Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 December 2013
More on the warped mindsets of judges
Sunday, 12 May 2013
Another heart-warming story
Another heart warming story of India's children. With just a little guidance, this is what they can achieve -
A rag picker enters the National Institute of Design and wants to design automobiles. But first he wants to design an aid that will reduce the burden of the LPG delivery man as he struggles with a cylinder over flights of stairs.
Why is it that such an aid has not been desgined before? We have had the LPG cyclinders for over 50 years now and the delivery man has been struggling since then with his heavy burden.No one thought of it before, least of all the oil companies.
I wonder why is that so? Is it because no one thinks of the hardship of the poor? Of how life can be made just a little comfortable for them?
Read this story in The Times of India - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Destinys-design-Rag-picker-makes-it-to-NID/articleshow/20009704.cms
Monday, 22 November 2010
70 dead in building crash, but the building does not exist in MCD's records!
I have done a few posts on the corruption in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. We got to see the biggest consequence of this corruption on November 15 when an illegally constructed building came crashing down in East Delhi. Seventy persons lost their lives.
Here are some of the earlier posts -
The most corrupt Municipal Corporation of Delhi
Shocking scandal
The owner-builder of the building has been arrested. But what about the corrupt MCD officers and political masters who would have taken bribes to look the other way so as to have made the building possible? MCD true to its devious ways, is now saying it has no records of the building! It is a smart and time-tested way to protect one's men. If files go missing, or no records are kept, how would it be proven that the building existed in the first place?
Some years ago I did a survey of the builder floors in South Delhi. All of them had covered more than the sanctioned area or had more than the stipulated number of floors. Though almost all these buildings had no completion certificate, there were buyers and the properties were being registered by the government.
There there are plenty of buildings standing all over the city flouting norms. I know of two such buildings in my neighbourhood which the MCD made a great show of a cosmetic demolition, for these very obviously were protuding on to the common land. But some months later they were all patched up. Yes, the gaping holes in the buildings outer walls made by MCD's demolition squad, were filled and today life goes on in the buildings. Who benefited in this drama of build-demolish-build? None other than the MCD officers and the politicians.
Delhi is in a high risk earthquake prone zone, and it is makes it all the more necessary that all buildings adhere to some basic norms. But who cares? We are just lucky that there have not been more such cases of building collapse.
An article in the Outlook about MCD stirring to act and the blame game between the two political parties which have ruled the corporation.
This is yet another case of MCD corruption. It would be proper to say of MCD murder. For many lives were lost and families destroyed because of corruption. Will the guilty officers be punished? Wait and watch.
Here are some of the earlier posts -
The most corrupt Municipal Corporation of Delhi
Shocking scandal
The owner-builder of the building has been arrested. But what about the corrupt MCD officers and political masters who would have taken bribes to look the other way so as to have made the building possible? MCD true to its devious ways, is now saying it has no records of the building! It is a smart and time-tested way to protect one's men. If files go missing, or no records are kept, how would it be proven that the building existed in the first place?
Some years ago I did a survey of the builder floors in South Delhi. All of them had covered more than the sanctioned area or had more than the stipulated number of floors. Though almost all these buildings had no completion certificate, there were buyers and the properties were being registered by the government.
There there are plenty of buildings standing all over the city flouting norms. I know of two such buildings in my neighbourhood which the MCD made a great show of a cosmetic demolition, for these very obviously were protuding on to the common land. But some months later they were all patched up. Yes, the gaping holes in the buildings outer walls made by MCD's demolition squad, were filled and today life goes on in the buildings. Who benefited in this drama of build-demolish-build? None other than the MCD officers and the politicians.
Delhi is in a high risk earthquake prone zone, and it is makes it all the more necessary that all buildings adhere to some basic norms. But who cares? We are just lucky that there have not been more such cases of building collapse.
An article in the Outlook about MCD stirring to act and the blame game between the two political parties which have ruled the corporation.
This is yet another case of MCD corruption. It would be proper to say of MCD murder. For many lives were lost and families destroyed because of corruption. Will the guilty officers be punished? Wait and watch.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Rape and punishment
The National Commission for Women recently came up with a host of suggestions to deal with rape in the country. But it has recommended very short terms for rapists. I wonder why? Does the commission think that a rapist can be 'cured', or would regret his crime by spending a few years behind bars? Can a rapist be ever cured? However, that is a topic for another post.
The commission has suggested somewhat stiff punishment for men in uniform and those who hold responsible positions. In cases of a police official commiting a sexual assault on the premises of the police station where he is appointed, or if he assaults a woman or child under 16 years of age, the commission proposes he should be liable for a minimum punishment of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment. The staff or management of a hospital, remand home or a women's or children's institution committing such an act should be liable to punishment from five years to 10 years in jail and a fine, the commission has proposed. Five years, is really a very short term for rape, especially if the woman is under treatment in a hospital or under care of a remand home. And just five years for raping a child? This is no punishment for bodily harming and scaring her or his psyche for life. In fact, the punishment for raping a child should exceed that of raping a woman.
The commission has proposed a prison term for seven years for incest. Is that enough?
Whenever I write about rape, the situation of women in Saudi Arabia horrifies me no end. That is one of the countries where a rape victim is punished! Lashes and a jail term! This tragic incident happened not so long ago in Saudi Arabia. See what the woman's husband has to say about it -http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/21/saudi.rape.victim/index.html
In Pakistan till recently, the testimony of four pious (I wonder how they define that!) persons, sorry it should be MEN, was needed for a rape to be proved! Now where in the world would you find four eyewitnesses for rape? And what kind of men, and pious men at that, would they be, if they let the rape be committed and did nothing to prevent it?
See how the Afghan men reacted to a protest by Afghan women to the introduction of a new law – they spat and threw stones at them!
The law introduces some more restrictions on women -- it bars them from leaving their homes without the permission of their husbands and also legalises marital rape.
The world over there are few convictions for rape. I wonder why that is so? Is it because that often it is only men who man the judiciary? Or the fact that men can never really understand the trauma of rape? Of is it that we use different yardsticks for defining wrong and right for men and women? Or that in some countries the adherence to some warped male interpretation of religious text takes precedence over everything else? Whatever it is, there is no denying that around the world men get away lightly with rape.
Though India does not have such archaic laws, the rate of conviction in rape is abysmal. It is still very tough for a woman to come out openly and say she has been raped. And after she does that, little or no action is taken in majority of the cases. Insecurity, public censure, lack of support drives some women to take the extreme step – commit suicide.
Most horrifying is the way judges behave. Read about the way a Pakistani judge conducted the trial of a 13 year old girl who was gangraped -
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/1969/
Shouldn’t he be punished? Why does he get away with the wrong he does? Just because he is a judge?
In my earlier post I wished to share what women in different parts of the world feel the punishment should be. Though I did not get any response from a Pakistani or an Afghani woman, I am sure they too would advocate life imprisonment, if not death and castration.
There is a great schism between how women view rape and how the state reacts – in most countries in a very patriarchal fashion. Raping a child should be considered more serious than raping a woman. Is there any country in the world where this is being done?
Later posts: Rape and molestation, mindset and judgments
Another gangrape in Delhi, how will we act?
Some opinions from around the world. One of the posts states that in India rape is equated to murder. That is not true.
You must see this one - Society elders decide five shoe smacks enough punishment for a rapist!
Can a rapist ever be cured? Read what is being said about it.
The commission has suggested somewhat stiff punishment for men in uniform and those who hold responsible positions. In cases of a police official commiting a sexual assault on the premises of the police station where he is appointed, or if he assaults a woman or child under 16 years of age, the commission proposes he should be liable for a minimum punishment of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment. The staff or management of a hospital, remand home or a women's or children's institution committing such an act should be liable to punishment from five years to 10 years in jail and a fine, the commission has proposed. Five years, is really a very short term for rape, especially if the woman is under treatment in a hospital or under care of a remand home. And just five years for raping a child? This is no punishment for bodily harming and scaring her or his psyche for life. In fact, the punishment for raping a child should exceed that of raping a woman.
The commission has proposed a prison term for seven years for incest. Is that enough?
Whenever I write about rape, the situation of women in Saudi Arabia horrifies me no end. That is one of the countries where a rape victim is punished! Lashes and a jail term! This tragic incident happened not so long ago in Saudi Arabia. See what the woman's husband has to say about it -http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/21/saudi.rape.victim/index.html
In Pakistan till recently, the testimony of four pious (I wonder how they define that!) persons, sorry it should be MEN, was needed for a rape to be proved! Now where in the world would you find four eyewitnesses for rape? And what kind of men, and pious men at that, would they be, if they let the rape be committed and did nothing to prevent it?
See how the Afghan men reacted to a protest by Afghan women to the introduction of a new law – they spat and threw stones at them!
The law introduces some more restrictions on women -- it bars them from leaving their homes without the permission of their husbands and also legalises marital rape.
The world over there are few convictions for rape. I wonder why that is so? Is it because that often it is only men who man the judiciary? Or the fact that men can never really understand the trauma of rape? Of is it that we use different yardsticks for defining wrong and right for men and women? Or that in some countries the adherence to some warped male interpretation of religious text takes precedence over everything else? Whatever it is, there is no denying that around the world men get away lightly with rape.
Though India does not have such archaic laws, the rate of conviction in rape is abysmal. It is still very tough for a woman to come out openly and say she has been raped. And after she does that, little or no action is taken in majority of the cases. Insecurity, public censure, lack of support drives some women to take the extreme step – commit suicide.
Most horrifying is the way judges behave. Read about the way a Pakistani judge conducted the trial of a 13 year old girl who was gangraped -
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/1969/
Shouldn’t he be punished? Why does he get away with the wrong he does? Just because he is a judge?
In my earlier post I wished to share what women in different parts of the world feel the punishment should be. Though I did not get any response from a Pakistani or an Afghani woman, I am sure they too would advocate life imprisonment, if not death and castration.
There is a great schism between how women view rape and how the state reacts – in most countries in a very patriarchal fashion. Raping a child should be considered more serious than raping a woman. Is there any country in the world where this is being done?
Later posts: Rape and molestation, mindset and judgments
Another gangrape in Delhi, how will we act?
Some opinions from around the world. One of the posts states that in India rape is equated to murder. That is not true.
You must see this one - Society elders decide five shoe smacks enough punishment for a rapist!
Can a rapist ever be cured? Read what is being said about it.
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