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Extend compensation scheme for sexual assault victims to child victims too: SC

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The scheme proposed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) for compensating victims of sexual assault and acid attacks should be made applicable to child victims of such assaults, said the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta was of the opinion that the scheme should be modified to some extent to include children of sexual assault.

The bench asked senior advocate Indira Jaising, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, if slight modifications could be done in the ‘Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/Other Crimes-2018’ to also include child victims.

The bench asked Jaising to submit a note in this regard to the court.

The NALSA’s scheme clearly defines the compensation slabs for victims of sexual assault, acid attacks and even loss of a foetus, and earmarks minimum Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7 lakh respectively for women who go through a crisis post sexual assault or an acid attack/

As per the scheme, a minimum of Rs 5 lakh is to be paid in case of loss of life or gang rape of a victim and maximum of Rs 10 lakh. A minimum amount of Rs 4 lakh is to be paid in case of rape or unnatural sexual assault, with the maximum fixed at Rs 7 lakh.

In case of victims of burning and acid attacks, the minimum compensation will be Rs 7 lakh for total disfigurement, with a maximum of Rs 8 lakh. Rs 5 lakh has been fixed in case of 50 per cent burns, while the upper limit would be Rs 8 lakh.

For loss of limb or body part resulting in 80 per cent permanent disability, Rs 2 lakh is to be given, with Rs 2 lakh in case of grievous physical injury.

The scheme provides that in case of pregnancy on account of rape, the victim would get between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, while for miscarriage or loss of fertility due to such assaults, the amount would be between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh.

After the December 16, 2012, gang-rape and murder case in Delhi, the Central government announced in 2013 the Nirbhaya Fund scheme to support state governments and NGOs working for women’s safety.

The court was hearing petitions filed after the 2012 case, raising concerns over the safety and security of women.

Earlier, NALSA had told the apex court that hardly 5-10 per cent of sexual assault victims across the country were able to get compensation under the relevant schemes in various states.

Hardik gets bail, says fight to continue

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A local court in Visnagar town of North Gujarat sentenced firebrand Patidar leader Hardik Patel and two others to a two-year jail term and slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 in a 2015 rioting case. The court later granted bail to the three.

The case refers to mob violence that resulted in then BJP legislator Rushikesh Patel’s office being vandalized during a rally in 2015, organised for reservation for the Patel (or Patidar) community in government jobs and educational institutions.

Hours after the sentence, Hardik Patel described the BJP rule in Gujarat as “Hitlershahi.” “I am a sinner, if it is a sin to fight for social justice and rights. If those who fight for truth and their rights are rebels, then I am a rebel,” he said in a statement on a social media platform on Wednesday.

“There was not a single witness who saw me where the incident took place. I respect the court’s decision, but I will exercise my right to challenge it,” he told reporters.

“What about action against policemen who unleashed terror on the agitating Patidars and their families after the August 2015 rally? he asked. Patel was referring to the massive police crackdown after a rally on August 25, 2015, which led to the death of 14 Patel community members.

“The BJP might think I would not be able to fight an election (in 2019) if I am in jail for two years, but let them take it that I am not here to fight elections,” he said. “If I get an opportunity, I can contest an election,” he added.

Patel said he would go ahead with his indefinite fast from August 25, the third anniversary of the Patels’ rally, and re-launch his agitation.

Besides Patel, the other two sentenced were Sardar Patel Group leader Laljibhai Patel and A K Patel. There were 14 others in the same case who were booked for rioting, arson, damage to property and unlawful assembly. However, they were let free.

The earlier ban on Hardik Patel from entering Mehsana district where Visnagar is located, however, remains in place.

— IANS
desai/prs/bg

European Commission offers 6,000 euros to take in a migrant

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Italy balks at commission’s offer saying it doesn’t want ‘charity’ to accept migrants arriving from the Mediterranean.

Migrants intercepted off the coast of the Strait of Gibraltar rest after arriving on a rescue boat in Spain [Jon Nazca/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The European Commission has offered to bear the cost of taking in migrants from boats in the Mediterranean, seeking to entice more governments to shoulder the burden after Italy’s new government closed its ports to rescue vessels.

In a proposal published on Tuesday, the commission said it would pay 6,000 euros ($7,010) for each migrant taken in by EU member states, as well as funding the cost of hundreds of personnel to process mostly African migrants seeking asylum in Europe.

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini denounced the offer as far too little.

“We aren’t asking for charity handouts. Every asylum seeker costs the Italian taxpayer between 40,000 and 50,000 euros ($46,700 and $58,400). Brussels, they can keep their charity for themselves,” Salvini told reporters. “We don’t want money. We want dignity.”

The commission’s plan, which is aimed at EU governments that set up processing centres on their soil, follows a June leaders’ summit that claimed success in reaching a hard-fought agreement to control immigration but left many details unresolved.

Undocumented migration has fallen steeply since 2015 when more than one million people entered the EU, but polls show it is still a top concern for many of the union’s 500 million citizens.

The governments of Italy and Germany are under heavy pressure at home to ensure fewer migrants come to their territory from across the Mediterranean Sea, while Eastern European leaders are bitterly opposed to taking them in.

Italy has shut its ports to humanitarian rescue ships, saying it is bearing an unfair burden of asylum seekers.

By publishing its proposals, Natasha Berthaud, a European Commission spokeswoman, said it was seeking “a truly shared regional responsibility in responding to complex migration challenges”, although governments have yet to come forward to host new processing centres.

EU envoys are expected to discuss the proposal on Wednesday, with another meeting planned in Geneva on July 30.

Andhra MP, 6 MLAs impleaded in cockfighting case

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The Hyderabad High Court has impleaded 17 public representatives including a MP and eight state legislators of Andhra Pradesh for alleged violation of the court orders banning cockfighting.

Thotha Narasimham, a member of Lok Sabha, belonging to Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), six members of Legislative Assembly and two members of Legislative Council were among the public representatives impleaded as respondents by the court in the writ petition filed by an animal rescue organisation.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice T. Radhakrishnan and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, suo moto impleaded the public representatives, whose list was furnished by the Advocate General.

While the state government maintained that the public representatives were only present in the cockfight events held during Sankranti 2018, the petitioners claimed that they had actively participated in cockfighting.

“As action if any, for wilful and deliberate violation of earlier order of the Division Bench, can only be taken after these individuals are given an opportunity of being heard, it is necessary that they be impleaded as respondents in these writ petitions,” says the order dated July 10.

The court ordered notices to the public representatives, returnable in four weeks.

According to Humane Society International/India, despite the court reiterating the ban in December 2016 and again in January 2018, cockfighting was organised on a large scale in various districts of Andhra Pradesh in 2017 and 2018. The organisation has been campaigning to end cockfighting in Andhra Pradesh, including assisting in legal intervention against the cruel and illegal practice.

The 17 public representatives include a Member of Parliament, members of the legislative assembly, and members of district and village councils.

“We welcome the order of the Honourable High Court. It is high time that legislators are held responsible for not only disobeying the law themselves but also misguiding the public and getting them to do the same. A practice that glorifies so many illegal activities should have no place in a civilized society,” said N. G. Jayasimha, managing director of Humane Society International/India.

Painkillers may triple side effects risk in dementia patients

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Consuming common opioid-based painkillers may triple the risk of side effects including personality changes, confusion and sedation among people with dementia, a study has warned.

It is because people with dementia produce increased amounts of endorphins — body’s natural endogenous opioids — which interacts with a brain to reduce our perception of pain, explained researchers from the Britain’s University of Exeter.

Previous studies have recognized that pain is often under-diagnosed and poorly managed in people with dementia, impacting the quality of life.

While the opioid-based painkillers ease pain effectively, the current prescribing guidance does not consider the fact that people with dementia get effective pain relief from smaller doses than are commonly prescribed and are particularly sensitive to adverse effects.

“Pain is a symptom that can cause huge distress and it’s important that we can provide relief to people with dementia. Sadly at the moment, we’re harming people when we’re trying to ease their pain,” said Clive Ballard from the varsity.

For the study, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2018 in Chicago, the team analyzed data from 162 people who had advanced dementia and significant depression.

The analysis showed buprenorphine — opioid used to treat acute and chronic pain — tripled the harmful effects on people who received the medication as part of their treatment. These patients were also found to be significantly less active during the day.

The experiment done on mice model showed increased sensitivity to the opioid-based painkiller morphine upon treating arthritis in mice with Alzheimer’s disease.

The mice with Alzheimer’s responded to a much lower dose to ease the pain, and experienced more adverse effects when the dose was increased to a normal level.

“We urgently need more research in this area, and we must get this dosing right. We need to establish the best treatment pathway and examine appropriate dosing for people with dementia,” Ballard explained.

TN govt submits video of Jayalalithaa in HC to disprove woman’s claim

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The Tamil Nadu government produced in the Madras High Court a video clip of Jayalalithaa from an event in July 1980 which it said disproved a woman’s claim of being late chief minister’s biological daughter.

State Advocate General Vijay Narayan submitted a copy of the video before Justice S Vaidyanathan.

He said though the petitioner claimed that she was born to Jayalalithaa on August 14, 1980, the video of the former chief minister participating in the 27th Filmfare award function just a month earlier did not show her being in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

Narayan was presenting his arguments on the petition filed by the Bengaluru-based woman, who claimed that she was born to Jayalalithaa and given in adoption. She was seeking a DNA test to prove her parentage.

The woman had filed the petition months after Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016, claiming that her foster father had revealed about her mother just before his demise.

The woman had moved the court seeking direction to exhume the mortal remains of Jayalalithaa and cremate it as per the rituals and customs of Iyengar community to which she belonged to.

She also sought a direction to conduct a DNA test to prove her claim.

Rejecting her claim as nothing but the figment of her imagination, the advocate general said she was bringing disrepute to the late leader.

The petitioner had submitted that she was born to Jayalalithaa on August 14, 1980, and was raised by Sailaja, the younger sister of Jayalalithaa in Bengaluru.

Jayalalithaa’s family had disowned Sailaja since she was born after the death of Jayalalitha’s father, Jayaram, the petitioner said.

Denying this, Narayan contended that so far the woman had not submitted any documents to prove that she was a daughter of the former chief minister.

She has been making false allegations against the leader, which also amounts to defamation, he said.

Narayan further submitted that in 2014, Jayalalithaa had even filed a defamation petition against Sailaja for claiming to be her sister.

The petitioner claimed that Jayalalithaa had visited her residence in Bangalore when she was the chief minister and that she also visited the latter at her Poes Garden residence here.

However, she had neither produced documents nor photographs regarding the alleged meeting.

The petitioner had also not submitted any documentary evidence. The petition has been filed with an ulterior motive, he said.

Recording the submissions, the judge observed that everything surrounding the life and death of Jayalalithaa remained a question mark, including the claim of Amrutha.

He then adjourned the plea by a week for a further hearing.

Women’s World Cup: Confident India face Ireland in must win tie

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After a valiant start to their women’s hockey World Cup campaign, Rani Rampal-led India will take on Ireland in a must-win second Pool B match here on Thursday.

India had enjoyed an excellent start to their campaign, holding World No.2 England to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.

The Indians could have stunned the Olympic Champions as they had taken the lead in the second quarter. They maintained the lead for most of the second half before the hosts scored a late equaliser.

Though India settled for a draw, skipper Rani is happy with her team’s performance as they held their own in front of a packed stadium cheering for the home team.

“I think it was a great match, a good start for us. There are so many positives that we can draw from that match which will help us in the upcoming matches in the tournament. I don’t think we are surprised with our performance because we have done well against England in the past and this time we went for a win,” Rani said.

Rani further added that the team watched the videos from their opening match and are better-prepared for the next challenge against Ireland.

“The entire team including support staff sat down for a meeting after the match to discuss our performance. We also discussed the goal we conceded and how we could have averted it. Our team feels we can do better than what we played against England and the aim is to improve match by match,” the striker added.

The Indians — who are placed 10th in the world rankings — will need to produce a similar performance against Ireland as a defeat or a draw will complicate things for them. In such a scenario, the Indians will have to beat the US by a healthy margin and hope for a favourable result from the clash between England and Ireland.

World No.16 Ireland, on the other hand, will be coming into their second match after a 3-1 win against a much higher-ranked US who are placed No.7 in the World rankings.

Ireland are currently leading Pool B and will want to carry on that momentum into the game against India.

“Yes, we have watched videos from Ireland’s match against USA and credit goes to them for a good start and good defending to hold their lead till the end,” Rani said.

“In the three days rest that we have had, we played a few practice matches among ourselves to try out different methods in goal scoring and keep up the momentum. We need to make a good start against Ireland and keep up the pressure on them. We are confident and ready for the next challenge,” she added.

Bengaluru Mayor surprise visit for city road inspection

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Bengaluru Mayor Sampath Raj, on Tuesday evening, went on a surprise inspection on a two-wheeler and inspected Bengaluru’s roads first hand. He even fined two contractors for the disgraceful state of the roads.

This isn’t the first inspection the DJ Halli corporator has done this. In November 2017, he rode through Bengaluru’s pothole-filled roads and suspended four Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike authorities for not repairing the roads.

This time, in his unexpected inspection, he covered Mission Road, beginning from Subbaiah Circle, and after that went ahead to Richmond Road, which is a TenderSURE street. He was accompanied by M Shivaraju, a Congress pioneer, and other BBMP staff.

The Mayor’s office said the inspection uncovered potholes and waterlogging, as well as even the way that garbage was being dumped on the road.

While a Rs 1 lakh fine was forced on the contractor for the terrible state of roads at Cash Pharmacy, a Rs 10 lakh fine was required on another contractor for the waterlogging on Richmond Road outside Bangalore Club.

The Mayor’s visit activated prompt action by the BBMP staff with emergency specialists swinging into action to remove the water off the roads after their pumps failed.

 

HC grants interim protection to Chidambaram in INX media case

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 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted interim protection to former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the INX Media money laundering case till August 1.

Justice A.K. Pathak directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to take any coercive steps against Chidambaram in the case till August 1, the next date fixed for hearing.

The bench has directed Chidambaram not to leave the country without permission. The Court directed the former minister to co-operate with the investigation and join the agency whenever required.

The Court was hearing Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea in the case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are probing how his son Karti Chidambaram managed to get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Karti was arrested on February 28 by the CBI for allegedly taking money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007 when his father was the Union Finance Minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Later, Karti was granted bail.

Karti’s chartered accountant S. Bhaskararaman was arrested in the case by the ED and he was later granted bail.

Chidambaram’s counsel and Senior Advocate Dayan Krishan told the Court that the former minister apprehended arrest following the CBI summons issued to him although ED has not issued any notice to the former minister.

Chidambaram’s advocate told the Court that there is an apprehension of arrest as the CBI, in his case has cleared that it required his custodial interrogation.

Citing that the ED has opposed his anticipatory bail plea in another case related to the Aircel-Maxis deal, he said: “It cannot be ruled out that the ED may also summon him or illegally arrest him even without issuing summons.”

ED’s counsel and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the plea and said that the leader’s plea is not maintainable as he must have approached the lower court for bail instead of the high court.

ED alleged that Chidambaram’s son Karti was instrumental in the FIPB clearance in the INX media case and a similar modus operandi was used in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

ED counsel told the court that the former minister had applied for bail in a separate case related to the Aircel-Maxis deal in the trial court. But in the INX media case, he is seeking bail in the High Court, the probe agency counsel said.

The agency counsel also said that the Congress leader is indulging in forum shopping by approaching different courts.

34 killed in Pakistan as voting continues in violence-marred polls

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At least 34 people were killed and several injured mostly in a suicide bombing in Balochistan on Wednesday as millions of voters are thronging polling stations across the country to exercise their franchise in the 11th general election.

The Balochistan bombing targeted the convoy of Deputy Inspector General of Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema near a polling station. It left 31 persons, including some policemen, dead. The senior police official escaped unhurt, Geo News reported.

Civil Hospital Quetta officials confirmed the casualties.

The area was crowded as people were making their way to vote at Tameer-e-Nau Model School. Polling was halted at the polling station, only to resume later.

While polling stations opened for voting at 8 a.m., enthusiastic citizens queued up outside their respective stations as early as 7 a.m. Voting will end at 6 p.m. Halfway through polling, the PML-N had sent a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, seeking an extension in time by one hour.

“The PML-N is making this demand under Section 70 of the Election Act 2017, which authorises ECP to ‘extend polling hours already fixed’,” read the letter, signed by Mushahid Hussain.

The ECP, however, turned down the party’s request. The counting of the votes is being done simultaneously.

Results for the 11th general elections are expected to trickle in immediately after the polling ends with the final outcome likely by Thursday morning or afternoon, according to election officials.

A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker was killed and two others injured as party activists clashed with Awami National Party (ANP) workers outside a polling station in Nawan Kali in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to Express News.

Another person was killed in firing outside a Mirpurkhas polling station in Dighri area.

In a separate incident, one person was killed while five people were injured in a cracker blast outside a political camp in Larkana.

The workers of the two parties clashed in Mardan as well. Several people have been injured in the firing incident. Following the clash, police took control of the affected area.

Two people were injured in a firing incident in Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan.

In a separate incident, four people were injured in a blast outside a political camp in Larkana, in Sindh province, the home of the Bhutto family.

Independent candidate Jibran Nasir said that Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan supporters attacked a facilitation camp he had set up in Chandio Village in Karachi.

As many as 12,570 candidates are in the field for a total of 849 seats of the national and provincial assemblies in the general election. Nearly 106 million people are eligible to vote.

The battle is mainly between three parties: Shahbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Imran Khan’s PTI.

In an effort to increase voter participation, the Election Commission has declared a public holiday on Wednesday.

Over four lakh security personnel have been deployed at polling stations across the country to maintain law and order and take action against harassment, after the nation witnessed one of the bloodiest campaigning, inlcuding the July 13 bombing that killed 150 people.

According to a poll official, 5,878 polling stations have been declared “highly sensitive” — official euphemism to mean they are prone to violence — in Sindh; 5,487 in Punjab and Islamabad; 3,874 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA and 1,768 in Balochistan.

The elections are being held as emotions run over a graft case that led to the imprisonment of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

Sharif’s PML-N has condemned the legal cases against its members in order to force them to leave the party and the efforts to prevent the party from emerging victorious in the election as it had done in 2013 by getting absolute majority.

These elections are the second in Pakistan’s history in which a government was able to complete its term. Military dictators have ruled the country for half of the 71 years of its existence since its founding in 1947.

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