The Bombay High Court has granted custody of a minor boy to his father, who was accused of murdering his wife, after observing that in the absence of a mother, a child’s natural guardian is the father.
A division bench of Justices PV Hardas and AS Gadkari was hearing a petition filed by Amol Pawar, seeking custody of his two and a half year son who was being looked after by his maternal grandfather after the father was arrested for allegedly murdering the child’s mother.
Amol got married to Ramesh Dhotre’s daughter in November 2010. In March 2012, she died due to burn injuries following which Amol was arrested and booked for murder and harassment.
In April 2013, a session’s court in Satara acquitted Amol from the charges following which he sought custody of his son from his father-in-law. “Since the petitioner has been acquitted and he is the natural guardian of the minor child, the petitioner cannot be deprived from obtaining custody of his minor child,” the high court said.
It also noted that till date the state government has not preferred an appeal against Amol’s acquittal.
While directing Dhotre to hand over custody of the child to Amol, the court said, “The respondent (Dhotre) would be at liberty to file appropriate proceedings under the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act for claiming custody of the minor child in the family court. Currently, the petitioner being the father cannot be deprived of the custody of his child.”
Maharashtra’s ambitious Emergency Medical Services initiative was launched yesterday by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Over 970 ambulances will be deployed in the state and will provide service free of charge,” the chief minister said.
Chavan inaugurated the service at a function at the Marine Drive near the Police Gymkhana in south Mumbai.
The EMS project envisages that citizens will be able to dial 108 in case of an emergency to call for a free ambulance service. Of the total number of ambulances to be
deployed, 233 are advanced life support ambulances.
Every ambulance will be equipped with a doctor and para-medic staff. In urban areas, the ambulance will be available at the accident spot within 20 minutes, while in rural areas it will reach within 30 minutes.
In Mumbai, 70 ambulances will be deployed immediately.
Thereafter, another 70 will be added, Health Minister Suresh Shetty said.
A 13 year old girl from Shil-Daighar in Thane district has been raped, police said.
One 22-year-old woman has been arrested for alleged abetment to rape while the main accused, identified as Mahadu Rathod, is absconding, police said adding the incident had taken place on February 26 in a slum colony in Kausa.
According to Police Inspector (Crime) Gauriprasad C Hiremath of Shil-Diaghar police station, the arrested woman Laxmi Baban Rathod had taken the victim to her house on the pretext of giving her a job of cutting logs of woods.
“However, when the girl entered the house she asked her to get some water to drink. When the girl went in, the lady locked the door from outside. Inside the room, there was a man who raped her,” he said.
However, the girl later managed to escape from his clutches and lodged a complaint.
The duo have been charged under sections 376 (rape) as well as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012, police added.
Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare said he would campaign for 50 independent candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Talking to reporters at Deulgaon-Raja near Jalna in Maharashtra, Anna said he had proposed a 17-point agenda for political parties and these 50 candidates, 12 of them from Maharashtra, had accepted it.
West Bengal Chief Minister Manmata Banerjee, too, had accepted the programme, which is why he was supporting her, he added. Asked if he would support the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, Anna said that since the party had not accepted the 17-point programme, there was no question of him supporting its candidates.
He added that the candidates supported by him, if elected, would support neither Congress nor BJP. Anna appealed to the people to vote for Balasaheb Darade here, who is planning to contest as an independent from Jalna Lok Sabha constituency.
Relatives of a 19-year-old girl complained to the Thane railway police that she was raped and pushed in front of a running suburban local train, after her body was found on the railway tracks between Thane and Kalwa at about 9 am, the police said.
Locals also alleged that when one of them went to the Kalwa police station to lodge a complaint, the police turned him down stating that it was not under their “jurisdiction”.
The railway police stated that they could arrive at any conclusion and decide on the course of action only after a postmortem.
Meanwhile, the railway police has taken two people into custody, in connection with the incident and said that her body has been sent to the Thane Civil Hospital for postmortem.
The victim who resided in Dighe, Navi Mumbai, used to work in the NBZ Pharmaceutical Company, after which she used to attend computer classes at Anand Nagar at about 6 pm.
The girl, identified as Priyanka Uttam Muzmule, was a resident of Kalwa and was run over by a train, police said.
Police have registered a case of accidental death and probing whether it was a suicide or a murder.
On Saturday, instead of returning home, she went to her friend’s house and to the computer classes from there, the police said.
A 29-year-old man from Kalwa has been sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday by the Thane Additional Sessions Judge M C Khadke for killing his friend.
According to sources, the accused, Raju alias Raja Rathod, and the victim, Vishal Patil, were good friends and used to drink on a daily basis. The victim used to borrow money from the accused on a regular basis.
On June 26, 2011, an argument aroused between the two over money issue after which a non-cognizable (NC) offence was registered against them.
Then on June 30, 2011, another tiff broke out between the duo over the same issue. This time Patil beat up Rathod, who then in a fit of rage picked up an axe and hit the victim on the head. Patil died on the spot.
The accused then went to the police station and confessed to his crime. The police arrested the accused immediately.
A case was registered against the accused and in the recent hearing the judge pronounced life imprisonment for the Rathod.
The judge held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubts that the accused had committed the gruesome crime and deserved a life sentence.
Assistant public prosecutor Hemlata Deshmukh, along with advocate Akshata Kulkarni-Jere appeared for the prosecution.
The accused was charged under Section 302 of the India Penal Code (IPC).
Budget carrier GoAir expects to complete the route feasibility study for its proposed international operations within a few months, sources said.
The Nusli Wadia-promoted private carrier, which currently has 18 aircraft, will automatically become eligible for overseas operations in July when it is expected to induct the 20th aircraft.
After this, the airline will approach the government for necessary approvals, sources said.
The existing rules require domestic carriers to be in operation for at least five years and have a fleet of a minimum of 20 aircraft to be eligible to fly on international routes. The rule is being amended and the aviation ministry has to moved a cabinet note for amendment, but it is unlikely to happen in the near future in view of general elections due in April-May.
“At present we are carrying out a route feasibility study towards our goal of flying international, which we expect to complete in the next few months,” GoAir sources said.
The airline recently inducted 18th aircraft and with two more joining the fleet between April and July, it will become eligible to fly international.
The routes being evaluated are spread across Southeast Asia and the Gulf, the sources said, adding, “we will do only those sectors which have a short turnaround time, as a large part of the operations will remain domestic”.
The airline plans to operate three-four overseas destinations to begin with, and then scale it up.
As a part of its three-year business plan, the airline will deploy up to 10 per cent of its capacity on the international routes, GoAir chief executive Girgio De Roni had said last year.
After increasing the bilateral traffic rights between India and Abu Dhabi 4-fold to 50,000 seats a week last April, the government hiked the bilateral air traffic rights between India and Dubai by 11,000 seats per week in a hurried manner last week.
A 35-year-old Arabic teacher, attached to a local mosque in suburban Wadala, was arrested for allegedly molesting three minor girls.
Maulana Kadri conducted special Arabic classes and around 70 girls were his students, police said.
“Yesterday, three girls approached us and lodged a complaint stating Kadri had molested them on several occasions in the past,” said an official with Wadala TT police station.
The girls also alleged that Kadri had told them to stay at the place overnight.
“We arrested Kadri yesterday for molestation under IPC. He was produced in a court which remanded him in police custody for seven days,” the official said.
Meanwhile, police are also looking for a former teacher, once attached to the same mosque, in connection with allegations of molestation raised against him.
I was shocked to see Nirmal Baba’s programme again fooling people on news channels and on the same news channels which restlessly condemned him for the fraud he is doing. Everything is back to the normal with same modus operandi i.e. people asking him questions in so called ‘samagam’ and he is giving weird answers. Now, no one is raising doubts on him. Even one of the reputed news channel has allotted him important slot for his ‘Bewakoofiyan’ and babagiri. What should we call it, is it commercial angle for business or compromising with the journalistic ethics?
Long time ago, I used to work for one of the most famous spiritual channels of India; there I learned the ‘Making of babas’. Most of the spiritual leaders of today are created by spiritual channels. All the aspirants with good oratory and little knowledge about religion have adopted this lucrative business as their way of life. The charm of the babas is illusive and they are nothing but good social engineers. Some can perform hypnotism excellently. We Indians, stressful people, suffering from traumas, dissatisfactions, complaints, grievances, pain and grief are easily taken for a ride by them. A common man lives under one roof with his own family as they are living in a herd of enemies. No one is happy with their life; everyone has gone far away from peace striving to be rich. These are the problems where babas enter in your life and play an important role to make you much poorer than you are. They will extract money from you and become rich.
Offerings to God is imbibed in our culture, offerings in the name of rituals are engrained in the mindset of a common human being. The more you offer the more satisfaction you will get; this is what we have been taught since childhood. The practice of offering has been carried out since centuries then why to blame babas for that? The same principle is applicable to them too. The richest disciple is the most favourite of babas. In a way, it’s you who has created these babas and made their lifestyle lavishing. When we are sick, we need good medication and doctor. Instead of being practical and getting treated by medicines, we depend on our blind faith on the babas to cure all ailments.
Since television explored new dimensions of showcasing divine epics, spirituality became the commercial aspect of it. All aspirants and famous babas became poster heroes of these spiritual channels. It is a global scheme to make all spiritual believers of India to play with faith. Moreover, most of the Godmen are fraud. The most lucrative and profitable business of present time is “Spiritual Prostitution” where God and his existence is encroached by so called falsified souls.
Recently, the sexual assault case involving Asaram Bapu and his son has created lots of headlines. There are many victims of the duo. There are many witnesses too, but his lawyer says the self-styled godman was a victim of “international conspiracy” hatched to defame the saint community in India. Asaram has been targeted as part of this vicious conspiracy as he was a very popular saint of the country. There are many such babas who landed in police trap for all the evil that they did under the name of spirituality. No one knows the fact but ‘babagiri’ has become a big industry.
Remember, the hallway into a fresh storm, Nirmal Baba has been accused by Andhshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti for cheating innocent people and exploiting them financially. In a statement released by Executive President of Andhshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti Umesh Chaubey and Harish Deshmukh, they said that supernatural and spiritual powers claimed by Nirmal Baba are absolutely false and should be considered void. Moreover, they also revealed that Nirmal Baba hires people to ask ‘fake’ questions and later telecast it on TV channels to gain mileage. Yes! This is possible because he pays heavy amount to TV channels for his God-man acting and public appearances. Why TV channels promote these babas? Every news channel has a slot for these spiritual exhibitors. Or in other words, these babas are income source for TV channels. Promoting superstition has become a fashion in TV industry.
Why Andhshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti suddenly started campaign against these babas? Why everyone is reacting on babas issue? Earlier, there were several complaints registered in local police stations of Lucknow and Raipur. Yogendra Shankar Shukla, ex-President, Ravishankar University, and also a complainant who planned a press conference and told media that Nirmal baba is suggesting ‘non-sense’ remedies to the problems of innocent people like keeping bundle of notes in locker, eat samosa, wear expensive footwear, flaunt luxury purse, etc, and is exploiting them financially. Why Shankar Shukla voiced it today? The reason is, even Shankar Shukla wanted extra perks, and he can earn by exposing babas. Also, Nidhi, a junior-artist who has worked in many TV serials, claimed that Nirmal Baba shot many of his programmes in Film City, Noida, UP and surprisingly, the people who asked questions were not the ‘genuine’ ones but ‘fake’ people hired by Nirmal Baba. According to Nidhi, she got Rs. 10,000 from Nirmal Baba for asking questions. Nidhi has come in front of TV Channel to talk against Baba because, he is facing bad times. Where were her codes of moral when she took money by acting in that scheme? She is also responsible as much as Baba is for misguiding the public.
In another revelation, a report in a newspaper claims that Nirmaljit Singh Narula alias Nirmal Baba, who is under scanner for his immense wealth, has purchased a hotel using donations from his followers. The popularity of Nirmal Baba has faded after reports in the media about his wealth and assets. At present, the market value of the hotel is worth Rs. 35 crores. Former owner of the hotel, Ashwani Kapoor, revealed that the Godman wanted to open a chain of hotels. Nirmal Baba made payments for the hotel from his personal bank account number 15460001 02129694, which is in the name of Nirmaljeet Singh Narula. A report suggests that over Rs. 123 crores were deposited in the godman’s above-mentioned account between January 04 and April 13, 2012. According to a newspaper, during the same period, Rs. 105.56 crore was also withdrawn from the same account and the balance as on April 13 was Rs 17.47 crore.
We should not blame babas, it is the masses, who consider their blessings as magic and are ready to pay any amount for this. Science tries to capture spiritual power, media tries to confirm these through camera, but they forget that till science has not created medicine for simple cough and cold, it was spiritual power that worked as remedy and its God man that installed the faith in common man. God and wisdom towards spiritual path has got diverted towards the commercial aspects of the world. Today, the same Nirmal Baba is again getting the TV space and fooling people.
Worshipping has become bribery and faith has become the cash. Here, God’s power is a saleable item and the godmen have become pimps in spiritual prostitution. Then who we should blame?
The Bombay High Court has granted custody of a minor boy to his father, who was accused of murdering his wife, after observing that in the absence of a mother, a child’s natural guardian is the father.
Maharashtra’s ambitious Emergency Medical Services initiative was launched yesterday by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.