– NEWDELHI
A
week after a fatal accident
in Rajasthan, in which the
Mercedes sedan in which
actor-MP Hema Malini was trav-
elling crashed into a Maruti Alto
and killed a two-year-old girl on
the spot, the victim’s father is left
wondering not just why the star
has still not tried to contact or
speak to the bereaved family but
why the film industry, which oth-
erwise “speaks on every subject”,
chose to remain silent.
In a series of tweets following
the July 2 car accident in Dausa
around 50 km from Jaipur,
Hema, who was injured in the
accident too, expressed her con-
dolences to the family whose car
was smashed by her Mercedes,
but said the accident could have
been averted if the girl’s father
“had followed traffic rules”.
But the police in Dausa had
registered a case against Hema
MaliniÂ’s driver Mahesh Thakur,
resident of Vrindavan in Uttar
Pradesh, and arrested him on
July 3 charges of causing death
by negligence and overspeeding,
leaving little room for doubt as to
who was the culprit. Hema
Malini is the BJP MP from
Mathura.
Social media users went into a
tizzy following her post on the
micro-blogging platform, slam-
ming the actress for her insensi-
tivity. Now Hanuman
Khandelwal, the victim’s father,
has raised an even more perti-
nent question, saying: “No one
from the film industry has spo-
ken about us.Why the industry,
which speaks on every subject, is
silent now? Someone should
have come forward and spoken
on it.”
The hapless father, a cycle
shop owner and one of the four
injured in the mishap, told IANS:
“Even Hema-ji has not tried to
contact or speak to us…it would
have been good for us if she
would have spoken to us rather
than blaming me for the acci-
dent. The film industry should
understand that there is a differ-
ence between real life and reel
life.”
Bollywood veterans like
Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi
and Rishi Kapoor reacted, but
they mostly wished the actress a
“speedy recovery”. Filmmaker
Vivek Agnihotri supported Hema
and commented: “The Alto, in
Hema Malini accident, was on
the wrong. But in India, larger
vehicle is always wrong.
Specially, if it involves a celeb.”
Largely, the film industry
chose to refrain from comment-
ing on the issue. However, social
media users were voluble with
their comments.
One @pranavjayan tweeted:
“@dreamgirlhema shame on ua
part! Criticizing da girls family
doesnt show ua humanity.! Being
a politician such a cheap selfish
act (sic)”, while another user,
named Medha Chatterjee,
shared: “How I wish Hema
Malini kept her mouth shut. Her
statements make her look shal-
low n heartless! Pity, we have
MPs like her representing India.”
People on the streets of the
desert state too have condemned
the 66-year-old actress for her
apparent lack of feeling.
“Hema Malini is a big star.
Moreover she is a politician, at
least she should have known
what to speak. It is not proper for
a person like her to tweet the
way she did,” said Manish
Kumar, an executive with a pri-
vate company in Jaipur.
Echoing similar views, Rashmi
Singh, a college-goer said: “I
respect Hema-ji a lot, but by
tweeting and laying blame on a
person who lost her daughter is
just sickening. How can she do it
and that too after six days of the
accident….why react so late and
that too in bad taste.”
Hema Malini’s daughter, Esha,
had been quoted as saying after
her mother returned from hospi-
tal: “My mother will help the
families of victims. She is doing
this not because she is a neta
(leader) but because she is a
good human being as well.”
– IANS
News India Times
July 17, 2015
18
– that’s all you need to know
India
By Annie Gowen
– NEWDELHI
judge in India recently
released a rapist from
jail so he could attend
mediation sessions
with his victim, in the
apparent hope that the two
could put their differences aside
and possibly marry.
The ruling prompted a public
outcry, and the judge was criti-
cized not only for his retrograde
reasoning but also for misusing
India’s court-ordered mediation
system, which is normally used
for conflict resolution in civil
cases, not those involving violent
crimes.
In a country where reports of
rapes are on the rise and vio-
lence against women remains a
public flash point, politicians
and police are routinely in the
news for insensitive remarks
about sexual violence, including
blaming rapes on women - for
wearing provocative clothing,
flirting on their cellphones and
staying out too late at night.
“They are boys. Mistakes hap-
pen,” one state politician said.
But Indian judges have made
their share of controversial state-
ments as well, as evidenced by
these examples:
1. A judge in Delhi said there
was a “very disturbing trend” of
young women consenting to sex
with their lovers and then claim-
ing rape.
The judge, Virender Bhat, said
in a 2013 ruling:
“The girls in such cases are
mostly in the age group of 19 - 24
years, thus mature enough to
understand the consequences of
their acts and not so numb to get
carried away with any represen-
tations of the boy,” the judge
wrote in State v. Sushil Kumar.
“They voluntarily elope with
their lovers to explore the green-
er pastures of bodily pleasure
and on return to their homes,
they conveniently fabricate the
story of kidnap and rape in order
to escape scolds and harsh treat-
ment from the parents. It is these
false cases which tend to trivial-
ize the offences of rape and
undermine its gravity.”
A division bench of the high
court later chided Bhat for his
“insensitive” observations and
suggested that he undergo gen-
der-sensitivity training.
2. Bhat also said that women
who engage in premarital sex are
“immoral.” The very next day
after the high court’s criticism,
Bhat ruled the following in a rape
case, State v. Ashish Kumar, in
which the victim said she had
been duped into having sex and
then abandoned at the altar:
“When a grown up, educated
and office going woman subjects
herself to sexual intercourse with
a friend or colleague on the lat-
ter’s promise he would marry
her, she does so at her own peril
... She must understand that she
is engaging in an act which is not
only immoral but also against
the tenets of every religion. No
religion in the world allows pre-
marital sex.”
3. A retired judge in the state
of Kerala said child prostitution
“is not rape.” He sparked contro-
versy in 2013 when he told a
journalist that he had dismissed
the case of 35 men who gang-
raped a child sex worker in the
1990s using that logic. He later
said he had been filmed without
his knowledge by a hidden cam-
era.
4. A 14-year-old girl’s rapist
was acquitted because she did
not fight “like a wild animal” dur-
ing the sexual assault.
The Supreme Court dis-
missed a second appeal of the
case in 2013, expressing
“anguish” that the prosecution
and the Madhya Pradesh trial
court had not been more careful
and shown more sensitivity “con-
sidering its facts and circum-
stances.”
– TheWashington Post
A
Judge Asks Indian Rapist And Victim To Reconcile; Hints At Marriage
‘No One From The Film Industry Has Spoken About Us’
Vyapam Scam: Online Examinations Delayed By Years
By Sidhartha Dutta
– NEWDELHI
T
he Shivraj Singh
Chouhan-led Madhya
Pradesh government has
finally decided to digitize the
operations of the scam-tainted
Vyapam. The move comes a
full six years after it was first
decided to make the exams for
recruitment and admission to
professional colleges in the
stae more accountable by put-
ting the process online.
In fact, in 2011, the state
government andVyapam
decided to rope in MP Online -
a self-financed, state-run body
in joint venture with Tata
Consultancy Services - to digi-
tize the system used to not just
recruit professionals, but also
conduct exams for admission
to professional courses.
IANS has seen a letter
(dated November 18, 2011)
written by the then chairman
of Vyapam, Ranjana
Chaudhary, to the principal
secretary to the chief minister,
Dipak Khandekar, discussing
the modalities of the process
and the due diligence followed
to reach the decision to hire
MP Online.
The letter also goes on to
mention that Madhya Pradesh
Professional Examination
Board (Vyapam) was ready to
conduct a pilot online exam for
the Pre-MCA test in 2012.
Curiously, the entire process
seems to have stalled there-
after andVyapam continued
operating in the offline mode.
“During our telephonic dis-
cussion on November 9, 2011,
you had informed me that MP
Online is a self-financed state
government-run agency and is
registered under the Company
Act. There is also a joint ven-
ture between MP Online and
TCS for technical assistance.
Therefore, since both the
Mandal (examination board or
Vyapam) and MP Online are
self-financed state-run bodies,
a tie-up between the two is
workable and there is no need
to invite bids,” the letter stated.
The letter also stated:
“Currently, there is already an
agreement between MP Online
and the Mandal to invite
online applications. To organ-
ise online examinations, 40 dif-
ferent parameters are required
to be studied. Only after study-
ing all the parameters the
examination fee will be decid-
ed. Besides it was also decided
that the Mandal will use MP
Online software to prepare
question banks.”
According to Chaudhary’s
letter, in its presentation, TCS
showed it had examination
centers that could seat 35,000
candidates for an online exam-
ination. Engineering and gov-
ernment colleges, where com-
puter facilities were available,
were deemed fit to be exami-
nation centers, the letter went
on to mention.
After online examinations,
MP Online was required to
provide soft copies of the
answersheets toVyapam in an
encrypted form. “A pre-MCA
examination, in which very few
students would be involved,
will be conducted online to
start the process,” Chaudhary
informed the CM’s office.
– IANS
“How I wish Hema
Malini kept her
mouth shut. Her
statements make her
look shallow n
heartless! Pity, we
have MPs like her
representing India”
