THE YOUNGER THE BETTER???????

Hyderabad seems to be doing everything in it's power to dispel the illusion about it's being a safe haven for it's fairer denizens with one myth after another about the same biting the dust in quick succession........


In the latest horror, a 12 year old schoolgirl was first heckled and then unceremoniously bundled out of a moving bus because she could summon up the courage and temerity to question the conductor's indecent and appropriate behaviour and raise her voice in protest.......

The plucky 12 year old Amreen Begum was on her way to school last week and had boarded the bus bearing route number 251 when lo and behold she felt the conductor tugging at her headscarf; the petrified girl started entreating the offending conductor to stop this unwelcome behaviour and when her entreaties and plaintive cries had no effect whatsoever on the tyrant, she made her way to the foot board so that she could alight from the bus at the next stop.........

More than one eyewitness swears to the fact that he or she saw the conductor push the young girl off the foot board of the moving bus in a fit of pique and the very same people also saw this girl falling down in an untidy heap and sustaining multiple bruises on both her hands as well as legs.........

Amreen Begum somehow managed to keep her wits about her about her and reach her school, her teachers were dismayed to see her pitiable condition and both her teachers and principal rushed her to Osmania General Hospital for the required treatment and first aid.........

As is their wont, the officials manning the Bahadurpura police station failed to take cognisance of the tattered salwar kameez of the girl and her bleeding injuries, they not only obstinately refused to register a case against the errant conductor but also asked the girl to make her peace with him, Ameena's school authorities said.........

Other students belonging to the same school also alluded to the fact that this was far from being the first such instance and that the same was a recurring nightmare as far as they were concerned; many of her schoolmates admitted to being at the receiving end of not only the conductors sexist and boorish tendencies but also facing the added ignominy of male fellow passengers contributing their two bits worth.........

All one can say in conclusion is that special buses exclusively meant for ladies and women are the crying need of the hour; these buses should be manned by lady conductors and ply regularly during and after office and school hours........

As for the offending conductor/s, the transport authorities would do well to conduct an identification parade at the earliest, the duly identified conductors should be initially suspended for a thirty day period and their salaries for the same period should be disbursed amongst their victims; the authorities should also not hesitate to summarily dismiss such erring conductors from service for good if they continue to persist with these nocturnal behaviours and deplorable tendencies.....

The only question herein being, who will really bite the bullet and provide aid, succour and lasting relief to these harassed women and school girls??????

IS HYDERABAD SAFE???????

A significant majority of Hyderabad's womenfolk have resorted to the protective measure of carrying packets of extremely pungent chilli powder either on their persona or handbags while stepping out of their homes and are ardently looking forward to graduating to pepper sprays as the same are a far more effective way of protecting oneself in their humble opinions.......


Responding to the horrific incident of a gutsy girl who preferred to jump out of a moving auto after spraying her wannabe assailants with pepper spray rather than submitting herself to the ignominy of becoming a rape victim; Hyderabadi women are almost of the unanimous opinion that APSRTC buses and MMTS trains are anything but safe for the womenfolk who summon up the courage to board them........

Instances of eve teasing within public transport are so common place according to these very same women; if anything such instances have only increased over a period of time instead of showing a downward incline and we are left with no other recourse other than dealing with the situation in the manner that we best deem fit, they opine.........

There are incidents of garrulous men passing lewd remarks, feeling us inappropriately, groping us, whistling and even going to the extent of taking photographs of us with their cell phones on a daily basis and we have little or no choice other than putting up with these highly disturbing behaviours if we want to continue travelling on these MMTS trains, they say...........

"A few enterprising and dandy men board the physically handicapped section of the compartment which is flimsily segregated from the ladies compartment by a mesh; these men keep ogling us and passing inappropriate and highly derogatory comments. Some men have even gone as far as following us to either our places of work or residences after alighting from these trains at the metro stations while commenting on our physical attributes throughout, the women conclude.........

Bringing these behaviours or instances to the notice of a police official is an exercise in futility according to these long suffering womenfolk as these very same men in khakhi who are meant to protect and reassure them do precious little other than warning these lotharios and asking the women to be careful and extremely wary of such elements in the future.......

A lot many women have resorted to the extreme measure of covering themselves from head to toe in an effort to avoid attracting these amorous glances and innuendos, but say that these sick individuals do no let them be despite resorting to the same, the more enterprising amongst the menfolk start throwing slips of paper with their telephone numbers on them at us and a few even resort to playing sleazy songs at high volumes in an effort to attract our singular attention........

Not all of us can afford to spend Rs. 200 or more per day on moving around in autos, these auto wallahs have their very own rules and means of operating, they demand exhorbitant fares to begin with, steadfastly refuse to ply by the meter and vehemently refuse to turn their autos in the direction that we expect them to unless it suits their selfish ends.........

These very same autos are also not safe any longer, the drivers often have a male companion along with them for reasons only known to them, are often inebriated or under the influence of other intoxicants and opium; some of them harbour dishonourable intentions as the incident involving Hyderabad's 23 year old brave heart has proved beyond every reasonable doubt, these plucky young women go on to say.........

Nothing much will change on the ground unless society as a whole stops dismissing these incidents as petty and things that a woman has to put up with in the course of her daily routine one extremely agitated woman says and the callous attitude of both society as a whole and even our very own families in a majority of such instances have left us with no other choice other than grinning and putting up with these utterly humiliating and demeaning instances these long suffering women sign off.......

In the meanwhile, the great Indian tamasha of looking the other way and conveniently sweeping any and every ugly societal truth or unpleasant occurrence under the carpet continues unabated..........

STARTING YOUNG...........

India's child rapists certainly seem to be defying all the laid down norms pertaining to the male species attaining puberty and displaying their sexual prowess at ages that seem a tad difficult to believe and accept......


In a shocking, incredulous and eye popping development, three boys between the ages of eight and ten have been charged with raping a seven year old girl in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi district on Thursday last.......

The said incident occurred in the Gopalganj area of Bhadohi district and only came to light when the girl's condition took a turn for the worse on Thursday evening after which she was admitted to a government hospital.......

The victim a class III student was raped by the above mentioned three assailants when on her way back from school on Wednesday evening; the victim did not immediately report the incident to her parents and the rape was only established when her parents took her to a local government hospital after her condition began deteriorating.......

An FIR has been registered in this case and investigations are on, but the three assailants still continue to move around scot free despite the heinousness of their crime.........

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A parliamentary panel expressly constituted to go into and examine the largely contentious issue of marital rape has unilaterally supported the government's decision of not accepting marital rape as a criminal offence and endorsed the same by saying that the same could "lead to practical difficulties".........

One may recall that the Justice J.S. Verma committee that was set up in the aftermath of the Delhi gang rape case to suggest suitable amendments in the criminal laws had strongly recommended that the exception of marital rape be removed from the Indian Penal Code...........

The government of the day however did not deem it fit to accept the Committee's recommendation in this regard as it was of the opinion that including marital rape as a criminal offence would cause irrepairable damage to the structure of the family as one has come to know it........

The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs in it's report on the Criminal Law (Amendment Bill 2012) submitted to the parliament on Friday last concurred with the government's view on this seemingly controversial issue.......

"The same (it) has practical difficulties. If litigations are allowed, then the family structure will be disturbed and disrupted", committee chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu of the Bharatiya Janata Party said while replying to a slew of questions on the same issue..........

CRIME SPREE CONTINUES UNABATED..........

Our concerted effort to acquire the dubious status of the crime capital of the world continues unabated.........




In the first instance, a seven (7) year old girl was sexually assaulted by unknown assailants within the compound of a Municipal Corporation of Delhi run school on the late afternoon of Thursday, February 28, 2013......

This unpleasant and abhorrent fact came to light when the young child complained of severe pain in her abdominal and groin area on the following morning; the child was then rushed to a nearby government hospital where a detailed examination established the sexual assault on her......

The dastardly incident unfolded at the rather down market and nondescript Mangolpuri area of North Delhi and enraged the residents to this extent that they soon took the law into their own hands and soon started rioting and damaging public property........

Delhi police was literally caught with it's pants down and had to rush reinforcements and resort to a prolonged lathi charge to bring the unwieldy situation under control; the seven year old victim has since been discharged from hospital after her condition improved and is being counselled by a child psychologist......

An insider, person known to the victim or somebody employed in the school is the likely assaulter according to police sources, 17 people have been arrested for rioting and disturbing the peace and ten people have been questioned thus far in the sexual assault case, but the police is yet to make any arrests thus far even after 72 hours having elapsed since the horrendous episode........

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The badly decomposed and crudely mutilated bodies of two siblings were recovered from the Pragati Maidan area of the national capital by the Delhi police earlier this morning.........

According to Delhi police sources, the bodies could be that of two siblings namely a seven year old girl and a five year old boy who were abducted from an east Delhi locality three days ago........

A telephone call was made to the parents of the siblings demanding a ransom of thirty lakhs two days ago, but the abductors/kidnappers made no other demands ever since, the very same sources went on to say.........

It is a little too early and premature to conclusively establish the identities of the victims beyond reasonable doubt and the same will only be established after a detailed autopsy according to the senior police officials investigating the case........

The Delhi police has since begun it's preliminary investigations and requested anybody with any relevant information pertaining to the case to come forward and help it it's investigations.........

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The crime spree continues unabated in the national capital and all that the central and Delhi government have to offer are mere tokenisms in the form of the proposed Nirbhaya expressly meant to promote a sense of safety and security amongst the country's womenfolk or homilies in the form of seemingly sage advice pertaining to the common man being his own protector and defender from the beleaguered Delhi chief minister.........

People have begun to tire of such tokenisms, platitudes, and homilies Messrs chief minister and finance minister and want to see a concrete change on the ground without any further ado.......

Will the government and powers that be bite the bullet and get cracking and send out unequivocal signals about meaning business in this regard at long last or then will the situation only continue to go from bad to worse; well your guess on this one is as good as mine.........

LATEST INFORMATION........

Here are the latest developments on the Nirbhaya case front........


# Gang rape and murder charges were ordered to be framed on February 28,2013 by a Juvenile Justice Board against the minor accused of brutally assaulting and raping along with five adult accomplices a 23 year old girl in a moving bus within the national capital on the night of December 16,2012........

# Finding prima facie evidence against the 17 year old juvenile, principal magistrate Geetanjali Goel ordered the framing of charges under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with gang-rape, murder, kidnapping, unnatural offences, attempt to murder, dacoity, destruction of evidence and conspiracy........

# The Juvenile Justice Board has now fixed March 8,2013 as the date for the next hearing and the relevant evidence shall duly be recorded on the same date. The accused can face a maximum punishment of three years under the existing provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act if he is found to be guilty beyond all reasonable doubt......

# Such other charges like robbery, wrongful confinement and destruction of evidence have also been framed against the very same juvenile in another case of robbing assaulting and robbing a vegetable seller who had boarded the same bus before the gang-rape victim and her male friend........

# The panel will commence/begin recording of evidence in the robbery case from March 12, 2013 onwards against the juvenile; the said juvenile has claimed innocence and decided to contest the charges framed/brought against him by the Juvenile Justice Board.........

Stay tuned to the Hyderabad for Change' facebook page for more such updates.........

TIME FOR INTROSPECTION...........

Here are a few relevant suggestions and points to ponder for the self styled leaders of the Janatantra Morcha Andhra Pradesh state body.......


* why don't you focus your concentrated energies on taking up a few issues that will help you in staying solvent and relevant instead of running down each other in public, calling each other colourful and vile names and indulging in antics that would even put a seasoned politician to shame......

* Our soul father, guide and mentor Shri Anna Hazare spoke of a Sampoorna Vyavastha Parivartan or complete and far reaching systemic change when he addressed the sparse and meagre gathering at the Wesley College Grounds, but do tell me have you even spared a thought about setting your own house in order before reforming the existing system.........

* One does completely sympathise, empathise and agree with the aggrieved and wounded souls who feel alienated and disillusioned by the antics of these wannabes who have surreptitiously usurped the very reins of power and pelf into their very own hands, what I fail to understand is whether this peoples' movement was all about power, pelf and self glorification or then was it about selfless service, sacrifice and dedication as I have come to understand it.........

* the cause has always been and will always continue to be greater than the individual, no individual can subvert a cause and overwhelm or undermine it calling it his/her own brainchild and creation; the success of a cause is always determined by the cohesiveness, inclusiveness and spirit of give and take that exists amongst it's supporters and bickering, bad blood and dithering amongst it's supporters always sounds it's death knell and spells it's doom........

* flexi banners, pamphlets, other than information and cause related one's, grandiose self laudatory press statements and shameful buffoonery that would even put a seasoned comedian to shame has no place or relevance whatsoever in a supposedly reformatist movement and if self praise, promotion and glorification rather than selfless and dedicated service is your only reason for being there, I am of the opinion that such interests would be better served within an established political party........

* Shri Anna Hazare's legions of supporters claim to be apolitical and free from any political moorings, but pray will somebody tell me what those flexi banners, cut outs, flyers that were circulated with the photographs of such notables along with Shri Anna Hazare and the Maddening clamour to be seated on the podium in the full media glare was all about.......

* Why don't we focus our energies on taking up women's related causes in a big way, my good friend Sashank Rajwadi has filed a series of RTI petitions in this regard and even received replies from various high ranking policed officials pertaining to his queries in this regard; yours truly has raised certain pertinent questions with the National Commission for Women about their repeated failures to provide required relief and succour to victims of such crimes, their failure to file cases and police complaints in every case that is duly brought up before them and why the Maharashtra state government has failed to appoint a head for it's state commission for the last three years and more. I am also aware of the work being done by Kumar Shastri in this regard, but can anybody else say the same about himself/herself........

* And last but not the least, will the organisers of the Janatantra March slated for March 3, 2013 come clean on their motives and reasons for organising the same; if social service and adoption of a peoples' related agenda is your motive and aim, then you have found a dedicated supporter and advocate, but if self glorification, promotion and seeking the media limelight is your guiding principle, then I am not even willing to touch you with a bargepole..........

Absolute honesty both with oneself and others is the only way forward; and if clandestine agendas, oneupmanship related skirmishes and other such related matters are on the table or then below it, then I am afraid to say that it a classic case of one step forward and four steps backwards........

CONSTITUTING A NEW INVESTIGATIVE AGENCY.....

The state of Maharashtra seems to be well on it's way towards acquiring the dubious distinction of being the most "rappening" state of them all, it's been well over two weeks since the horrendous incident in Bhandara district wherein three sisters between the ages of 11 and 5 were brutally gang raped, murdered and their corpses were subsequently dumped in an old abandoned well........


Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had made lofty promises about the culprits being brought to book at the earliest and exemplary punishments being handed down to the culprits but nothing of note has happened ever since other then the suspension of the concerned Circle Inspector of Police for his abject failure to take cognisance of the complaint filed by the mother of the missing girls and duly register an FIR in the matter.......

Three more rapes have since come to light, two of women between the ages of 30 and 40 being belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes being brutally assaulted and paraded naked by their upper caste assailants within the village that falls within the Satara district on February 25, 2013........

And the third being that of a minor school girl being gang raped and left to die within the home borough of Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil, namely Sangli district on February 28,2013; the police is still groping in the dark and is yet to apprehend the assailants in all three cases as has become their wont.........

Messrs Union Finance Minister and home minister, setting up of a corpus fund under Nirbhaya's name is not the solution to these soul stirring and inhuman crimes against women, but timely investigation, identification and apprehending of culprits and their trial before duly designated fast track courts is..........

Have the two of you ever spared a moment and thought about setting up a centre based investigation agency that would solely concentrate and focus it's energies on crimes against women; this special investigation cell could be head quartered in the national capital and headed by a woman police officer of DIG or IG rank..........

The same can be created under an act of parliament, have the powers to supercede the local police forces in matters of investigation and arrest and report to the presiding officers of both houses of parliament; and adequate budget, required manpower and specialised equipment can be provided to this newly constituted investigative agency through supplementary budgetary grants........

Responsibility, accountability and jurisdiction of the said investigative agency could be fixed at the earliest, and heads should be seen to roll if the very same investigative agency fails to complete it's investigation into a crime within a maximum period of ninety days from the date of occurrence of the crime.......

Only such and other such allied measures will send out the signal that the ruling dispensation really means business in this regard and not mere tokenisms like the setting up of a Nirbhaya safety and security related fund will suffice to address an increasingly alarming and grave situation...........