Kolkata: Two drivers of a popular online cab aggregator service were arrested today for their alleged involvement in raping and killing a 12-year-old pavement dweller in the city.

The duo — Shankar Shaw and Guddu Singh — allegedly kidnapped the girl last night by forcing her into an Ola taxi and drove her to the Park Circus flyover where they took turns to rape the minor inside the vehicle, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.

After gangraping the minor all through the night, the duo killed her by strangulating at around 5 AM and then tossed her body into a canal below the flyover in Topsia area, the officer said.

“A team from Hare Street Police station arrested both and they have confessed their crime,” he said.

The drivers had consumed alcohol at Watgunge and then started going around the city looking for soft targets to “have some fun” and it was then they spotted the girl on the pavement on Brabourne Road, the officer added.

The girl was living on the foothpaths of Brabourne Road with her mother who washes utensils in a local shop.

“We got information that a girl was picked up in a private car. And from our traffic control we got the number of the car and alerted every police stations,” he said.

The nude body of the minor girl was recovered from the canal and has been sent for post-mortem, the officer added.

(PTI)

August: A state-run Chinese daily today cried foul over India’s move to extend enhanced compensation for victims of terror to people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “lost patience and switched to the expected hardline tone of hostility”.

Referring to Modi’s comments on Balochistan for the first time, an article in the state-run Global Times website said he is raising it to divert attention from the tense situation prevailing in Kashmir.

“After reluctant attempts to revitalise Indo-Pak relations, Narendra Modi, now in his third year as Indian prime minister, has lost patience and switched to the expected hardline tone of hostility,” it said.

Describing the extension of Rs five lakh compensation to the victims of terrorism to people in PoK, as a “provocation”, the article said “more importantly, Kashmiris on the Pakistani side of the border can claim this compensation, too”.

“This is not the only provocation. Another was his Independence Day address on August 15,” it said, referring to Modi’s remarks that people of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK were thanking him for raising human rights violations there.

This is the first time Chinese official media referred to Modi’s remarks about PoK and Balochistan, where China is building USD 46 billion Economic Corridor, which was objected to by India as it goes through the disputed territory.

“Analysts see the political push as coming from a small team filled by influential ministers and people who are the veterans of the ‘cold war’ with Pakistan. Some are members of the National Executive of the RSS,” it said.

“This risky gesture is not supported by everyone in the Indian government. Outstanding reservations come from his intelligence chiefs and the external affairs ministry,” said the article ‘Modi’s provocations raise risks for India’.

“Why would Modi choose to publicly reference Balochistan when his country kept denying an Indian role there? Even on Kashmir, why would he be so provocative when the Pakistani response will inevitably draw world attention at a time his government is trying to prevent the issue being internationalised?,” it said.

“Not surprisingly, there are speculations that Modi is just trying to divert global attention from what’s going on in the valley,” it said. “This may only make it even trickier for India to find a resolution by deliberately expanding the range of bilateral conflicts,” the article said.

“Another concern for Modi is the 19th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, which will be held in Pakistan this year. Modi is scheduled to visit Islamabad for the SAARC summit in November, but the impatient prime minister has decided to break up the Indo-Pak impasse to see what can be fished from the troubled waters,” it said.

“But the long-term cost will be the moral blow to India when it tries to manage its own insurgencies and secessionist movements, which tends to invite international attention and intervention,” it said.

(PTI)

Agra: Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma on Sunday stirred a controversy after he suggested women foreign tourists not to wear skirts. He said women tourists should also refrain from going out alone at night.

“For their own safety, women foreign tourists should not wear short dresses and skirts… Indian culture is different from the western culture.”  Sharma said.

He was addressing a press conference in Agra.  He also announced a helpline number 1363 to help foreign tourists.

Sharma’s comments incited criticism on social media, where some also asked him if it will curb molestations and rape.

Women who visit as tourists to India end up becoming victims of rape due to Indian spiteful culture.#BarbaricIndia#SpitefulIndianCulture

— fizza_wahab (@fizzaCalling1) August 25, 2016

Foreigners must shun skirts says @dr_maheshsharma . Should @narendramodiask his minister 2 shut up?

— ashok upadhyay (@ashoupadhyay) August 29, 2016

If #India wants (and it can get) 100 million tourists a year one day, it won’t happen through a tourism minister who doesn’t get #tourism.

— HindolSengupta (@HindolSengupta) August 29, 2016

(Agencies)

New Delhi: BJP MP and Dalit leader Udit Raj raised a few eyebrows today with a tweet which suggested that champion Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt went on to win nine Olympics gold despite being born in poverty after his trainer advised him to eat beef twice a day.

(Agencies)