Archives for October 2022

Jadcherla (Telangana): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is leading the party’s pan-India Bharat Jodo Yatra on Sunday gave some exciting moments during the foot march as he suddenly started to sprint along with some school children, forcing others to run.

Caught unawares over his sudden shifting of gears, Gandhi’s security personnel, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President Revanth Reddy and others also started scooting from their brisk walk.

Joined by party leaders and cadre, Gandhi resumed his foot march from here this morning and is expected to cover a distance of 22 kilometres, Congress sources said.

This is the fifth day of the party’s campaign in the state.

Gandhi will address a Corner Meeting at Solipur junction at Shadnagar in the evening, before halting for the day.

The Gandhi scion-led yatra completed over 20 km on Saturday, before halting at Jadcherla X Road Junction for the night.

The yatra will cover 19 Assembly and 7 Parliamentary constituencies in poll-bound Telangana, spanning a total distance of 375 km in the state, before entering Maharashtra on November 7. The yatra will take a one-day break on November 4.

The Wayanad MP will meet intellectuals, leaders of various communities, including personalities from the sporting, business and entertainment sectors during the party campaign in the southern state.

He will also visit prayer halls, mosques and temples across Telangana, members of the Telangana PCC said.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra commenced on September 7 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.

Gandhi completed the marathon walk in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, before beginning the Telangana leg of the yatra last week.

The Telangana State Congress has formed 10 special committees to coordinate the yatra. 

Kozhikode (Kerala): Seawater receded from Nainamvalappu beach here on Saturday evening creating panic among locals. The district administration, however, said that there is no tsunami warning as of now.

District Collector Narasimhugari T L Reddy issued a warning to the locals asking them not to venture into the sea bed.

“The seawater receded around 30 metres in the evening. Later, it gradually receded to around 50-70 metres. However, since it is night time, we cannot measure the distance as of now,” Reddy told PTI.

He said the locals have claimed that it happens once in a year. 

Indore: Two boys were beaten, tied to a vehicle and dragged on the road for allegedly stealing cash from a vehicle in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore on Saturday, police said.

A video of the incident which took place in the morning has surfaced on social media, an official said.

The boys, aged between 13 and 17 years, had allegedly stolen cash from a vehicle belonging to a businessman from Khandwa, who had come to Indore’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar fruit and vegetable market with sacks of onions, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Nihit Upadhyay said.

The boys were accused of stealing cash kept in the businessman’s small loading vehicle, he said.

A purported video of the incident shows the boys being tied to the vehicle with a rope and questioned about the stolen cash using abusive words.

The video shows the vehicle suddenly starting and the boys being dragged on the ground some distance along with it. Onlookers start shouting and make the vehicle stop.

“People’s behaviour with the boys was absolutely objectionable. These people will be identified and arrested after screening the video of the incident,” the official added

Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai has sentenced a man to one-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for harassing a minor girl, observing that calling a girl an “item” is derogatory and objectifies her in a sexual manner.

In the order passed on October 20, the court refused to show leniency to the accused and said such “roadside Romeos” need to be taught a lesson in order to protect women from such uncalled-for behaviour.

Special Judge A J Ansari, designated to hear cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, held the man, aged 25 years at the time of the incident, guilty of outraging the modesty of the 16-year-old victim by addressing her as an “item” and pulling her hair near her residence in suburban Mumbai in July 2015.

“The fact that the accused intentionally caught hold of the victim’s hair and pulled it and called her an ‘item’, in my opinion, will certainly go to prove the fact of him having outraged her modesty,” the judge said.

The behaviour of the accused was “wholly inappropriate”, the court observed.

“The accused addressed the girl with the term ‘item’, which is a term used generally by boys to address girls in a derogatory fashion as it objectifies them in a sexual manner. The same will clearly indicate his intention of outraging her modesty,” the order said, adding, “Using the term ‘item’ to address any girl is obviously insulting in nature.”

The acts of the accused were obviously done with a sexual intent as the word item when used to address a girl is only used to objectify her sexually and nothing else, the judge said.

The court further said leniency could not be shown to the accused as the case related to the harassment of a minor girl on the street. “Such offences need to be dealt with a heavy hand as a lesson needs to be meted out to such roadside Romeos, in order to protect women from their uncalled-for behaviour, it said.

On July 14, 2015, when the victim was returning from school, the accused accosted her and called her an “item”.

When the girl asked the man not to harass her, he started abusing her and pulled her hair. She then called the police helpline number 100 and sought help.

The police reached the spot but the accused fled.

The girl went home and informed her father, following which, a complaint was lodged at Sakinaka police station in Mumbai.

The accused was subsequently arrested and released on bail.

Mangaluru, Oct 26: A man from Karnataka, who was seriously injured in a road accident in neighbouring Kerala four months ago and remained in coma since then, has died at a hospital here on Wednesday, an official said.

Ashraf, a resident of Ujire in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district, was critically injured after he was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the road at Pazhayangadi in Kannur district on June 4.

The cloth store owner was admitted to the hospital here and was in coma since then. However, Ashraf did not show any improvement despite prolonged treatment and breathed his last today, the hospital official said.

Mumbai: A male leopard was captured in Aarey Milk Colony here on Wednesday but it was not clear if it had killed a toddler two days ago as another leopard is roaming in the area, a forest official said. A three-year-old leopard walked into a cage trap set in Unit 16 of Aarey Colony in the small hours of Wednesday and later taken to the rescue centre at the adjoining Sanjay Gandhi National Park, he said.

A one-and-half-year-old girl was attacked and killed by a leopard in Unit 15 of Aarey Colony on Monday morning.

“There is another male leopard, identified as `C-56′, in the field. We will continue to monitor his movements through 30 camera traps and have also set up three trap cages at strategic locations,” the forest official said.

It was yet to be ascertained if the captured leopard was the one which killed the girl on Monday as there were two animals in the area, he said.

The captured leopard has been kept under observation of forest department veterinarian Dr Shailesh Pethe, he said. Around 30 wildlife volunteers, members of NGOs, forest department officials and staff of SNGP are working together to deal with the incidents of human-animal conflict in the area, said Pawan Sharma, president of Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare and an honorary wildlife warden.

The measures taken for avoiding such incidents include increased patrolling, installation of trap cages and spreading awareness about precautionary steps among local residents, he said.