Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached Berlin on Wednesday on a three-day visit that wil see him co-chairing the second round of inter-governmental consultations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During his three-day visit, the PM will also aim to boost Indo-German trade and economic ties. Germany remains India’s largest economic partner in Europe and one of its key global partners for trade, investment and technology. Indo-German bilateral trade registered an 18.4 per cent increase and reached 18.37 billion euros in 2011. Last year, however, saw a 5.5 per cent dip in bilateral trade due to the global economic slowdown.
A key item on the PM’s agenda during this visit will be to push the proposed India-EU trade pact that has been on the anvil for six years now.
***
SC notice over detaining girl aged 10 in jail
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, April 10
The Supreme Court, taking suo motu cognisance of media reports about the detention of a 10-year-old rape victim by the police in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, when she approached them to lodge a complaint, issued notice to the state government on the issue on Wednesday.
Seeking an explanation from the state by Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir expressed its displeasure over the incident in which the girl was detained when she went to the police station to lodge a complaint. “How can the police detain a 10-year-old girl,” the bench asked. The apex court will, after the explanation by the state, take up the matter for further hearing.
The incident took place on Sunday when the girl and her parents went to the station to file a complaint of rape. The girl was kept in the lock-up of the Mahila Thana for several hours.
When the incident came to light, two women constables on duty at the relevant time were suspended while Mahila Thana in-charge Gayashree Chauhan and sub-inspector Sarita Dwivedi, who were first sent to the Reserve Police Lines, were later removed. The Bulandshahr police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested the accused.