Government orders probe into ‘thrashing’ of couple by cops

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November 4, 2015

Government on Wednesday ordered a probe into alleged thrashing of a man and a woman by police personnel inside a police station after a video clip of the incident went viral on social media.

“DCP, zone 10, Vinayak Deshmukh has been asked to conduct an inquiry to determine if policemen used force which is against the rules,” Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil said.

He said the clip is about two-three days old.

The couple seen in the video were found purportedly drunk opposite Andheri police station and quarrelling. They work in the same office. They were brought to the police station and police had a medical test conducted.

The medical report shows the couple had consumed alcohol, the minister said.

While they were seated separately, the girl became restless and started shouting, Patil said.

She can be seen in the clip trying to cling to the boy, he said.

The DCP has been asked to probe if policemen ‘crossed barriers’ while allegedly slapping and beating the couple, he said.

The Andheri Police however, claimed the duo were in an inebriated condition and scuffled with each other on the night of November 1 and that police only tried to pacify them.

Andheri Police, however, rubbished the charge saying that the duo were in an inebriated condition and had a scuffle with each other on night of November 1 and that the police only tried to pacify them.

“The couple were under heavy influence of alcohol and were fighting with each other on the road near Andheri Metro Station. They were then brought to the police station but the two again picked up a scuffle. Police just did the duty to separate them while they were fighting,” Senior Inspector, Andheri Police Station, Nandkumar Dhumal said.

He said the man was trying to get hold of the woman while the cops tried to restrain him and the video was shot at that particular moment.

The clip has been recorded to besmirch the reputation of the police, Dhumal claimed.
An inquiry has been initiated in the matter, he added.

No case was lodged against the couple and their parents were called to the police station. The duo were later released after a warning, he said, adding that a station-house diary was made and statements of the couple were recorded.

According to the police, the woman is a resident of suburban Nalasopara while the man lives in Byculla in South Mumbai. They worked at a call centre in Malad area.

Former Congress MP Siricilla Rajaiah, family arrested after daughter-in-law’s death

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

Former Congress MP Sircilla Rajaiah and his wife and son were arrested on Wednesday hours after bodies of his daughter-in-law and three grandsons were found charred to death at his residence at Warangal in mysterious circumstances.

S Sarika and her all three sons – Abhinav, 7, Ayan, 3, and Sriyan, 3 – were burnt to death in the fire that broke out in her bedroom on the first floor of the house.

Fire brigade officials extinguished the fire around 6.30 am.

While some reports claimed the fire started after an LPG gas leak, others said it was started by Sarika.

Police found an LPG cooking cylinder with its regulator open was found in the room.

The dead woman’s family said it suspected foul play.

Sarika’s mother and sister alleged in their native Nizamabad district that her in-laws “tortured her and killed her”.

“My sister cannot commit suicide…She was tortured and killed,” Sarika’s sister alleged.

Women’s groups alleged that Sarika and the children were murdered and demanded action against the former MP and his son.

Incidentally, a criminal case was filed against Rajaiah, his wife Madhavi, son S Anil Kumar and another woman, at the Begumpet women’s police station in Hyderabad in April 2014, following a complaint lodged by Sarika, who alleged that her husband and in-laws had been harassing her for dowry.

Last year, she had staged a sit-in in front of Rajaiah’s house, seeking justice for her and her children. She also complained that Anil was having an extra-marital affair.

“We found four bodies in the house. We are investigating. It’s premature to say anything now,” Warangal Police Commissioner G Sudheer Babu told the media.

Police had questioned Rajaiah and Anil during the day.

It was not clear where the other members of the family including Sarika’s husband Anil were at the time of the incident. Anil and his parents apparently live on separate floors of the same house.

Rajaiah immediately withdrew from the Warangal Lok Sabha by-election in which he was a candidate.

The Congress had last week named Rajaiah as its candidate for the November 21 by-election from the Warangal Lok Sabha seat.

He was elected from Warangal in 2009 but lost last year.

Anil and Sarika had met while studying engineering in Hyderabad and went for a registered marriage in 2002. A traditional marriage ceremony was later held with the consent of both the families in 2006.

Woman who accused R K Pachauri of sexual harassment resigns

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

The woman researcher of The Energy Research Institute (TERI), who accused former TERI boss R K Pachauri of sexual harassment, has quit.

The women who cited mental torture in her resignation letter said, “Your organisation has treated me in the worst possible manner. TERI failed to uphold my interests as an employee, let alone protecting them.”

Highlighting the action of Pachauri and the response that was dealt to her, she wrote in her resignation letter, the (governing) council could not even suspend a man pending inquiry and took no action despite the indictment. You also created a hostile environment for me which has only escalated and showed no signs of subsiding whatsoever.

She further accused the organisation of mistreating her. I refuse to be associated with an organisation such as yours for the way you have mistreated me, for not standing by the law, for not having respect for my capabilities, for doing nothing to ensure that my career is not harmed and instead harmed me mentally, professionally and economically, the 29 year old woman wrote.

A complaint was lodged in February, earlier this year by her to the police where she alleged that the 75 year old Nobel Prize winning Pachauri harassed her ever since her appointment in 2013.

An internal investigation was concluded and Pachauri who was found guilty of the crime and removed as the TERI chief.

LeT’s new commander in J&K planning more attacks to avenge killing of Abu Qasim

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

Intelligence agencies have warned that Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has entrusted Abu Dujana, its new commander in J&K, to carry out more attacks to avenge the killing of his former boss Abu Qasim by the security forces last week.

The LeT appointed Dujana as its top commander to look after the militant outfit’s operations in Kashmir after Abu Qasim’s death.

LeT had suffered a big setback when Qasim, who was wanted in many terror strikes including this year’s Udhampur attack on the BSF, was killed at a village in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

Abu Dujana is one of the most wanted militant by the security forces for his role in Udhampur attack in which two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed and around a dozen were injured last month.

He carries a cash reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head.

Abu Dujana was also present with Abu Qasim when the security forces launched an attack on them, according to the inputs provided by the intelligence agencies.

However, Abu managed to escape.

He is also known to be the right hand of Abu Qasim and was also his bodyguard.

He has been reportedly instructed by his LeT handlers in Pakistan to target important installations in J&K, including security forces.

Yogi Adityanath says Shah Rukh Khan, Hafiz Saeed speak same language

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

After Sadhvi Prachi and Kailash Vijayvargiya’s caustic remarks on Shah Rukh Khan, BJP MP Yogi Adityanath has now slammed the Bollywood superstar and compared him Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.

Targeting King Khan, the firebrand BJP MP said that both Shah Rukh and Hafiz Saeed speak in same language.

Adityanath said that a few writers and artists have been invoking anti-India sentiments and it is unfortunate that Shah Rukh too has similar opinion.

Shah Rukh has been criticised by a few politicians for making the “intolerance” comment.

SRK, during an event, had expressed his views on the alleged growing intolerance in the country that has forced writers, filmmakers and artists to return their prestigious awards given by the government.

Mahagathbandhan moves EC against a controversial BJP’s ‘cow’ advertisement

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

The Grand Alliance in Bihar has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against a controversial BJP advertisement in the Mithilanchal-Kosi-Seemanchal editions of newspapers.

The Mahagathbandhan is fuming over a BJP print advertisement which attacks Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on his “silence” over statements made by his allies on beef. The advertisement shows a woman hugging a cow with a message at the top asking Nitish to reply on the comments by leaders of his alliance and his silence on it till now.

The advertisement questions JD (U) leader and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s silence over the controversial remarks made by his alliance partners on beef row.

Amidst outrage over the lynching of a 50-year-old Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh over allegedly eating beef, RJD president Lalu Prasad had said “Hindus too eat beef” and accused BJP and RSS of communalising the issue.

“Those who eat meat are not sabhya (civilised) people. Poor people eat meat to beat their hunger… Those who go outside (the country) eat beef. Even Hindus eat beef. There is no difference between beef and goat meat,” he had said.

Another RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had kicked up a political storm by saying that in Vedas it is mentioned that ‘rishis’ and ‘maharishis’ used to consume beef.

Amidst controversies and uproar around beef ban, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently said, “I will eat beef now. Who are you to question me?. Though I’ve not consumed beef till now, I will do it now. It’s my right.”

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has openly advocated for Nitish Kumar, tweeted: “Have these ads in Bihar been given by BJP’s fringe elements? Or by BJP top brass?”

RSS khakhi shorts may be replaced by trousers

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

In its endeavour to keep abreast with the times and attract the youngsters, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) may opt for a new dress code.

The most important change will be replacing ‘half-pants’ with trousers. In 2010, the leather belt worn by Swayamsevaks was replaced with a canvas one.

The RSS top brass had discussed the issue when they met in Ranchi last week. Some Swayamsevaks, wearing trousers, even paraded before RSS leaders.

However, a final decision will only be taken after next March when RSS’ decision making body – Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha – will meet.

The proposal has met with stiff resistance from older RSS workers, especially from Maharashtra but those in favour of the change stress that a change in the dress code is the need of the hour.

The IE report says the two options are being considered. The first includes a T-shirt (most likely white) and black trousers. White full shirt and khaki trousers is the other combination under consideration.

With 50,000 shakhas and at least 10 swayamsevaks in each shakha, the logistics of the implementing the change will also be a big challenge.

Pitching faith on pitches

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

Gandhi-Mandela one day PAY tm Trophy was annexed by South Africa with an incredible win. The scene is set for Team India to stage manage a win with the help of under prepared wickets in the four test match series. We did this in the past against World Champions Australia at home. In 50 years of International cricket we have not achieved any headway in playing fast bowling. All along we do prepare soft wickets at home to help our spinners and thereby kill the game from the grass root level. Now, we see most of the Indian bowlers lose pace and try hard to stick round in the side by bowling half pace. Thus we lag behind in facing fast bowling and that is downfall of Team India.

It is time to prepare fast wickets otherwise we will have to face debacles and surrender when we go on an overseas tour. A major factor for our poor performances while playing cricket at home and abroad is the pitch factor. Using modern technology, can’t we prepare pitches that will be more or less similar to the one in Wankhede and give our batsmen and bowlers enough practice before the start of a tour? This will help them to acclimatize well on playing on sportive wickets. Knowing fully well about our inherent weakness against pace bowlers, foreign teams bring a pair of fast bowlers to test our batsmen and upset the apple cart. A tall and young fast bowler Rabada caused trouble and captured 10 wickets in a winning cause in the series.

South Africa were on a mission in the deciding game with proper planning and made sure that there were no traces of choking at any stage as they decimated the Indian bowling attack with elan and won this first bilateral one day series. The annihilation was so brutal that even the rain that poured in certain parts of the city, halted and took cognizance and the visitors humbled India by 214 runs. It all started with a 5 runs win at Kanpur and ended with an overwhelming win. Even few dropped catches or umpiring errors could not save the humiliating defeat. Team India is beaten blue and black and there was no chance of redemption.

We called five bowlers from West Indies (Stayers, Griffith, Gilchrist, King and Hall) to help us to face fast bowlers after the disastrous tour (0-5 defeat) to the Caribbean Team in 1960s. We never learned our lessons and just play with part-time medium pacers and they also fall prey to injuries quite frequently as they did not get enough room to bowl long spells at home in any form of the game. The reason being we prepare slow wickets to suit our so called superb batsmen, who fail miserably once the chin music start and surrender their wickets without even a semblance of fight. How long we can survive in International cricket without the technical competence pertaining to playing fast bowling. We use wet Tennis Balls as a substitute to prune up our talent facing the fast bowlers of the World fearing injuries on the practice pitches. It is time for retrospection and we should not kill the game in India only to keep our Test rankings or our One-day rankings at a safe position. If we wish to be called a paper tiger we can go for tailor-made wickets at home and win matches and face the wrath of ICC in the process for preparing doctoring wickets to suit our so called spinners, who generally fail on foreign soil all the time.

The old weakness of chasing the ball from Wankhede to Brabourne stadium let us down. Most of the catches go to either wicket keeper or to the first or second slip. The fielding remains clueless all the time and the bowling is just aimless. How can we expect a side to perform without proper bowling and fielding assistance? When the target is not at our reach we threw away wickets and surrender meekly. Pitching faith only on pitches brought us to the position of losing and the team is down and out because of complacency. We need a positive thinking and the will to win matches.

C.K. Subramaniam

Working with 11 directors in ‘X’ rare experiment: Anshuman Jha

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

In his 5-year-long career, “Love Sex aur Dhoka” fame actor Anshuman Jha has never been part of a co-directed project and says working in upcoming film “X: Past is Present” was a ‘rare experiment’.

“X: Past is Present” is helmed by a team of 11 filmmakers who would be directing different segments of the film, which is not an anthology.

The film’s directors include Rajshree Ojha of “Aisha” fame, “London Paris New York” director Anu Menon, Bengali director Qaushiq Mukherjee (popularly known as Q), “Aatma” director Suparn Verma, Abhinav Shiv Tiwari, Nalan Kumarasamy, Hemant Gaba, Pratim D Gupta, Raja Sen, Sandeep Mohan and Sudhish Kamath.

“It was exciting to be a part of something which has never happened before. Working with different filmmakers, for the same film… It’s a rare experiment,” Anshuman told PTI.

The actor, who made his debut with Dibakar Banerjee’s “Love Sex Aur Dhoka”, plays a character called ‘K’, from the age of 16 to 29.

The older part of his character is played by actor RajatKapoor.

“It is quite crazy as all of them are different thinkers, diverse filmmakers. Each segment will be unique… Even I had to modulate my voice as my character was ageing to sound mature,” he added.

Anshuman has shared screen space with actress Huma Qureshi and Swara Bhaskar in the film and says both are different from each other yet similar.

“I had a fantastic time working with them. Huma is clinical, Swara is instinctive. They both have different approaches but create magic in their own way. They have a very natural, easy comfort around them,” he said.

The actor will be next seen in Onir’s “Chauranga” with Tanishtha Chatterjee and Pradeep Singrole’s “Robinhood Ke Pote”.

“X: Past is Present” is scheduled to release on November 20.

Kangana Ranaut was called an interfering b**ch

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Afternoon Voice

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November 4, 2015

Actress Kangana Ranaut, thinks it is not about male or female-centric films, it is about characters. “I think it is not about male or female centric films but about the character one plays on screen. The characters are remembered,” she said.

The actress was speaking at a session on ‘Women in Films’ at MAMI festival, where veteran actress Shabana Azmi and director Kiran Rao were also present.

Complimenting Kangana’s work, Shabana said, “There were lot of women-centric films with Nutan, Meena Kumari, Mala Sinha, then there came a phase where women were shown as a forgiving wife, sacrificing sister, loving mother, it was all stereotypical.”

“It is a happy time as women are playing protagonist in films,” she said.

Shabana added she fails to understand the disparity in remuneration for male and female actors in the Hindi film industry.

“I am unable to understand why gender comes in a profession. I got good money in mainstream films and for small budget films, I got money according to the budget of the film.”

On the other hand, Kangana revealed how studios pay the actresses. “I think for the last 10 years I was struggling to get a break, today I am happy where I am. I ask what I feel is right. We get five per cent of what our male counterparts get,” she said.

“There are studios that offer us big films saying it is an opportunity for us, but they don’t pay us enough. It is our right to get paid,” the 28-year-old Queen star.

On being criticised for giving inputs in dialogues and screenplay, she said, “As an actress when I started contributing to my films, writing dialogues and screenplays, I thought people would find me useful. I was shocked to see that it was seen as something which is not accepted no matter how much they are benefiting from it,” she said.

“My contribution is seen as interference. But when a male actor, who is this maverick, larger than life person, does the same thing it is not considered that way. I was called an interfering b***h,” she added.