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Chorus grows for banning archaic ‘virginity’ test on rape victims
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Assam Cong leader held on rape charge
CRPF jawan held for rape bid
SC restores ban on cigarette ads
MIM leader booked for making 'hate speech'
29 sailors stranded off Mumbai for 2 months
Posco: Odisha begins talks for land acquisition
Students can’t pursue 2 regular degrees at a time: UGC panel
Taxmen seize 'US bonds' worth Rs 28,000 cr
No headway on 2G auction, EGoM to meet again on Jan 7
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Chorus grows for banning archaic ‘virginity’ test on rape victims
New Delhi, January 3 Most petitioners to Justice JS Verma Committee, tasked by the government to suggest ways to make India safer for women, have demanded a blanket ban on the archaic forensic procedure which involves a doctor inserting fingers in a rape victim’s vagina to determine the presence or absence of the hymen and the so-called “laxity” of the vagina. Findings from the test (conducted on adults and child survivors of rape) are routinely used by defence counsels during trials to question the credibility of victim’s statement and her lack of consent to the crime. In India, consent to sexual intercourse is vital because only non-consensual peno-vaginal penetration constitutes rape under the Indian Penal Code. Despite being unscientific, the findings of the two-finger test are still recorded in medico-legal reports of rape survivors with little attention to the fact that any “old tear” of the hymen or variation in the size of the hymeneal orifice can be due to reasons other than sex. The practice continues in spite of an amendment to the Evidence Act in 2003 (insertion of Section 114-A) to say that cross-examination of survivors can’t depend on their general immoral character. The Supreme Court has also repeatedly ruled that finger test results cannot be used against a rape survivor and “habituation to sexual intercourse” is immaterial to the issue of consent at trial. But nothing has changed. The demand now is to further amend the Evidence Act to prohibit gender insensitive procedures being used for forensic examination of rape victims. Sources said they were open to considering the recommendation of prohibiting the test and would await the Justice Verma panel recommendations on this. In 2011, the Health Ministry had even instructed the Central government hospitals against using the finger test but to no avail. “The Evidence Act should be amended to say WHO protocols on treatment of sexual violence survivors would be applicable in India and questions on hymen or its flexibility won’t be asked,” says Dr Padma Deoshthali, who says the test is inhuman as it mimics rape itself. Aruna Kashyap of the Human Rights Watch, who authored a report recently on the use of finger test despite several SC directions, today said: “The test is an assault on a rape survivor.”
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Another protest held in UK
Shyam Bhatia in London
British NRIs once again came together to express their solidarity with the family of Delhi gang-rape victim who later died. This is the third time in a week that NRIs from the UK have rallied in support of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim. The first rally was organised by an IT engineer from Hyderabad last Saturday. It was followed by a meeting the following day for which a former Delhi police sub-inspector, Darshan Singh Grewal, was responsible. Shades of political rivalry have already crept into the NRI meetings because Grewal and his supporters are associated with the BJP. Yesterday's condolence meeting at Ram Mandir in Southall, West London, had the backing of Labour MP Virendra Sharma, who represents the constituency of Ealing Southall and is broadly sympathetic to India's Congress party. Speaking before the meeting, Sharma said, "I don't want to give the impression that this is a political issue. It is a social issue affecting our society in general. It's an issue of women in general and their protection. Women are suffering for certain and we need to fight against that." The British media, meanwhile, continues to maintain an unprecedented level of interest in what happened to the Delhi gang-rape victim and the subsequent social and political fallout. Earlier this week, the London Times commented that India is a country "that has been called the worst in the world to be a woman and after the events of the past fortnight it is not hard to see why… It is truly shocking that in a country whose democracy has survived for three quarters of a century, its daughters are not safe to travel home on the bus." British media columnist Libby Purves commented on how "the leader of the ruling party, Sonia Gandhi, is a woman; so are the Speaker of the lower house of Parliament and at least three chief ministers. They should be mired in bitter shame at their failure to make a difference to women below their own social and professional level". However, there is reluctance in the West to acknowledge that their own societies are also affected by similar and even worse cases of male-dominated brutality. According to the UK government's action plan on violence against women and girls, "around 400,000 women are sexually assaulted and 80,000 raped each year. In the UK, more than one in four women will experience domestic abuse since the age of 16, often with years of psychological abuse". Across the Channel in France, the public has yet to come to terms with the plight of two young teenagers, named only as Nina and Stephanie, who were raped virtually every day for six months by queues of young men who waited patiently for their friends to finish so that they could have a go. Following a trial last year, 10 out of 14 accused were acquitted and the remaining four were given lenient sentences. Two weeks ago, German-born Internet tycoon Stefan Glaenzer was given an eight-week suspended sentence for thrusting his groin into an American female tourist on a train during the Olympics. The woman tourist he assaulted was said to be disgusted and violated. Sentencing Glaenzer, Judge Michael Snow told him, "Women on the Underground are easy prey for men like you."
West is just as culpable
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Assam Cong leader held on rape charge
Guwahati, January 3 The arrested Congress leader is the chief coordinator of the party in the BTC area. He was the Congress candidate
from the Sapaguri Assembly constituency in the 2011 Assembly elections. He was defeated in
the election. The accused was stripped and beaten up by enraged villagers, including women, before being handed over to the police. The villagers came to know about the incident after the woman raised
the alarm. The police suspected the politician had been sexually abusing the woman for the past several months in lieu of providing her benefits under various government schemes. The development has caused major embarrassment to the ruling Congress. Chairman of the media cell of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee Haren Das said the party would not tolerate such behaviour on part of any of its members and leaders. A strict action would be taken against Brahma if the charges against him were proved, he
added.
Bangalore gets woman helpline
Bangalore: The Karnataka Government on Thursday set up a dedicated helpline for women in Bangalore. Women in trouble and those facing threat of sex crimes, including molestation, can call up on phone number 1091. The helpline, to be functional round the clock, would soon be extended to the entire state, said Home Minister R
Ashok. — TNS
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Guwahati, January 3 Lakhimpur Deputy Commissioner Anwaruddin Chowdhury said the jawan, along with five other men, attempted to rape the woman. The jawan was arrested, he added. — PTI
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Stalin my successor, says Karunanidhi
Chennai, January 3 The 88-year-old leader also made it clear that he will continue to head the party till his death. “I will work for the cause of uplift of the society till death. So, for the question who after me, the answer is Stalin who is sitting amongst you and you should not forget it,” he told his partymen. The DMK patriarch was addressing party cadre at a function in which over 2,000 PMK men joined the DMK. His remarks were welcomed with a loud cheer. Karunanidhi had more than once given enough hints that Stalin is his political heir-apparent, an issue that had led to sibling rivalry with MK Alagiri, the elder son and Union Minister. Ever since 59-year-old Stalin was given prominence in the party and elevated as Deputy Chief Minister in 2009, there have been indications that he will succeed Karunanidhi. Alagiri had openly resented such hints saying he would not accept anyone else other than his father
as leader. The Madurai strong man, who is two years elder to Stalin, had a couple of months ago made no secret about his unhappiness over the selection of party functionaries in his home turf, particularly in the youth wing headed by Stalin. Alagiri had said his recommendations were neglected by the party leadership, an indirect attack on Stalin. Noting that the PMK workers have joined the DMK because of shortcomings in that party, Karunanidhi hit out at PMK chief S Ramadoss for “unnecessarily” dragging him into controversies. — Agencies
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SC restores ban on cigarette ads
New Delhi, January 3 A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and Gyan Sudha Misra said the stay granted by the Bombay High Court in December 2005 on the ban had “totally frustrated” the law put in place in public interest. Staying the HC order, the SC also issued notice to the Union Health Ministry and five tobacco manufacturers, who had obtained the stay, seeking their response within four weeks to a petition filed by an NGO, Health for Millions. The Bench wanted to know as to how the government allowed the interim stay granted by the HC to operate for seven years. Arguing for the petitioner, counsel Prashant Bhushan contended that the case had immense implications for public health and safety. The HC stay had resulted in the non-implementation of a welfare law aimed at curbing the harmful effects of cigarette smoking and the use of tobacco in other forms, Bhushan said. It had been universally acknowledged that even non-smokers suffered from the ill effects of smoking as in the company of smokers they were also subjected to passive smoking, the petition contended. The HC failed to appreciate that the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, and the relevant 2004 rules were in line with the decision taken at the meetings of the World Health
Organisation, the petition said.
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MIM leader booked for making 'hate speech'
Hyderabad, January 3 The controversial speech, which has since gone viral on the social networking sites, was delivered by Owaisi in Nirmal town of Adilabad district on December 23 in which he had reportedly spewed venom at Hindu community. Owaisi (42) is the party’s floor leader in Andhra Pradesh Assembly and the younger brother of MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. Based on a complaint filed by a city businessman S Venkatesh Goud, the 4th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate directed the Osmania University Police to investigate the complaint under section 156 (3) of the CrPc and file a report before it on January 28. Goud had filed a complaint before the court alleging that Owaisi had made a “highly provocative and derogatory” speech against the majority community which was telecast on a local television channel owned by a MIM leader. Meanwhile, DGP V Dinesh Reddy said two separate cases had been registered against him.
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29 sailors stranded off Mumbai for 2 months
Mumbai, January 3 According to information available from the Coast Guard and the Yellow Gate police station, the oil tanker was plying between Mundra in Gujarat and Mumbai and was scheduled to touch Mumbai on October 18, but was moved to the outer anchorage of the port. Sources say the ship's owners violated rules pertaining to the classification of ships. The crew on board the tanker, which is owned by Pratibha Shipping, was not allowed to carry out immigration formalities required for their disembarkation. According to sources, the owners of the oil tanker also face problems due to a dispute with another company because of which they have not been able to pay taxes and dues to the government. In the past few days, some crew members from the vessel had to be evacuated on an emergency basis after they developed ill-health. The authorities have been told that the ship was running short of food and essential supplies. Among those who are trapped on board include the tanker's captain and his family. Sources say, the Director General of Shipping is meeting with officials and owners of Pratibha Shipping to sort out the matter. Incidentally, another ship belonging to the same company is stuck off Chennai for similar reasons.
At sea
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Posco: Odisha begins talks for land acquisition
Paradip (Odisha), January 3 Though District Collector SK Mallick was confident of convincing the villagers to give up their land, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti president Abhay Sahoo termed the government's efforts to acquire land as illegal. "The effort to acquire land is illegal as a case in is pending in the court of the National Green Tribunal," Sahoo said. The district collector, on the other hand, said "We are confident. The people will cooperate with us in acquiring the rest of the land." Though the state government has acquired 2,000 acre, it requires an additional 700 acre for beginning the project work. The government had earlier identified 700 acre at Gobindpur village, one of the seven proposed plant site villages. — PTI
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Students can’t pursue 2 regular degrees at a time: UGC panel
New Delhi, January 3 In addition to one regular degree course, students will be allowed to pursue a maximum of one additional degree in open or distance mode from the same or different universities. Also, students enrolled in a regular degree course will be permitted to pursue a maximum of one certificate/diploma /advanced diploma/PG diploma programme simultaneously from the same or different universities. A recommendation to this effect has been made by an expert committee of the UGC constituted to consider the issue of pursuance of more than one degree simultaneously by students. There are currently no guidelines to regulate the instruction of higher education in terms of the number of degrees the students can pursue and they can enroll arbitrarily in more than two degrees or courses at the same time. The UGC expert panel chaired by Prof Furqan Qamar, Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh Central University, made these recommendations. The UGC circulated these recommendations late tonight to all Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities and will implement them from the next academic session after getting a formal feedback from institution heads. — TNS
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Taxmen seize 'US bonds' worth Rs 28,000 cr
Coimbatore, January 3 The I-T action followed Ramalingam's reported application to the Petroleum and Chemicals Ministries, seeking sanction to set up a Rs 1,000-crore crude oil refinery in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. They said some documents, which appeared to be US Treasury Bonds with a face value Rs 28,000 crore, were seized from his possession and further investigation was on. Ramalingam is involved in the business of groundnut peeling
equipment and used to make frequent trips to countries like Australia, Malaysia
and Indonesia. A year ago, he had applied for sanction to set up the refinery in Thondi at a cost of Rs.1,000 crore. The Income-Tax department had kept a close watch on the movement and activities of Ramalingam for the last few months culminating in the raids, they said. The I-T officials from Chennai and Combatore again returned yesterday and checked Ramalingam's accounts in various banks, sources said. — PTI
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No headway on 2G auction, EGoM to meet again on Jan 7
New Delhi, January 3 After the early morning meeting of the EGoM, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said, “The EGoM today deliberated upon several issues for about two hours and decided to meet again on January 7 to further discuss the issues. Once the EGoM takes decisions, the issues will be referred to the Cabinet. No decision was being taken today.” Sources said that the EGoM deliberated on the possible design of the upcoming auction of spectrum in both 1800 MHz and 900 MHz bands. However, it could not discuss the fate of the 800 MHz spectrum band, mainly used by the CDMA operators. The Union Cabinet had last month approved the sale of unsold GSM Spectrum in the 1,800-Mhz band and in the premium 900-Mhz band. It had given approval for the sale of the unsold GSM Spectrum at a new price that would be 30 per cent lower than the earlier price. The Cabinet took into account the recommendation of the EGoM that the earlier base price was too high and needed to be brought down.
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British NRIs once again came together to express their solidarity with the family of Delhi gang-rape victim who later died.
Hyderabad, January 3
