BLATANT AND WILLFUL MISUSE OF BESTOWED PRIVILEGE OR OTHERWISE.......

While there is no doubting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's avowed intention of revamping and rejuvenating the beleaguered and beleaboured Indian Railways; some of us seem hell bent upon making a mockery of his well meaning and well intentioned initiatives in the right direction........
 Yes Mr. Prabhu has certainly acquired a halo and legions of followers from the promptness and alacrity displayed by him and his fellow Railway Board Officials in responding to every genuine grouse and irritant; this request from a particularly irksome and callous parent came in for it's fair share of scathing criticism; mockery and derision from all and sundry.......
 One particular gentleman who responds to the his ordained name of Prabhakar. S. Jha received more than his fair share of brickbats; barbs and pointed innuendos when he took to his twitter handle and sent Suresh Prabhu to provide diapers for his one year old daughter post haste as he had forgotten the same essential in his haste to reach the said station on time and board his designated train.......
 To his credit; a concerned Mr. Prabhu promptly responded to the plaintive and rather presumptuous distress call by asking Jha to provide him with the much needed details of his PNR number and other journey related details so that the much required commodity could be made available to him as soon as possible but the same entreaty got the goat of fellow twitteratis as soon as the same went public within a matter of minutes........
 Fellow twitteratis lambasted Jha and even went to the extent of branding him a moron; imbecile; priceless idiot; callous and careless father; and last but not the least grubby and malicious gent hell bent upon misusing and distorting a privilege bestowed upon him by a concerned and conscientious railway minister.......
 But I for one beg to differ as the smell of baby poop permeating the already claustrophobic confines of the AC two tier Coach in which the Jha family was travelling would have certainly proved to be more of an irritant and eyesore during the course of the thirty odd hour journey rather than the much sought after diapers that Mr. Prabhu and his gallant team were more than sportingly willing to provide........
Wither humanity and sense of service; well I will let each and every one of you take a call on that one........

OF INFURIATED HUSBANDS AND MURDEROUS RAGES........

Beware of estranged husband's who harbour a deep rooted sense of malice and retribution as any laxity on your part could end up costing you your life........
 A 35 year old unemployed man residing in Odisha's Kasarda village (Cuttack city limits) allegedly slit his estranged wife's throat before consuming a bottle of pesticide that he was carrying on his persona besides stabbing himself in his abdominal area at least three times at around 11:30 am or so on a bloody and sinister Saturday morning........
 According to the now deceased 28 year old woman's grieving and inconsolable family members Prasanna Malick (the main accused) and his recently estranged wife Rili entered into holy matrimony with the blessings and consent of their elders and fellow villagers a little over six years ago.......
 Things were hunky dory between the couple for the first five years or so between the couple as the two of them were gainfully employed with different private companies and hence managed to eke out a rather comfortable existence that was the envy of fellow residents of the same area......
Things/matters however started going downhill ever since Prasanna was unceremoniously dumped by his employers citing a downsizing/revamping exercise or then cost cutting initiative thereby reducing Rili to the status of the family's sole bread winner and provider and the already troubled and turbulent relationship between the two virtually all but ended when Rili filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences some three odd months ago and moved in with her parents..........
 A virtually penniless and infuriated Prasanna harboured or then nursed a murderous rage against his separated wife and in-laws ever since and matters came to a head on the fateful and eventful Saturday morning when Prasanna barged into Rili's parents home without as much as a by your leave when she was home alone and ended up slitting her throat before committing carnage on his own persona........
 Alerted by her hideous screams and entreaties for help alarmed and concerned neighbours rushed to Rili's aid only to find her reduced to a bloody and lifeless heap while Prasanna had also collapsed in an unceremonious heap in close proximity to his senseless better half.......
 An ambulance was summoned post haste and both Rili and Prasanna were rushed to the nearest super speciality hospital post haste in the very same where Rili was pronounced brought dead on arrival by the on duty doctors at the time while Prasanna breathed his last some three odd hours after being admitted to the hospital despite the doctor's valiant and heroic efforts to resuscitate him........
 Like I said earlier; keep your estranged husband at arm's length especially if he nurses a murderous grudge as being forewarned and forearmed could end up being the difference between life and death........

IS THIS HOW WE HONOUR THE SELFLESS SACRIFICES MADE BY OUR MARTYRS AND BRAVES........

Will Madhya Pradesh's incumbent chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan honour his promise and sack those police personnel who had the temerity and gall to demand a bribe from the mother of an army martyr who beseeched them to spur up their futile and hypocritical efforts to trace her beloved son's long lost medals and symbols of valour......
 Nirmala Sharma; the proud and indomitable mother of martyr Captain Devashish Sharma of the Indian Army's highly decorated Punjab Battalion who gallantly and more than willingly made the supreme sacrifice during the course of "Operation Rakshak" on the fateful day of December 10; 1994 took to twitter as well as other social networking sites in order to express her sense of outrage and humiliation at being asked to shell out an undisclosed sum of moolah so that the same could provide the necessary impetus to the Shahpura Police sleuths efforts to trace the long lost medals.........
 According to the version of events posted by this indomitable and valiant lady the Kirti Chakra as well as the bravery award that was awarded to her heroic son posthumously by both the Indian as well as Jammu and Kashmir government mysteriously went missing from their age old home on the eventful evening of October 21; 2014 and a formal complaint pertaining to the theft of the very same was registered at the Shahpura (Bhopal) police station at around 10 a.m. or so on the very next morning.......
 She (Nirmala Sharma) was however left seething in rage and abject humiliation when the senior officer on duty demanded some kind of illegal gratification in an attempt to grease the proverbial wheels of investigation and provide the necessary impetus to the cursory efforts made by the Shahpura police in this regard thus far when she visited the said police station on the morning of October 10; 2016........
 Shocked beyond belief; Nirmala Sharma promptly took her twitter handle and sent messages to both the state's chief minister as well as home minister that elicited the held out promise about meting out exemplary and effective punishment to the culprits and the same promise was reiterated by the home minister who condescended to visit the Sharma family's modest residence on the morning of October 14; 2016.........
 Making the customary and utterly meaningless effort to cover both the accused officer's back and hide; Bhopal (South) Superintendent of Police Anshuman Singh explicitly and unabashedly stated the fact that he was yet to receive any formal complaint against the concerned police official in writing from the aggrieved mother and could only launch a departmental enquiry against the usurpious officer once he received the same in writing.........
Having reached the proverbial end of her wits and patience; the much harangued and harassed Nirmala Sharma has now sent twitter messages to both the Prime Minister and Defence Minister of the nation in order to issue duplicate or then near perfect replicas of the long missing medals that were awarded to her illustrious son who made the supreme sacrifice with a smile and prayer on his lips,,,,,,,,
 One simply shudders to even think about or contemplate the manner in which the Aam Aadmi who goes to register a similar complaint at the now infamous Bhopal police station is treated when the concerned officials callously and inhumanly mete out this dastardly treatment to the mother of a martyr and live to tell the tale........

MAYHEM AND OBSCURANTISM RULE THE ROOST......

Continuing from where I left off or then terminated yesterday's post pertaining to the eternal conundrum or ceaseless skirmish between self appointed/anointed Dharam Guru's and atheists.......
 Well; it indeed comes as no surprise that the conservatives; obscurantists; medievalists and so called religionists had their way once again and literally forced the organisers of the two day conference on atheism slated to be held in the temple city of Mathura on Friday and Saturday to indefinitely postpone the same........
 Somewhat ruefully confirming the distressing and vexing bit of information; the mover and shaker or then should I say galvanising force behind the proposed two day long event Swami Balendu took to his twitter handle and soundly lambasted the mindless and wanton antics of the thousands of residents (Mathura's residents) and the Dharam Rakshaks who led them........
 Theologist Balendu who was one of the leading lights of the Sanathan Hindu Sanstha till some five-six years ago castigated the authorities for caving in before the protestors and coercing the local organisers of the event to cower before them as they feared for their safety' sanity; security and continued existence within the boundaries of this ancient and revered city........
 Soundly and scathily criticising the local police sleuths for failing to discharge their constitutional duties as ordained under the Indian Penal Code and other laid down laws in this regard; Balendu succinctly remarked; "it was more than evident that the men in khakhi were hand in glove with the teeming thousands who flocked the proposed venue of the conference and it came as no surprise therefore that the event had to be postponed indefinitely as the local police personnel were unwilling to do the job that they were being paid for; i.e. maintaining some semblance of law and order".........
 Yours truly is not unduly concerned; perturbed; confounded and distressed by the indefinite postponement of the planned event but the increasing and disturbing trend of muzzling purported and resounding voices of dissent and disagreement with the laid down order every single time any which way they can as the same are definite pointers to the reprehensible trend of religious intolerance and chauvinism which has no place whatsoever in a thriving and vibrant democracy such as ours........

NEVER LET YOUR UNDERLYING FEARS/APPREHENSIONS GET THE BETTER OF YOU.......

Fearing and apprehending the untold wrath; fury and vengeance of her tormentor/rapist who recently set foot out of his jail cell after being granted bail by a local court; his victim set herself ablaze in an effort to extinguish her blossoming or then should I say budding life........
 This horrific; heart rending; needless; pointless and utterly reprehensible macabre and bizarre incident was reported from Madhya Pradesh's Nayagaon Area when the 16 year old teenager who had been continually ravaged and sexually violated by the accused over a four odd long month period liberally doused herself with kerosene and set her self ablaze in an effort to immolate herself in the wee hours of October 13........
 According to the case's chief investigating officer; the 16 year old teenager who sustained some forty odd percent burns is recovering from her hellish ordeal at a Bhopal based super speciality hospital and her condition is slated to be out of danger though the next 48-72 hours will be crucial in her lingering and painstaking recovery process.......
 Further elucidating on the fears; apprehensions that supposedly forced the young woman's hand into resorting to this extreme measure; the police officer clearly highlighted the undeniable and irrefutable fact that the rape survivor was brutalised and demonised by two youths from the same area between the months of February and June 2016 before the rampaging duo was apprehended by the local police sleuths and remanded to judicial custody by a judicial magistrate.........
 While the main or primary accused is still incarcerated in a central jail cell his comrade in arms/accomplice one Anil Yadav was let out of the confines of the same on conditional bail a fortnight or so ago and the young woman had literally gone round the bend wracking and torturing herself with imagined rather than real fears and apprehensions........
 These very same fears and misconceptions about her continued safety and sanity forced her to resort to this unwarranted and wholly avoidable extreme measure that just about stopped short of causing irreparable and mortal danger or peril to her continued well being and existence on planet earth; the said police official ruefully concluded........
 Notwithstanding her self imposed sorry and worrisome predicament; the 16 year old teenager can seek solace in the cast in iron fact that Yadav has been arrested/apprehended once again following her attempt to end her life and times and cases under all the relevant and applicable sections of the Indian Penal Code as well as the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act have since been slapped against/on him.......
 In the meanwhile; social service organisations as well as a host of well meaning folk have voluntarily stepped forward to rehabilitate and counsel the young woman in distress even as the incumbent state government has taken unto itself the onus of bearing the entire cost of her prolonged medical treatments until she recovers and starts leading some kind of a normal and hackneyed existence.........

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING........

"Live and let live" is an age old dictum that has become even more topical and relevant with the passage of time as a significant majority of human beings have all but forgotten the very existence and essence of this eternal diktat.......
 In the latest reported instance of religious intolerance; obscurantism and near barbarism; a plethora of self styled; anointed and appointed Dharam Guru's have gone on the rampage in an effort to stymie and stump the organisers of a proposed conference on "atheism and it's relevance in today's troubled and strife laden times"........
 According to sources close to the above mentioned so called Dharam Guru's; some seven odd heads of all religious denominations have lodged a formal complaint against one Swami Balendu; a fraud; charlatan; goonda; misogynist and prankster (their words not mine) and implored the Mathura police sleuths to immediately take the organisers of this proposed two day long conference (beginning from this morning) into custody as they fear that the holding of the same would only serve to inflame communal passions and vitiate the peaceful and congenial communal climate pervading this centuries old temple town.........
 Taking strong exception to Swami Balendu's reported remarks dubbing all religions; scriptures and religious practices as "fake; false; misogynistic; reprehensible; repugnant; medieval; obscurantist; irrelevant and misleading"; these so called "wise and learned men" have questioned his very standing and utterances wondering aloud how this gentleman who was the one of the most respected and revered propounders and propagators of Hinduism and Hindu rituals till some five odd years ago had abruptly turned turtle and begun questioning the relevance and continued existence of Hindu religion; it's practices; scriptures and totally avoidable yagnas and the like.......
 One Dharam Guru who heads a religious shrine belonging to a minority community even went to the extent of imploring his followers to publicly flog and deface Swami Balendu and his supporters/devotees as they are causing untold harm to age old religious practices and conventions by terming or referring to them as a "Business that thrives by creating fear; confusion and bewildering the souls of it's followers" and hence should be socially ostracised and cast aside........
 Well; all I can say in conclusion is that the Constitution of India bestows unto each one of us the right to profess; practice and propagate our very own religious beliefs and practices as long as we do so within the boundaries/confines of the laid down laws in this regard and without endangering or inciting communal tensions and passions and hope that the supposedly wise and sagacious Dharam Guru's and Swami Balendu honour the letter and spirit of the Indian Constitution.......

PROTECTORS OR TORMENTORS........

As it the continual and unabated tales of horrors and atrocities being committed against hapless and seemingly defenceless women were not enough of a dampener and eye opener; here comes the sordid tale of a police constable joining the ranks of Uttar Pradesh's rapists and sexual offenders.......
 40 year old Ramesh Mishra a driver (police driver) attached to Allahabad City's Civil Lines Police Station for the last decade and a bit allegedly raped his 60 year old victim on the intervening late night of Sunday-early Monday morning on the pretext of showing her the immersion of numerous Durga Mata idols from close proximity in the supposedly secure confines of a boat........
 According to the case's investigating officer; the accused chanced upon the 60 year old Firozabad resident when he had gone to the city's famed and revered "Sangsam" area in order to partake his share of the piety and resplendent splendour surrounding the annual ritual of the immersion of the city's numerous Durga idols that dot the city's numerous pandals that come up with unfailing regularity during the Navratri period every single year.......
 Little suspecting her tormentor's and plunderers unholy and brazen intentions; the trusting; naive and gullible sixty year old rape survivor more than readily acceded to his expressed desire or wish of boarding a boat in his company so that she could witness or then immerse herself in the splendour and religiosity of the annual festive occasion from the proverbial arm's length........
Taking undue advantage of the opportunity accorded to him; Mishra firstly subdued his hapless victim and forced himself upon her fulfilled his demonic sexual urges made his way back to the shore and fled the spot post haste after holding out the now stereotypical threat of causing grievous bodily harm to the victim if she as much breathed a word about the incident to any living soul........
Keeping her wits about her with considerable difficulty; the 60 year old somehow managed to wend/find her way to the neighbouring police station in the company of enraged and incensed locals in the wee hours of Monday morning after narrating her tale of woe and horror to her companions and comrades in distress and grief.......
 A case was registered against the accused who has since been identified as Ramesh Mishra based on the description provided by the 60 year old victim under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and an alert was sounded across the fifty odd police stations dotting the iconic and ancient city's landscape in order to apprehend the fugitive at the earliest........
 One really wonders who will guarantee and ensure the safety and security of the nation's harassed and harangued womenfolk when their supposed protectors and knights in shining armour turn out to be their tormentors and devil reincarnates........