Images of a serving police offi-cer attacking his own daughter in a busy Bangalore street have gone viral on social media sites - thanks to the girl’s rescuer.

The Madurai based officer trav-elled to the Domlur area of the city with his wife - a teacher - to attack his own daughter over rumours of an affair.

Nivedita Chakraborthy rescued the woman and put up a post on her social media page, including an im-age of the father kicking his daugh-ter in the groin.

Nivedita said: “Before going to the office every day, Archana and I go to a breakfast joint near Domlur. The incident took place just before the flyover at Domlur in a small lane to the left of Apollo Pharmacy on our way to the joint. We saw a woman in her early 20’s being beat-en black and blue by a strong man. At least 50 people were standing around the spot and watching the girl being beaten up.

“I stopped my car and Archana and I rushed to rescue the girl. The man grabbed the girl by her hair, slapped her and kicked her in the groin as she fell on the road. Arch-ana ran and pushed the man back while I tried to disentangle the girl’s hair from his hand. We somehow managed to free the woman from his clutches,” she added

He didn’t let us go

Nivedita told The Weekly Ob-server that a lady stood nearby and right beside her, was a man on a bike. “We thought he was the woman’s colleague. I saw his helmet and asked him to take the girl somewhere safe. The man who was beating the girl came running and took away the bike keys.

“Then I tried to stop a rickshaw and took the girl there. The father again came running and stood in front of the rickshaw, cross-legged trying to stop the front wheel from moving. He just wouldn’t let

us go. Finally, we took the girl in the car. The guy on the bike and the lady followed us. We locked ourselves in and tried to reverse the car. He then sat on the bonnet of the car and didn’t let us move,” she added.

Story of Shama

When the girl calmed down she told Nivedita and Archana that her name was Shama (name changed) and she worked in the city. She lived in a paying guest accommodation nearby. The man beating her up was her father, RajaRam, sub-inspector of Police in Madurai and the lady was her mother who is a teacher in Madurai.

She said that her parents had sus-pected her of having an affair and were blaming her about it without even listening to her. She tried to convince her father but he decided to believe the rumors.

Her father then dragged her out of the PG and started beating her up. Her mother stood nearby and kept saying that she had spoilt their family name and her father was beating her for a good reason.

Police on the way

“We called the police as soon as we sat in the car. They took approxi-mately 30 minutes to track us down. The father sat on my bonnet till that time. Also, the entire neighborhood stood on the road, stairs and kept peeping out of the window but no-body moved a bit to help us out,” said Nivedita.

The police then took Shama, her parents and the guy to Ulsoor Police

Station.“In the afternoon I checked with Shama,

she said that the matter had

calmed down. ‘My parents seem to have had a discus-sion with the police’,” she

told Nivedita.Y G Ramalin-

gaiah, sub-inspector at Ulsoor Police Station

said, “The woman’s uncle came when we brought the family to the police station for questioning. He stopped her from filing a FIR and said that the father is also a po-lice officer in Madurai. We will dis-

cuss the matter at our home. They then wanted to leave, so we allowed them to go.”

Going ViralNivedita said that she went to her

office after the incident. There she decided to put a post on Facebook. “I put up pictures of the girl being beaten up and wrote a short story. In some time my friends started sharing the post and in the evening Logical Indian picked up the post and it received around 2000 likes. That’s when I knew the story made an impact,” she said.

Nivedita said that she never an-ticipated for such a great impact. “I did not want to glorify that we saved the girl. There are so many incidents that happen in the country. I want-ed to put the focus on the people who stood there when a man kept

beating his own daughter. We were extremely angry at the people’s re-action. Why were so many people silent for such a long time?” she asked.

Her post on Facebook stated, “Not only was the parents behavior shocking and gruesome , but what was more shameful was the silent spectators on the street who stood watching the entire drama, not will-ing to save the girl or aid and sup-port us, who were at least trying. If a policeman chooses to physically and publicly abuse his adult daugh-ter, how are we safe in the hands of such “protectors of law”?? If a teacher mistrusts and blames her adult daughter while supporting her husband’s abusive behavior, how can we entrust our children’s grooming to such “educators and shapers of young India”??”

OBSERVERThe Weekly

Volume 14 | Issue 25 Thursday, March 12, 2015

Kimaya Varude

Cop beats daughter on busy street - no charges

Shama’s father kept kicking her in the groin on the street near her PG in Domlur

RajaRam, Shama’s father who sat on the bonnet till the police arrived

“Your father

is beating you for a good reason.

- Shama’s mother

2 The Weekly OBSERVER Thursday, March 12, 2015

Sugarcane farmers denied sweet deals

Sugarcane farmers in North Karnataka are left with no op-tion other than to bribe con-tractors to get their crops har-vested.

The repercussions after failing to pay are grave with entire crops of sugarcane ruined.

Ashok Lamani, a sugarcane farmer from Teggi, Bagalkot dis-trict said, “I had been requesting the contractor whose factory directed me to harvest my crop of four acres. In the four acres of the land I have, three acres are of sugarcane.”

“The sugarcane is getting ruined, but the labor has not turned up yet. There are about 10 of my friends who are suffering from the same is-sue. There are many other farmers affected here.” Sugarcane mills in Bilgi buy the sugarcane at the lim-ited government price. “The price offered to the farmers depends on how much sugar is obtained from the sugarcane. For one ton of sug-arcane, Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,000 is paid to the farmer,” said Sargovi, Man-aging Director of Gem Sugar Mill, Bilgi.

Shekhar Patil, one of the sug-

arcane farmers in Bilgi added, “I have two acres of sugarcane crops. Among the farmers, whoever pays more, those farmers get their crops harvested in time so that their crops don’t get ruined.”

Topu has three acres of sugar-cane crop. He said, “There are 15 laborers including men and women. The wage for one day isRs 300 for a woman, Rs 400 for a man. The crop harvest of three acres takes at least three days. Therefore, Rs 4,000 per day has to be paid to the laborers.”

“They complain that it’s too difficult a crop to harvest - so the laborers demand Rs 200 to Rs 300 per person on top of what the fac-

tory pays them. The sugarcane fac-tory pays them but we also do. It’s a bribe. The laborers do not come to harvest otherwise,” he added.

“The sugarcane is ruined if there is a delay in harvest and has to be thrown as waste finally. So we are bound to pay the laborers so that our crop, hard work and money don’t ruin,” said N. Annigeri, anoth-er sugarcane farmer in Bilgi.

Veeresh Revadigar, a sugarcane farmer from Muddebihal said that all the sugarcane farmers pay the harvest laborers. “The factory and farmers equally pay the laborers. Like Rs 150 per laborer for one day.”

S. M. Katageri said, “We get the seed, fertilizers, and the require-ments for the sugarcane crop and harvest. We pay the total wages to the laborers who are actually hired by the sugar factory.”

“We hire the harvesting labor from Maharashtra for the harvest of sugarcane and to bring it to the factory. We pay Rs. 4 to Rs. 5 lakh in advance. After the harvest, the money is returned after taking the fee for the labor. We are the only ones who pay the laborers. Rightful-ly, farmers should not pay anything to the contract-laborers or the fac-tory,” said Sargovi, Managing Direc-tor of Gem sugar mill, Bilgi.

Farmers have to get their own la-bor if they refuse to pay the laborers appointed by the factory. Farmers also complain that sugar mills don’t pay the entire money that they are supposed to.

The manager, Madan Gaikwad, who mediates between the contrac-tors and the factory, said, “Farmers do not have to bribe. Instead they pay as a goodwill to labourers.There is a priority list for selecting whose farm lands to harvest, for example – the growing season of a crop.”

Suharika Rachavelpula

TWEETS OF THE DAY

@thetanmay - I think Kejriwal is going to

come back from Bangalore more sick.

@narendramodi - National Day greet-ings to the citizens of Mauritius. Am

very glad that I am able to mark this

special occasion with the people of Mau-

ritius.

@EconomicTimes- ‘#Bangalore has the highest number of PhDs in India, the

highest no. of #start-ups, the highest no.

of VCs.

@madmanweb - Ola Cabs has started

levying a hidden surcharge on trips to high demand areas.

@sagarikaghose - Cong awakens from stupor but its going to take a long march

not a short one in Lutyensland to really

revive the party...

@thekiranbedi - (May hurt adminis-tration, since focus is likely to get dis-

tracted) @mmdvv: your comments on

new revelations about AAP exposing

its ‘honesty’?

@kiranshaw - I don’t know how anyone

can be on time in this city?? One

needs to provide an extra hour of bufer!!

Bangaloreans have a beef over ban

Despite the recent Maharashtra ban on beef, almost 75 per cent of people questioned are against a ban in Karnataka, according to a survey conducted by The Weekly Observer.

There have been heated discus-sions in Karnataka over the ban-ning of beef on religious grounds, but only 18 per cent agreed that it should happen here.

In December, 2014 the then Congress government of Karna-taka withdrew a controversial bill to ban beef.

In 2010, the BJP led government

in Karnataka passed the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Pres-ervation of Cattle Bill which drew references from the 1964 bill and erased the differences between cow and cattle. It made slaughter of ev-ery form of cattle a punishable act.

When The Weekly Observer contacted B. N. Vijayakumar, a BJP MLA from Jayanagar, Bangalore, he said, “Congress dismissed the bill because they just wanted to get the votes of the minorities. Cattle slaughter is banned in many parts of the country. BJP government had banned it in Karnataka because it was a long pending bill which should have been passed earlier and it was our party manifesto also.”

“There were some problems with the original bill and hence there was a need to come up with new amend-ments,” he added.

He added that when the BJP passed the bill, people were happy about it. “People who had some vested interests raised concerns about the bill but, we wanted to protect our cattle as it is our culture. The cattle must be protected,” he said.

However, Narendra Babu, a Congress MLA from Mahalakshmi Layout in Bangalore who personally supports the ban in Maharashtra, said, “We have grown up respect-ing cows as God but Congress ex-ists since the time of independence.

It’s our motto to keep people happy. No matter what my personal views are, as a part of the party I believe that beef should not be banned.”

Manju S., a college student, said, “Everyone has a religion to follow. Being a Hindu, I support the ban in Maharashtra but the diversity of the country has to be considered before such decisions.”

Mohammed Tousif, owner of a restaurant in Kengeri said, “People should be allowed to eat what they want to. People in Karnataka, be they Hindu or Muslim, love beef. So if a beef ban is imposed in Karna-taka, there will be protests.”

(*This survey was conducted amongst 42 individuals living in Bangalore)

Pulaha RayKimaya Varude

Bangalore goes ‘Moo’ over beef ban

Ashok Lamani, a sugarcane farmer from Teggi, Bagalkot district

3 The Weekly OBSERVER Thursday, March 12, 2015

Middlemen guarantee college places in return for lakhs

Gambling cases in city at an all time high

There has been a 19% rise in the number of gambling cases registered in Banga-lore, according to the City Crime Record Bureau(CCRB).

According to the City Crime Record Bureau (CCRB) statistics, the number of gambling cases registered in Bangalore in 2012 was 348. In 2013 the figure rose to 369 and last year 457 cases were booked.

The Weekly Observer spoke to police from the Kalasipalya Police Station and Banaswadi Po-lice Station, who in a joint operation in the last week of February, with the Central Crime Bu-reau, busted two cricket gambling rackets.

The police said that the accused were booked under Section 78 and Section 80 of the Karna-taka Police Act. In both these police stations the accused got bail on the same evening they were arrested on charges of gambling.

Dr. Ashok, a Criminology Expert, HOD of Criminology Department at School of Social Work, said: “Addiction and improvement in eco-nomic change of a person are the major causes of gambling. If gambling is of minor nature and it is not consequential then they can be given bail. But in those cases where people are involved in gambling with huge stakes of money, such peo-

ple shouldn’t be given bail so that they can be restrained.”

According to him, sports with large following globally - cricket, football and horse riding - gam-bling happens at higher stakes compared to other sports.

He claims that only cricket can’t be blamed for rise in gambling cases. He added: “Gambling ex-ists there in elections too. Tomorrow if Kabaddi becomes global, gambling will see an increase there, too. Gambling will be there where there is large money at stake. If gambling is made legal,

it would be called de criminalization. It will just bring down the number of cases for the police but it won’t solve the problem.”

Prashanth, Managing Director of Sri Vinayak Foundation, a gambling de-addiction center, claims that the main reason behind people getting addicted to gambling is their unemployment.

He said, “On daily basis two to three people come and join our gambling rehabilitation center. Usually the people aged 19-35 are the most ad-dicted to gambling and it’s very common among educated people.”

Middlemen are helping colleges bypass the law by taking lakhs from underachieving stu-dents in return for a college place.

More and more of these agents are cashing in on the system according to some students, who fear the whole process is diluting the quality of college learning.

The admissions process for undergraduate courses is either based on marks in school exams or entrance exams rankings. Students who qualify for admissions based on marks are classed as meritorious students.

Those students who do not have the neces-sary grades for a merit place can still join colleges through a management quota, where the student has to pay sometimes double what a merit stu-dent pays.

Management quota seats are legal as the col-lege pays taxes for those seats. But what is illegal is the fact that students have to pay a ‘donation’ depending on the student’s marks and desired course

There have been cases where the students have paid 5 lakhs for a seat in prominent colleges. Since it is illegal, the colleges are not directly in-volved in such deals.

In such cases, middlemen act as an intermedi-ary between the college and the student. In such cases when a student is paying 5 lakhs for his seat 2 lakhs is taken by the middle men and 3 lakhs goes to the college.

Gopi Krishna.S, a student from Sambhram Institute of Technology, said: “I got admission with the help of a middleman. I just asked for the seat and paid money directly to him for the seat. The fees for courses and the college decide the package, which we can choose and can pay in fragments.

“The marks scored in PU exams will not be

the criteria for admissions. Many friends of mine got admitted in the college in same manner,” he added.

“On referring someone for admission, one will get, as a refund, 25% of the fee. For an ad-mission to the engineering course, the fee will be four lakh and one lakh in donation. If I find a student who wants admission into a college and refer the middleman to him, I will get 1.5 lakh from the middleman.”

The lobbying process consists of middlemen indulging in selling college seats and interview questions of private colleges to students not in-terested in getting in through merit. Such back-door admission rackets have been declared illegal by the Centre according to the Karnataka Edu-cational Institutions (Admission and Fee Regula-tory Committee) Act, 2006.

They charge huge sums of money depend-ing on the ranking and reputation of the college and pocket half the amount paid by the admis-sion seeker.

This way of gaining admissions is chosen by students who either don’t have enough marks or are dropouts who are declined admissions to other colleges.

Middlemen are able to provide interview questions along with an assured admission to the college. This is the reason why many admission seekers shell out such huge amounts.

Nithin (name changed), a student admis-sion agent, said: “I can provide you admission in Christ College. You have to apply online and send me the details. The college authorities will provide interview date, prior to interview we will provide questions, you have to study the ques-tions and attend the interview.”

He added that selection into the college was “certain”.

“About fee structure, you have to pay nine and half for four years,” he added.

He continued: “If you approach the college directly for admissions, you will not get admis-sion because it is tough. The fees structure will

not be reduced.” Sayim, treasurer of Engineering Students

Union, said: “The engineering education system is degrading because of middlemen involved in the admission process. Through this process, lots of ineligible students enrol in the engineering courses and they discontinue after a year or two. This is grabbing an opportunity and then spoil-ing it.”

Nithin added: “Christ College is not that good a college when it comes to engineering, RV Col-lege and M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology are the best. If you want admission to these col-leges we can provide but you have to pay more donations.”

Vignesh SG

EXCLUSIVE

C.L.Ramakrishnan

Gamblers undergoing treatment at the gamblers rehab centre

Gopi Krishna.S, is now studying at Sambh-ram Institute of Technology

NEWS DIGEST

The Congress is likely to challenge the summons, issued to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an accused by a Spe-cial CBI court in Coal-gate case, in Supreme Court.

Mehr Tarar, a Paki-stani journalist, will be questioned by Delhi police in connection with the mysterious death of former Union minister Shashi Tharo-or’s wife, Sunanda Pushkar.

The swine flu virus in India has turned more dangerous after acquiring muta-tions. According to a new MIT study, it has already killed more than 1,500 people since December and is getting more severe and infectious than previously circulating H1N1 strains. The Delhi High Court on Thursday claimed media trials influence judges by subcon-sciously creating pres-sure on them over the airing of the contro-versial documentary on the December 16 gang rape case.

In a move designed to crackdown on abuse and harassment on its social media site, twitter has banned us-ers from posting ‘re-venge porn’. Intimate pictures or footage posted without the consent of the person featured will no lon-ger be tolerated.

4 The Weekly OBSERVER Thursday, March 12, 2015

Agents of change give India hope

OBSERVER Team: Editor - C. L. Ramakrishnan, Chief Sub-Editor -Soumya Chatterjee, News Editor - Pulaha Roy, News Desk - Vignesh S.G., Elizabeth Mani, Layout Head - Punita Maheshwari , Layout Desk - Nikhil M Babu, Devdatta Sukhdev, Agnivesh Harshan, Sub-Editors - Saheli Sen Gupta, Apoorva Choubey, Divya Kishore, Ridhi Agrawal, Picture Editor - Aparna Singh, Proofreaders - Natasha Singh, Tushar Kaushik , Reporters - Shruti Suresh, Suharika Rachavelpula, Kimaya Varude

In the wake of India’s image re-ceiving a blow following the ban on the BBC documentary India’s Daughter, several trendsetters are helping to gradually break existing boundaries.

Whether it is girls working in bars or stay-at-home dads, these individuals, by taking up roles and jobs which aren’t traditionally asso-ciated with their respective genders, might herald a much needed new era for India.

Smriti Singh, who works as a bar-tender in The Humming Tree, a pub in Bangalore, said: “It was difficult when I started working as there are not many female bartenders. I was struggling to get a job for a year. I did a mixology course after my vi-sual communications course didn’t work out.”

She added: “I think I have been lucky to be in Bangalore. It’s been good here. Initially, yes, it was a little difficult starting off. For almost a year, I didn’t know any other female bartender but people in Bangalore are welcoming and encouraging.”

She added: “Obviously, there is a

preference for male bartenders due to safety issues. People are always going to be skeptical. If you have to work in the night, you become a li-ability to them and they have to take care of your transport and other se-curity assurances. They don’t want to take so much responsibility. On top of that you are dealing with drunken people.”

Nandini, who works as a female security guard in Delhi, said: “I came to Delhi in 2008 to become an IAS. But when that didn’t happen, I became an escort security officer in Secura Security Services. I deal with VIP family protection.”

She added: “It is not that it is a male dominated profession. The problem with our country is that people find it very surprising. It’s all about how we react. There is a fear factor that is generated.

“A lot of girls apply to us for these kinds of jobs. Many girls from Haryana and UP come in big num-bers for interviews.”

Ashwini is a first-year student of an engineering college in Bangalore who wants to chase her dreams on the football field. But even there she has failed to find a level playing ground.

She said: “I started watching football when I was in 8th standard. In 11th standard, as many of my male friends were playing, I would hang out with them. They would play football, so I couldn’t just sit and watch. Surprisingly, they were all very supportive. I was absolutely miserable when I started playing because I have never played before; no coaching, nothing! They helped me out a lot and eventually when we made a girl’s team in school, they helped out there also.”

She added: “There’s this added pressure when you are a girl and you are trying to play with guys; if you

do something good, then people are going make fun of the guys, and say things like ‘she got past you’, ‘she got the ball from you’ etc. If you do something bad they just put it down to the fact that she is a girl. “So when are you going to play, there’s everyone looking and watching you. They pay specific attention to how you play. We once went for a tour-nament which we won, and it was really nice. The girls didn’t have any prize money but the guys did. We only got vouchers of some spa.”

These pre-conceived notions are not only restricted to women, men also raise eyebrows when they take up professions which are tradition-ally dominated by women.

In the traditional Indian society, the man of the house was looked down upon if he didn’t go for work.

Jayesh, a stay-at-home dad in Mumbai, stays at home so that his wife can work and he can raise his kids and look after his home.

He said, “I was working in some textile business. The market was not favoring us. My wife has been running a retail saloon. Since it was working well, we decided to concentrate on the saloon. Since I could not be a part of the saloon, I decided to support my wife and kids from home so that they can move ahead in their lives.

“If a woman can support her husband and kids, why can’t a man do the same? One of us definitely has to work; why can’t it be the woman?

“When I am right in my place, I do not care what the society thinks of me. My only concern is the well-being of my family.”

A single dad, Krishnan Subrama-niam, 35, said, “I became a single dad about a year & a half back, when my wife decided to walk out

on us for another man. My son was three when this incident happened. The first six months after the sepa-ration was the toughest as my son had stopped talking all altogether. Only after six months of continued sessions in NIMHANS CAP dept, he recovered from the trauma.”

Krishnan quit his job to take care of his son, Madhav, and says that everyday was a struggle to survive. During this time, his son grew ex-tremely dependent on Krishnan. He said, “Only I had to feed him, bathe him and put him to sleep. His entire life was just me. There were times when I had to wait till he slept to go

to take a leak!” Krishnan is thankful to his extended family in Bangalore who supported him throughout.

It was only in Jan 2015 that Krish-nan rejoined his job. His son does well at school, and Krishnan easily manages to take care of his son. He said, “I run the house, job, take care of the kid, parents n all that stuff. I love it. It keeps me so busy that I get no time to get depressed! Long story short, I am the coolest single dad around with a rockstar kid.”

Krishnan also credited the soci-ety for being kind and sympathetic to him, including his neighbors and his colleagues at office.

Natasha Singh Soumya Chatterjee

Smriti Singh, a bartender at The Humming Tree lounge

“There were times when I had to wait till he slept to go to take a leak”

Pillai free to fly - Delhi High Court

The travel ban on Greenpeace campaigner Priya Pillai was quashed by Delhi High Court on Thursday which ruled that the government “cannot muzzle dis-sent in a democracy”

Pillai was told by the high court of Delhi that it has lifted the ban that prevented her from travelling to London in January this year and effectively meant she was unable to leave India.

Pillai said, “We are relieved that the court has cracked down on this undemocratic abuse of power by the government. The bar on my travel was a clear violation of civil rights. If this government is genuine about its promise of inclusive devel-opment that benefits all, it needs to work with civil society rather than seek to suppress it.

“We hope that this signals the end of the harassment that Green-peace India and other genuine activ-ists are facing. Clean energy, clean air, clean water, protecting forests and the rights of people – these are the issues that the NDA govern-ment must deal with, instead of try-ing to gag people and groups that raise these issues.”

A look out circular (LOC) was issued on January 11 by the Minis-try of Home Affairs and they had asked the Intelligence Bureau to add her name to the list of individuals who are barred from leaving the country. The immigration authori-ties put a ban on her and prevented her from travelling to UK to meet British parliamentarians. Pillai was not allowed to board her flight and her passport was stamped with the word ‘Offload’.

She was travelling there to meet

UK lawmakers and draw their at-tention to the issues of violation of human rights of tribal people in the proposed Mahan coal field in Madhya Pradesh. The government

official justified the ban and said that her visit was a serious threat to the nation and her speech, the one she planned to give there, was con-sidered as anti-national and had po-tential for mischief against India’s economic interests.

Pillai and Greenpeace India have been supporting tribal villages in the Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh opposed to the Mahan coal mine. The mine threatens a large forest area on which thousands of people depend for their livelihoods. Prior to its de-allocation by the Supreme Court in the “coalgate” verdict, the Mahan coal block was allocated jointly to London-registered Essar Energy and Indian firm Hindalco.

The growing fight to stop the mine is believed to be the reason Pillai was singled out by the gov-ernment. In December 2014, the Ministry of Environment informed

the Ministry of Coal that Mahan coal block should be considered an inviolate forest area and not be auc-tioned for mining.

In their ruling, judges at Delhi High Court said that the govern-ment’s decision was not justified as there are many people who can be called anti-national and are still travelling abroad. Greenpeace In-dia welcomed the court’s decision as a vindication of the group’s le-gitimacy. The group believes in its campaigns for the rights of people to their lands and forests, for clean energy and healthy evironment.

The Essar Group has since been in the news due to the alleged in-volvement of company officials in leaking confidential documents from the Ministry of Petroleum and for offering favours to politicians. The company’s role in the 2G scam is also being probed by authorities.

Men like Jayesh help inquashing existing taboos

Aparna Singh

Priya Pillai can now fly to UK