Punishing teens in love not aim of Pocso: Court

Punishing teens in love not aim of Pocso: Court

Chennai:30.01.2021

Punishing an adolescent boy who enters into a relationship with a minor girl by treating him as an offender was never the objective of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, observed the Madras HC. It also recommended to the legislature to swiftly bring necessary amendments to the act, reports Srikkanth D.

The court made the observations while quashing criminal proceedings pending before a magistrate court against an auto driver who was booked under Pocso for marrying a minor. The case was filed in 2018, when both the boy and the girl were a few days short of 18.

‘Pocso law can become tool in hands of certain sections of the society’

The girl’s family moved the HC to quash the criminal proceedings, saying the family wanted to get the girl married and that the criminal proceedings caused them mental agony. On her part, the girl also deposed before the court through video-conferencing and said she was in a relationship with the boy.

The prosecution argued that the court has to consider whether an offence of this nature could be quashed on the ground of compromise between the parties.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh, after perusing the submissions, noted that there can be no second thought as to the seriousness of offences under the Pocso Act and the object it seeks to achieve. “However, it is imperative for the court to draw a thin line that demarcates the nature of acts that should not be made to fall within the scope of the act, for such is the severity of sentences provided under the act, if acted upon hastily, it could lead to irreparable damage to the livelihood of youth whose actions would have only been innocuous.” The judge said the law meant to protect and render justice to victims of child abuse can become a tool in the hands of certain sections of the society.

The court also pointed out that it is crucial to be aware of the science and psychology of adolescence and young adulthood and cited various studies and to the definition by the UN, which categorises adolescence as 10-19 years of age and young people as 10-24 years in the Southeast Asia region.

HC closes plea after woman refuses to go with husband

HC closes plea after woman refuses to go with husband

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:30.01.2021

The Madras high court on Friday closed a plea moved by a Singaporean cricketer seeking to rescue his wife from alleged illegal detention by her parents, after she informed the court that she was not willing to go with her husband. The court was hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by Surendran Chandramohan, a native of Thanjavur district, who is a member of the Singapore cricket team. The petitioner stated that he and Sneka from Thanjavur were in love with each other since 2018. Since they belonged to different communities, Sneka’s parents opposed their relationship due to which they got married in December last year.

AIADMK sacks cadre over Sasikala poster

AIADMK sacks cadre over Sasikala poster

Trichy:30.01.2021

The ruling AIADMK on Friday expelled Puliyur R Annadurai, a party functionary in Trichy, from its primary membership for acting against its principles.

In a joint statement, AIADMK coordinator and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator and chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami stated that Annadurai, the party’s district representative of Andhanallur south union in Trichy, has been removed from the primary membership of the party for his action which was contradictory to the goals and principles of the party and for bringing disrepute to the party. They asked the party cadre not to have any truck with Annadurai henceforth. The action comes a couple of days after Annadurai put up posters in Trichy welcoming the release of V K Sasikala from Bengaluru prison after completing her jail term in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

The posters put up by Annadurai termed Sasikala as the general secretary of the AIADMK. He also stated that Sasikala had lived a life of penance for 33 years with former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. He was the second party functionary to be ousted for putting up posters welcoming Sasikala. On January 27, Subramaniya Raja, who was Tirunelveli district deputy general secretary of the MGR Makkal Mandram, was sacked over the same issue. TNN

3 monkeys which bit 20 people caught, rehabilitated

3 monkeys which bit 20 people caught, rehabilitated

Oppili.P@timesgroup.com

Chennai:30.01.2021

Three rogue monkeys which attacked more than 20 people in Kolambakkam in Chengalpet were captured and rehabilitated by wildlife (headquarters) officials on Thursday.

According to range officer Edison, after Kancheepuram forest officials said they did not have trained monkey catchers villagers approached Vandalur zoo authorities who in turn gave them the contact number of headquarters range office at Velacherry.

A team of experts of monkey catchers took four hours to trap the monkeys and later released them in a reserved forest, Edison said. Sources said when the monkeys were young they were captured by Narikoravas who tried to train them. However, when they failed, they (Narikoravas) released them near the village.

TRAPPED: The three simian

Speed of many trains up, travel time to TN cities comes down

Speed of many trains up, travel time to TN cities comes down

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.01.2021

The train travel time to many cities from Chennai has come down as railways have equipped a few stretches to operate trains at speeds ranging between 120kmph and 130kmph.

As trains from Chennai run at high speed at some of the stretches, instead of a standard speed of 70-100kmph, they reach earlier than usual and railways has revised timings to accommodate the change in speed. Trains from Chennai to Kollam via Sengottai, Mangalore and Ahmedabad and from Nagercoil to Mumbai reach faster as they run at above 120kmph on some of the stretches of the route. There is a difference of 10minutes to 15minutes on some of the routes. Trains from Chennai that run along Renigunta-Wadi stretch and Gudur-Visakhapatnam stretch too get speeded up.

A Southern Railway official said this was the first step to ensure that trains could be operated at better speed uniformly at longer stretches. Railway divisions across the country are in the process of making their tracks ready to handle trains at good speeds. Stretches in Palakkad and Madurai have been done. Other zones have done in their respective divisions.

"A combination of speeding up at certain stretches, elimination of non-popular stoppages and others help in speeding up trains. This also helps in clearing path for smooth running of freight trains and make time available for maintenance of tracks without cancelling or rescheduling trains," he added.

A speed trial was done on Kanchipuram-Arakkonam line two days ago. As the entire length of a line cannot be readied for trains to run at 130kmph due to level crossings and speed restrictions, stretches that are feasible are being readied.

CITY DIGEST

CITY DIGEST

30.01.2021

MU students want hostel mess opened

A group of students from Madras University's Marina campus hostel held a sit-in protest for the last two days demanding to waive the hostel fees for lockdown period and open the mess for the students. Students alleged that the hostel management asked the students to pay the fees towards salaries to hostel workers from March to June last year. The hostels were closed on March 17 last year due to Covid-19 pandemic. Protesting students also alleged that university authorities did not meet them despite giving several written complaints.

Vacancies for office assistants: Tamil Nadu Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department has invited applications for recruitment of 12 posts of office assistant (OA) posts. The last date to apply is February 14. Minimum educational qualification for the job is Class VIII. Interested candidates can apply online through TNRD's official website ( http://www.tnrd.gov.in/).

Power shutdown in Pammal: Tangedco has announced that power supply will be suspended temporarily in Pammal area in Chennai on Saturday to facilitate maintenance work. There will be no power supply from 9 am to 2 pm in shops and houses along Nehru Nagar, H.L Colony, Venkateswara Nagar, Agatheeswar Nagar, Viman Nagar, Lakshmi Nagar, MGR Street and Bharathi Nagar. Power supply will be resumed before 2pm if work is completed, according to an official release.

Plea to reopen sand quarries: The Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Association has urged the state government to reopen 80 sand quarries. In a press release, association state president R Munirathanam said the request to open more quarries was because only two sand quarries were being operated in Tamil Nadu at present, offering just three loads of river sand for a truck through the online booking system.

HC: Can’t ask Pondy to allot medical seat to Villupuram student

HC: Can’t ask Pondy to allot medical seat to Villupuram student

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.01.2021

The Madras High Court on Friday made it clear that it cannot direct the Puducherry government to provide medical seat under the Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) of Puducherry to a Villupuram resident who passed NEET examinations from a Puducherry School.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthil Kumar Ramamoorthy upheld the earlier order by a single judge, who had refused to direct three private medical colleges in Puducherry to allot 50% (75 seats each) of their intake capacity to the government quota.

The court observed that if allowed, several students living in the border villages of TN-Puducherry will claim seats in a similar manner.

The case pertains to Manikandan, a resident of Villupuram but doing his schooling in Puducherry. Manikandan had secured the 111th rank in the rank list released by the Puducherry government.

According to the petitioner, since the school where he did his education was in Puducherry limits, the Tamil Nadu government rejected his application and citing his place of residence, the Puducherry government had said he was not eligible to apply under CENTAC.

A single judge dismissed the plea moved by the student appealing against which the student moved a division bench.

On Friday, the first bench comprising the Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthil Kumar Ramamoorthy after hearing the submissions made by the counsels made it clear that it is not possible for the petitioner to apply under the 7.5 percent reservation of the Tamil Nadu government school students applying for medical admissions.

The judges also accepted the state submissions that if the petitioner is allowed under the reservation, it will only result in students in the bordering villages applying to the state under the quota and dismissed the plea.