#India- Why is Aparna Marandi in jail?

In 2009, they branded her husband a Maoist and threw him in jail. Now they are after her. Shazia Nigar on the blatant witch-hunt of a rights activist

Shazia NigarMore by the author >

December 21, 2012, Issue 52 Volume 9

Victims of the State Aparna Marandi with her 4-year-old son Alok Photo Courtesy: Video Volunteers

ON 8 DECEMBER, Aparna Marandi, 28, and her four-year-old son Alok Chandra boarded a train at Ranchi’s Hatia Railway Station to go to Hyderabad, when plainclothes policemen arrested her. Ironically, Aparna was headed for Hyderabad to attend a meeting organised by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP).

Aparna, working with Video Volunteers, an organisation that trains marginalised communities in journalistic skills, was arrested by the Jharkhand Police along with Baby Turi, 25, panchayat head of Jitpur in Dhanbad district, social activist Sushila Ekka, 38, from Hazaribag and 16-year-old Sushil. Charged with being Maoists, all were hauled to the Dumka Police Station.

On the evening of 10 December, the police let Baby Turi, Ekka and Sushil go, but not before they signed a document stating that they were arrested on 9 December, a day later than the actual date of arrest. Aparna, however, is still languishing in the Dumka prison.

Why was Aparna arrested? Why was the date of arrest of the other three people changed? What made Aparna and her four-year-old child such a threat that the police had to come in plainclothes to arrest her?

Many questions arise as to the real intent of the Jharkhand Police. The answer could perhaps be found in the four-year-long incarceration of Aparna’s husband, Jeetan Marandi. Jeetan is the State Convener of the CRPP, the same organisation whose meeting Aparana was going to attend before she was apprehended.

Jeetan was arrested in 2009 for his alleged involvement in the infamous Chilkari massacre, when Maoists killed 20 people, including the son of former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi during a football match. Sentenced to death by the lower court in Jharkhand, he was later acquitted by the High Court in December 2011. Yet, thanks to the Jharkhand Crime Control Act (2002), a non-bailable provision used for preventive detention, Jeetan continues to languish in jail for the fourth straight year on various charges. Aparna had been working relentlessly to get her husband released.

Says Stalin K, Managing Trustee at Video Volunteers: “The reason for picking her (Aparna) up seems to be a way of breaking Jeetan to get a false confession out of him. It is embarrassing for the State if they have no charges to prove against him after he has spent four years in jail.” The lawyer from Dumka, who Stalin tried hiring for Aparna, refused to take up her case on the grounds that he will get into trouble. That, says Stalin, is the impact the State has.

The police have detained Aparna in a case, where Maoists set fire to 8-10 vehicles of a crusher site of GVR Constructions on 27 November at Kathikund, Dumka. She has been charged under several sections, including section 17 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act and section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

However, a phone call gives the lie to the police theory that Aparna and her companions were arrested on 9 December. Minutes before the arrest, Baby Turi, one of the arrested, made a phone call to her husband, Damodar Turi. “She called me on 8 December, at around 4 pm, and told me that the ticket collector was not letting them board the train. After that, her phone was switched off,” recalls Damodar.

ACCORDING TO Baby Turi, the policemen posing as railway ticket examiners asked Aparna and her friends to get off the train with their luggage since they were travelling without reservation. They then led them out of the railway station, which is when Baby Turi got suspicious and called her husband.

“They asked us to sign a document, saying we were going to meet Jeetan in jail,” recalls Baby. “We refused. Finally, they agreed to let us go if we signed on the paper that stated 9 December as the day of our arrest.” Moreover, the police violated all laid out procedures in the detention of Aparna and her friends.

Director General of Police, Jharkhand, GS Rath refused to comment on the grounds that the matter was “subjudice” and concerns the Dumka Police, not him. “The conduct of the police is for the court to judge,” he says. SPHemant Topna spoke along similar lines. “No one has formally complained about the irregularities in the arrest procedures,” he says. “If such a thing comes to my notice, we will investigate it.”

shazia@tehelka.com

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#India- Outrage against #Rape- to curb any expression of sexual freedom among girls? #Vaw

Flavia Agnes, Asian Age, Dec 22. 2012

Many of us from the women’s movement, who have been struggling to address the issue of rape, both through public campaigns and by providing support to individual survivors, over the last 30 years, are equally dismayed at the responses to the gruesome incident of gangrape of the 23 year old in Delhi, who is battling for her life in a hospital, as the incident itself. We are wondering where we have gone wrong all these years as rape continues to be described as a “state worse than death” by our women parliamentarians while they express their anger in an emotionally charged voice. “Agar bach jayegi toh zinda laash ho ke jiyegi (If she survives, she will be a living corpse),” said a parliamentarian, eloquently expressing her anger. What is the message being sent out to thousands of rape survivors and their families and friends who have stood by them in their quest for justice, who would be watching the news channels when our women leaders, film personalities and the general public proclaim this? Does such a statement induce future victims to come forward and seek justice or will it drive them further into the shell so that they are not branded as “zinda laash” and cope with their post-rape trauma on their own terms, in private?

There are so many aspects of this unprecedented public fury that need to be examined from a cool and analytical perspective. The girl is struggling for her life because of the injuries caused by the use of weapons, not just the incident of rape. The brutes who attacked her attempted to murder her and her friend. But in the wake of the premium attached to rape in public discourse, the rest fades into oblivion. The girl lost her intestines due to the gruesome attack on her with iron rods. Even if they had not raped her, these would be equally serious. Would that have induced less public fury because she would not have to survive as a “zinda laash”. Is it the titillating aspect of the crime of rape that induces this public outrage? Do we react to all types of attacks upon women in public — the acid attacks, the slashing of the face with knife, the kicking and beating, the lewd and obscene comments and humiliation of their male companions? Do these warrant similar indignity and invoke the wrath of the public to demand death penalty for all of them?

There is another question which is worrisome. Is it possible to examine this issue only within the framework of men versus women or, more particularly, middle-class women versus lower-class men? The girl was not alone, she was travelling with a male companion. He, too, was beaten and thrown out. If he had lost his intestines in the scuffle that followed, what would the public response be? What about the death of a young 19-year-old boy who lost his life while protesting against lewd comments being passed against a girl from his housing society? Ought not that too warrant death penalty? If not, why not?

Another question. In some recent gruesome cases of gangrape, the girl was out with a male companion. Is the outrage against her an indication of the societal desire to curb any expression of sexual freedom among young, unmarried girls? Recently, in Bengaluru, a law student of the prestigious National Law University was gangraped when she was in a lonely spot with a male companion. The doctors who examined her were more concerned about the elasticity of her vagina than finding forensic evidence of the gruesome crime. In 2010, a young 16-year-old Hindu girl travelling in a bus with her Muslim friend in the outskirts of Mangalore was dragged out of the bus and taken to a police station and a case of rape foisted against her friend. That night the girl committed suicide.

In one of the earliest narratives by rape survivors in Mumbai during the anti-rape movement in the Eighties, Sohaila Abdulali, who later became a renowned author, has talked about her gangrape on a lonely hill in Chembur where she was out with her boyfriend during her vacation from the US. The friend was held at a knife-point while she was being raped. She narrates how her only concern during the rape was that she and her friend should survive the ordeal. So she kept talking to the boys even while they raped her, requesting them to be gentle and asking them to think about their own mothers and sisters. As she had to get back to college in the US, the police advised her not to initiate proceedings. To get over her guilt of not pressing charges, much later, she wrote about her experience.

It is these incidents that make us wonder whether the gangrape in Delhi is meant to be a message to all youngsters not just to not venture out in the dark but to not venture out with male companions. It is the same message that the parents and the community give to their daughters. It is the same message that the moral brigade has been communicating through the raids on young couples in Mumbai under the direction of Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil, who has now recommended death penalty in rape cases. Perhaps he and most protesters out on the street in India today are unaware that around one-third of all rape cases are filed by parents against boys when their daughter exercises her sexual choice and elopes. Such cases will only increase in years to come as the recent enactment of the Protection of Children from Sexual Abuse Act has raised the statutory age for consent to sexual intercourse from 16 to 18 years and all youngsters who indulge in any sexual activity are prone to harassment from their families and the police. These types of cases have led to the use of phrases like “genuine cases” and “false cases” among the police, prosecutors and judges. With the clamour for death penalty, how will we deal with such cases?

Death penalty will not act as a deterrent. In the case of the Delhi gangrape, the accused are “young offenders” and the court is not likely to give them death penalty. What will act as an effective deterrent is proper procedure and access to justice.

In India, rape does not attract capital punishment and even if the law is changed, it cannot be applied retroactively to this case. Further, if punishment for rape and murder is the same, many rapists may kill the victim to destroy evidence. Thus we need more soul-searching answers from our parliamentarians and experts about how we can make our public places safe for women.

The writer is a women’s rights lawyer

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The Sons of Men – #delhigangrape #vaw #mustread

December 23, 2012

MUMBAI

Paromita Vohra, Mid-Day

I wonder if all those who are demanding capital punishment for rape, will stop evading their taxes if tax evasion is made punishable by death. Demanding capital punishment, especially in the case of a crime which is tied to the very basis of the social structure — patriarchy and economic disparity — is just a way to absolve yourself of any responsibility in changing things while looking like you care.

Gendered violence — rape and domestic abuse — is underreported for a reason. Masculine violence is both glorified and institutionalised — and consequently, violence against women is hardly treated as crime, despite legislation. That our law itself distinguishes between eve teasing and sexual harassment makes the daily molestation of women sort-of excusable, instead of addressing a continuum where masculinity means asserting power by denigrating or oppressing others. Gendered violence comes into focus only when this violence takes the shape of a recognisable crime — death, or near-death, otherwise called murder.

Illustration/ Amit Bandre

Demanding capital punishment is to recognise the murder, but not acknowledge the nature of gendered violence. Telling other people what to do about a problem, establishes that you are not part of the problem, when, in fact, you are.
Thing is — I don’t want the Thane police chief to tell me to avoid night travel and carry red chilli powder (as if we didn’t know it’s our responsibility). I want to know what he’s thinking of doing to sensitise his department to make sense of a changing world and equip them to do their job well, in it.

I don’t want Salman Khan to say, “If not death they should be sentenced for life so they learn a lesson.” I want to hear him acknowledge the deep-rooted misogyny of his films and say that he will think of how his persona can be dabang in a way that does not involve objectifying women as much. I want to know how he’s going to set a good example to the millions of boys who look up to him. Deal, Salman bhai?

I don’t want successful indie filmmakers to shrug off the sexism and violence that their films glorify in the service of a clichéd cool. I want them to think about how their work practices and the poetic violence of their films stands for this aggressive masculine culture and see them do things differently, meaning, really, fundamentally, differently, as men.

I don’t want to hear my laddish friends dismiss the misogyny in Honey Singh’s lyrics because the music and rhythms and the local cultural references are so invigorating. I want Honey Singh to make fantastic songs about male angst and experience that do not involve asking a woman, “das de mainun ki hai rate.” Sure, sex is tangled up in thrilling threads of power play, but I’m sure men can imagine ways of expressing this that don’t involve crushing and objectifying women, sex and themselves.

And stop telling mothers to bring their sons up better. Tell fathers to set a good example. To explore ways of being men which don’t require asserting power over others as a fundamental affirmation. Teach them to find new ways of loving and being strong, instead of making them ashamed of sex or holding themselves up to punishing standards of what it means to be a successful man.

Paromita Vohra is an award-winning Mumbai-based filmmaker, writer and curator working with fiction and non-fiction. Reach her at http://www.parodevi.com.

The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper. 

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So what about ‘RAPIST’ HIP HOP? #honeysingh #vaw

Honey Singh’s brazenly pornographic and abusive anti-women songs glorifying rape and violence against women has evoked little protest

Hardnews Bureau Delhi

Raat ko nikali naari 

hui gadi pe savaari 

par voh raat usko pad gayi bhari. 

Peeche se aaya main 

utari uski saari 

kachchi phadi 

lungi gaadi 

aur g***d maari. 

Kyunki main………. 

Kyunki main………. 

Kyunki main hoon ek balatkari 

Kyunki main………. 

Kyunki main………. 

Kyunki main hoon balatkari

These lyrics are infamously integral to an equally infamous song by popular Punjabi hip hop star Yo Yo Honey Singh who has attained a cult status in recent times, especially among drunken men and youngsters blasting his music inside swanky cars in Delhi and other cities of north India. Such is his popularity that his songs are repeatedly being played by radio stations (not the above song), Bollywood producers are queuing outside his office, Anyurag Kashyap plans to make a movie about him and many prominent nightclubs play his vulgar, offensive and disgusting songs laced with crude masculine profanities and sexist abuse and violence directed at women.

Hence, while thousands of young girls and boys in Delhi and all over India are protesting against the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi, many others are dancing on the tunes of this new obscene king of Indian hip hop music celebrating his highly obscene and anti-women ‘Jat machismo’.

Recently, his pictures were splashed across prominent newspapers inviting readers to join him at this year’s New Year bash in a big ticket show. His shows are often sold out. And though his lyrics are primarily in Punjabi, his appeal transcends linguistic and class boundaries.

His ardent supporters say that he represents their filthy fantasies and speaks their language since his profanities are directed at allegedly women who have either cheated on their boyfriends or dumped them. Indeed, this could be yet another chauvinist construct or a figment of perverse male imagination 

Incidentally, Honey Singh tops 2012 Youtube views. He also has several pages on facebook dedicated to him. Surprisingly, many women fans are happy to declare that they are his hardcore supporters. Overall, he has close to 16 lakh fans on the social networking platform. Pictures of celebrities proudly posing with Singh are posted on his fan pages. Following the big picture high moral ground ‘marketing trend’, some of them perhaps have come out openly against the rape as well.

His ardent supporters say that he represents their filthy fantasies and speaks their language since his profanities are directed at allegedly women who have either cheated on their boyfriends or dumped them. Indeed, this could be yet another chauvinist construct or a figment of perverse male imagination. Walk through the posh by lanes of South and West Delhi in Delhi, especially in the night, and you can hear one of his particularly most vulgar and repulsive songs (ch….) being played again and again in full blast, especially when girls are around.

The compulsive choice of such perverse songs instigating sex violence against women and glorifying their physical and mental degradation clearly reflects the mindset of these youngsters. The sick irony is that some of them might be present at these protest sites in Delhi ogling at women, even signing self righteous petitions or holding feminist placards.

It may sound strange, but there have been no mention of these filthy songs degrading women, literally glorifying sexual assault and rape, in the mainstream media. Civil society and women’s groups have ignored their crudely misogynistic content. The media largely choose to write eulogies on this third rate, cheap and desperately morbid hip hop star, how he has gained a cult status and made hip hop popular in India.

The compulsive choice of such perverse songs instigating sex violence against women and glorifying their physical and mental degradation clearly reflects the mindset of these youngsters. The sick irony is that some of them might be present at these protest sites in Delhi ogling at women, even signing self righteous petitions or holding feminist placards

Says an activist, “There have been very few protests on his brazenly pornographic lyrics or demands to ban his songs or put him behind bars. Once he is punished, will he be able to yet again proclaim so proudly that he is a balatkaari and will the celebrities and media still chase him? (rapist).

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Manipur actor assault: Journalist killed in police firing during violent protests

Manipur, Posted on Dec 23, 2012 a

 

Imphal: A video journalist was shot dead when the police opened fire during violent protests against the alleged molestation of an actress in Imphal. The police opened fire when protesters tried to torch a police bus. The journalist took two bullets, including one in the chest.

The actress had alleged she was assaulted by an NSCN-IM worker while hosting a cultural event. She had said the security personnel present at the spot just stood by and watched. Violent protests erupted in the city with police bursting tear gas shell to disperse angry crowds while film and theatre artistes called for a bandh protesting against the alleged assault.

Protesters in the strike, which was called by the Manipur Film Forum, also pelted stones and vehicles and damaged a police van in Imphal. There were scenes of tyre burning and road blocking across the state’s capital. Life in Manipur has been crippled with shops, markets, business and entertainment houses closed and transport services cancelled.

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Meri Skirt se Unchi ,Meri Avaaz hai.. #delhigangrape #Vaw

Skirt  Se Unchi Meri Awaaz Hai

मेरी स्सक्रट से उँची मेरी आवाज़ है !

माँगे जो पीने को पानी कभी ,
भाग जाते हो दिल्ली, से लंडन तभी , 
सारी जनता को रो कर तब दिखाते हो , 
आज भर भर के पानी की तोप चलाई , 
बताओ अब पानी “कहाँ” से लाते हो? … 

मेरी स्सक्रट से उँची मेरी आवाज़ है , 
माना की सर पे तेरे ही ताज़ है , 
नारी हूँ , मिट्टी इसी की मैं भी , 
बता दूँगी दिल मेरे मे ” क्या आज है” … 

मेरी स्सक्रट से उँची मेरी आवाज़ है , 
क्या दिखता है “तुझको” , टॅंगो का चमडा, 
हैवान , तुझ मे “हवस” का राज है , 
क्या दिखता है , जब “काली” को तू देखता है ? .
क्या तब भी हवस से खुद को सेकता है ? 

मेरी स्सक्रट से उँची मेरी आवाज़ है , 
कानो को तेरे हिला दूँगी आज , 
वो गंदी नज़र को जला दूँगी आज , 
उस क्रांति मे तर्पण होगा तेरा , 

अब तेरे “तर्पण” मन हल्का होगा मेरा … 

चेत जाओ . ओ , नेता, ओ वेता सभी, 
मैं , नारी हूँ , यह जान लो , 
मेरी रग रग को पहचान लो , 
फिर यह जान लो …
मेरी स्सक्रट से उँची मेरी आवाज़ है .

 

By- Rahul Yogi Deveshwar

#India- Mobile Gender Courts ? #Vaw #Rape #delhiGangrape

Mobile Gender Courts: Delivering Justice in the DRC

Can mobile gender courts’ swift justice tackle impunity in the DRC’s remote regions?

 | 30 JULY 2012 – 12:03PM | BY LILY PORTER

Kamombo, South Kivu. Photograph by Radio Okapi.

Since 1996, as many as500,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been victims of rape and sexual violence, according to UN estimates. To compound this, these brutal crimes, which have devastated countless lives and communities in the DRC, are widely conducted with impunity. There is a culture of silence around rape, victims are oftenstigmatised by their own communities, and most attempts to bring perpetrators to justice have so far suffered from under-funding, lack of reach and questions over integrity.

A project using mobile gender courts in South Kivu is, however, seeking to use innovative ways to finally put an end to impunity and injustice. These courts travel to remote regions to deal with crimes of sexual violence and have so far enjoyed relative success, although the limitations of their approach cannot be ignored.

Impunity in the Congo

While victims of sexual violence in the DRC number in the hundreds of thousands, only a handful of people have been put on trial and even fewer have gone to prison. In South Kivu in 2005, for example, less than 1% of the 14,200 recorded cases of sexual violence went to court.

Numerous measures have been taken to address violence in DRC but these do not always include sexual violence. In the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) landmark trial of Thomas Lubanga, for example, the rebel leader was convicted of using child soldiers but there was disappointment that he was not also charged for rape and sexual violence, which can be tried under international law as a war crime. Moreover, the trial was lengthy, costly and carried out in The Hague, thousands of miles away from the site of his crimes and his victims.

The DRC’s national courts have similarly fallen short in delivering meaningful justice for victims of sexual violence. Despite a strong legal framework, years of conflict and corruption have rendered a large portion of the country’s judicial system lacking in both capacity and integrity. There has been some progress, particularly in the Ituri district where a court has held prosecutions resulting in 10 convictions on rape charges, but at the moment the DRC’s judicial system simply cannot deal with the scale of the crimes. And even with a more robust and transparent system, there remain practical problems, such as the fact that many victims cannot easily reach courts or police stations and often cannot afford the direct and indirect costs of a trial.

Mobile gender courts

It was with these numerous weaknesses in mind that mobile gender courts were conceived. Launched in October 2009 and focused in South Kivu, mobile gender courts are an enhanced version of existing mobile courts in the DRC which, unlike most national and international measures of delivering justice, primarily seek to bring justice to victims of gender violence.

Supported by the Open Society Justice Initiative, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative and Open Society Institute for Southern Africa in collaboration with the Congolese government, these itinerant civilian and military courts emphasise local-led justice and the rule of law.

The project is active in the larger cities of Baraka, Bukavu and Uvira, but also uses plane travel and long hours of driving along muddy potholed roads to reach more remote places like Kamituga, Kalima and Mwenga. In areas such as these where justice had previously remained elusive, these courts bring justice to the people. Most court sessions are public and audiences come from far and wide to see the trials first-hand. Listening to these cases helps break down the stigma that has encouraged impunity and educates locals on the rule of law and how victims should be treated, something the ICC and national courts typically fail to do.

The mobile gender courts nevertheless operate within the national judicial system, and use entirely Congolese staff, including police, judges, prosecutors and defence counsel, and court administrators. This is important for promoting the project as one aspect of improving the country’s judicial system as a whole rather than creating a parallel externally-led judicial structure.

Delivering justice

From their initiation in October 2009 to May 2011, these courts have handed out 195 convictions, 75% of them being for sexual crimes and 25% for crimes such as murder and theft. Punishments come in form of punitive justice, with up to 20 years in prison. In some cases, financial penalties are awarded.

One of the most prominent cases to date has been the Fizi mass rape trial, which found Colonel Kibibi Mutware guilty of rape as a crime against humanity and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He is the first commanding officer to be convicted for such a crime in eastern DRC, marking an important moment for justice in South Kivu.

Trials typically last two weeks and are, according to Judge Mary McGowan Davis who was invited by Open Society Justice Initiative and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa to assess the courts, “perhaps better adapted [than international courts] to the actual task of providing timely redress to individual victims in communities still struggling with the chaotic aftermath of war and political upheaval”. The speed of the trials also makes them more effective than national courts. Under national law, courts have 3 months to conclude sexual violence cases, and under-resourced national courts are often too slow to process cases which then get thrown out.

Alongside the trials, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative also works in conjunction with local civil society groups and the South Kivu Bar Association to provide sustainable training on the rule of law, educate people about their rights, and offer medical help and counselling to victims. This offers a more holistic approach to dealing with the problem of sexual violence and goes beyond mere justice and begins to address victims’ other needs.

No silver bullet

Despite the positive work of these mobile gender courts, they have limitations. The speedy nature of the trials, while beneficial in one way, can also make summoning witnesses in time difficult. There is also a lack of resources for basic equipment like writing paper or computers, the prison system is inadequate, and the state has failed to pay out for any form of reparations as of yet. Overcoming these problems, however, requires addressing other areas of the DRC’s judicial system.

Mobile gender courts are no quick fix to the problems surrounding impunity and injustice in DRC. Just as the scope of the ICC and the national courts are limited, these courts can only reach out to some of the many victims. These itinerant courts could, however, be a crucial foundation upon which the national judicial system and restoration of rule of law can be strengthened. In conjunction with the ICC and national courts, mobile gender courts can help tackle impunity at various levels and inculcate a sense of accountability around sexual violence.

By reaching victims in remote areas and delivering justice quickly, these courts offer perhaps the most optimistic indication to date that justice for victims of sexual violence in the DRC could be an achievable reality.

Think Africa Press welcomes inquiries regarding the republication of its articles. If you would like to republish this or any other article for re-print, syndication or educational purposes, please contact: editor@thinkafricapress.com

India signing nuclear test ban treaty to kick-start talks with Japan?

TOKYO/ NEW DELHI: It may not be necessary for India to sign Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) for resumption of talks with Japan for peaceful use of nuclear energy but it will certainly help if any such bilateral agreement can weave in New Delhi’s commitment to ban on nuclear test. Top diplomatic sources here told TOI that merely a generic voluntary moratorium on carrying out nuclear tests, which India keeps reiterating, will not be of much help.

The talks for civilian nuclear cooperation between the two countries have remained suspended since the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in March, 2011. In a recent interaction with outgoing Japanese PMYoshihiko Noda in Cambodia, PM Manmohan Singh had raised the issue of nuclear cooperation with Tokyo, but there is still no commitment from Japan exactly when talks will restart.

“Japan is not insisting that India sign CTBT but it is my reading that if India can commit to a test ban in any bilateral agreement for such a cooperation between the two countries, it will certainly make things easier,” a top diplomatic source handling Japan’s non-proliferation policy told TOI. The official was talking on the sidelines of the Fukushima ministerial conference that discussed measures to enhance nuclear safety worldwide, apart from showcasing Japan’s efforts to cope up with the nuclear disaster.

The official added though that Japan was not imposing any pre-conditions for resumption of nuclear dialogue. Indian officials here said though that it was not possible for New Delhi to go any further than what New Delhi had committed to before Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG) in September, 2008, where got India a waiver to carry out nuclear commerce. Then foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee had said in a statement that India remained committed to a voluntary and unilateral moratorium on nuclear test and to negotiate a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT).

India is hoping that the Liberal Democratic Party chief and the incoming PM, Shinzo Abe, will work towards resumption of talks. Abe shunned the policy of doing away completely with nuclear power and yet managed an emphatic win in the recent Lower House elections. After his victory, Abe has suggested that he will reconsider Japan’s ban on construction of new nuclear reactors in the country. Abe had earlier described the Noda-led government’s call for zero-dependence on nuclear energy as “unrealistic and irresponsible”.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-signing-nuclear-test-ban-treaty-to-kick-start-talks-with-Japan/articleshow/17726296.cms?

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#India-Woman stripped and battered in Tripura village #Nocountryforwomen #Vaw

TNN | Dec 23, 2012, 12.29 AM IST

MORE Samir Kar|Woman|Tripura Village|Rangapania Village

On Thursday, eight youths of the village tied the woman to a tree and assaulted her. Two women were also part of this gang.

AGARTALA: At a time when the entire nation is up in arms against the Delhi gang-rape incident, a 37-year-old woman has been stripped and battered in full public view by some youths atRangapania village of Bishalgarh, about 30 km from Agartala.

On Thursday, eight youths of the village tied the woman to a tree and assaulted her. Two women were also part of this gang.

The victim alleged that her husband instigated the youths to outrage her modesty because she had refused to bring money from her parents. Police said the victim got married to Samir Kar 9 years ago and they have a 3-year-old daughter.

A local court on Saturday sent seven accused of the incident to 15 days judicial custody and asked police to arrest the main accused – the husband of the victim.

“I was tortured by my husband and in-laws for dowry. I brought more than Rs 2 lakh from my parents over the years. After I gave birth to a girl, the atrocities increased as they didn’t want a girl child,” the victim told police.

She said she had been objecting to the atrocities of late which made her husband angry and he masterminded this heinous plan to outrage her modesty. Based on the victim’s complaint, police immediately swung into action and arrested seven of them. Three more accused – Samir and two other women – are still absconding.

Crime against women in Tripura is escalating over the years. On an average, 19 women are being raped and at least 10 brides get killed in the state every month. At least one rape case is reported in every two days in Tripura.

 

 

#India shame -2-year-old, tied up and raped #Vaw

TNN | Dec 23, 2012, 02.11 AM IST

VADODARA: A two-year-old girl was allegedlyraped by a man who was a guest in her house in Halol town in Panchmahal. The accused tied her hands and legs with rope and raped her in an open field away from her home, leaving the town shocked.The girl has suffered serious injuries on her private parts but they are not life-threatening, said doctors at SSG Hospital in Vadodara where she has been admitted.

The victim’s parents are from Nepal. The father is employed as a security guard in Halol. Police officials said that the girl was lured away by the accused, Keshavraj Joshi, 32, also from Nepal, on the pretext of buying her biscuits on Friday evening. When the two did not return for a long time, the parents got worried and started looking for them.

Joshi was tracked down to an isolated spot, sitting alone. He gave vague replies about whereabouts of the girl. Eventually the girl was spotted not far away with her hands and legs tied amid bushes. She was bleeding profusely from her private parts.

Police inspector J K Patel said medical examination of both the accused and the victim has been conducted. The results are awaited.

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