news today 21.08.2024

 

SC overturns HC order on girls’ sexual urges

SC overturns HC order on girls’ sexual urges 

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com 

New Delhi : Strongly disapproving of the sweeping observations made by the Calcutta high court, including advising adolescent girls to control their sexual urges instead of giving in to “two minutes of pleasure” while deciding a criminal appeal, the Supreme Court on Tuesday urged judges to decide cases based on law and facts and not to indulge in preaching or expressing personal opinions in adjudication. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan not only set aside the high court’s remarks but also its verdict in 2018 of acquitting an accused who was in physical relationship with a 14- year old minor girl and out of which a child was born. 

The top court convicted him under the Pocso Act and said it would decide on the quantum of punishment. It also directed West Bengal govt to form a committee of three experts, including a clinical psychologist and a social scientist, to interact with the girl to help her make an informed choice whether she wants to continue to remain in the company of the accused or avail of the benefits offered by the state. Referring to various observations made by the HC, including carving out a nonexisting category of “romantic relationships” in rape cases and suggesting amendment in laws to decriminalise consensual sexual acts involving adolescents above 16 years, the court said the HC’s remarks were shocking. 

“A judgment of the Court cannot contain the judge’s personal opinions on various subjects. Similarly, advisory jurisdiction cannot be exercised by the court by incorporating advice to the parties or advice in general. The judge has to decide a case and not preach. The judgment cannot contain irrelevant and unnecessary material.

 A judgment must be in simple language and should not be verbose. Brevity is the hallmark of quality judgment. We must remember that judgment is neither a thesis nor a piece of literature. However, we find that the impugned judgment contains personal opinion of the Judges advice to the younger generation and advice to the legislature,”  the court said. The bench agreed that the relationship was consensual as there was no evidence of enticing the victim and she had left the house on her own but held that the offences punishable under Section 6 of Pocso Act and Subsections (2)(n) and (3) of Section 376 of the IPC were made out. It said whether such offence arises from a romantic relationship is irrelevant.

Ola says drivers not staff, can’t be hauled under POSH Act

Ola says drivers not staff, can’t be hauled under POSH Act

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 21.08.2024 

Bengaluru : Cab aggregator Ola has told Karnataka high court that taxi drivers are basically not its employees and hence, it cannot be directed to proceed against the cabbies under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) (POSH) Act. Making submissions to this effect, senior advocate Dhyan Chinnappa, who appeared for ANI Technologies that operates Ola cabs, also urged the court to dismiss a petition filed by a woman passenger who sought action against a driver for harassing her. 

Chinnappa submitted that the aggregator has taken action against the driver by blacklisting him. He, however, argued that the company cannot be held responsible as it is only an intermediary like Amazon and Flipkart. The driver is an independent person who only operates in terms of the contract, he claimed, arguing that the petition itself suffers from maintainabili ty as labour legislation cannot be made applicable when the drivers are independent. According to him, since action has already been taken against the driver, it will be extremely stretching to introduce a definition of a driver as an employee. 

Counsel for the petitioner-woman submitted that she chose to book an Ola cab instead of hailing a random one on the road because she felt the former would be safer. If Ola contends that it’s not responsible for passenger safety, the petitioner would not have entered that cab in August 2018, the court was told.

 Justice MGS Kamal, meanwhile, reserved his verdict. The woman filed the petition in 2019 alleging that she was sexually harassed by an Ola driver in August 2018, and that the company had failed to take appropriate action despite her filing a complaint. According to her, the driver watched a pornographic video on his mobile phone in a manner that it was visible to her, masturbated and refused to stop the cab.

Metro Rail’s first driverless train to arrive only by end of next month

Metro Rail’s first driverless train to arrive only by end of next month

Running late: The train was expected to reach the city by

the last week of August, but it is delayed.Representative image

Sunitha Sekar

CHENNAI  21.08.2024 

The arrival of Chennai Metro Rail’s first driverless train for the phase II project has been delayed and is likely to reach only by the end of September.

The train had been expected to reach the city in the last week of August but now, the arrival date has been deferred since work has not been completed yet, sources said.

CMRL awarded the contract at ₹1,215.92 crore and production of the first train took off in February this year, with August as the target for delivery.

“But there is going to be no impact even if the train comes next month. Anyway, there is a delay in the construction and track work on the elevated viaduct between Poonamallee to Porur (where the train has to be tested), which will be completed only by March next year. Even if the train is here in September, we will finish the testing in about 4-5 months and be made ready for the trials only in March next year,” a source said.

When the train, which is manufactured in Sri City, is transported to the Poonamallee Depot in Chennai, a number of tests will be done.

The coaches will be linked together and all the components will be examined. Then, the power supply will be provided.

“Next, we will move the train to the 820-metre test track in the depot, where the train will be operated for the first time, and then the dynamic testing will begin. We will also check the acceleration and deceleration, the brake system, and see if the train is able to run up to 90 kmph,” an official said.

Subsequently, the integration of the testing of the train and signalling system will begin, and these processes will go for about 4-5 months. Once it is completed, the train will be brought to the elevated viaduct between Poonamallee and Porur for testing.

‘Stage 4 cancer but despite drugs and side effects, I live, work and dance’

 ‘Stage 4 cancer but despite drugs and side effects, I live, work and dance’

 SURVIVOR STORIES  21.08.2024 

Urvashi Prasad I was fit and fine till around April 2022, when I started developing liver-related symptoms — loss of appetite, nausea, and so on. Soon, a low-grade fever started coming on. After many different tests to determine the cause, a PET scan and biopsy revealed it was an ALK-positive adenocarcinoma of the lung. In simpler terms, a kind of lung cancer. 

An ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) gene is present in all of us but, for some unknown reason, it gets triggered in people who have a higher predisposition — especially women of South Asian and Southeast Asian descent. ALK-positive people are non-smokers and are often much younger than the average lung cancer patient. It’s not inherited, and I had certainly never heard of it before. I don’t think any of my doctors knew either because you can’t really screen it. You don’t expect something lung-related to happen to a non-smoker, that too, in their mid-thirties. My first reaction was shock that lasted for months. 

It was only when I was put on antidepressants that I started getting some of my daily life back. I don’t think the shock ever fully wears off. I still have moments when I’m wondering — is this the life I’m living? What’s unfortunate about this cancer is that it mostly gets diagnosed at stage four, when it has already spread quite a bit. It might have absolutely no symptoms in the beginning, but it’s an aggressive cancer and moves very quickly. Very little is understood about it. It’s not a doctor’s disease, it’s a researcher’s disease. We need a good amount of research — and that’s happening in certain parts of the western world — to identify why it happens to some people and not to others; and devise longterm treatment options. Right now, patients are put on these targeted oral drugs, but the cancer is very smart. It goes through some mutation and becomes resistant. 

With other lung cancers or cancers in general, you might have your regular chemotherapy, radiation or even surgery. But not for ALK-positive cancer. Currently, you only have limited drugs available. You can’t even keep switching once the cancer becomes resistant. Although the oral medicines help me lead a fairly normal and active life, there are many side effects  that require more drugs to manage. 

For instance, the meds immediately raised my cholesterol levels (I never had that issue before) and I had to be put on regular statins to balance that. The drugs also tend to raise your blood sugar, so you have to walk a lot. There is weight gain and fluid retention. It affects your joints — I’ve had knee issues for which I am getting physiotherapy. And then there are neurological effects — alternating between rage, anger and extreme sadness. You must also monitor the heart with regular ECG and ECHO tests. Even with all this, there’s a lot that I manage to do, whether it was my work as director of NITI Aayog, going out to meet people, doing public engagements, writing articles and so on. I also still dance, despite the weight gain and sleepless nights that the cocktail of drugs cause. Ultimately, what else do you do? If your choice is to want to live, then you have to find ways. People tell me the most bizarre and tone-deaf things — “How come you’ve not lost your hair?” or “How do you look so good?” or even “Doesn’t look like you have cancer.” 

Until you educate people, they will think they only gave you a compliment. That’s why I choose to write candidly about my disease on social media and other platforms. Being someone from public health, I am still working against the stigma associated with cancer treatment. People are still very hesitant to say we have this disease but it’s not our fault, and there’s nothing we could have done differently. Oncology today shouldn’t just be about giving someone chemo or radiation or a drug. It has to be more holistic care. I can still badger my oncologist and say, “You jolly well help me with XYX.” But what about other people? For a cancer patient, there’s so much that goes on mentally, emotionally, and with interpersonal relationships. 

For those in my peer group, this is a life they can’t relate to. My condition is incurable. It’s not over in five, six or nine months with chemotherapy. I have lost a lot of relationships in the bargain. Very few people have the ability to stand by someone who’s in a prolonged crisis

SC tears into WB authorities, questions lapses in case

 SC tears into WB authorities, questions lapses in case

 Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesofindia.com 20.08.2024

 New Delhi : “Why was the FIR on the shocking rape-murder incident lodged after 12 hours? Why was it attempted to be passed off as suicide? Why was the principal, whose role is under scrutiny, re-appointed as principal of another medical college hours after he resigned?” Supreme Court on Monday fired a volley of questions at the West Bengal government as it expressed its unhappiness with response of authorities in Kolkata to the horrific crime.

 “What were the Kolkata police doing? Why was it recorded as an unnatural death case even after the inquest/post mortem report clearly showed that it was a case of murder? How can we trust the state police to give protection to the doctors to persuade them to return to work,” asked a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The bench said that the Calcutta HC, which has transferred the investigations into the Aug 9 incident of rape and murder at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital to CBI, would continue with its proceedings but asked the central probe agency to submit a status of its probe into the horrific incident on Aug 22, the next date of hearing. 

The court also recorded its strong disapproval of police action against peaceful protests regarding the rape and murder incident by doctors, civil society and lawyers. “We expect that the West Bengal govt shall observe necessary restraint as far as peaceful protests are concerned. It shall ensure that state power is not unleashed on the protesters,” the bench said. Opening the proceedings with stinging remarks, the CJI said, “After the crime was detected in the morning (of Aug 9), the principal tried to pass this off as suicide. Parents of the deceased are not allowed to see the body. Until late night no FIR was registered.” For West Bengal, senior advocate Kapil Sibal and Menka Guruswamy refuted the charges by reiterating “not true” several times. Sibal said the police had immediately registered a case of unnatural death. On the entry of a 7,000-strong mob into the hospital on Aug 14-15 night, the CJI-led bench said, 

“A very serious offence has taken place. The crime scene is within the hospital. The first thing the police should do is to protect the crime scene. What were the police doing? They allow the vandals to enter the hospital.” Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said, “It is impossible for a 7,000-strong mob to enter the hospital without the knowledge of police” hinting at the possible complicity of police with the vandals. The role of RG Kar’s principal came under intense scrutiny of the SC. “After the principal resigns from the R G Kar Medical College, he is immediately sent to another college as principal. His conduct is under scrutiny, and he is appointed as principal to another college?” The SG said the in-charge DGP of West Bengal is under SC scrutiny for fabricating and forging evidence in the Saradha chit fund scam case. But Sibal countered him saying Kolkata police is not under the DGP.

SC tears into Kol police, orders CISF deployment at RG Kar

SC tears into Kol police, orders CISF deployment at RG Kar 

‘Don’t Unleash Power Of State On Peaceful Protesters’

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesofindia.com  21.08.2024 

New Delhi : Supreme Court on Tuesday tore into the Kolkata police for allowing a 7,000-strong mob to vandalise RG Kar hospital early on Aug 15, storm the resident doctors’ hostel and threaten women doctors with dire consequences if they opened their mouths about the rape-murder of a doctor. A bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra doubted police’s ability to protect the resident doctors, 90% of whom had left for their homes out of insecurity, and ordered deployment of CISF to guard the hospital and its hostels. 

“The protest by doctors (on Aug 15) ... was part of the wider ‘Reclaim the Night’ agitation. Police couldn’t have been unaware of the fact that when there are protests across the country, another would try to disrupt the protests. Women doctors were assaulted (at RG Kar hospital). Police ran away from the scene. Thereafter the women doctors leading the protests were called out by name and threatened with the same fate that had befallen the rapemurder victim,” the CJI said. The court also recorded its strong disapproval of police action against peaceful protests by doctors, civil society and lawyers. “Let not the power of the state of West Bengal be unleashed upon peaceful protesters. Let us deal with them with great sensitivity. This is a moment for national catharsis.”