Kozhikode, June 12
A faulty HIV test has turned a young Keralite couple’s world upside down. Not only were Prajeesh and Sejina, who were expecting their first child, ostracised by the hospital staff and their village, but they also lost their jobs. They have now sought action against the hospital for the goof-up.

They have petitioned the Chief Minister, the Kerala State Women’s Commission and the state human rights commission for punitive measures against the Malabar Medical College for not following the mandatory guidelines while conducting the HIV test. The hospital, however, maintains that it followed the required procedures.

Sejina, a resident of Koomully village, began bleeding while she was six weeks into her pregnancy, and on May 30, she and her husband reached the Malabar Medical College in Kozhikode district.

Around 3 pm, doctors advised that dilation and curettage (D&C) be conducted on 25-year-old Sejina, Prajeesh said. A D&C, which involves scraping the uterine lining, usually leads to an abortion in pregnant women, as happened in Sejina’s case.

But Prajeesh was shocked when he was told his wife was found to be HIV positive.

Soon he was also asked to go for a blood test but was found HIV negative.

“But the doctor called my sister and told her about my wife. The news spread like wildfire and we were treated as outcasts in the hospital. Sejina was lying in the operation theatre and she herself had to change her dress, get on to a wheelchair and come out. This is injustice,” Prajeesh fumed. — PTI

Hyderabad, June 12
The Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission today ordered ban on controversial television reality show ‘Aata’, a talent hunt programme for children, for violation of child rights and promoting obscenity.

Several social organisations, women and child right groups had moved the commission seeking action against the organisers of the dance show being telecast on ‘Zee Telugu’ channel.

The programme, showing scantily-clad tiny tots gyrating to raunchy film songs in the name of showcasing their dancing skills, has evoked widespread public outrage for encouraging vulgarity.

After hearing the arguments on both sides, the commission chairman Justice B Subhashan Reddy ordered immediate ban on the show and directed the City Police Commissioner to implement it.

“This show clearly violates child rights. The children are exposed to long rehearsal sessions, glaring lights and high-decibel sounds which is affecting their health,” the chairman said.

He dismissed the argument of the parents of participants that they had no objection to their wards taking part in such shows.

The commission took serious note of the way the child dancers are portrayed in the show. Agreeing with the petitioners’ contention, Justice Reddy found fault with the parents for encouraging their wards

to participate in such realty shows. “It is the responsibility of the parents to protect their children,” he said.

The opponents of the show argued that the participants were made to work for 14 hours a day and were being subjected to physical and mental abuse. The organisers are also flouting the Supreme Court’s directive that children below 8 years should not participate in reality shows.

The provocative dances and lewd gestures by the child participants would leave a deep negative impact on the viewers, particularly of the impressionable age, the child right activists argued.

Bangalore, June 12
“Sleaze swamy” Nityananda was today released from the district prison at Ramnagara after having spent more than 50 days in the prison. The self-styled godman, accused under a slew of charges, including rape, was arrested from Himachal Pradesh by a joint team of HP and Karnataka police on April 21.

The High Court granted bail to Nithyananda yesterday on condition that he provided a security of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of two persons. He was also asked by the court to desist from giving religious discourses and appear before the local police once in every 15 days. He was also asked to handover his passport.

Today being a second Saturday, a holiday in Karnataka, there was doubt whether Nityananda, who was caught in a sting video showing him in bed with a Tamil actress, would be able to obtain his release from the prison. However, Nityananda’s lawyers met the magistrate of the Ramnagara court at his residence and procured a release order, which was later produced before the jail authorities. There was some problem regarding Nityananda’s solvency status but his lawyers sorted out the issue.

Finally, after a whole day’s work by the lawyers, Nityananda finally walked out of the prison at 6:15 pm. The “godman”, clad in saffron robes as usual, gave a toothy smile to the people waiting outside and folded his hands in a “namaskara”. He was immediately whisked away in a silver-grey Indigo car with tinted glasses waiting outside the prison by another saffron-clad man whose head was tonsured unlike the flowing tresses that mark the coiffure of Nityananda and many of his followers staying in the ashram located at Bidadi on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Nityananda’s convoy, escorted by the police, headed straight for the Bidadi ashram where two women devotees talked to the media and apologised for their being not allowed inside the ashram for “security reasons”. 

Chennai, June 12
A bomb blast on rail track was detected just a fewminutes before the crossing of the Chennai-bound Rockfort Express with about 2,000 passengers aboard, averting a major accident near Villupuram junction, about 150 km from here.The passengers had a miraculous escape at about 2 am today, when the driver stopped the train 200 feet before the spot between Mundiyampakkam and Perani stations, after receiving a warning from railway officials.

According to Southern Railway officials, the driver and guard of the Salem-Chennai Express, felt severe a jolt after crossing Munndiyambakkam station. The train crew immediately stopped the train at Perani station, which is not a scheduled stop, and informed the station officials, who in turn alerted the Mundiyambakkam station master.

Rockfort Express, Pearl City Express, Kanyakumari Express, Mumbai-Madurai Express and others were stopped midway. 

Trains departing from here to Guruvayoor, Puducherry and other places were also stopped. When the authorities inspected the track, it was found that the blast had damaged three feet of tracks and caused a four-feet crater. They found that the track to a length of 3 feet was cut and a wire from the spot was leading to a near-by field. Rail traffic was resumed after eight hours, after the track was repaired..Pamphlets alleging that the Centre had provided equipment, military training and intelligence to the "racist Sri Lankan government" in the "genocidal war against Tamils" were found. It also opposed the red carpet welcome to Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa and the latest deals signed between him and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to provide training to Lankan military, besides financial assistance to the island government. 

Jammu, June 12
A drug-addict of Nai Basti, along with an accomplice, kidnapped and brutally murdered a 10-year-old boy, son of a neighbouring ration depot owner, allegedly to arrange money for drugs and for using it to clear a supplementary exam of Class XII.

The accused, Darbinder and Gagandeep, both aged around 20, allegedly kidnapped Shaleen Gupta, son of Naresh Gupta, alias Kala, in the Ram Darbar temple street in ward No. 23, Nai Basti, around 8.30 pm yesterday.

The boy’s body, with stab marks on neck, was recovered around 4 am today from near the Tawi in Belicharana village, about 10 km from the victim’s house.

Enraged family members and area residents went their ire at the police and the house of the accused after the body was recovered. An irate mob set the house of the main accused, Darbinder, on fire.The mob also stormed into the Gandhi Nagar police station this afternoon and blocked Satwari Chowk for four hours and laid seize to the four-lane highway up to Gandhi Nagar police station.

Shaleen Gupta was the only son in the extended family of three brothers. He went missing in the evening after he left home to play video game in a shop. The family panicked when he did not return and was not found at the shop also. Around 8.30 pm, kidnappers called up Naresh Gupta over his mobile phone demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh by 3 am on Sunday.

Naresh said with the help of other relatives, he found that the kidnappers used an STD booth near the bus stand to make the call. The kidnappers had told him they knew what was going in his house and if he went to the police his son would be killed. Naresh said this made him suspicious that a member of the gang was lurking around their house and giving information to the kidnappers. They also suspected Darbinder, a drug addict, who was involved in a failed kidnapping attempt a few months ago, was behind the kidnapping.

They informed the police, which arrested Darbinder around 11.30 pm but released him an hour later saying nothing was found against him. Later the body was recovered around 4 am. The police arrested Darbinder again, who later confessed to his crime and named co-accused Gagandeep.

Deputy Commissioner (DC), Jammu, MK Dwivedi has announced an ex gratia payment of Rs one lakh to the victim’s family. SSP, Jammu, Basant Rath said, “A departmental inquiry has been marked in this incident and no one will be spared.”

New Delhi, June 12
It’s the World Day against Child Labour today, but for millions of needy children across the country the occasion hardly held any significance. Their day passed like any other: by working hard outside the comfort of their homes. And the government, as a routine, reiterated its annual pledge: it was committed to end the menace of child labour.

Today, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, ILO, UNICEF and UNESCO came together to hail the recently enacted Right to Education Act, agreeing that the realisation of children’s right to education was crucial to end child labour. The world has promised to eliminate the practice by 2016. India seems far behind the target, with 20 per cent of its children working as domestic labour. The ILO said Indian children suffered exploitation and abuse because working arrangements were largely informal and social protection virtually non-existent. A wall of acceptance surrounds the practice, often considered a "better" alternative for children from poor families, it added.

The RTE is, however, seen as a ray of hope to bring children back to school. There are 8.1 million children and young people out-of-school in India at present. They not only are the risk of child labour, but also trafficking, child marriage and other abuses. Girls are particularly at risk, with 49 per cent getting married before the age of 18.

In fact, the vulnerability of girls is a universal truth. This on mind, the ILO today released a report, “Give girls a chance”, to underline the need to empower them. Back home, half of the children leave school before reaching Grade 8 -- with higher drop-out rates for SC children (55 out of 100) and the highest for ST children (63 out of 100).

The NCPCR, ILO and UNICEF believe RTE will bridge the existing gender gaps by mandating that out-of-school children be mainstreamed into formal schools at the age appropriate level with the necessary support to succeed and that children no longer face discrimination of any sort. But the costs are worth the returns, say economists. ILO puts the costs of eliminating child labour globally at USD 760 billion, and the benefits at an estimated USD 5.1 trillion in the developing and transitional economies where most child labourers are found. The world has about 246 million children in labour. 

BRIEFLY

26 CRPF men hurt in road mishap Midnapore (WB): A CRPF jawan was killed and 26 were injured when their vehicle overturned in West Midnapore district on Saturday, the police said. The CRPF vehicle was on way to Belpahari from Jhargam when the accident happened. Of seven critically injured CRPF personnel, three were airlifted to Kolkata. — PTI