Temple priest in Chidambaram fears arrest in assault case

Dikshitar files anticipatory bail petition again, denies attacking woman devotee

28/11/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Nataraj Ganesh alias Dharsan, the hereditary Dikshitar (priest) of the Natarajar Temple in Chidambaram, has filed an anticipatory bail petition for the second time in the Madras High Court in a case booked against him for having allegedly assaulted and abused a woman devotee when she insisted on performing puja properly.

Justice C.V. Karthikeyan on Wednesday directed a government counsel to obtain instructions from the Chidambaram Town police and adjourned the petition to December 3.

The priest’s first advance bail petition was dismissed as withdrawn on Monday for not mentioning the crime number. Therefore, he preferred the second petition with identical averments.

According to the prosecution, S. Latha, a nurse serving in a primary health centre in Ayyankudi, visited the temple along with her family on November 16 to perform a puja on the occasion of of her son’s birthday.

However, the Dikshitar, in a hurry to go home, allegedly did not even utter the name of her son before chanting the mantras. When she questioned him about it, he reportedly slapped the woman. Acting on her complaint, the police booked a case under Sections 323 (causing hurt voluntarily) and 294b (using obscene words) of Indian Penal Code. They also invoked the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act of 1998.

Complainant’s stand

Denying all the allegations, the petitioner claimed that the complainant had come to the temple along with some men and picked up a quarrel when he was performing the last puja of the day before closing the temple.

She insisted that the puja in the name of her son should be performed once again because she did not hear the priest recite the mantras. When the petitioner refused to repeat the puja, she tried to “raised her hand towards this petitioner and in self-defence, the petitioner pushed her away,” the Dikshitar claimed.

Medical conference

28/11/2019, STAFF REPORTER,MADURAI

Members of the Madurai Obstetrics and Gynaecologists Association will host their 26th annual conference and workshop on ‘Newer frontiers in obstetrics and gynaecology’ from November 29 to December 1.

N. Sumathi, organizing chairperson of the conference, said the conference would provide space for obstetricians, gynaecologists and laparoscopic surgeons to offer a platform for skill enhancement to delegates. Collector T. G. Vinay would inaugurate the event. Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India president-elect Alpesh Gandhi and Madurai Medical College Dean J. Sangumani would be the chief guests.

New technique used in surgery to stabilise fast heart beat

28/11/2019, STAFF REPORTER,MADURAI

Doctors at Government Rajaji Hospital have operated upon four persons with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), an abnormally fast heart rhythm arising from improper electrical activity in the upper part of the heart, through advanced techniques, negating their need to depend on regular medication.

GRH Dean J. Sangumani said that the four patients underwent surgery last month and the doctors used radiofrequency ablation (RFA), a medical procedure in which a part of the electrical conduction system of the heart, tumour or other dysfunctional tissue was ablated using the heat generated from medium frequency alternating current. “We mapped each patient’s heart, identified the origin of the abnormalities and restored regular heart beat. The operations took between two and four hours,” he said.

Dr. Sangumani said that this new treatment technique would provide a great relief to several hundred patients from low socio-economic background as they would not have to spend between ₹1,000 and ₹2,000 for medicines every month after undergoing the surgery. “The GRH is the second government medical institution in the State to have performed it,” he said.

Passengers can now fly to more international destinations

SpiceJet, Emirates sign codeshare, interline agreement

28/11/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,MADURAI

A new window to various international destinations is opened for air passengers using Madurai airport as SpiceJet has signed codeshare and interline agreement with Dubai-based Emirates.

Wider route network

“That the new agreement will provide travellers to and from India a seamless access to a wider and a stronger route network for international destinations through Madurai airport is a heart-warming news for the passengers in southern districts,” said senior president of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry S. Rethinavelu.

In a statement, he said codeshare agreement would help the two airlines share the same flight and passengers could book seats for an onward journey to any international destination served by the other airline with a single ticket.

Passengers could book tickets to various international destinations in Europe, the US, Africa and the Gulf countries served by Emirates from nine domestic airports used by Emirates and 172 domestic airports routes of SpiceJet, Mr. Rethinavelu said.

‘Attractive fares’

“Overcoming the handicap of direct flights being operated to only three international destinations of Singapore, Dubai and Colombo from Madurai airport, the codeshare agreement will help passengers book tickets to any international destination using SpiceJet’s flight from Madurai. The agreement will offer attractive fares to passengers and their luggage will be transferred from one flight to another,” he said.


Additional service

Mr. Rethinavelu said the Chamber would appeal to SpiceJet to operate an additional flight service between Madurai and Dubai so that it would have a night departure from Dubai and an early morning departure from Madurai to provide better international connectivity with lesser lay-over period.

“For this to become reality, the Ministry of Civil Aviation should make Madurai airport operational round the clock,” he said.

Use of robotics in urology explained

28/11/2019, STAFF REPORTER,MADURAI

A one-day workshop on the use of robotics in urology was held at Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) here on Monday.

The event was inaugurated by Sudhir Kumar Rawal, Medical Director and Chief of Genito Uro-oncology Services, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Delhi, and Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, Senior Consultant, Vedanayagam Hospital, Coimbatore. R. Ravichandran, Senior Consultant and Head, Department of Urology and Andrology, MMHRC, said, “Robotic radical prostatectomy is a surgery completely revolutionised by the robotic system. The advantages to the patient are faster recovery, less pain and shorter hospital stay”.

“One of the most common myths about robotic surgery among patients is that the surgery is being done by a machine. The truth is that the machine is always completely under the control of the surgeon,” said D. Paul Vincent, Senior Consultant, Department of Urology and Andrology.

HC stays execution in siblings murder case

Convict was to be executed on Dec. 2

28/11/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

The Madras High Court has stayed the execution of a warrant issued by a Mahila Court in Coimbatore on Monday for hanging to death R. Manoharan, convicted for abduction, rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl apart from the murder of her seven-year-old brother, after subjecting him to sodomy, in Coimbatore on October 29, 2010.

Justices M.M. Sundresh and RMT. Teekaa Raman granted the stay on a writ petition filed by the convict, who is said to have learnt that a Mahila Court in Coimbatore had issued the death warrant on Monday for hanging him on December 2, even though he had a right to prefer a mercy plea to the Governor.

Senior Counsel Yashod Vardhan, assisted by the convict’s counsel on record B. Poongkhulali, claimed that the death warrant was yet to be served on the petitioner and hence a grave injustice would be caused if he was subjected to capital punishment without even granting enough time to submit a detailed mercy petition.

Finding force in the submissions, the judges granted four weeks time for the State government to file its counter affidavit to the writ petition and ordered that the death warrant be kept in abeyance till further orders.

High Court summons Home Secretary

‘Explain delay in releasing life convicts’

28/11/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

The Madras High Court has summoned Home Secretary Niranjan Mardi to explain the delay in releasing five life convicts despite specific orders passed by a Division Bench of the court between December 7, 2018 and January 25 to release them forthwith by according the benefit of premature release granted to many other convicts in the State.

Justices M.M. Sundresh and RMT. Teekaa Raman said they had no choice but to issue statutory notices (requiring the presence of the Home Secretary in the court next month) in all the five contempt of court petitions filed against him since their patience had run thin after having granted enough time to release the convicts.

The judges had been granting time for the government to comply with the court orders ever since the contempt of court petitions were filed in July.

However, when the contempt petitions were taken up on Wednesday, the government was not able to report whether the Supreme Court had granted any interim relief. Therefore, the judges chose to direct the High Court Registry to issue statutory notices to the Home Secretary insisting upon his appearance after four weeks.

It was actually a Bench of Justices C.T. Selvam (since retired) and S. Ramathilagam (who had also retired from service now), which had ordered the release of the five convicts by according the benefit of a government order issued in 2018 to release many life convicts to mark the birth centenary of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran.

Then, the government had refused to release P. Sakthivel (37) from Coimbatore prison since he had been convicted under the Explosive Substances Act of 1908, apart from the charge of murder under the Indian Penal Code.