SC reduces sentence of person convicted of raping minor

SC reduces sentence of person convicted of raping minor

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:12.10.2021

In relief to a person convicted for raping a minor, the Supreme Court has reduced his sentence to eight-years imprisonment which he had already undergone. He was convicted for gang rape by trial court and was awarded a 20-year jail term.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and A R Bopanna upheld his conviction under Section 376 and not under Section 376D(gang rape) as done by trial court and Allahabad high court. The court also acquitted other accused in the case. The court said that the charge of gang rape has not been established with convincing evidence. “However, having already noted that the incident of rape alleged had been established, it would be a case to convict the appellant under Section 376 of IPC,” the Supreme Court bench said.

Denied hall ticket, SSLC girl tops supplementary

Denied hall ticket, SSLC girl tops supplementary

SruthySusan.Ullas@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:12.10.2021

Greeshma Nayak, the girl who was denied a hall ticket for SSLC exam over non-payment of fees, has topped the supplementary exam scoring 599 on 625.

Results of the SSLC supplementary exam held on September 27 and 29 were announced on Monday. Some 55.5% of the 53,115 candidates have cleared the exam.

The topper wants to be a doctor and is exploring PU colleges for admission. “I was prepared 100% for the main exam which I could not attend. With the supplementary, I got some more time to prepare. However, I made silly mistakes because of tension in the exam hall. Else, I could have scored better. I was so disappointed after the exams,” she said.

In mid-July this year, Greeshma was denied a hall ticket by her residential school in Daskhina Kannada district over fees. Her father, a farmer in Hanumanthapura village from Koratagere taluk in Tumakuru district, suffered losses during the pandemic and could not pay her Class 9 fees. Therefore, she was not allowed to join Class 10.

Have mixed emotions: Girl

Following media reports about the girl's plight, then education minister S Suresh Kumar visited her house. He promised her an opportunity in the supplementary exam. Along with Greeshma’s case, instances of several students who were denied hall tickets due to nonpayment of fees were raised.

On Monday, Greeshma said she has mixed emotions. “I was unhappy earlier because my batchmates were moving ahead while I was left behind as I couldn’t write the main exams. Now, I’m both happy and sad: Happy because I did very well; sad because all this happened. There are many students like me who have talent but no opportunity,” she said. “Education is everyone’s right,” she said.

Since she was denied admission to Class 10, Greeshma was taught by her 19-yearold sister, a BSc (agriculture) student. “For one full year, my sister taught me core subjects in front of a board in simulation of classroom experience and asked me to learn languages on my own. I started learning them three months before the exam,” she said. After the results were out, the girl called Kumar to thank him.

‘Midday meals from Oct 21’

BC Nagesh, minister for primary and secondary education, said midday meals will be resumed in schools from October 21 when they reopen after Dasara holidays. “Parents’ associations have had discussions with education officials on forming a fee regulatory committee in schools. We will look at how the model works in other states,” he said.

At 22, she is probably youngest to undergo knee replacement surgery

At 22, she is probably youngest to undergo knee replacement surgery

Nimesh.Khakhariya@timesgroup.com

Rajkot:12.102021

Though she was just 22 years old, Vinju Vanda felt like an old woman. As a child, she had developed pain in her left knee, which forced her to limp around. As years passed, the pain got so excruciating that she begged the doctors to cut off her leg. Today, the smile on her face testifies to the relief she finally experienced from undergoing a total knee replacement surgery. And she is probably the youngest patient not just in India but also the entire world to have undergone this operation.

Doctors from Rajkot, who operated on her three months ago, assessed all parameters medically to finally declare the surgery a success.

Dr Umang Shihora, an orthopaedic, said, “About 98% patients who require knee replacement have varus deformity (inward angulation). Vanda had valgus deformity (outward angulation) and she was quite young. When she first approached me one and a half years ago, I hesitated as I did not want to put her life at risk. However, she stayed adamant and we performed the surgery, which lasted two and a half hours.

“We looked through medical records and journals from across the globe, and realized she was the youngest person to undergo knee replacement. Before her, the youngest patient was a 25-year-old from Uttar Pradesh.” Clinical investigation revealed that Vanda, who hails from Roghada village of Kutiyana taluka, had injured her knee when she was six or seven years of age. “Since they belong to a small village, the injury was probably neglected. This damaged the structure that gives stability to joints and resulted in muscles wasting away,” said Dr Shihora. Vanda, a graduate in English literature, is currently pursuing her BEd. She has four siblings and her father is a cattle-breeder. “I began limping at the age of 10. My family took me to a doctor in Upleta who advised us to undergo surgery after I turned 18. When we approached doctors after I became an adult, they refused to operate on me due to my young age. I went through unbearable pain. The month before the operation, I was bed-ridden. I asked the doctors to amputate my leg. I was ready to do anything to get rid of this suffering,” she said.

Her plea prompted the doctors to operate on her. “We waited three months before declaring the operation a success as clinical follow-up is important. We check parameters including how much pain remains and movement of joints. She is free of pain now. However, she will have to undergo physiotherapy and treatment to strengthen her muscles,” Dr Shihora added.

Dr S R Rao, a senior orthopaedic surgeon from Rajkot, said, “Generally, doctors do not prefer to perform knee replacement surgery for younger patients as the replaced knee lasts for 20-25 years and then the patient has to undergo another replacement surgery.”

Senior citizen duped of ₹49k

Senior citizen duped of ₹49k

Ahmedabad:12.10.2021

A senior citizen was cheated out of more than Rs 49,000 after she tried to fill up an online form to change the address for medicines she had ordered.

Dr Kamexa Dwarikaprasad told Sardarnagar police that she had ordered some medicine and got a call from a courier company on September 16 that her medicine had arrived. They said the medicine would be delivered the next day.

She told police, “I searched for the courier firm’s contact on the internet and got two phone numbers. When I called one of the numbers, they asked me to fill up an online form for which i would have to pay a charge of Rs 5.” The cybercrooks asked the doctor to download an app, and then fill up the form.

They then stole Rs 49,486 from her bank account. TNN

Pvt bus fare to Coimbatore ₹2,800

Pvt bus fare to Coimbatore ₹2,800

Flying Would Cost Just ₹400 More & Save Travel Time

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:12.10.2021

This festive week, you can travel from Chennai to Coimbatore by air instead of private buses which collect almost the same fare.

Kyros Connects, a private operator, is charging ₹2,800 per head to travel between the two cities on Wednesday in an airconditioned (semi-sleeper) bus. The average fare collected by premium travel agencies along this route for A/C sleeper buses too is ₹2,500 Instead, you can fly to Coimbatore by paying another ₹400 extra. Air India is charging ₹3,100 (including tax, etc.) for a one-way trip along the route on the same day. IndiGo collects ₹3,400 per head.

Commuters say it would take at least 10 hours to reach Coimbatore by road. “This could get worse if there is traffic congestion near toll plazas. Besides this, there is always a risk of road accidents on highway stretches because of the extra rush during such festive occasions,” said V Sudarshan, who preferred a flight over bus to travel to his home in Coimbatore for the pooja holidays.

Despite warnings and promises, nothing has changed when it comes to fleecing of private bus passengers during a festive season in Chennai. Ahead of the extended weekend, most private bus operators have again doubled the fares. Official data shows that around 1,500 private buses are to be operated among various cities in the state for the pooja holidays. “Violations are happening right under the nose of the government officials and they choose to remain silent,” said Sudarshan.

Aggregators like Redbus and Abhibus have publicly announced the exorbitant rates. Asked about this, R S Rajakannapan, state transport minister, simply replied that ‘stringent’ action would be taken against those who collect excess fare. A team consisting of officials of the transport department and police officers would inspect, seize and penalise violators. Members of the public can call 044-24749002 or 18004256165 in case of complaints.

On their part, private bus operators have reiterated that they have faced huge losses during the Covid-triggered lockdown and that they can compensate for it only by collecting a slightly higher fare during festival seasons and weekends.

TNSTC told to pay ₹30 lakh to kin of MTC conductor

TNSTC told to pay ₹30 lakh to kin of MTC conductor

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.10.2021

A motor accident claims tribunal has directed the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) to compensate ₹30 lakh to the family of a MTC bus conductor who was killed after a rashly driven government bus knocked him down near Peramanur along GST Road.

According to the petitioners, the deceased, K Moorthy and his brother were waiting at the bus stop when the rashly driven government bus smashed into them. The accident happened on May 26, 2015 and Moorthy died of his injuries the next day.

The family moved the tribunal claiming a compensation of ₹32 lakh. In response, the transport corporation denied the claims and contended that the accident happened due to the negligence of the pedestrian and the version of events as claimed by the petitioners is incorrect.

According to TNSTC, the bus was moving at a moderate speed observing traffic rules, when the pedestrian crossed the road leading to the accident. The bus was coming from Cuddalore towards Chennai.

After perusing submissions from all sides, the tribunal held that the accident happened due to the negligence of the TNSTC bus driver and stated that it is liable to pay compensation.

OBC, EWS quota under AIQ won’t violate rights of gen category: Govt Group Of Docs Had Sought Stay On Move

OBC, EWS quota under AIQ won’t violate rights of gen category: Govt

Group Of Docs Had Sought Stay On Move

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:20.20.2021

Justifying its decision to implement 27% reservation for other backward classes (OBC) and 10% for economically weaker sections in the all-India quota (AIQ) for admission in medical and dental colleges, the Centre has told the Supreme Court that grievances of the general category students, who challenged the decision, is “unfounded and misconceived” as it does not violate their fundamental rights.

The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 at the Supreme Court’s instance to provide domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any state to get admission in a good medical college located in another state. AIQ at present consists of 15% of total available undergraduate seats and 50% of total available postgraduate seats in government medical colleges. There was no reservation in AIQ up to 2007 when the SC permitted 15% reservation for Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes. Similarly, OBC and EWS quotas have also been extended to AIQ.

A batch of MBBS doctors had approached the court, seeking interim stay on the Centre’s notification issued on July 29 for enforcing OBC and EWS quota in AIQ.

1,500 OBC students in MBBS & 2,500 in PG courses will benefit via reservation

A group of MBBS doctors, who are aspiring to pursue higher education in medicine, had approached the apex court through advocate Vivek Singh, seeking interim stay on the Centre’s notification issued on July 29 for enforcing OBC and EWS quota in AIQ.

They contended that the Centre’s decision was contrary to the law laid down by the apex court and leaves only a miniscule number of seats for the general category students. Countering the petitioners, the Centre in its reply said the decision was taken to bring equality of opportunities and without cost to the candidates from the unreserved category as the number of available seats has gone up. It said that in the last six years, MBBS seats in the country increased by 56 % from 54,348 seats in 2014 to 84,649 in 2020 and the number of PG seats increased by 80 % from 30,191 in 2014 to 54,275 seats in 2020. In the same period, 279 new colleges have been established and now the country has 558 medical colleges, the affidavit said.

“It is submitted that reservation, both to the backward category as well as EWS category, is on the broader considerations of equality of opportunities and the equality mandate viewed in the perspective of social justice. The government of India has therefore decided to provide for 27% reservation for OBC and 10% reservation for EWS in the AIQ scheme. The OBC students from across the country will now be able to take benefit of this reservation in the AIQ scheme to compete in any state. The reservation in AIQ being a central scheme, the central list of OBCs shall be used for this reservation,” the affidavit said.

Around 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 in PG courses will benefit through this reservation. The government’s decision will benefit more than 550 EWS students for MBBS and around 1000 EWS students for PG medical courses each year.

It is reiterated that to lay down the criteria for reservation for the admission in the AIQ seats of medical and dental courses is within the powers of the government of India and this essentially is a question of policy

— CENTRE’S AFFIDAVIT