5 days after rape, tribal girl dies of injuries, culprits still at large
TNN | Nov 11, 2018, 09.12 AM IST

DHARMAPURI: Five days after she was raped by two men, a 17-year-old girl died of injuries, triggering protests from her family members who faulted doctors at Dharmapuri Government Medical College & Hospital for poor treatment, and police for failure to arrest the suspects.

The Scheduled Tribe (ST) girl, a Class XII student, was staying in a government hostel far away from her home, as her tribal village near Hasur did not have adequate academic facilities. She was on a visit to her village, when she was assaulted by Sathish, 24 and Ramesh, 23.

According to police, the men sexually assaulted her when she stepped out to relieve herself on Monday evening.

Immediately after the incident, the girl informed her parents who lodged a complaint with the Kottapatti police. She was then taken to the hospital for treatment.

The girl’s health condition had been deteriorating since Tuesday, and she died of injuries on Saturday. The victim’s distraught father said doctors at the government hospital did not give proper treatment to his daughter. He also alleged that police did not take any step to arrest the accused even five days after the incident. “Parents of one of the accused sell illicit liquor and were close to local police,” he told TOI. He also alleged that the parents gave bribe to policemen for not arresting the accused in the rape case.

Rape of minor: Separate team to look out for suspects

Meanwhile, the kin of the deceased and other villagers protested in Harur town demanding action against the rapists. They also demanded that police invoke appropriate provisions and to ascertain the real cause of the girl’s death.

Harur DSP Sellapandian and other revenue officials held peace talks with the protesters until Saturday late evening. When contacted, Salem range DIG T Senthil Kumar told TOI that a separate team had been formed to nab the suspects. “We also assured the protesters that a highly qualified team of doctors will be deputed to perform autopsy and the entire process will be videographed,” he said.

In addition to the Pocso Act provisions, police registered a case Section 174 of CrPC as the death had occurred under suspicious circumstances.

Sarkar vs Tamil Nadu govt - Now showing: A political drama outside theatres

TNN | Nov 12, 2018, 11.50 AM IST

CHENNAI: I haven’t watched ‘Sarkar’. And, from what I’ve heard about the movie, I am not going to. The political drama that surrounded the Vijay-starrer past week, anyway, was more entertaining than the movie. The government threatened to charge the filmmakers with sedition. The reason: The film shows people setting fire to freebies given by the government, and the antagonist is called Komalavalli, the name of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in her early years.

Politics, especially of the Tamil Nadu kind, has much in common with cinema, and that’s not just because of the umbilical cord some of our leaders had with the tinsel world. In both the fields, many people come in with the ambition of becoming heroes, play the villain and end up being comedians.

In the Sarkar Vs Government thriller, the hero and villain remained in the backroom, leaving all the action to the comedians. He may not be able to emote to save his life, but Vijay so far remains the hero in real-life drama. And that’s because he has not shown his face, not tried any punch dialogue.

Edappadi Palaniswami played the villain with gusto, letting his more-than-eager-to-talk ministers make all the noise. And the chief minister scored a brownie point here: If someone looks like more loyal than the king, it also looks like there is a king. EPS, however, made an entry after the filmmakers agreed for four cuts, trying to punch below A R Murugadoss’s belt, saying the director’s relatives were beneficiaries of government freebies.

The ministers did a commendable job as sidekicks and comedians, while cadres performed well as stuntmen. There was tough competition among some ministers to be the villain’s deputy, while AIADMK cadres went on a rampage across the state tearing down ‘Sarkar’ posters and abusing the film’s makers.

C Ve Shanmugham, ironically the law minister, said some scenes in the movie “incited violence” and warned of “action”. Food minister R Kamaraj expressed anger over a scene in which people are shown throwing the state government’s doles into fire. “It is not for a film to decide if people want such things,” he proclaimed. Revenue minister R B Udhayakumar did the honours of thanking the filmmakers for deleting the ‘controversial’ scenes.

Raju said the antagonist being named Komalavalli hurt the sentiments of everyone from the party cadre to the chief minister, “who sees Jayalalithaa as God”. At the end of the row, he was happy that the “Komala’ part of the name was edited out (hope no Valli in Tamil Nadu is politically influential). When sections of the media said the government has no business interfering with a movie that has been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification, Raju had this gem of a suggestion: The censor board should include a representative from the state government to avoid such problems in future.

The whole sordid drama was but the latest episode in institutionalizing intolerance. And thereby hangs a tale of an accidental government trying to claim the legacy of a leader who aspired to be an authoritarian — and with considerable success. Despite having been at the receiving end of half-a-dozen defamation cases between 2001 and 2006 – or because of them — I can say that Jayalalithaa played the role of an authoritarian leader with élan. The self-appointed successors just don’t measure up.

The politician as villain is not new in Tamil movies. Sayaji Shinde as minister Kaalaipandi in ‘Dhool’ and Raghuvaran as chief minister Aranganathar in ‘Mudhalvan’ were notable. But to have Narayan (Vivek) play Kaalaipandi or Palavesham (Vadivelu) do an Aranganathar would’ve been not even comic. It would’ve been tragic.

Stalin demands action against those responsible for adding Periyar’s caste name in TNPSC question paper

TNN | Nov 12, 2018, 04.07 PM IST

CHENNAI: DMK president M K Stalin on Monday demanded action against people involved in setting question paper for the TNPSC Group 2 exam in which the caste name of Dravida Kazhagam founder Periyar E V Ramasamy was mentioned.

In a statement, Stalin said, "I was shocked to know that the question paper had Periyar's caste name. I have doubt whether the person who prepared the question paper and who checked it before it was released know either English or anything about Tamil Nadu," asked Stalin.

Periyar used to be called EVR which means Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy and even the word E was not mentioned correctly, he said.

"Periyar was against adding caste names to people’s names. In 1928, he removed the caste from his name. He spoke in several caste group meetings against having caste names in each person's name," said Stalin.

Cyclone Gaja: Chennai, other parts of north TN likely to start getting rain from Tuesday

Nov 12, 2018, 04.59 PM IST

CHENNAI: Cyclone Gaja, which was situated 730km away from Chennai coast around noon on Monday and is expected to make landfall between Nagapattinam and Chennai on Thursday, is likely to bring light to moderate rain to north Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and will cause light to moderate rain or thunder showers at many places in the area on Wednesday. 

As the cyclone will cause wind of 35kmph to 50kmph, the India Meteorological Department has advised fishermen not to venture into the Andaman Sea in next 12 hours. The IMD also advised fishermen in deep sea to return to the coast by Tuesday.

The warning also said fisherman should not venture out to central and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal from November 11 to 13 and over southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal from November 12 onwards.

The Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments are taking all necessary measures to face the onslaught of the cyclone.

State disaster management officials held a meeting to firm up steps to be taken to brace the cyclone.

The Cuddalore district administration has formed a team of 26 members from the Coast Guard and home guards to take up cyclone relief and rehabilitation measures.

Puducherry revenue minister M O H F Shahjahan on Monday told reporters that the government would seek the assistance of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu if necessary.

He said the Puducherry state emergency operation centres functioning under the revenue and disaster management department had begun monitoring the movement of the cyclone.

The government directed all the territorial officials to make all precautionary measures to face the onslaught of the cyclone. It directed the fishermen not to venture into the sea and insisted those fishing presently to return to the shore at the earliest. Ten Puducherry fishermen were yet to return to the shore. They would reach the shore soon, said Shahjahan.

The Puducherry government set up a control room (toll-free 1070 or 1077) (0413 2253407 ) to enable the people to seek assistance in case of eventualities. People seeking assistance can reach the police department (100), fire and rescue services personnel (101), emergency services (108), electricity department (1912), transport department (1073) and coast guard (1554).

Shahjahan said the government had adequate stock of diesel to drain water from inundated regions and essential provisions to prepare food for the displaced people in case of eventualities. “We will use the central kitchen if required,” he said.

He said the government would initiate action against officials if they failed to respond to the emergency calls made by the people.

Helpline: 1913

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University gets new vice-chancellor

TNN | Nov 12, 2018, 07.52 PM IST

COIMBATORE: Tamil Nadu governor and the chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) Banwarilal Purohit on Monday appointed N Kumar as the vice-chancellor of TNAU. He would assume charge on November 16 and be in office for a period of three years.

According to a release from Raj Bhavan, Kumar has a strong academic record. He was the dean of the faculty of horticulture at TNAU and has served for 30 years. He has been a professor for 22 years.

Kumar told TOI that his would aim at getting complete ICAR accreditation for TNAU. This would pave way for more funds from the Centre and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).

“Also, along with the professors and other faculty members, we would work to make the results of our research more useful to farmers,” he said.

Kumar, who has authored eight books and 18 research papers, has also been the editor of the International Society for Horticultural Science journal.

Kumar succeeds K Ramasamy as TNAU VC.

Cyclone Gaja changes course, likely to make landfall between Cuddalore and Pamban in TN

TNN | Nov 12, 2018, 04.40 PM IST

CHENNAI: Cyclone Gaja has changed its course and might make landfall between Cuddalore and Pamban in Tamil Nadu on November 15. This is expected to trigger very heavy rain in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Karaikkal, Cuddalore, Pudukottai and Ramanathapuram districts on November 14 and 15, said an India Meteorological Department forecast.

There will be rain in Chennai and other parts of north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, as well.

The cyclone will gain a speed of 80kmph to 90kmph on November 14 night.

Fishermen have been advised not to go for fishing.

Poisonous snake found in handbag of flyer in Kochi

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:12.11.2018

Snake on a plane could have become a frightening reality on an international flight out of India had an alert security personnel not spotted the poisonous reptile while screening the handbag of a passenger. This startling find was made by a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) screener at Kochi airport on Sunday while running the XRay on the bag of an Abu Dhabi-bound passenger who was then handed over to the police.

“Sub inspector P K Mourya was watching over the screen where contents of hand bags being x-rayed was being shown. At about 4 pm he detected some suspicious item which seemed like a snake in the hand baggage of a passenger flying to Abu Dhabi on Air India express flight 419,” said a senior CISF official.

Mourya asked for physical check of the bag. “Constable Hirdesh Kumar carefully checked the bag and found a live young one of a snake inside the bag which looked like Indian Krait / Blue Krait, which is among the four most venomous snakes found in India. Snakes, reptiles and wildlife are prohibited in flight and carriage of such reptiles is also dangerous for civil aviation security with even the young ones being venomous, the passenger was not allowed to proceed for his 4.55 pm flight and handed over to local police,” said the official. The passenger is a 40-year-old resident of Kattakalam in Palakkad of Kerala.

Sunday proved to be an eventful day for CISF as it made a few other finds too, however not as startling as the venomous snake.

A Dubai-bound passenger at Bangalore airport was found to be carrying 29 antique idols in his bag. “A passenger flying to Dubai was identified for random check based on profiling. Physical check of this Bangalore-resident’s hand bag led to discovery of 29 antiques. He neither had the bill for them, nor could he say why he was taking so many antiques out of India. Customs officials detained the passenger and the antiques,” said the officer.

MISHAP AVERTED: The snake was found in a passenger’s handbag at Kochi airport