from its media pool to senior print journalists. Though the rules prescribe that a journalist should vacate the house on acquiring one of his own in the national capital region, hardly anyone complied. Since successive governments were afraid to annoy the media, no action was taken to evict journalists overstaying their welcome. But when Jagmohan became minister for urban development he set the ball rolling. A group of younger media persons supported him. Interestingly, upon Jagmohan's transfer out of that ministry, his successor Ananth Kumar sought to abandon the eviction move. But his Cabinet colleagues insisted that the houses be vacated by October 15. Incidentally, one of the first to move out of his well-appointed flat was celebrated photographer Raghu Rai. He vacated 1, Ravinder Nagar shortly after the ministry notice. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
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At last the Union government has had the good sense to stand by the younger lot of journalists.