Father sentenced to 42 years in prison for raping minor daughter in Tamil Nadu

In the second-harshest punishment for child sex abuse handed out in the State, a 47-year-old man was on Friday sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for raping his 12-year-old daughter.

Published: 28th April 2018 02:14 AM | Last Updated: 28th April

Image for representational purpose only.

By Express News Service

TIRUCHY: In the second-harshest punishment for child sex abuse handed out in the State, a 47-year-old man was on Friday sentenced to three consecutive life sentences (42 years) for raping his 12-year-old daughter. Public prosecutor G Krishnaveni Thamaraiselvan said the convict, brought his daughter home and sexually abused her on March 5, 2017. It was his neighbours who, on hearing the child’s cries, alerted Childline officials. They rescued the minor girl with the help of cops from the Fort all-women police station, who arrested the man, he added.

Tiruchy Mahila Court judge Jacintha Martin, who sent the man to Tiruchy Central Jail for 42 years, also slapped him with a fine of Rs 3,000, failing to pay which would lead to imprisonment of three more years.

The Tiruchy court had on June 12, 2017 sentenced a 51-year-old man to 46 years for raping his daughter. And a Madurai court had sentenced an offender to 50 years in prison, the longest-ever jail term given in a POCSO case in the State.

Tamil Nadu Income Tax officer raids dictionaries to avoid RTI questions

The Income Tax officer of the Tiruchy Division turned to the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries while responding to a RTI petition filed by Express seeking details about IT raids.

Published: 29th April 2018 02:13 AM | Last Updated: 29th April 2018 05:19 AM

Image used for representational purpose.

By Jose K Joseph
Express News Service

TIRUCHY: The Income Tax officer of the Tiruchy Division turned to the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries while responding — or avoiding a response -- to a Right to Information (RTI) petition filed by Express seeking seeking details about IT raids conducted between December 1, 2016 to March 31, 2018 in the division.

“You have sought certain information in respect to income tax "Raids". Since the term ‘raid’ was not defined under the Income Tax Act 1961, the meaning of the ‘raid’ as defined in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary respectively are given below.....,” said Central public information officer, Ganesh Kumar, who is also the I-T officer of Tiruchy.

According to Cambridge dictionary, the officer said, a raid is ‘a short sudden attack, usually by a small group of people, and also it is ‘an act of entering a place by force in order to steal from it.’ Meanwhile, the Oxford dictionary says the raid is ‘a rapid surprise attack on an enemy by troops, aircraft, or other armed forces.’ Then, he said, “.….no such activities of the similar nature have been carried out by Tiruchy office, hitherto, since the inception of this office.”

When doctorate becomes a degree of harassment

PhD students are not just overloaded with course work; they are also forced to foot expensive bills for their mentors, take classes on their behalf and even abused sexually.

Published: 29th April 2018 02:23 AM | Last Updated: 29th April 2018 06:02 AM

Illustration by Soumyadip Sinha
  By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan
Express News Service

CHENNAI: A flight ticket and a suite at a star hotel. Mohan Ram* also had to ensure that a pick-up was arranged from the hotel. Later that evening he found himself buying his guest drinks at an expensive bar. All this hospitality ensured a prefix to his name. He is now Dr Mohan Ram*.

The life of a research scholars can be lonely and hard. In India, such students are further likely to face exploitation at the hands of several stakeholders in the process of earning their doctorate.

The recent alleged ‘sex for academic progress’ scandal involving an assistant professor at an Aruppukottai collage, is only the tip of the iceberg. While abuse can be of a sexual nature, it is common for research scholars to be subject to abuse of power in the form of emotional abuse, being made to take on additional work, run personal errands, or even offer bribes.

This exploitation is set up by the power that PhD supervisors exercise over a student’s research, progress and career. These guides are both the mentor who can support and facilitate the emotional processes; and the patron who manages the springboard from which the student can leap into a career. Students are dependant on them for everything from financial sanctions, networks and guidance.

While there are guidelines stipulating duration of PhDs, guides could stretch the project out for up to eight years. Many PhD students work on scholarships, usually available only for a certain period of time. “Students who are forced to finish majority of their work before their scholarship ends, need competent co-operation from their guides,” said former Anna University V-C M Anandakrishnan.

Thus, Mohan Ram, then a PhD scholar had to ensure a comfortable stay for the external examiner who conducted his viva voce test. Mohan, who pursued his research at one of the largest private engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu, said that he didn’t want five years of work going down the drain, simply because the examiner was in a bad mood.

“The examiner asked me to ensure a comfortable stay for him and my faculty-guide elaborated on what was the ‘industrial norm’ for a comfortable stay,” says Mohan, adding that he was scared of his thesis getting rejected.

Kaushik Sam*, who pursued his PhD at a private university in the outskirts of Chennai three years ago, met his PhD guide for the first time only two years into his research. “The professor I wanted as a guide was in high demand and so a faculty from my college, who knew the subject well, was my acting-guide. And he usually coordinated with the actual guide,” he said.

A former faculty of the university, on condition of anonymity said that he himself had been such an acting-guide. “While the University will not pay us for it, we will be listed as co-authors for that paper. This adds a lot to our academic resume,” he said. However, this means that the student’s research progress falls in the hands of a nodal faculty. Moreover, as doctoral students are not employees, they are not protected from employment legislation that prohibits staff bullying at work. Factors such as gender, social status, caste and network too influence the extent to which students get bullied.

Sexual favours

Anandakrishnan recalls firing a Chemistry professor after two female research scholars alleged that he was asking them for sexual favours. “The teacher went on to joining another university in a couple of years and my hands were tied,” he said. In October 2017, law student Raya Sarkar’s list, that went viral, revealed how often students felt sexually harassed by faculty. Sarkar had compiled a list of alleged sexual predators in Indian academia, claiming their victims had submitted their names to her. The list featured 58 academics from 29 Indian colleges, research centres and universities.

The alleged crimes listed against the professors ranged from verbal abuse to molestation and rape. Subsequently, students filed complaints before internal complaints committees against some of those named. For instance, prominent academic Lawrence Liang of Ambedkar University Delhi was held guilt of sexual harassment by that varsity’s sexual harassment committee.

Caste-based discrimination too pervades the research sphere. The issue caught national attention after Rohith Vemula, a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad, committed suicide in January 2016 following a controversy that had begun in July 2015 when the university reportedly stopped paying him a fellowship because an inquiry found that he had been “raising issues under the banner of Ambedkar Students Association.” His acquaintance J Muthukrishnan, from Tamil Nadu, committed suicide at Jawaharlal Nehru University last year. Dalit and marginalised students have spoken up about difficulties in being assigned supervisors, being poorly graded, or verbally abused.

Four committees

The chairman of All India Council for Technical Education Anil Sahasrabuddhe has said that every university must have a redressal mechanism for all kinds of bullying. “There are four committees mandated for any technical institute to get its license: The Internal Complaints Committee for sexual harassment, committee to investigate atrocities against SC/ST and minorities, anti-ragging and grievance redressal committee,” he said.

The earliest sexual harassment committees were formed in educational institutions based on Supreme Court guidelines framed as part of the case that led to the Vishakha judgement in 1997. Some of these were reconstituted and at most institutions, new internal complaints committees formed, after the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act was passed in 2013.
Bound by regulations, committees require “proper procedure” even for registering complaints. They must be submitted in writing or a statement should be recorded and signed.

There is no scope for an anonymous complaint registered without disclosing the identity of the complainant to the committee, the accused and witnesses. Once a complaint is received, a sub-committee of about three-four members, within the larger complaints committee, inquires into it. Not all varsities have such fully functional complaints committees, though.

Anandakrishnan suggested that a dean, who exclusively looks into research and development could prevent the extent of this exploitation. “The dean should be aware of the time taken for research by scholars, and why it’s getting delayed or why a lot of funds come in at a certain point The dean would basically be in charge of the dynamics of the PhD programme,” he said.

Student unions

Abuse against students can be prevented only when there is a strong student union, opines former vice chancellor of Manonmanium Sundaranar University V Vasanthi Devi. “A strong elected student body is the best immunity. The union must be able to give voice to individuals,” she said adding that efforts must be taken to have fair representation within the union. Such democratic student bodies help prevent harassment while preserving anonymity, according to a report of a committee headed by JM Lyngdoh, constituted by Ministry of Human Resource Developmen as per the direction of the Supreme Court of India.*-Names changed

Unscholarly behavior

Feb 2016

Mohit Kumar Chauhan found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room at Central University of Rajasthan. FIR is registered against three faculty members including his research guide

March 2017

A 36-year-old PhD student at AIIMS New Delhi attempts suicide, accusing his supervisor of mental harassment, abuse and delay in his fellowship

March 2018

JNU professor Atul Johri arrested after research scholar levels charges of sexual abuse against him. Many other students too allege harassment

Don’t allow events discussing politics on campus, says govt
Students, Teachers Oppose Move

Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com 29.04.2018

Trichy:

The department of collegiate education has asked colleges in the state not to allow their premises to be misused to propagate political ideologies. The circular was issued recently despite campus elections being abolished in the state except in a handful of institutions.

Director of collegiate education J Manjula has asked the colleges to deny permission for events that discuss or debate politics as it was found that participants with political affiliation were advocating their party ideologies while being chief guests at college events. Such events would affect students’ education and their research aptitude, said the circular while asking the regional joint director of collegiate education (RJDCE) to provide the required suggestions to the colleges in their jurisdiction.

“At a time when there are no democratic elections on campuses despite Lyngdoh Committee recommending campus elections, students in Tamil Nadu have been robbed of their democratic rights,” said state secretary of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), S Bala. Questioning the logic behind claiming that students’ research aptitude would be affected, he argued that alternative ideas would encourage research and the reasoning ability of students. “No event can be organised on campuses if politics has to be set aside as every speaker may or may not belong to a political party but would end up speaking politics and about the ideology that he is inclined to,” he said.

One educationist said that politics helped develop the socio-political and economic outlook of students. One of the states to have active campus elections a couple of decades ago saw a gradual decline in incidents of violence during elections. The advent of private institutions that dealt with election-related violence with an iron fist and the semester pattern in colleges managed to keep students glued to academic activities, he said.

While terming the order infructuous when colleges were closed for summer vacations, former president, Association of University Teachers (AUT), KPandiyan said that the orders were aimed at satisfying somebody, perhaps the state government which had been facing opposition from all over. Democratic voices on the campuses are being suppressed by such a move from the government, Pandiyan said.

When TOI contacted DCE J Manjula over phone, she said the circular was issued to avoid unnecessary issues on campuses. Asked if any such issues had cropped up in recent times, she said the decision was based on newspaper reports. “The basic idea is to avoid political campaigning inside campuses. However, we cannot avoid calling people’s representatives expecting them to not speak politics on the campus,” she said. 



THING OF THE PAST? Kamal Haasan during an interaction with SSN college students in Chennai in March. Director of collegiate education J Manjula has asked the colleges to deny permission for events that discuss or debate politics as it was found that political leaders were advocating their party ideologies during such events

City firm directed to pay ₹37L to ex-employee

Chennai: 29.04.2018

A city labour court directed the management of Best and Crompton Engineering limited, an electrical equipment manufacturer to pay ₹37 lakh as compensation to a former employee who was terminated in 1999.

T Chandrasekaran, presiding officer of the I additional labour court, ruled in favour of the petitioner, AR Chitra Menon, who sought wages and other monetary benefits from March 2004 until October 2016. Chitra Menon hadwon an industrial dispute case with her employer in 2001after which a court ordered the company to reinstate her and pay back wages.

She stated that when she reported to work the management denied her for causing discomfort after which shefiled a petition again claiming arrears from 1999 until 2004 and another petition for period from 2004 until 2016. TNN

CBI to restart gutka probe from scratch

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 29.04.2018

CBI sleuths probing the gutka scam will summon the 17 named suspects including MDM brand manufacturer Madhava Rao to record their statements this week. A senior officer in CBI confirmed that they would reinvestigate the case, despite the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DV&AC) being half way through their probe.

Based on the suspects’ statements, the CBI planns to conduct checks at Rao’s godown, office and residence. Preliminary inquiries revealed that the income tax department had seized a hard disk and some pen drives, apart from the diary containing details of those who received bribe from gutka manufacturers. According to I-T sleuths, Rao had bribed officials to the tune of ₹44 crore. The CBI believes that fresh investigations will throw light on those tainted officials.

Meanwhile, following the bust of a gutka manufacturing unit at Kannampalayam village near Sulur in Coimbatore on Friday CBI officials have looked into the whether the unit also belonged to Rao or his aides. CBI officials have planned to quiz the 17 suspects named in the FIR filed by the DV&AC separately. The CBI will also assign tasks for officials, from superintendents of police to inspectors, to inquire and submit detailed reports simultaneously.

Bench stays HC judge diktat to allow day-long Marina stir
TN: Citizens Can Protest, But Cops Will Fix Venue

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 29.04.2018

Hours after a single judge of the Madras HC permitted farmer leader Ayyakannu to stage a day-long hunger strike on the Marina Beach, sparking fears that it could set a precedent for all those seeking attention to their cause making a beeline for the famous sands, a division bench of the court on Saturday granted an interim stay on the order following an appeal by the state government.

With the January 2017 Marina protests which drew unprecedented crowds and ended in violence still fresh in the mind, the Edappadi K Palaniswami government, already grappling with the oppositionsponsored Cauvery protests across the state, put up a strong defence against allowing any agitation on the Marina beach.

The high drama in the court, which is is scheduled to close for a month-long vacation from Sunday, began around 3.30pm when Justice T Raja partially allowed the plea moved by Ayyakannu. The judge directed the state to permit him to stage a protest for a day on the beach demanding immediate constitution of the Cauvery Management Board.

FLOODGATES: The jallikattu protest launched initially by a small group had turned into a massive show of strength, the state told the court

Shun politics from colleges, says govt

The collegiate education department has asked colleges in the state not to allow their campuses to be misused for propagating political ideologies. Director of collegiate education JManjula has asked colleges to deny permission for events that discuss politics as participants with political affiliation were found to advocate party ideologies. P 7

Marina more apt than other venues: HC

Refusing to accept the government’s argument that it would set a wrong precedent and open the floodgates for hundreds of such requests,thejudgeobservedthat the Marina would be a more apt place than the other venues suggested by the government, including Valluvar Kottam, as the resultant disruptions in the traffic would inconvenience the public.

The government immediately approached the first bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and was advised to approach a division bench of Justice S Manikumar and Justice V Bhavani Subbaroyan. The division bench was about to wind up proceedings, but the judges agreed to hear the plea considering the urgency.

Around 6.30pm, when the hearing began, additional advocate general P H Arvind Pandian submitted that the government had stopped permitting demonstrationson the Marina since 2003, and that even a recent hunger strike organised by the ruling AIADMK in which the chief minister and deputy chief minister participated was only permitted near the government guest house in Chepauk.

Pointing out that the government had identified three places in Chennai for the purpose, Pandian said citizens had every right to stage peaceful protest, but that the venue could only be decided by the commissioner of police of the city as per the Madras City Police Act.

“We are not denying permission for the protest, wejust wanted to decide the place for it,” he added. Noting that the Marina was a place largely used by the general public and the fishermen community, he pointed to the situation last year when a protest on the beach on the jallikattu issue, initially launched by a small group, had turned into a massive show of strength.

Thebenchthen askedwhat the authorities would do if thousands of people gathered in Valluvar Kottam.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Ayyadurai submitted that various protests hadbeen stagedon theMarina both before and after Independence.