HC directs man to compensate wife

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, OCTOBER 03, 2018 00:00 IST

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, taking into account the depressed state of mind of a woman, directed her husband, who has sought divorce from her to pay her Rs. 20 lakh as compensation. He has appealed against a lower court order that had dismissed his suit for divorce.

Justice J. Nisha Banu observed that the woman needed to be compensated given her current state of mind. The court said if the compensation was given to the woman then the lower court decree would be set aside and decree of divorce shall come into operation between the parties. If otherwise the lower court proceedings would stand confirmed, the court said.

The court took note of the fact that the couple were living separately for over seven years. Though it had recommended mediation for both the parties to explore the possibility of reunion, the exercise failed. Though the woman expressed her willingness to live with her husband, he refused to live with his wife. The court held that the matrimonial bond was beyond repair and in such a case marriage becomes a fiction and does not serve the sanctity.

The court was hearing the case of A. Amuldoss of Pudukottai who had appealed against a lower court order which had dismissed his suit for divorce. He sought divorce from his wife, who, he complained, suffered from depression.

Hero from Kerala who saved many dies crying for help

JERONE WAS HAILED AS SAVIOUR DURING FLOODS

Aswin.JKumar@timesgroup.com

Thiruvananthapuram: 03.10.2018

Inside the rented house of Jinesh Jerone in Poonthura, his friends and family would often play on a loop videos of him swimming across murky waters to bring people to shore and safety when deadly floods hit Kerala in the month of August. They would then read and re-read newspaper clips that hailed him as a hero and saviour. Jinesh died on Sunday, begging passersby for help after being hit by a truck on the highway 12km from home.

“He lay on the road, crushed below his waist, and screamed for help,” Jinesh’s friend Jagan told TOI on Tuesday. Jagan was riding pillion on Jinesh’s bike when they stumbled and fell. As Jinesh was flung off, a speeding truck, unable to halt in time, drove through. “Nobody stopped,” Jagan said, weeping. Jinesh was barely 24.

“I can’t believe something like this could happen to a man like Jinesh. He loved to help others. That’s what made him a hero during the recent floods,” Jagan said. Jinesh and his friends had rescued over 100 people during operations in Chengannur, one of the most severely affected places.

Jagan, who survived with minor injuries, said the sight of a bleeding and badly hurt Jinesh pleading for help from people was too much to take. “I lost consciousness soon after. All I remember is Jinesh crying, waving people down who would not stop. He lost a lot of blood.”

It took more than 30 minutes before an ambulance reached them and rushed the two men to hospital. After a brief struggle, Jinesh was pronounced dead. “Had anyone listened to us and offered help we could have saved him,” Jagan said.

Selvi, Jinesh’s mother, said, “When the church vicar called for a meeting seeking help from fishermen for the rescue mission, Jinesh and his six friends promptly took a boat and set off. They didn’t wait for anyone and other teams followed them only the next day.”

In the house with its cracked roof and sea-devoured walls, Jinesh had a small space to himself where he practiced dance moves. He and his friends called themselves ‘Shining Stars’. On a shelf there are trophies that he won for his cricketing skills.

Many of those he saved have been silently coming to the house, thanking Selvi for what her son did. “He was our hero,” one of them said. “His death should wake us all to the fact that we need to stop and help people hit by cars on India’s deadly roads. We are leaving them to die. It’s just terrible.”

TRAGIC END: Many of those Jinesh Jerone saved have been silently coming to the house, thanking Selvi for what her son did

British rule was better than today’s govts: Gandhi’s PA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai: 03.10.2018

“The British Raj was much better than present-day rulers and I would prefer a British rule to the present one,” said V Kalyanam, who was the personal assistant to Mahatma Gandhi, in Madurai on Tuesday.

Kalyanam, now 96, said he felt the present-day rulers in the country had failed to provide the governance that Gandhiji had envisioned. “There was no corruption during the British rule and Gandhiji himself had commended their administrative excellence many times,” he said, adding that governance might have been better had a government been set up under Netaji’s leadership after Independence.

Inaugurating a philately exhibition at the Gandhi Memorial Museum here as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Gandhi, he went down memory lane recalling the days at the Ashram with Gandhi when everyone had to wake up at 3am and participate in a prayer session. “He used to dictate letters and I would write them down, and he would later make corrections with a pencil,” he said. Some of these letters which had been corrected by Gandhi were on display at the philately exhibition.

He also launched the Hobee trust, which aims at promoting various hobbies, including philately.

The exhibition, organised by philatelists S Vijaykumar, T Madan and P Vijaykumar, has on display special stamps, first day covers, commemorative stamps among others. There are also stamps and letterheads that remember Kasturba Gandhi. It is expected to draw sizeable crowds.

V Kalyanam

Govt buses take shorter route, but collect full fare

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:03.10.2018

Government mofussil buses plying from Vellore, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and other districts to Chennai via Poonamalle collect ₹6 extra from every passenger.

Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporations (TNSTCs), which operate mofussil buses, earn ₹50 lakh in excess every month.

According to official data, more than 500 buses, operated as express services, ply from the said districts towards Koyambedu daily.

Earlier, a section of these buses, including those operated along route numbers 76C, 84, 89, 97, 102, 130, 201 and 202, reached Koyambedu via Porur and Guindy (24 km).

Other buses like those operated along routes 76B, 97A and 97B take a diversion at Poonamallee and reach Koyambedu via Maduravoyal (16 km).

Ever since work for metro rail and Porur flyover began in 2011, all the 500-odd buses are operated only along the latter route, said Senthil Kumar, a consumer rights activist.

According to government’s approved fare table based on the distance covered by the bus, TNSTC should collect only ₹13 from a passenger to travel from Poonamallee via Maduravoyal and ₹19 if they travelled along the other.

“But at present, all the moffusil buses invariably collect ₹19 even when they travel along the shorter route via Maduravoyal,” Senthil said.

TNSTC Villupuram officials said the traffic police do not allow government buses to run via Guindy and that they are ready to operate through city roads if permitted. They, however, refused to comment on not revising the fare accordingly.

9-yr-old’s b’day posters will announce his funeral

Generator Bought After Outage Spoiled Last Birthday Party Turns Killer

Sindhu.Kannan@timesgroup.com  03.10.2018

S Saravanan had grand plans for the ninth birthday of his son Karthikeyan. Last year, a power shutdown had played spoilsport. So he bought a generator this time.

With the birthday approaching, Saravanan and his neighbours had drawn up the plans — the generator was ready and banners were printed. But on Tuesday, the small neighbourhood at Mettukullam, which was looking forward to the gathering, could not believe that the family was no more.

“We collected photographs from them to print banners thinking that we would surprise the child this year,” said Manivannan, a neighbour. The posters will now be used for the funeral.

The sight of Saravanan’s body near the bedroom door, indicating that he could have made an attempt to come out before he swooned, and that of his wife Kalairasi with her son in her arms, shocked the locality. “This clearly shows that she would have tried to escape lifting the child but fell unconscious and choked to death,” said a neighbour.

Recalling the celebrations last year, Saravanan’s relative Kumaran said Karthikeyan was upset as there was power shutdown. “Since the boy insisted that his father bring home a generator, Saravanan got one. Police suspect that generator fumes have caused the death. It is such a cruel irony,” said Kumaran. “Karthikeyan told us that he wanted to be surrounded by friends while cutting the cake,” he said adding that the boy was pampered by his neighbours.

“Generators emit toxic gases like a car engine does. A running generator should not be kept inside home,” said Manikandan, a mechanic. “Carbon monoxide emitted is odourless. Only alarms can detect it,” he said.

Residents said Kalaiarasi and Saravanan were popular in the neighbourhood because of their jovial and helpful disposition. Kalaiarasi, who had completed a nursing course, would teach students. “Whenever a student approached her with doubts, she would help him. She did not charge any fee,” said a neighbour.

BIRTHDAY EVE TRAGEDY

Couple, son die; genset fumes suspected killer

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:03.10.2018

A couple and their eight-year-old son were found dead in their home near Koyambedu on Tuesday morning and police, while not ruling out suicide, suspect they may have inadvertently inhaled noxious fumes from a diesel genset kept running in the living room overnight.

The family was to celebrate the boy’s birthday on Wednesday and neighbours told police they had hired the genset as power-cuts had marred the celebrations the year before.

S Saravanan, 38, worked as manager at a pizza shop in Chennirkuppam, Kalaiarasi, 30, was a home-maker, and Karthikeyan was a Class III student at a private school in Mettukullam, near their home.

Cops smelled diesel fumes inside house

On Monday too the neighbourhood went without power supply from midnight to 3am, which is when, police suspect, Saravanan may have turned on the genset to power the airconditioner in the bedroom. Police said they smelled diesel fumes as soon as they entered the home.

One of the neighbours, who was up at 5 am, said she heard the generator running in Saravanan’s house and thought of telling them power supply had been restored. She decided not to as they might be asleep. “I never thought this may turn fatal for them,” said Sasikala, the neighbour.

When Saravanan and Kalaiarasi did not open the door till 9am, neighbours grew suspicious. When repeated knocks on the door drew no response, they broke open the door and found Saravanan slumped near the bedroom door, while Kalaiarasi was lying on the floor with her son in her arms.

The neighbours alerted police. The three were rushed to a nearby private hospital, where they were declared ‘brought dead’. Their bodies were sent for postmortem at the Government Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital.

Police initially suspected a gas leak from the air conditioner, but this was ruled out after a mechanic tested the machine. The Koyambedu police, who have registered a case of suspicious death, are awaiting the postmortem report to ascertain the exact cause of deaths.

‘If mobs turn violent, leaders must go to cops’

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi 03.10.2018

: If protesters turn violent and vandalize property, their leaders must present themselves for questioning at a police station within 24 hours, failing which they will be proceeded against as suspects first and absconders later, the Supreme Court has said.

“In instances where a group or organization has staged a protest or demonstration resulting in violence and damage to property, leaders and office-bearers should physically present themselves for questioning on their own within 24 hours in the police station within whose jurisdiction the violence and damage occurred,” a bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said on Monday.

Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Khanwilkar said, “Any such person(s) failing to present himself or herself in such manner without any sufficient reason should be proceeded against as a suspect and legal process initiated forthwith, including for being declared absconder in accordance with law.”

This will have serious implications, particularly for leaders of fringe groups, as protests over issues like religion, cow protection, films or even political ideologies often turn violent. Turning the screws on such protests, the SC said leaders will be granted bail only if they deposit the estimated cost due to loss or damage, either individually or collectively.

“A person arrested for either committing or initiating, promoting, instigating or in any way causing to occur any act of violence which results in loss of life or damage to property may be granted conditional bail upon depositing the quantified loss caused due to such violence or furnishing security for such quantified loss. In case of more than one person involved in such act of violence, each one of them shall be jointly, severally and vicariously liable to pay the quantified loss,” the SC said.

The three-judge bench fell back on its judgment providing the mechanism to stop lynching incidents and said the nodal officer appointed for each district for curbing such violence would also act to initiate action in vandalism incidents. “Since the nodal officer(s) holds the overall responsibility in each district to prevent mob violence against cultural establishments and against property, any unexplained and/or unsubstantiated delay in filing FIRs and/or conducting investigations in that regard should also be deemed to be inaction on the part of the said nodal officer(s),” it said.

“Any person found to be carrying prohibited weaponry, licensed or otherwise, during protests/demonstrations would prima facie be presumed to have an intention to commit violence and be proceeded in that regard as per law,” it said.

SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS