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Rape of sensitivity
Man, if you are stressed out, you can easily go and rape and practically get away with it these days. No, not by hoodwinking the law, or by finding ways to cirumvent the system. In fact, the law will be on your side and be pretty sympathetic too.
A US soldier who raped a Nigerian woman in Italy has been given a lighter sentence because the court deemed his tour of duty in Iraq had made him less sensitive to the suffering of others. James Michael Brown beat and handcuffed the woman, a Nigerian resident in the town of Vicenza. He raped her vaginally and anally and left her to wander the streets naked in search of help. [Link]
Our last chance to save them
Sooner or later, it had to happen. Forty-two children from the isolated Jarawa tribe of the Andaman Islands have been hit by measles in the last three weeks in an epidemic which could wipe them out if not nipped now. The figure represents 16 per cent of the tribe's total population of 270. Liberal estimates put the population count at 300.
The Jarawa people of the Andaman Islands lived until very recently in almost complete isolation. Both British and Indian settlers have moved onto their islands over the last 150 years, but until 1998 the Jarawa chose to resist all contact with them.
Women's commission hounds out Bhubaneswar couples
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The Orissa State Women's Commission has taken upon itself the onerous job of playing the moral police in state capital Bhubaneswar. On Friday, they took help from the real police and hounded out 200 young couples from a popular dating haunt, the Science Park.
The Indian Express had this to report:
(SCW chairperson Namita) Panda said she was prompted to raid the park because of rising cases of unwed mothers and rape on false promise of marriage by youngmen in the capital. “Most of the victims (of pre-marital pregnancy and rape) had told me that three parks (name not divulged) were being used as dating points in the city by young couples”, she said.
“I was surprised to see many girls in their college uniform sitting hand-in-hand with young boys. I found several pairs taking help of umbrellas to get more intimate in the public place,” said the SCW chairperson.
This year's V-Day round-up
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Velentine's Day comes every year with its share of spoils. I mean, the spoilsports. This year couldn't have been any different. More so, since the zealots have not died away.
Just a quick rundown of some news reports:
The New Indian Express:
ROURKELA: Planning a date on Valentine Day. Here is a warning for unmarried young couples. The moral police in the saffron brigade will be on a prowl at vulnerable dating points to swoop down on lovebirds engaged in intimacy!
Cops bash up student for speaking to girl
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Policement in Noida are grossly incompetent and inefficient when it comes to prevent crimes against women, even if those are eve-teasing cases. But they are ruthlessly efficient when separating a boy from a girl.
Three constables attacked a Delhi University student Wednesday last and bundled him into a Gypsy. All because he was seen talking to a girl.
CNN-IBN reports:
He was allegedly talking to a female friend at the Sector 55 market of Noida when the three cops approached him, bundled him into their van and beat him up, banging his head on a support rod in the vehicle time and again.
Sudhir was then taken to the Sector 58 police station.
Sindhi girls in Bhopal can't speak on cellphones now
The Sindhi community in Bhopal is nuts. Let's make that politically and legally correct — a section of the community is nuts for sure.
A Sindhi girl there by the name of Priyanka Wadhwani fell in love with a Muslim youth called Umar. Since the girl's family was against the match, the two eloped and married. The guardians of Hindu morality (read, RSS and Bajrang Dal) promptly stepped in and said the Muslim man had abducted the girl. A case was filed in due course.
The Bombay High Court intervened, declared the marriage valid, and ordered the police to provide security to the youth's family.
But the Sindhi community's Bhopal panchayat was not too pleased with the court's judgment. It has gone ahead with framing guidelines for girls. Now, they cannot talk on cellphones because that would be enticing for Muslim men!
Hindu mob ransacks Star News office for interview of lovebirds
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The staff of the Mumbai office of Star News was attacked Monday and its offices ransacked by about 50 activists of the so-called Hindu Rashtriya Sena after it broadcast an interview with a runaway couple – a a teenage Hindu girl and a young Muslim man.
“The attack happened Monday evening because of a report that we carried. We have never heard of the group that attacked the office. They call themselves the Hindu Rashtriya Sena. It is difficult to say who they are. It was just a bunch of people who came and attacked the premises of Star News and broke everything inside including the private property of employees,” said Uday Shankar, the channel’s CEO.
“Some people suffered minor injuries. Mercifully, there were no serious injuries. In this specific case, there was no earlier threat. We don’t even know the exact reason for the provocation,” Shankar said.
Its easier to catch lovers, after all
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The police in Mumbai have finally found something constructive to do as far as law and order is concerned — they have started detaining couples cosying up on the seafront. The Bandra police station has been conducting a special drive over the last one week or so rounding up couples for getting to close for comfort in public.
Uh, too close?
We have been told the exuberant policemen have so far detained close to 100 couples under the Bombay Police Act after receiving complaints from locals. These couples were let off after paying a fine of not more than Rs 1,200. So, someone made some money too?
Some justification was found in Hindustan Times [Link].