‘PERSONAL LIBERTY’

Govt staff can join rallies, post views on social media: HC

Biswendu Bhattacharjee TNN

Agartala:11.01.2020

Dismissing an inquiry against a retired employee of the state fisheries department, the chief justice of Tripura high court on Friday said that government employees can take part in political programmes, including meetings, and freely post their opinions on social media platforms, without attracting punitive measures under Rule 5 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules.

Justice A Kureshi said attending a political rally would not be considered as involvement in politics and government employees should have the personal liberty to post their opinions on social media.

Lipika Paul was dismissed from service on April 25, 2018, four days before her retirement, for taking part in a political programme in December 2017 and making a social media post against BJP.

“During election times, as is well-known, political parties and their leaders as well as nominated candidates take out rallies and address public gatherings. Every person who is present in the audience during such addresses cannot be stated to have participated in the rally. The presence of a person does not either establish his or her political affiliation.

“A student of politics, an enthusiastic young man, a reporter or just a curious bystander — all are likely to be present in any political gathering. Even an opponent or a critic of a political party may also attend the gathering. Her mere presence at a gathering, therefore, without any further allegation, would not amount to her participation in such political gathering,” the court order stated.

“I have taken note of the contents of the said post which originally was in Bengali and has been translated and presented before me. Nothing contained in the said post suggests canvassing for or against any political party. It only expresses certain beliefs of the petitioner in general terms. As a government servant the petitioner is not devoid of her right of free speech, a fundamental right which can be curtailed only by a valid law. She was entitled to hold her own beliefs and express them in the manner she desired of course subject to not crossing the borders laid down in sub-rule (4) of Rule 5 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules.”

Lipika Paul was dismissed from service on April 25, 2018, four days before her retirement, for taking part in a political programme in December 2017 and making a social media post against BJP

20-yr-old woman in Bihar seeks divorce as hubby avoids regular shave and bath

Ramashankar@timesgroup.com

Patna  11.01.2020

 In a bizarre case, a 20-year-old woman from Vaishali district has sought divorce claiming that her husband stinks as he does not shave, take bath and brush his teeth regularly. She also complained that her husband doesn’t follow etiquette and manners.

The state women’s commission (SWC) listened to Soni Devi’s complaint and asked her husband Manish Ram, 23, to mend his ways within two months. Or else, the commission would take appropriate action on the complaint.

SWC member Pratima Sinha said on Friday that Soni, a resident of Nayagaon village under Desri block in Vaishali district, approached the commission on Thursday seeking divorce from her husband. “I was taken aback by her silly reasons cited for seeking divorce,” Pratima said.

In her petition, the woman said she was married to Manish, a plumber by profession, in 2017. “My husband stinks as he won’t shave and bathe for nearly 10 days at stretch. Moreover, he doesn’t brush his teeth. He also doesn’t have manners and follow etiquettes,” the petitioner alleged.

The SWC member said the complainant was adamant on her demand for separation from her husband. “I don’t want to live with my husband anymore. I can no longer bear the humiliation. Kindly get me rid of this man (read husband); he has ruined my life,” Pratima quoted Soni as saying.

Soni also insisted on her husband return the jewellery and other valuables, which her father had given as dowry at the time of marriage. “We have no children. Even our relationship as a husband and wife is not cordial. Life has no meaning. It’s worthless,” she told the commission.

The SWC member said Soni tried to convince the couple not to break their marriage. “I have given her husband two months’ time to mend his ways. If his behaviour is not found satisfactory even after that, we will take appropriate action and refer the matter to the family court for separation,” Pratima told TOI.

Pratima said that Soni belonged to a lower middle class scheduled caste family and was aware of her rights. When asked whether the commission was empowered to do anything in such a case, the SCW member said, “We mainly play the role of an arbitrator on such issues.”

Full report on www.toi.in


The state women’s commission (SWC) listened to Soni Devi’s complaint and asked her husband Manish Ram, 23, to mend his ways within two months

Kannan gets bail in hate speech case

K.Kaushik@timesgroup.com

Madurai:11.01.2020

The Tirunelveli principal sessions court on Friday granted conditional bail to writer and orator Nellai Kannan, 75, for his provocative speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.

Kannan had delivered the provocative speech during a public meeting organised by the SDPI to condemn the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Tirunelveli on December 29, 2019. Based on the complaint by a BJP functionary, the Melapalayam police in Tirunelveli district registered a case against him under Sections 504, 505(1)(b), 505(ii), 153 A, 506 (i) of the IPC.

Following protests by BJP cadres, Kannan was arrested at a guest house in Perambalur and was produced before the Tirunelveli judicial magistrate court. The court remanded him in judicial custody till January 13 and he was lodged in the Salem Central Prison.

Teacher who made boy clean faeces jailed

Namakkal:11.01.2020

A 40-year-old government school teacher was on Friday sentenced to five years imprisonment for forcing a Class II student to clean human excreta from the classroom. The special court for SC/ST cases in the district combined court that heard the case also slapped a fine of ₹1000 on her. A court source identified the convict as R Vijayalakshmi, who was employed with the Namakkal Municipality Middle School in Ramapuram Pudur.

“When she entered the classroom on November 12, 2015, she found human excreta there. When she inquired, someone informed her that it was the doing of a Class III student the previous evening after school hours. Vijayalakshmi forced V Sasidharan, a Class II student, to clean the human excreta using his bare hands,” the source said.

Sasidharan informed his parents, who along with their relatives and neighbours, laid siege to the school the next day, demanding stern action against the teacher. TNN

New scan facility at city hospital

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.01.2020

An upgraded Cone Beam Computerized Tomogram, a cutting-edge technology in head and neck radiology, was inaugurated at Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital by K Vijay Kumar, senior security advisor, Union home ministry, on Friday.

In a conventional CT scan, a patient is often exposed to an equivalent of 120 x-rays. The older version of the CBCT reduced this to a tenth of that and the latest version has minimized it to 3-4 ordinary x-rays. CBCT can be used multiple times ,even in children, without fear of excessive exposure to radiation. In 2010, Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital was the first to introduce CBCT scan in south India, said director Dr S M Balaji. “This state-of-art technology further allows accurate visualization of nerves, arteries and veins in a three dimensional format,” said Dr Balaji who represents TN in the Dental Council of India.

Thieves a pain for sellers at book fair

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.01.2020

They are casually dressed and act like eager bookworms desperately looking for their favourite title among the thousands on display. What they actually want is just a few seconds of attention away from them so that they can tuck a couple of books under their arms and saunter away.

Such thieves, regulars at almost every such gathering, have become a nightmare for sellers and publishers at the ongoing the 43rd Chennai Book Fair at YMCA in Nandanam. Several stall owners have increased the manpower to ensure nothing is lost. R Vijayakumar, a city-based book dealer who has stocked 20,000 books under 500 titles, says people stealing books is a regular phenomenon. “This year, we have added two more people to keep a close watch on such individuals,” said Vijayakumar, who has set up his stall in the first row.

This year, with nearly two crore books under 15 lakh titles on display in nearly 800 stalls, the threat of theft is high, say sellers. Inquiries made by TOI revealed that those who participated in last year’s edition together lost books valued between ₹3,000 and ₹10,000. S Ravi, an associate with a publication, said that 200 to 300 books were stolen during the fair in 2019. “We are clueless about the theft and come to know only during the final accounting. It is difficult to control the menace because our entire concentration will be on assisting genuine buyers and completing the billing process at the cash counters,” he said.

There has been no report of any incident of books being stolen in the current fair, which began on January 9 and is set to continue till January 21, said Ravi.

The usual targets of thieves, say representatives at the various stalls, are the books of leading authors and children’s books. Some sellers stressed that introducing barcodes on book covers and scanning books are sorely needed to prevent theft and to ensure that no book can exit the venue without being billed.

When contacted, R S Shanmugam, president of Booksellers and Publishers’ Association of South India (BAPASI), said that 50 CCTV cameras had been installed at vantage points at the venue and that several volunteers had been tasked with looking out for thieves.

“There have been instances of book thieves being caught and handed over to the police in the past,” he added.


BEWARE: This year, with nearly two crore books under 15 lakh titles on display in nearly 800 stalls, the threat of theft is high, say sellers

Pongal exodus begins, buses in high demand

Huge Crowd Creates Traffic Jam At CMBT

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.01.2020

The great Pongal-time migration of city residents to southern and western districts began on Friday evening.

While nearly one lakh passengers left by government special buses and trains on Friday, at least 20% of Chennai’s population are expected to move to their native villages in the next three or four days.

Bookings for special buses on Friday increased by 350% over the normal 4,000 bookings done everyday. But on Friday, close to 18,000 seats were reserved in advance. Of this, 10,200 boarded buses from Chennai Moffusil Bus Terminus (CMBT) at Koyambedu.

Though special arrangements were made by the state transport department, a larger-than-anticipated crowd thronged the bus stand, leading to traffic congestion outside.

Pending flyover work, near the entrance worsened the situation. “Though we reached Arumbakkam in 30 minutes, it took us equal time to cross the 1km stretch after that to reach CMBT,” said Sudarashan who was travelling from Madipakkam to Koyambedu.

Too many vehicles started driving on the wrong side near the traffic signal forcing others to wait for longer than usual, he added.

However, on reaching the terminus, it wasn’t that chaotic except for longer waiting time for buses travelling to Tirunelveli and Nagercoil.

Unlike buses to Madurai or Trichy, frequency to these faroff places was not high and online booking rate was also high for these buses. Only rear seats and those near driver cabins were available, said passengers waiting on platforms 7 and 8.

As far as trains are concerned, Central and Egmore stations were overcrowded and unreserved compartments in all trains were packed. This left passengers, boarding trains at Tambaram, in the lurch and many had to stand near footboards all night to reach their destination.

Exploiting the situation, many private buse operators charged thrice than the normal fare. Since police didn’t allow them to park near CMBT they reached Tambaram and Perungalathur right from 6pm.