Sep

3

YSR Reddy, Andhra CM, dies in helicopter crash

September 3, 2009 posted by indiatime | 8 Comments

“…Lord! It’s a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!
It’s a conspiracy! That’s what this is! It’s one big damn conspiracy! And everyone’s in on it! Including her!…”
- Samuel Norton (warden) - The Shawshank Redemption (by Stephen King)

The chief executive officer of one of the largest states in the nation has now gone missing for well over 24 hours. And so far, the police, the army, the airforce, the border security force, the greyhound commandos, unmanned drones, private search missions, satellites, bhuvan, have all been unsuccessful at finding YSR Reddy, the missing chief minister. The search that had originally focused on a a few thousand square kilometer area, has now been narrowed down to about 60-70 square kilometers.

What is astounding is that there hasn’t been any communication with the missing group. It’s obvious that the radio signals from the helicopter is the best pointer to the last known location, and the cellphones carried by the missing could only help in pinpointing the last location where the phones were still able to communicate with the nearby towers.

But an altogether lack of any type of communication raises some serious concerns and potentially very ominous possibilities:

1. the missing party of people might have met with a serious accident, their helicopter going down into a thick wooded area, with some fatalities or serious casualties whereby the members of the party are either unconscious if at all still living or are all dead.

2. The missing helicopter might have crashed into a lake or a water reservoir, drowning the occupants. Such a scenario has already been speculated on account of some eyewitness accounts from near the Shri Shailam project. It is considered less likelier than a crash landing or an emergency landing into the woods.

3. The missing helicopter might have crashed or force-landed into a forest, but the survivors may be in danger of attack by tigers from around the area. The area is host to the famous ‘operation tiger’ sanctuary.

4. the missing helicopter might have gone down into a wooded area, but the survivors might have been captured by local Maoist/naxalite terrorists and may have been whisked away outside the search perimeter and taken to an unknown location. Such a scenario can play out and evolve into a ransom situation where release of some prisoners would be bargained for, or the captured party may be exchanged with another group of captors - perhaps a more radical group like lashkar-e-toiba. This scenario, if true, will not play out soon, because the kidnappers will need some time to get the captured to a secret location.

Who might the terrorists ask in return for safely exchanging a missing chief minister and his officers? Well, there is no shortage of high-value exchange prisoners with Mohammad Ajmal Kasab (26/11 Mumbai attacks surviving gunman), Afzal Guru (convicted parliament terror attack mastermind), Safdar Nagori (imprisoned chief of SIMI - Students Islamic Movement of India), etc.

4. the missing party may all be okay, just minimally injured but unconscious and unable to move because of minor injuries and fractures, etc.

The picture will be a lot clearer as will be the weather by the end of today. Until then, YSR’s supporters, opponents, fans, and his bosses in Delhi will all be praying for his safety.

9 am India time update:
The helicopter wreckage has been found near Rollapenta, about 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool. Two helicopters of the Indian military are said to be hovering over the scene.

11am India time update:
Five bodies have been found at the wreckage site and YSR Reddy, the popular chief minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh, has been confirmed killed in the crash.

Sep

2

Andhra chief minister’s chopper goes missing

September 2, 2009 posted by indiatime | Leave a Comment

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), the chief minister (CM) of Andhra Pradesh and his helicopter, both went missing for several hours earlier today, giving heart attacks to the state police, and spurring speculationss about his whereabouts.

Recent updates are confirming however, that the helicopter has landed safely in the Kurnool district, somewhere on an open playground in Bhanucharla village Atmakur area.

YSR was on a 3-district tour, traveling from Hyderabad towards Tirupati. His chopper began its journey at about 8:30 this morning, but went off the radar screens in a few minutes, about 79 nautical miles from Hyderabad’s Begumpet airport.

What is still worrying the authorities is that the helicopter and the CM were near the Nallamalla hill range, a known naxalite area, and even if the reports about the helicopter’s safe landing are to be believed, the CM still needs to be safely extricated from the area that may be a hotbed of terrorist/naxalite activity. The police are trying their best to keep the extrication part of their operation a secret, hoping to whisk YSR out of the dangerous area immediately.

Just yesterday, Tim Holding, an Australian politician traveling in his helicopter, had also gone missing somewhere close to one of Victoria’s highest mountains. Poor weather was blamed in that story, just as it is being said to be a huge factor in YSR’s helicopter story as well. But Tim Holding’s adventure had a good ending. Looks like YSR’s adventure too, may be over soon.

Update:
Earlier reports of the CM’s helicopter landing safely, have been left in doubt as there still is said to be no communication between the authorities and the missing CM. The search operations were called off a little earlier on account of severe weather

Aug

21

Patna, August 20, 2009, 1:30 pm
Three youths blindfold and take turns at raping a 21-year old girl, in broad daylight. After 2 hours of torment, the furious girl, half-naked, tries to chase them, while the onlookers watch. None of those who watch the scene come forward to help or nab the perpetrators.

No, this wasn’t a scene from a movie. This was real. And this incident has now happened within less than a month of another such rape in broad daylight, in the same city, and also in front of a crowd of onlookers who did absolutely nothing but watched in glee.

Indora (Kangra), Himachal Pradesh, August 19, 2009
A 9-year old boy was arrested for raping a 6-year old girl. The boy has now earned the distinction of being the youngest rapist in the country. The boy dragged the girl to the bathroom and later beat her up before raping her. He was out on bail after spending a night in police custody.

Last year, India had about 39,000 registered cases of sexual molestation of women. Those are just the registered cases. I’m sure there is an exceedingly larger number of these that goes on unreported for various reasons. Whether those rapes happen away from anyone’s notice in some dark corner somewhere, or in broad daylight in front of a city full of people, just seems to me that India does not regard rape as a very serious crime. For all we know and care, the judiciary and law enforcement don’t give much of damn, because the public outrage is just non-existent at best. Maybe those who wish to make a big deal of such things are just plain stupid.

Aug

16

Dowry gazette - August 16, 2009

August 16, 2009 posted by indiatime | 13 Comments

New Delhi (August 5, 2009)
A court in New Delhi ruled that the action of kicking a daughter-in-law and threatening her with divorce, cannot be termed cruel under India’s dowry law.

New Delhi (July 27, 2009)
Sangeeta (27), was found dead under the staircase of her in-laws’ home, and all members of the husband’s family are absconding. Her bruised body was discovered by her parents who had gone to her in-laws’ house to discuss dowry demands.

New Delhi (July 28, 2009)
Preeti Kaur (23) hanged herself to death, to escape dowry demands from her husband and his family. Preeti’s mother told the police that she did not take her daughter’s complaints seriously and kept telling her daughter to adjust to her husband’s family.

New Delhi (August 10, 2009)
A court chided the father of a dowry victim for recording his police statement 4-days after his daughter’s death by poisoning, and acquitted the husband of the murder charges. Sushila, the man’s daughter had died of eating poison-laced pakodas back in late 2003. Sushila’s father, the court alleged, did not accuse the husband for 4 days after her death and went to the district magistrate on the fifth day.

New Delhi (August 10, 2009)
The sessions court decided to prosecute the father of the bride for accepting the other party’s dowry demands, and giving a dowry. The father got in trouble when his daughter complained against her in-laws’ for their dowry demands.

And now, away from the capital:

Ahmedabad, Gujarat (August 4, 2009)
A court in Ahmedabad sentenced a husband and his parents for 14 years and 10 years life sentences, for setting fire to and killing Dipa Shukla, in 2007.

Bhuvaneshwar, Orissa (August 7. 2009)
The local superintendent of police has been charged with cruelty and abuse for torturing his wife and making dowry demands. His wife has alleged that her parents had given him Rs 40 lakhs in dowry, but he has been asking for more money from her parents.

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (August 3, 2009)
A medical doctor is under arrest for harassing his wife for dowry. His wife has alleged that he asked for Rs 5 lakhs and a land lot gift from her parents. The husband’s family has alleged that the relationship turned sour because the doctor found his wife speaking to strangers.

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (Aug 14, 2009)
G Vijaya Lakshmi (28), a software engineer, committed suicide by hanging herself on the terrace of her parent’s apartment. She was distraught over the dowry negotiations and demands from Chakradhar, her groom from Korea, whose family had been demanding additional cash before marriage.

Gurdaspur, Punjab (August 1, 2009)
Jaswant Kaur (now 32), has complained that Karamjit Singh, her NRI husband of 11 years, who took more than Rs 7 lakhs in dowry 11 years ago, hasn’t returned to take her to Britain where he resides. Her family has recently found out that the Karamjit’s UK address did not exist, and that he was already married and had 2 kids.

Aug

7

Death to 2003 Mumbai bombers

August 7, 2009 posted by indiatime | 2 Comments

Just the other day, 52-year old Hanif Syed had flashed a victory sign inside a Mumbai court. A few days before, he called his crime an emotional reaction to communal violence in Gujarat. What he had done on a fateful day in 2003, had instantly killed 16 innocent people. Day before, confronted by the fear of his own death, Hanif the mass killer, begged to be spared the ultimate penalty - “Give me 50 years in jail, but not death”, he pleaded. Thankfully, the judge would have none of it and yesterday sentenced Hanif, his wife Fehmida, and co-conspirator Ashrat Ansari (whose bomb killed 36 people), to death by hanging, a punishment India metes out for the rarest of rare crimes.

Sometime soon, Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist from the 26/11 attacks will also meet a similar fate. Three years ago, Afzal Guru, another convicted terrorist was to meet a similar fate, but has still managed to elude the hanging. In all of these terrorism cases, the judicial system has stretched out and bent backwards and walked several extra miles to preserve the appearances of fairness and justice. Even when the proof and evidence was beyond any arguments (as is in Kasab’s case where he was photographed & videotaped and witnessed by many), the Indian courts have gone the civilized way, taken the higher road and given these bastards every opportunity to defend the state’s charges against them.

There have been many amongst Indians, who have complained about the hurry in prosecuting these cases or bringing these terrorists to justice. “…What is the hurry? The man is locked up in a high-security cell on death row. He is not allowed out of his cell for even five minutes a day. What harm can he do? Talk? Write, perhaps?…”, writes famous author Arundhati Roy, not just seemingly siding with a convicted terrorist, but almost making a frivolous argument that such terrorists be looked at as model citizens during their jail terms.

But leniency and delay in carrying out the sentences against the terrorists, has been extremely costly in the past. Back in 1999, Air India flight 814 was hijacked and the hijackers gained the release of three colleagues from Indian jails. One of the three was Omar Saeed Sheikh, who helped finance 9/11 attacks in New York and later personally carried out the ghastly murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl. The other one released that day was Maulana Masood Azhar who later founded Jaish-e-Mohammad, a new radical terror outfit which participated in the attacks against Indian parliament only a few years later. And Azhar, it is rumored was also part of the group that helped plan the 26/11 attacks late last year.

Bleeding heart intellectuals would have argued on the side of Sheikh and Azhar just the same way they now do for Guru and others. And now, there will soon be talks of fair treatments to convicted terrorists. Just yesterday, mass murderer Kasab is said to have refused his food, saying he wants tasty mutton biryani. This is a man, who by all the legal and judicial rules and laws and means of the land, should himself be roasted and fried in hot oil. But here we were yesterday, a nation of bleeding hearts and soft souls, discussing if he should have a right to be tied a sacred thread by a sister.

Hanif wants to live and Kasab also wants to live and so does Afzal Guru. Such cowards and hypocrites.

Aug

5

Gang rape gazette - I

August 5, 2009 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

A report about rising violent crimes against women, tabled in India’s parliament only last week, describes rape as one of the fastest rising crimes in India, up 10% in less than 5 years. And the 10% rise may merely be the tip of the iceberg. Many of the rape cases are never registered, never come to light, and for many of the victims, it’s not even a one-time crime.

So here’s a hurriedly compiled list of some of the high-profile rape cases during the last week or two. For the sake of brevity, the cases listed are all gang rape cases:

1. Yavatmal, Maharashtra (August 3, 2009)
Taibai Khartade (30) of Ghatanji village, died of burn injuries after she was gang raped and then set afire inside a local school.

2. Mumbai, Maharashtra (August 3, 2009)
On friendship day eve, a 15-year old local schoolgirl was gang raped by her friend and his pals in Nalasopara, Mumbai. Yesterday, the girl hung herself from the ceiling fan of her bedroom. Her mother discovered her lifeless body on Sunday morning, the morning of international friendship day.

3. Mumbai, Maharashtra (August 2, 2009)
A 22-year old woman who had recently come to Mumbai in search of a livelihood and a fresh start, was gang raped at the Diva railway station in Mumbai.

4. Gadchiroli, Maharashtra (August 3, 2009)
The police have identified three Maoist naxalites as the accused in the gang rape of 3 govt-school teachers. The naxalite rebels gang raped the teachers as a punishment for having held classes on a day the rebel leaders had called a shutdown of all government run facilities.

5. New Delhi (July 31, 2009)
A court in Delhi has postponed announcing the verdict in a gang rape case involving India’s members of India’s Presidential body guards (PBG). About 6 years ago, 4 members of the presidential body guards had gang raped a 17-year old local girl in Delhi’s Buddha Jayanti Park.

6. Bangalore, Karnataka (August 1, 2009)
Late last Saturday night, a former student and his friends gang raped Kumuda(32), a teacher and later strangled her to death. Kumuda is survived by her husband, an 8-year old daughter and a 3-year old son.

7. Mumbai, Maharashtra (July 25, 2009)
4 suspected activists of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a local political outfit, were arrested for gang raping a minor who worked as a maid servant. The teenage girl was gang raped inside the security guard’s cabin at the local municipal garden.

8. New Delhi (July 20, 2009)
A 27-year old woman from Daryaganj, was gang raped and later sold for Rs 10,000 to a third party who kept her enslaved for 6 days. She managed to escape and walked several miles before finding a refuge with her relatives. Her first complaint was against the UP police who she said had refused to register her case.

9. Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh (July 17, 2009)
The police chief suspended two senior police officers who had been trying to shield the suspects in a gang rape case. The suspects too, are members of the Andhra police and the victim has alleged that they had raped her several times.

10. Cuttack, Orissa (July 29, 2009)
Orissa high court has rejected the anticipatory bail appeal of Mahesh Agarwal, the prime accused in the gang rape case in a Paikamal block office. Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha, who is Orissa state’s Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribes development minister, had been trying to shield the main accused in the gang rape against a young dalit girl (from scheduled caste).

Jul

30

Sanjeev Sharma, a teacher from the state of Madhya Pradesh, is now under investigation for having asked his female students to disrobe so he could take measurements for their uniforms. The incident occurred in the town of Ganj Basoda (in the Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan border district of Tyonda near Vidisha) on July 24th, at the Nurpur Education Guarantee Scheme School.

8 girl students from the same class complained to their parents that teacher Sharma called them in his office one by one and ordered them to disrobe so he could measure them up for their new uniforms. And since he didn’t have any measuring tape, the teacher is said to have measured the young girls with his fingers. The girls further alleged that the teacher misbehaved with them after measuring them with his fingers.

Later in the day, the parents of the victims marched to the school, but found that the teacher had already left. They then went to the local administrative officer for the district. Kiran Badbade (yes, but he turned out to be a good guy), the officer, immediately found the teacher guilty in his preliminary investigation, and teacher Sharma was immediately dismissed. No word yet on if and when Sharmaji himself will be donning the prison uniform.

Incidentally, Ganj Basoda, the town where the shameful incident occurred, is the birthplace of Yoga. Patanjali, who wrote Yogasutra, the book on Yoga, was born in Ganj Basoda around 150 BC. Patanjali’s Yoga comprised of eight major systems of yoga, the first and foremost of which is called yama or restraint.

So, two thousand years after Patanjali, Ganj Basoda is in the news again for that same yama (restraint). The lack of it, rather.

Further readings:
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

Jul

20

Yet another young mother burnt for dowry

July 20, 2009 posted by indiatime | 5 Comments

Barely a month ago, India’s top court spoke about the need to introduce capital punishment as a strong deterrent against bride burning.

Yesterday, yet another ghastly bride burning occurred within a few miles of India’s Supreme court. 28-year old Deepika Bajaj, a customer care manager with Hyundai, became the latest addition to the stunning statistic that has been regularly claiming the lives of women all over India. Deepika’s case is yet another disgrace on the society around her, especially Indian capital’s law enforcement, that failed this young mother of a six-year old.

Married for last seven years, Deepika Bajaj had recently made several attempts to seek help and intervention in her troubled marriage. And her pleas for intervention had reached beyond a few desperate phone call to her parents and friends.

1. Three months ago, Deepika Bajaj sought intervention from the ‘Crime Against Women’ cell of the local police district, complaining that her husband and in-laws were harassing her for dowry.

2. Three days ago, Deepika called the police again, complaining about additional and increasingly violent abuse by her husband.

3. Minutes before her death, she called the police again, pleading them to save her life, and told her that her husband’s family was ‘preparing to set her on fire’.

That Deepika Bajaj was declared dead on arival within hours after that phone call, speaks volumes about the brutality and the extent of abuse she had been facing at the hands of her own family, in front of her own daughter.

And what was the Delhi police’s response to this brutal murder? First, they reached the victim’s house too late to be able to save the victim. Second, they said they were still trying to ascertain the veracity of the dead mother’s claims of abuse. “..She called us and said her husband Aditya Bajaj and her in-laws had set her ablaze…”, said one police officer. “…We cannot say anything concrete as of now as it is too early but we think the in-laws were responsible for her death….”, said his senior.

The next time the Supreme court speak about hanging people for committing these bride burnings, I hope they consider hanging the lazy police officers who sit on their fat asses doing nothing as young mothers burn to their deaths. I bet the police officer on duty was chewing his betel leaves or sipping a hot cup of tea when this poor and desperate mother called for help.

I truly cannot believe that Indians have learnt to look the other way when such things happen. Forget punishing bride burnings by hanging, merely asking for dowry should be punishable by hanging.

Jul

17

Suicide epidemic

July 17, 2009 posted by indiatime | 4 Comments

A much shortened version of a suicide news on the Indian scene, where people frustrated and distraught over stuff, chose to end their lives :

1. Indian-origin stockbroker Anjool Malde is said to have jumped to his death, ending his promising career at the Deutche Bank, allegedly threatened by some ongoing inquiry at his workplace.

2. IIT-Kharagpur, one of India’s leading technology temples, reported its second suicide in about a month, when freshman student Joginder Singh ended his life, distraught over not getting admitted into his school of choice - IIT, Delhi.

3. Newlywed husband Ravinder Gehlaut tried to end his life by eating pesticides, when his community rejected his marriage to his wife who is from the same gotra or sub-caste.

4. Police in Patna reported a suicide by Michael David Osborne, an Australian tourist who is said to have eaten rat poison and killed himself in his hotel room.

5. The state of Uttarakhand was the scene was an attempted mass suicide by 20 hospital employees, who were demanding that their employment be regularized.

6. A week ago, Hyderabad police arrested Mohammad Ashraf , an ardent admirer and a deranged fan, who had been stalking Indian tennis star Sania Mirza. Ashraf had threatened to kill himself if the tennis star didn’t accept his marriage proposal.

7. 2000 farmers from Ranchi have launched a signature suicide campaign, and have threatened to commit mass suicide if their living conditions do not improve. They committed as much in a letter to the Indian president Mrs. Patil.

8. In Kolkata, Subir Basu, a pharmaceutical company accountant, was run over by a bus, a death currently being treated a case of suicide. Basu’s wife has alleged that his company threw him under the bus, literally.

9. India defense minister is reporting that more than 500 Indian soldiers have taken their own lives during last 4 years.

10. Also in Kolkata, police are investigating if Munni Begum, a young wife had driven her husband Mohammad Mushtaq to suicide. The husband had recently lost his job, but his family has alleged that their daughter-in-law tortured him by her constant demands of money.

Jul

11

“If it came to taking sides in an argument between your parents and your wife, who would you side with?”, a contestant on a popular Indian reality TV show was asked the other day. “My wife, of course…”, came the quick reply. A ruling by Hyderabad high court yesterday, promises to add fuel to the eternal fire that has raged in Indian households since time immemorial.

The Hyderabad court ruled that parents could demand maintenance from any or all of their children, and need not have to worry about the choice. Meaning, it would be up to the parents to decide which of their children to depend on for financial support.

The matter came to the court because a petitioner argued to include his siblings’ names in a maintenance lawsuit his own mother brought against him. By giving the parents the latitude and the discretion to pick and choose whom to pursue (and sue), the court has, yet again within the last few years, elaborated upon the parental and the elderly rights. Just recently, Indian parliament passed a bill to punish those who who mistreat or neglect their parents. Soon after came the recommendation about adding surviving elderly fathers to the list of heirs of someone who died without making a specific will. Yesterday’s Hyderabad court ruling asserts the elderly parents’ rights a step further, by lifting a burden off of them, to be accountable and answerable in asking to be supported.

Unlike in the west, where majority of the children move out of their parents’ homes after high schools, most adult children in India still live with their parents until they get married, and many will still live with parents after marriage in a joint family situation. Which of course, begs some more responsibility on part of the adult children, who, after getting the financial support for their own education and marriage and maintenance, see no evil in throwing their parents under the bus once they themselves become heads of the households.

The issue has a lot more facets though, and the courts have surely not heard the last of these lawsuits. What happens if the elderly parents demand that their married daughter support them? What is the adult child they choose to be supported by, loses his or her job or dies? Does the burden of maintenance then shift to the surviving child or the grandchildren? What about parents of adopted children? Should or can the law also force the non-resident or ex-pat Indians to support their parents back home? What about elderly parents with additional medical needs and assistance? Does the supporting child get a tax break?

Gone are the ancient days when elderly Indian kings asked their sons to exchange their old age, so the old kings could become young again and pursue the pleasures of flesh while the obedient son suffered an untimely old age and watched his classmates and young maidens have fun with dad. Today’s elderly are a lot less luckier in that regard. But a little maintenance they shall have, and so say our top courts.

Jul

4

Two descendants from royal families, with two entirely different backgrounds, have reason to celebrate, as events within the past week have now changed their lives for better.

In Kolkata, Madhu, the great-great-granddaughter of India’s last emperor has a smile on her face, now that her family’s and wellwishers’ pleas for help have been answered. She is about to be handed a job by Coal India, whose chairman last week told the media that he considers the job offer to be a tribute to India’s last emperor. The job itself is a pretty low-paying job, and Madhu, illiterate that she is said to be, will probably just run errands for her employer.

Madhu’s great-great-grandpa was the commander-in-chief of the Indian mutiny of 1857, a uniting figurehead accepted by soldiers of every ethnicity and religion. He was captured and exiled to the then Burma, what is now Myanmar, which is where he eventually died in 1862. He had 22 sons and 32 daughters many of whom died during the mutiny, although 4 lines of succession survive to this day, including the Kolkara branch represented by Mirza Muhammad Bedar Bakht, Madhu’s father.

India’s last emperor was a poet at heart and penned these sad words during his exile -

I had requested for a long life a life of four days
Two passed by in pining, and two in waiting.
The days of life are over,
It’s evening of death,

Now I can sleep without any stress forever in my tomb
How unlucky is Zafar! For burial
Even two yards of land were not to be had,
in the land (of the) beloved…

Less than two yards of land is exactly the size of the land the emperor’s great-great-grand-daughter has been living in somewhere within Kolkata’s crowded slums. But that may soon change.

Far from Kolkata’s slums to the palaces of Rajpipla in the east, Manvendra Singh Gohil, prince and descendant of the royal family of Rajpipla, grew up in a much bigger and wealthier home than the unlucky princess Madhu. And unlike Madhu who served tea, in broken cups, to her customers; prince Manvendra used silver spoons to stir sugar cubes in tea brought to him in gold trays.

A few years ago, Rajpipla’s prince stirred up a storm bigger than his gold teacups could handle. He came out of the closet, letting his wife and his royal family know that he was gay. Since then, the prince has been an avid gay rights activist since his coming out, and has worked to create awareness about HIV and spreading the word on the issues faced by sexual minorities.

Back in the days of 1857 mutiny, Manvendra’s ancestor Verisalji II joined the mutiny, and enjoyed a few days of freedom from the Marathas as well as the British. A hundred and fifty years later, Rajpipla’s Prince is basking in the new freedom that has come after a different kind of mutiny. His dreams and wishes came true last week, when an Indian court chose declared homosexuality to be legal. “….It’s an incredibly emotional moment. We are now a truly a liberal democracy, a thinking nation….”, he said.

Jul

2

Today, a high court in India has decriminalized homosexuality, ruling that consensual sexual activity in same-sex adults is legal. Here are some reactions:

1. We have finally entered the 21st Century.
- Anjali Gopalan, Naz Foundation working on HIV prevention

2. As the world’s largest democracy, India has shown the way for other countries to rid themselves of these repressive burdens.
- Scott Long, Human Rights Watch

3. Now, one is not a criminal when anyway one was not in the first place.
- Wendell Rodricks, Fashion Designer

4. Health workers providing help to homosexual HIV sufferers were also working in precarious situations…it’s not uncommon for police to arrest you because you are providing information on something illegal.
- Anand Grover, lawyer

5. The government should not … give in to the demands of a minuscule minority, and …. test the patience of the silent vast majority -

Statement by prominent Muslim Religious leaders

6. - It is between the court and the government…

Congress party spokesperson

7. It is worrisome to some degree, but it is different from a ballistic missile launch…So yes, people are watching it, the military is watching it here, but I don’t’ think it’s related to any plans or operations to attack anyone
Pinkston, International Crisis Group, South Korea

8. High Court Judges cannot decide on everything
- Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP leader

9. India has never been a threat to Pakistan
- Gen Deepak Kapoor, Indian Army chief

10. It is indeed a unique privilege given to a chosen few to represent the hopes of over a billion people
- Man Mohan Singh, Prime minister

11. It would have been good if such a long time had not been taken…..There should not have been such a long delay in such a sensitive matter. This (not delaying) is in the country’s interest..
- Rajnath Singh, BJP President

Jun

26

Marriages made in hell

June 26, 2009 posted by indiatime | 5 Comments

More than the Swine flu epidemic, the real epidemic that has engulfed India of today is an epidemic of rapes and gangrapes that, on a daily basis, victimizes scores of women across India. Open up any newspaper, tune in to any television station, and you would be reading about or viewing a gangrape story.

But the eastern state of Orissa has a solution for lives that get destroyed and traumatized by the rapes. All across that state, there’s a new wave of marriages - between the rapists and the raped - supported by the government authorities and social welfare agencies, as well as non-governmental agencies.

In what is being called a reform and a rehab measure, mostly purported to be a way to address the social stigma that the rape victims typically face, the novel marriage schemes have now become a part of the judicial scene where the rapists are using this as a ruse to reduce severe punishments for their crimes.

Some have argued that such marriages restore the ‘lost dignity’ of women. Others have proposed that this is a mutual compromise situation in what is perceived as a no-win scenario for either party. Still others advocate marriage as a measure to regain the victims’ self-respect.

Not everyone agrees. And a few rational minds have opposed the marriage schemes labeling them as ‘get out of jail’ cards for rapists and questioning the basis of such marriages.

Incredibly, even these marriage schemes do not have an answer for those women who are raped by their own, like minors raped by fathers and stepfathers and married women raped by fathers-in-law.

And there are cases where either the victim or the perpetrator is a minor.

Or where the victim or the perpetrator is well past 60 and 70.

And then there are rape victims who themselves or their attackers are already married at the time they are violated.

Or where the rapist is the husband himself, already married to the victim, inviting his friends over for a wild dinner party.

Or where the perpetrator is an employer in a domestic help situation.

Marrying victims to their violators. Ha!

Jun

15

Shiney Ahuja, an upcoming and award-winning Bollywood actor celebrity, is under arrest and in police custody, accused by his own maid that he forcibly gagged and raped her this Sunday afternoon. The actor’s wife and baby daughter were not home when the incident is said to have occurred. There are some reports of Ahuja already having confessed to the crime, but that is bound to change once his legal team gets fully involved in the process.

The maid is said to be 18 years of age, a fact favorable to the accused in such a case. It is routine for Indian households to employ domestic maids who are minors, but the age factor of the maid hasn’t made the headlines yet. So it is not unlikely that the police have already given Mr. Ahuja that much of a break.

Although Bollywood fraternity is expressing dismay and shock, it is expected that it will eventually back Mr. Ahuja up all the way, depending on the money at stake. In yester-years, most Bollywood actors would only be caught with tax evasion at most. Recently however, Bollywood actors have been accused or convicted of much more, including vehicular homicides, poaching and eating endangered animals, aiding and abetting terrorists, abusing and extorting young movie aspirants for sex, and now, rape.

For all appearances, Mr. Ahuja is now in custody and justice may appear to have been served, his detainment is temporary at best, since he is only presumed to be guilty, not proven to be a rapist. Here’s the deal. With all those recent crimes by Bollywood actors, one would think at least some of them may still be in prison. Actually, not a single one of them is. Not even the convicted ones. In fact, the convicted ones are even bigger celebrities than before, either from new television shows, new films, political endeavors, or merely by extra public adulation on account of being bad boys or girls.

The police and the judiciary and the politicians have learnt a trick or two about the Indian public. So whenever a public backlash is expected or predicted, the ‘authorities’ pretends to do the right thing. And knowing that the public memory is way too short, the accused are soon released, citing legal inabilities or procedural obligations. Soon thereafter, the victims are offered large sums of money they have never seen before, turning them into hostile witnesses, compromising any potential prosecution. All this happens with the consent of the police, the judges, the politicians and in most cases, the helpless victims as well.

For now, Bollywood is acting shocked and dismayed. I hope they make bad acting a crime one of these days.

Jun

14

Fast courts, swift justice, quick punishment

June 14, 2009 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

Last Friday morning, a minor girl was kidnapped, gangraped and filmed by a group of youths, and the face of of Surat city turned red with anger. The anger was further heightened by the fact that the two of the accused were sons of the local policemen.

While the local activists and social organizations demanded swift and exemplary punishment and a fast track hearing of the case, some semblance of justice did come when an angry mob attacked two of the defendants as they were being taken for a medical checkup. Several men and women punched and kicked the defendants as they curled up on the floor.


But the mob justice didn’t last half as long as the girl’s gang rape which had gone on for over an hour and fifteen minutes. The seething anger hadn’t let off yet, but the police escorting the defendants threatened to fire at the angry mob, and the mob dispersed.

I want to congratulate those courageous men and women who, in the face of police brandishing weapons, broke the security bubble, attacked the suspects and beat the crap out of them. I especially want to congratulate the big woman in the saree, mightily kicking the the defendant’s behind. For that one instant, and at least to me, she looked like the Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, the legendary freedom fighter, with a sword in her hand, majestically riding her horse in the thick of the battle. That, is the kind of vigilance and woman power we will need to vanquish the garbage that has riddled our communities.

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