Monkey mauls infant to death

Arvind.Chauhan@timesgroup.com

Agra:14.11.2018

In a horrific incident, a monkey snatched a 12-day-old baby boy while his mother was breastfeeding him in their house in Kachhara Thok colony in Runkata in outskirts of Agra late night on Monday. The animal mauled the baby to death and the body was recovered from the terrace of a neighbour’s house.

The victim’s father, Yogesh (who only uses his first name), said, “The main door of the house was open and my wife was breastfeeding our son. A monkey barged into our house and grabbed my baby’s neck with its mouth and fled.” The father, who drives an auto-rickshaw, was inconsolable. “He was my only child. I never expected his life to end like this,” he said. Family members chased the primate, forcing it to drop the blood-covered infant on the terrace of their neighbour’s house. The baby was declared brought dead at a private hospital.

Residents said that simian menace was rampant in their region. Minutes before attacking the infant, the monkey had attacked a 14-year-old girl in the vicinity but she had managed to escape with minor injuries. Residents added that two months ago a toddler in their locality narrowly escaped after being attacked by a monkey.

Sub-inspector Atbir Singh, in charge of Runkata police outpost, said, “The victim’s body has been sent for postmortem. The toddler had wounds on his skull and neck.”

Gaja: All dams in TN put on high alert

Extremely Heavy Rain Expected

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.11.2018

Following a special advisory from the Central Water Commission of the Union ministry of water resources, the state government has directed the public works department to keep round-the-clock vigil at all dams, especially small and medium ones, in the state.

“Extremely heavy rainfall in the catchment area is sufficient to fill them up and lapse time between rainfall and peak inflow can be less than 24 hours and, in some cases, it can be as low as 6-12 hours,” the advisory said.

This follows the India Meteorological Department’s latest forecast that cyclone Gaja was likely to cross the TN coast on November 15 forenoon.

Dams such as Vaigai, Sholayar, Parambikulam, Aliyar, Bhavanisagar and Amaravathi are 80-90% full. On Tuesday, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami ordered release of water from Vaigai dam to benefit ayacut areas in Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts. The dam will be opened on Wednesday.

Citing the meteorology forecast, the water commission advised TN government to maintain strict vigil till November 18 and do the gate operations as per the standard operating procedures. The advisory was received by the state relief commissioner and PWD as well. “One of the important functions of the PWD as well as district collectors is to keep watching for the advisories from the CWC and take necessary action. There is a standard operating procedure to be followed. They are monitoring all the water bodies very closely,” revenue administration and disaster management, mitigation commissioner K Satyagopal said.

Vaigai in Theni district has a storage of 89% against its total capacity of 6.09tmcft, while Bhavanisagar has 87% of its capacity

(32.8tmcft). Similarly, Sholayar, Parambikulam and Aliyar too are nearly full. Amaravathi has 3.15tmcft water as against its capacity of 4.04tmcft. “The regional chief engineers were intimated to closely monitor all the dams in the south,” PWD engineer-in-chief M Bhakthavathsalam said. While the delay in onset of monsoon causes concern, the state is pinning hopes on cyclone Gaja to fill the water bodies desilted in the last two years under kudimaramath, the traditional way of restoring water bodies.

The state has received alerts from IMD about heavy rainfall from November 14 afternoon. In some places, there is forecast of very heavy rainfall. Revenue minister R B Udayakumar said that adequate preventive measures had been taken by the PWD to protect the water bodies. “Adequate sand bags have been kept ready (in case of breach),” the minister said. Going by the state government’s claim, until October end, 30,457 notified water bodies were desilted in the state and 71.79 million cubic metres of silt was removed to restore the water holding capacity of those structures.

Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur district administrations have geared up to meet any eventuality when cyclone makes the landfall. Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have arrived at Nagapattinam from Arakkonam to provide assistance. Two teams of the NDRF have reached Puducherry.

Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy told reporters that one team would be deputed to Karaikal as the impact of the cyclone could be more in Karaikal as per the IMD forecast. He said he would reach Karaikal on Tuesday night and would hold a meeting with the officials on Wednesday to review the preparedness.

(With inputs from Bosco Dominque in Puducherry and Vincent Arockiaraj in Trichy)

Officials of Puducherry and Oulgaret municipalities removing banners and hoardings ahead of cyclone Gaja

More than 50% behind bars in TN yet to be proven guilty
Poor Legal Aid, Lack Of Awareness Of Rights Leave Many Undertrials In Prison Indefinitely

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com 14.11.2018

Forty three-year-old Senthil was granted bail two years ago by the judicial magistrate court in Arni, but the inmate at the Vellore Central Prison for Men has completed three years behind bars. Having lost touch with his family, Senthil could not furnish the mandatory surety for the murder case, in which he says he was falsely accused.

Absence of legal aid, lack of awareness and the slow judicial system is keeping a growing number of undertrials in jails across the country. Despite not being pronounced guilty, they languish in prisons for months, even years, waiting for a fair trial. In Tamil Nadu, 51% of the 10,201 prisoners are undertrials, show the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data published in 2016. The numbers are slightly lower than the pan-India data (67% of prisoners are undertrails).

According to the rule, undertrials to get bail need to produce two people as surety in court, but many of them who are migrant workers, orphans or disowned by families, find it difficult to meet this condition. In the absence of proper legal aid and lack of knowledge of such a clause, undertrials find themselves destined to live out their days in prison.

Prisoners with money find it easier. “If a person is ready to pay anything between ₹4,000 and ₹12,000, we can arrange surety for them. It is a lobby. Those who do not have families or cannot arrange for the money are left to suffer in prison, even though not proven guilty,” said an advocate In the Madurai Central Prison for Men, a senior prison official said of the 1,395 inmates, 869 were under trials. “Majority of them are incarcerated for more than a year, without legal aid and want of surety,” he said.

Though the district legal service authority (DLSA) recommends bail, files often end up in cold storage at different courts. “Repeated reminders are sent to the courts from DLSA in Tiruvannamalai requesting to grant bail to undertrials, but nothing has happened,” said a DLSA official in Tiruvannamalai.

The scenario is the same across the state. It is the collective failure of the stakeholders — policymakers, judiciary and law enforcing agencies. “Unwarranted imprisonment of a person for a petty offence will not do any good. This results criminalizing,” said M R Ahmed, former director of Academy of Prisons and Correctional Administration, Vellore.

The NCRB 2016 report shows that the undertrial numbers in prisons across the country increased by 15% between 2006 and 2015. This speaks volumes about the lack of legal aid for undertrials. The Supreme Court, in April 2015, passed an order directing the national legal service authority (NLSA) along with ministry of home affairs to form an undertrial review committee (UTRC) in every district to regularly review cases and extend legal aid. But little has been done till now, say experts.

“At least 40% of the undertrials do not deserve to be imprisoned. This has been the case since early 1970s,” said R K Saxena, former inspector general of prisons, Rajasthan. Imprisonment, he said, is essential only for those involved in heinous crimes. “As per NCRB data, there is only 5% recidivism among released prisoners. So, we need to avoid imprisoning all. Community-based trial should be done instead of custodial trial,” he said. Agreeing to that imprisonment can do more harm than good, especially in the case of undertrials who are later proved innocent, Ahmed said, “It is a place where individuals are kept away from a positive environment. Some people could show signs of depression and suicidal tendencies. Only those who are a threat to the society should be imprisoned.”

Taking a different path, the Andhra Pradesh government has drafted an alternative law to handle undertrials. Awaiting clearance the law looks at community service for those committing petty crimes. This is the practice in countries like the US, UK, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and several African countries. If such a mechanism is put in place, it would do away with crowding of prisons and enable offenders of minor crimes to be involved in community services such as cleaning hospitals, taking up plantations that would be beneficial to society.

Docs say Jaya did not die of slow poisoning

Chennai:14.11.2018

Dr Ramesh Venkatraman of Apollo Hospitals, one of the key doctors involved in late chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s treatment in 2016, on Tuesday debunked a minister’s claim that she may have died of slow poisoning.

During cross-examination at the Justice (retd) A Arumughaswamy Commission, Venkatraman was asked if anything had indicated as alleged by minister Dindigul C Srinivasan recently.

Sources quoted Venkatraman as saying she was treated only for the host of ailments she was admitted for. A pulmonologist, Dr R Narasimhan, said he had asked for Jayalalithaa’s voice to be recorded and that she even asked him when she would be discharged.

V K Sasikala’s lawyer Raja Senthoor Pandian submitted a petition to the commission calling for all records or evidence that may be in the possession of a private channel that telecast a programme over the weekend alleging mystery in Jayalalithaa’s death. S Parthasarathy, counsel for the commission, said the petition would be heard on Wednesday.

Stating that ministers were making claims without sharing evidence, Pandian told reporters they would be filing a complaint with the Governor against these ministers. Maruthu Alagaraj of AIADMK mouthpiece Namathu Amma was questioned for three hours by Pandian, sources said. TNN

Flying to city at night irksome for pilots, passengers
Ayyappan.V@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.11.2018

Flying into Chennai at night, particularly between 9.30pm and 11pm, is not something pilots and passengers relish.

High air traffic congestion forces pilots to carry extra fuel for hovering in a sequence while waiting for clearance to land. Two domestic flights had to be diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad on Sunday due to congestion, while on Monday, around 10pm more than eight planes were given permission to approach the main runway for landing after they were made to stay on hold near the airport.

A Coimbatore-Chennai Alliance Air flight was on hold over Kancheepuram; a Hyderabad-Chennai Air India flight, Delhi-Chennai Jet Airways flight, a Delhi-Chennai Vistara flight, a Kolkata-Chennai IndiGo flight were made to hold near Pulicat north of the city and a Pune-Chennai flight was told to hold near Puttur.

These planes had to fly around in circles thrice before making the final approach for landing “Most pilots who have experience flying to Chennai at night make sure to take additional fuel so they are able to hover till they get clearance for landing,” a pilot said. He added that on Sunday, a pilot decided to divert “instead of hovering endlessly waiting for a chance to land”.

“Pilots sometimes feel that it is better to divert because of the uncertainty over when they will get clearance to land,” he said.

An airport official said flight movement was high at night because international flights too need to be accommodated in addition to the recent increase in domestic departures and arrivals at the time.

Passengers too suffer if they choose to fly into Chennai airport on ATR or Bombardier planes from domestic destinations at night. These planes are usually given remote parking bays near the second runway to disembark passengers, an airline official said. “It takes a shuttle bus 10 minutes to 15 minutes to bring passengers to the terminals as it has to follow a long winding road from the remote parking bays,” he added.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has received several complaints from passengers. “In order to enhance capacity in terms of both aircraft and passenger movement, some expansion activities are being undertaken at Chennai airport resulting in some of the aircraft being parked away from the passenger terminal. Hence, the coach does take time from remotely parked aircraft to reach the terminal building,” AAI said in response to the complaints.

A senior AAI official insisted that this was a temporary problem which would be resolved when the expansion activities are complete.

LANDFALL TOMORROW

Gaja hurtling towards TN coast, showers in Chennai from today

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.11.2018

The city and coastal areas are expected to get rain from Wednesday evening as cyclone Gaja is edging closer to the coast at a speed of 12kmph and is expected to make landfall on Thursday afternoon between Pamban and Cuddalore.

A bulletin from India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, “Squally winds with speeds reaching 45-55kmph are very likely to commence along and off north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts from the morning of Wednesday.”

As Gaja is expected to maintain high intensity for 24 hours after turning into a severe cyclone, the IMD on Tuesday forecast rain, which is expected to be heavy at isolated places, to commence on Wednesday evening over Tamil Nadu coast including northern regions.

It is expected to rain till Friday. Though Chennai will not bear the brunt of very strong wind like in the areas near landfall, the city is expected to get rain on Thursday and Friday because the cyclone is forecast to become a depression before making landfall.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea as gale with speeds touching 90kmph at times can prevail over the Bay of Bengal. Wind speeds are likely to increase gradually and touch 110kmph over southwest, west-central and southeast Bay of Bengal from Wednesday.

Private weather blogger Pradeep John said Chennai would see good rain between November 14 and 15.

“It will be followed by pull effect rain on November 16 and 17 after cyclone moves to the Arabian Sea. And then the next low forms around November 19 and November 20 in the Bay of Bengal,” he said.


FORCED BREAK: A fisherman takes a nap at Foreshore Estate where hundreds of boats have been docked after fishermen were advised against venturing into the sea in the wake of Cyclone Gaja

LANDFALL TOMORROW

Gaja hurtling towards TN coast, showers in Chennai from today

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.11.2018

The city and coastal areas are expected to get rain from Wednesday evening as cyclone Gaja is edging closer to the coast at a speed of 12kmph and is expected to make landfall on Thursday afternoon between Pamban and Cuddalore.

A bulletin from India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, “Squally winds with speeds reaching 45-55kmph are very likely to commence along and off north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts from the morning of Wednesday.”

As Gaja is expected to maintain high intensity for 24 hours after turning into a severe cyclone, the IMD on Tuesday forecast rain, which is expected to be heavy at isolated places, to commence on Wednesday evening over Tamil Nadu coast including northern regions.

It is expected to rain till Friday. Though Chennai will not bear the brunt of very strong wind like in the areas near landfall, the city is expected to get rain on Thursday and Friday because the cyclone is forecast to become a depression before making landfall.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea as gale with speeds touching 90kmph at times can prevail over the Bay of Bengal. Wind speeds are likely to increase gradually and touch 110kmph over southwest, west-central and southeast Bay of Bengal from Wednesday.

Private weather blogger Pradeep John said Chennai would see good rain between November 14 and 15.

“It will be followed by pull effect rain on November 16 and 17 after cyclone moves to the Arabian Sea. And then the next low forms around November 19 and November 20 in the Bay of Bengal,” he said.


FORCED BREAK: A fisherman takes a nap at Foreshore Estate where hundreds of boats have been docked after fishermen were advised against venturing into the sea in the wake of Cyclone Gaja