Madras HC asks girl to study till lover turns 21 to marry

TNN | Updated: Sep 6, 2019, 13:08 IST

 

Picture used for representational purpose only

MADURAI: The Madras high court has directed an 18-yearold girl to complete her graduation and then decide on her marriage when the man she is in love with turns 21, the legal age for men to wed. The directive came on a habeas corpus petition filed by a resident of Tirunelveli before the Madurai bench of the court, saying his daughter was detained by two people. 

The petitioner stated that his daughter had just joined college and therefore must complete her graduation before taking any decision on her marriage. However, the girl said she was in love with a boy and wanted to marry him. She also contented that she had joined a college and is willing to continue her studies but is not willing to go with her father. 

A division bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and N Anand Venkatesh observed that the relief sought by the petitioner could not be granted as the girl was a major. “We cannot go against her wishes and force her to stay with the petitioner,” the court said.
The judges also took cognizance of the man’s submission that his parents had accepted their relationship and were willing to allow the girl to continue her education. However, the judges observed that he was 19 years old and could not marry the girl until he was 21. Hence, the court directed the girl to complete her studies by staying in the college hostel and on completion of graduation an appropriate decision can be taken on her marriage.

In memory of her son, she returns with sweet tributes

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:06.09.2019

Teachers’ day celebrations in educational institutions are usually marked by special programmes organised by students to cherish contribution of teachers in making their lives better and gifts with messages of gratitude.

On most occasions, alumni of the school or academicians are invited are chief guests. But this institution in Chennai has a very different way of celebrating September 5 and they have a unique guest speaker, a daily wage labourer from Kilpauk.

Chandra, no way connected to teaching, has been the guest speaker at this government-run teacher training institute for the past 12 years. A widow, her only connect to the said District Institute for Education and Training (DIET) near Lady Wellington College is her son Saravanan.

Saravanan, who studied in the same college from 2004 to 2006, committed suicide due to personal reasons. He would often ask her to prepare sweets for all his friends on teachers’ day, said Chandra. “This was the last thing I remember him asking me,” she said. Since his demise, Chandra makes it a point to arrive at the premises every September 5 and distribute sweets among students studying there in her son’s memory.

After distributing sweets, she speaks to teaching aspirants about suicide prevention and motivates them to achieve the dream of teaching young kids which her son couldn’t do. Hearing this, students on Thursday broke into tears and later thanked her for all her efforts, said V Usharani, principal of DIET. 


Chandra with aspiring teachers at DIET, Chennai on Thursday

6 hours after surgeons fix broken hip, 93-year-old walks on hosp corridors

Chennai 06.09.2019

Aravamudhan who fell down by accident, was brought to Fortis Malar Hospital with severe pain in the hip. Doctors knew the fracture could immobilize him. So, they counselled him to undergo a 35-minute surgery, minimally invasive Proximal Femoral Nail (PFN). Besides old age, Aravamudhan had cardiac failure, renal failure, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hypothyroidism. “We had a good team and we decided helping him stay mobile will give him a better quality of life,” said senior surgeon Dr Nandkumar Sundaram. Increasingly, doctors are able to do successful surgeries on hips and knees to keep senior citizens alive, he said. A smiling Aravamudhan said, “I was nervous about the operation. I was expecting a long recovery but I walked the same day.” TNN

Flights, trains to Mumbai hit because of heavy rain in Maha
Check Flight Status Before Going to Airport, Flyers Advised
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.09.2019

Travelling to Mumbai has become a hassle as passengers suffered delays and cancellations of flights and trains on Wednesday and Thursday because of heavy rain and waterlogging in Mumbai.

Railways has been cancelling trains since Wednesday and trains that departed from the city and other destinations in the state on Tuesday could not be operated till Mumbai.

Around 21 flights on Chennai-Mumbai route were delayed by more than an hour since Wednesday noon. Nine arrivals were delayed and two were cancelled from Mumbai on Thursday. Flights on Wednesday morning were on time but the night flights, especially the red-eye ones, suffered maximum delay because heavy rain affected operations at Mumbai airport late in the evening.

An airport official said flights to Mumbai started to get delayed since 1.20pm on Wednesday and this continued till late Thursday. However, a few morning flights were on time.

An airport official said five Air India flights, 11 IndiGo flights, two SpiceJet flights and two Vistara flights were delayed since Wednesday night. IndiGo operates the maximum number of flights on the route. On Thursday, four departures and nine arrivals were delayed by more than one hour. Though airlines informed passengers well in advance, the delays had an effect on other routes too as airlines use the same aircraft to fly multiple routes.

Airlines have advised passengers to reach the airport after checking flight schedules.

The delays also affected one Chennai-Salem train which had to be cancelled because the pairing rake was running late. Similarly, Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Central-Mumbai CST Mail (11028) was cancelled on Thursday. Since the rakes are stuck, it may take a day or two for trains to return to normal schedule on the Chennai-Mumbai route.

Around 21 flights on Chennai-Mumbai route were delayed by more than an hour since Wednesday noon

6 days after marriage, woman ends life; one held

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.09.2019

Six days after marriage, an engineering college student committed suicide at her house near Trisulam.

Police said Manisha, 21, a final year engineering student fell in love with Abinraju, 24, a driver from the locality. She married him on August 25. Police said the woman was already pregnant. After marriage, Abinraju told her that he was in love with another woman. Following this, Manisha ended her life on August 30. The woman’s parents lodged a complaint following which police arrested Abinraju on Wednesday.

Police collected an audio clip from Manisha’s phone wherein the woman, Abinraju and his girlfriend could be heard having a lengthy conversion. Abinraju is heard asking Manisha to allow him to live with the other woman.

The man has been booked for abetting the suicide and was produced before a court that sent him to judicial custody.

One-third of traffickers are women and neighbours, says new study 

Of the 429 accused, 50% are in the age group of 25 to 45 years

06/09/2019 , Shiv Sahay Singh, Kolkata 


 
In need of help: Lack of legal support to survivors and a prolonged trial give impunity to traffickers in many cases. R. Ragu

A recent study conducted on the profile of persons accused in trafficking in almost 200 cases in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh has revealed that one-third of them are women.

“One-third, or 162 out of 429 traffickers (accused in cases of trafficking) are female. Fifty per cent, or 216 accused in these cases are from the age group of 25 to 45 years,” Snigdha Sen, a researcher who has come out with the findings, told The Hindu.

For the study and analysis, Ms. Sen collaborated with several organizations such as HELP from Andhra Pradesh, Goranbose Gram Bikash Kendra (GGBK) from West Bengal and Partners for Anti-Traficcking (PAT), which is a consortium of eight community-based organizations in Bengal.

Not family members

In the study, Ms. Sen analysed documents such as chargesheets, FIRS and police general diaries related to 198 human trafficking cases registered between 2008 and 2018. Of the 429 people whose names appeared as accused in these 198 cases, only in 30 were the accused family members, including from the extended family.

“There was a belief in some people that in many cases family members are involved in trafficking. That does not hold true in this research. In most cases, if the survivors are asked they will say Didi (sister) took them from their village. But on a more detailed inquiry, it will be revealed that the accused is not a relative but a neighbour or an acquaintance,” Subhasree Raptan, programme manager of GGBK said.

The largest group of the traffickers (34%, or 148) were neighbours, while 31% were completely unknown to the survivors, the study said.

Lack of legal support

According to Ms. Sen, of the 198 cases analyzed — in which the names of 429 accused have figured — only one trafficker from the source area was convicted. Similarly, in all the cases analysed, only two other traffickers were convicted from the destination area. According the researcher and the organisations who are part of the study, a “lack of legal support to survivors and a prolonged trial give impunity to traffickers”.

Ms. Raptan highlighted that in many cases of trafficking, survivors were not told that they were entitled to victim compensation from public prosecutors representing their case in courts.

The last published report of the National Crime Record Bureau for 2016 recorded 8,132 cases of human trafficking in the country, of which 3,579 cases (around 44%) were from West Bengal alone.

Delhi zoo welcomes cobras, pythons, gharials 

Two exchange programmes were held 

 06/09/2019 , Staff Reporter , New Delhi

In two exchange programmes with two other zoos, the Delhi zoo has got 19 snakes, including Indian cobras and Rock Pythons, a pair of ‘gharial’ (long snout crocodile), and a pair of wolf.

The National Zoological Park, commonly known as the Delhi zoo, now has a total of 27 snakes and as it had only eight before the exchange happened, officials said.

The zoo has obtained four Indian cobras, five rock pythons, two monitor lizards, four rat snakes, two common sand boa and two red sand boa.

“We got the snakes on August 26 and in return we have given them six red jungle fowl, six painted stork among other animals,” a zoo official said.

“Though the snakes are in the enclosure, it is not put for public viewing yet,” the official added.

Officials also said that the Delhi zoo had more snakes earlier and as numbers kept on decreasing, the exchange programme was conducted.

The Delhi zoo had obtained the pair of ‘gharial’ and the pair of wolves from Jaipur zoo and gave a pair of hippopotamus in return.

Earlier programme

In July, the Delhi zoo had got a male white tiger in another such exchange programme with the Lucknow zoo.