Nirbhaya Case : SC Dismisses Curative Pleas Of Two Death Row Convicts [Read Order]

Nirbhaya Case : SC Dismisses Curative Pleas Of Two Death Row Convicts [Read Order]: A 5-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the curative petitions of Vinay Sharma and Mukesh, two of the four convicts awaiting execution of death penalty in the Nirbhaya gang...

Smart toilet in troubled waters on the first day

If you visited the city’s first smart toilet near the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital before Monday, you could have spotted the picture of a man with a moustache at the entrance.

Published: 14th January 2020 11:51 AM 


By Jose K Joseph

Express News Service

TIRUCHY: If you visited the city’s first smart toilet near the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital before Monday, you could have spotted the picture of a man with a moustache at the entrance, a picture that raised a storm on social media on Monday.

Some netizens claimed that the picture resembled legendary Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi. Although the designers did not place the entire face of the man, a vague resemblance to the poet stirred a controversy, compelling the authorities to remove it.

Though the authorities removed the picture by noon, the move failed to assuage the critics as they found more issues with the toilet. They pointed out that the planners forgot to place any Tamil boards in front of the facility. They claimed that people would not notice the toilet if the authorities did not fix a Tamil board.

Sources said that the corporation decided to correct the mistake by placing a Tamil board on Tuesday morning. Sources said that the authorities inaugurated this facility on Sunday evening after 6 pm ,an auspicious timing to ward off issues. But, all these efforts failed to save the smart toilet from controversies.

However, some officials said positive things about the incident. “We are open to suggestions. Some people raised some issues and we made the necessary changes. We hope the changes would quell the controversy,” a source said.

Nirbhaya case: Tihar asks convicts to give date for last meet with kin

TNN | Jan 15, 2020, 04.43 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Tihar Jail authorities asked the Nirbhaya rapists to inform when they would like to meet their family members for the last time. Jail sources said that the meeting would be disallowed after January 20, two days before the hanging. 

During the last meeting, the four death row convicts — Mukesh Kumar, Akshay Singh, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta — would be allowed to meet the families for a longer time during which they would prepare a will in the presence of a jail superintendent. The jail officials will also calculate the amount of wage each of them had earned from the work they had done during the stay at the jail, which would be handed over to the family. Singh earned the maximum of Rs 69,000 during his stay, followed by Sharma (Rs 39,000) and Gupta (Rs 29,000). Kumar had refused to do any physical labour.

A senior jail official said that after the curative petitions of two of the convicts were dismissed by the Supreme Court, Sharma’s father went to meet him. Sharma broke down several times during the conversation with his father.

“We are allowing them the usual weekly meetings, while Kumar, Sharma and Gupta’s parents met them, Singh’s family had last met him in November,” said an official.

For the time being the authorities are allowing the families to meet the convicts for half an hour as per the jail manual. “Once they agree on the date of the last meeting, we might allow them a little more time during which more than two members of the family can meet them. However, all of them will not be allowed to meet their families at the same time,” said an official.

Tihar sources said that the convicts were currently kept in isolation wards and under the observation of doctors. They were not allowed to access any news source — newspaper or television. However, they were being informed about the relevant developments by the wardens and their lawyers. Their diet, too, had been controlled since Monday.

In the past few days, Sharma — with a tendency to grow violent — had at least half a dozen instances of misconduct, during which he refused to eat or cooperate with the jail staffers. The others, however, stayed calm.

Jail sources said that Sharma had been punished 11 times during his stay at Tihar, while Gupta was punished eight times, Kumar was hauled up thrice and Singh just once.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

Not rooting for a route change

Abrupt modification in the course of bus number 88D has left commuters stranded, MTC promises action

Published: 14th January 2020 06:41 AM | Last Updated: 14th January 2020 06:41 AM | A+A A-

By KV Navya

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Dilapidated shelters, lesser frequency of buses and improper maintenance of vehicles have always been burning concerns for bus commuters. Adding to their woes, diversions and sudden bus route changes leave them with no choice but to opt for other modes of transport, which might pinch their pockets. This is the problem that frequent commuters of bus number 88D are now facing.

The unannounced and abrupt change of this bus route after 25 years has caused the commuters of Kundrathur, Porur and Saidapet much suffering. The bus service which connects Kundrathur and West Saidapet was initially plying via Porur, Butt Road, Guindy, Saidapet and T Nagar. About 15 days back, the bus was suddenly rerouted through Butt Road, Kasi Theatre and Ashok Pillar to reach West Saidapet. Commuters, mostly comprising IT employees and students, are in a fix as there are just few buses connecting Saidapet and Guindy from Kundrathur.

“Mostly, the commuters from DLF IT Park and Kundrathur travel towards Guindy and Saidapet. It is also easy to switch buses from there. There aren’t many commuters for this bus on the Ashok Pillar route, and yet, the route has been changed, without any prior information. Conductors too do not inform us about the change till we ask them,” said Ravi, an IT employee.

Turnover falls

Commuters rue that they were initially waiting for hours at Guindy and Saidapet only to be informed later that the bus route has been changed. A few others had to get down the bus after realising the sudden change.

As a result, the daily turnover too fell drastically. “Initially, the collection per day would be at least `10,000 and now the turnover is not more than `3,000. Weekends are worse. We have informed about the issue to the officials, but no action has been taken yet. Change of route for a bus service with good collection and patronage was uncalled for,” said Swamy RM, president, SVS-AAP State Transport Corporation Employees Union. Conductors and drivers said that the timings of the bus changed due to this new route and the commuters hold them responsible.

R Vidhya, a regular commuter said, “After the change, we are forced to switch two or three buses to reach our destination. We are also spending double of what we paid initially.”

When contacted, the officials of Metropolitan Transportation Corporation said they will look into the patronage and make necessary changes.

Sudden change

Commuters rue that they were initially waiting for hours at Guindy and Saidapet only to be informed later that the bus route has been changed. A few others had to get down the bus after realising the change. Conductors and drivers said that due to this new route commuters hold them responsible.

To pay or not, FASTag rules being flouted?

The order a copy of which available with ‘Express’ also directs NHAI to mandatorily issue zero transaction receipt to such vehicles. 

Published: 14th January 2020 06:41 AM 



By B Anbuselvan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Even though rules say that vehicles that have sufficient balance in their FASTag account must be allowed to pass through toll gates free of cost in the case of failure of electronic payment system, motorists are being forced to make cash payments. With traffic piling up ahead of Pongal holidays, automatic toll collection systems developed a technical snag at Sriperumbudur, Paranur and Athur toll gates.

Both the scanners installed at the gates, and the hand-held devices were not functioning properly. As a result, motorists had to pay with cash. NHAI officials claimed ignorance of the matter. As per the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) 2018, which was amended in June last year, if a vehicle, with a valid functional FASTag or any such device, with the sufficient balance, is not able to pay user fee owing to malfunctioning of Electronic Toll Collection infrastructure, the vehicle user shall be permitted to pass the toll gate without payment of user fee.

The order a copy of which available with ‘Express’ also directs NHAI to mandatorily issue zero transaction receipt to such vehicles. The vehicular passage at toll plazas turned chaotic after many motorists told their FASTag account was blacklisted because of non-maintenance of minimum balance of Rs 200. “As my Paytm account balance reduced to `195, I was told my FASTag account was blacklisted and asked to make double the payment. After I disputed, I was asked to make the cash payment,” said K Krishna Kumar of Tindivanam. K Rajesh of Perambur who has got over Rs 5000 balance in his FASTag account told to make cash payment after electronic payment developed glitches.

“My car neither recognized electronically by scanner nor by handheld device manually. Hence I was asked to make cash payment. The NHAI have migrated to e-payment without sufficient infrastructure. ” explained Rajesh.

Besides, pothole-ridden stretch between Koyambedu and Sriperumbudur and shrunken road width at Vanagaram due to ongoing patch up works has added to woes of motorists on Bengaluru bypass road. PT Mohan, Project Director, Project Implementation Unit (PIU), Kancheepuram, NHAI claimed that only blacklisted fastag accounts being asked to make the cash payment when they enter into the fastag lane and he was not aware of criteria under which vehicles are getting blacklisted. Regional officer (Chennai), Pawan Kumar could not be reached for comments.

NCW sends notice to Myladuthurai college
 
15/01/2020 , Staff Reporter, CHENNAI

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sent a notice to Dharmapuram Adheenam Arts College in Myladuthurai, following a complaint raised by an activist about the college’s dismissal of four students for consuming alcohol at a friend’s house.

In December, a video where the four second-year undergraduate students consuming alcohol went viral. The students, three female and one male, were dismissed from the college.

Following this, K.M. Karthik, founder of the All India Private Colleges Employees Union submitted a complaint to the NCW stating that the students had been dismissed without any prior warning or any corrective measures. He further allegedthat the college had circulated the dismissal circular on social media to publicly shame the students.

“I had approached Bharathidasan University which the college is affiliated to, with my concerns before approaching the Commission but no action was taken,” Mr. Karthik alleged. In his complaint to the NCW, Mr. Karthik had requested the future and the education of the girls to be protected and action to be taken against the college.

In the notice to the college, Shyamala S. Kundar member, NCW, has said that the complaint raised by Mr. Karthik pertains to the alleged cruelty, harassment and indecent representation of women and has asked the principal to look into the issue. The Commission has further directed the college principal to communicate the action taken about the same within 30 days from the date of the circular.

‘Candidates for exam put to hardship’

15/01/2020 , staff reporter, MADURAI

Students writing the main examination for recruitment to clerical cadre in 17 nationalised banks have been gravely inconvenienced as their preferred centres and the centres appearing on their hall tickets were different, said Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan.

In a press release, he said students residing in Madurai would have to travel all the way to Chennai and Coimbatore to appear for the main exam scheduled for January 19.

“Some people have been asked to go to Chennai. In fact, the centre at Coimbatore was not even a choice for the main examination as per the notification. The unemployed youth cannot be expected to spend thousands of rupees just to attend the exam,” the statement read.

Socially and economically backward and rural poor aspirants would not even have the chance to appear for the exam as they would not be able to shell out the money for travelling. “The bank officially should not create a new controversy,” he said.