Vol.12 Issue 8 Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media, Bangalore 5 October 2012

Woman beaten and abused for ten yearsbegs court:“Make him marry me”

Awoman abused for over a

decade by her partner has

asked a court to force him to

marry her.

The woman claimed she has

been abandoned by her partner

after being physically and mentally

tortured for more than ten years.

She has also lodged a case

against the man for committing

fraud and demanding dowry.

According to the lawyers this is

the first case in Bangalore Family

Court, in which a woman wants

marriage instead of maintenance

after so much abuse. The case is

on-going.

The woman filed a complaint

against her partner on 20th July

this year, but the case started on

27th September in Bangalore

Family Court.

The woman was in a relationship

with him from 1997 and started liv-

ing with him without marriage from

2012. The 31-year-old woman said

that she went through six abortions

during the period of their relation-

ship.

She added that when she con-

ceived the fourth time, she was

forced to have an abortion. On re-

fusing, she was beaten by her

partner and his family. The assault

led to her fourth miscarriage.

The victim said: “After my sixth

abortion I was unconscious for

twelve hours which is unusual and

I fear that he made me undergo

some permanent contraceptive

measure.”

When she was forced to abort

her first pregnancy she was about

to graduate from college. Her part-

ner told her that it was too early to

have a child and they should focus

on their careers so she agreed.

She claims her former lover also

threatened her by saying that he

would kill her brother if she de-

manded marriage. She finally left

him and went to live with her fam-

ily. After a few days he came to

take her and said he would make

amends but she was tortured

again after that.

He told her that he would marry

her after his sister’s marriage and

got engaged to her in 2010. He

and his family demanded a dowry

of Rs. 50 lakhs, according to the

woman and her legal team. The

woman’s parents did not entertain

their request but promised to do as

much as possible during the wed-

ding.

She said they had gone through

a temple wedding ceremony but

this is not recognized in law.

When he filed a case against her

for forcing him to marry her, she

left him and decided to report him.

Her mother said: “I will support my

daughter in her fight whether my

husband does or not”

During the process of mediation,

the mediator said to the woman:

“Why do you want to marry him?

You should claim for maintenance

and lead your life.” She did not

agree and said that she wanted to

give him a last chance.

The mediator also said that the

man denies the allegations and

has produced a document saying

that their engagement has been

cancelled. To this, the woman said

that she was made to sign blank

papers. Her partner said that he

was taking the signatures for insur-

ance policy.

One of the lawyers of the firm

backing the woman’s case said:

“There is no law with respect to

live-in relationships until now but

there are rulings under the

Supreme Court which say that a

woman is entitled to maintenance

in such a case.”

Despite repeated attempts the

partner was not available for com-

ment.

Lack of female cops leaves women helpless

Not a single complaint has

been registered in women’s

police station in Bangalore this

year.

The rising crime rate against fe-

males in Bangalore are being reg-

istered only in two police stations

which are solely for women.These

police stations are located in Bas-

vangudi and Halasuru gate which

come under the South and East

zone respectively.

Renuka, sub inspector at Bas-

vangudi Mahila police station said:

“We have not registered a single

complaint in the police station this

year. We do not have most of the

facilities and there is an immense

shortage of staffs.”

“At times we transfer our com-

plaints to Banashankari police sta-

tion as we are not able to deal with

them ourselves. There are just

twelve constables including me

and that is not enough to run any

police station,” she added.

“It is extremely unfortunate that

women are not able to register

complaints due to shortage of staff

in the women’s police stations. It

shows the level of ignorance on

this particular issue” said Suzanne,

one of the coordinators at Ashraya

women’s centre.

There were a total of sixteen fe-

male constables including a sub-

inspector, a head constable, 12

police constables, a mutual con-

stable and two WPSIs in the police

station till July 2012.The number

has come down to twelve by Sep-

tember 2012.

In 2008, Basvangudi women’s

police station was on the verge of

shutting down completely due to

shortage of staff. The other major

reasons for the shutting down of

this police station was said to be

inefficient personnel, allegations of

exploitation and theft in the prem-

ises, as per reports.

When asked that why just two fe-

male constables present in the po-

lice station including her, she said

that few of the constables were on

training and would be back only

after a month. After which she re-

fused to make any further com-

ments.

“Women police stations are im-

portant as women feel more com-

fortable describing the incidences

with female constables, besides,

they can approach them at any

point of time without feeling unsafe

or uncomfortable.” said Manohar

Hosea, a lawyer.

Ranjeeta Sharma, a student of

Christ college said, ”I think these

women police stations are of no

use. Once I went there to file a

complaint against a few eve

teasers and these people turned

me away saying that it would be

better if I contacted the local police

station.”

Basvangudi police station run by women - Amrita

The victim - Pyusha

By Amrita Ray

By Pyusha Chatterjee

Visually impaired find it

difficult to walk without

handrail -Page 2

Patients fear over lack

of doctors on night duty

- Page 3

Petrol is still black mar-

keted round the city. -

Page 4

Ganesha idols being

immeresed in mobile

tanks -Page 4

2 The Weekly Observer 05 October 2012

Disabled people find it hard

to commute at Majetic Bus

Station as it lacks disabled-

friendly facilities.

Majestic bus station, the largest

bus terminal owned by Bangalore

Metropolitan Transport Corpora-

tion (BMTC), was opened in

1980, but has no disabled friendly

access.

When asked about the conven-

ience for disabled people at Ma-

jestic Bus Staion, Mr. Niranjan

Krishna, Junior Assistant in Pub-

lic Relations Department of

BMTC said: “We have a special

reservation system for all theBMTC owned buses and the newVolvo buses have a ramp en-trance specially made for the dis-abled. “

He added that there are rampsmade for the commuters’ con-venience for the overbridge thattakes passengers across the bus

terminal. However, no mention

was made about other basic fa-

cilities which would be of advan-

tage to the disabled at a bus

station.

As per section 33 and 43 of

People with Disability (PWD) Act

1995, at least 3% of the develop-

ment budget should be allotted

for the welfare of people with dis-

abilities.

When asked about where the

3% was used in Majestic Bus

Station infrastructure, Mr. Na-

garaj, Chief Traffic Manager of

BMTC said he cannot disclose

that information.

He said that handrails are there

at the bus station up to the en-

trance. But when asked about

why there are no handrails at the

main area like the ones in Shan-

thinagar Bus station which is also

owned by BMT C, he said:”The

movement is too much in Majes-

tic. Handrails are not given so

people can walk easily. Buses

are going in the same direction in

Shanthinagar so handrails are

not a problem”. But buses in Ma-

jestic Bus station are also going

in the same direction. He didn’t

comment further on this.

“I always have to ask my son to

lead me till the bus whenever I

have to go somewhere”, said Mr.

Raju who is visually impaired.

With the bus station being so

crowded at all hours, no handrails

have been set keeping the visu-

ally impaired in mind. Only the

over bridge has a ramp to get

people across the bus terminal.

But even that is constructed in

such a manner that people have

to eventually use the stairs.

Also, the toilets inside bus ter-

minal are not disabled friendly.

“If my father tried to travel alone

at this place, he would keep run-

ning into people because this sta-

tion is always full of people,” said

Mr. Raju’s son who was accom-

panying him.

Visually impaired find it hard to walk without handrail. -Kriti K

By Kriti Khandelwal

Majestic bus station not disabled friendly

By Shreya Mukherjee

By Sumit

Modified silencers on cars and

bikes deafen the city

Rising thefts continue

to worry Bangaloreans

There has been an increase in

thefts from houses over the

past year.

355 House Break Thefts (HBT)

cases during the day were regis-

tered in 2011. Upto April this year,

cases registered were 193.

HBT cases at night were 958 in

2011, while 614 cases were al-

ready registered by April this

year. 32 percent of these regis-

tered cases were detected.

HBT during the night are in-

creasing very rapidly across the

city. On questioning ACP Anand

Kumar of Bangalore city, he said:

“I agree that the house break

thefts are increasing in the city,

but at the same time Bangalore

police is doing a commendable

job by detecting those cases and

they try their level best to control

it.”

Approximately 109 theft cases

have been recorded in Bangalore

in last two months.

On further asking about thefts,

the ACP said: “Sometimes, it

happens because of the reluc-

tance of people. They keep their

doors unlock which causes thefts

in their house. Police force al-

ways keeps in touch with the citi-

zens whenever they need any

help.”

A resident of Ulsoor, Jogpalya

area said: “We do face a lot of

problems regarding house thefts.

Sometimes back, there was a

case of thefts in three consecu-

tive houses in our colony. All of

them were at night time. We in-

formed police, but, as usual they

were not on time. I don’t know

whether the thieves are being de-

tected or not. The police force

used to come every day for the

enquiry of the case. They used to

ask questions to the residents.

“There behavior is always good.

They have never misbehaved

with anyone of us,” he added.

So, the cases of house- thefts in

Bangalore are on a hike but, at

the same time, people have faith

in city police-force. They are sat-

isfied with the service rendered to

city people by the Bangalore po-

lice deparment.

Noise pollution on the roads

of Bangalore is on the in-

crease.

Modified silencers in four wheel-

ers and motor-cycles emit noise

much higher than the tolerable

limit.

Vehicles are manufactured

keeping in mind a permissible

limit of noise to be emitted by

them. However, some youngsters

in the city get a slight welding and

some alterations done in the muf-

fler of the silencer to give a nor-

mal motorcycle that ‘racing bike’

sound effect.

Young Bangaloreans can be

easily spotted on bikes with al-

tered silencers. The silencer of

any motorcycle or car can be

easily altered at a motor garage

in the city.

“The length of the silencer is in-

creased or the muffler is cut and

welded. This can be done at any

garage” said Muniraj, a motor

mechanic in Maruthi Nagar. Upon

being asked whether the law

permits it. He added: “I have

never been told by a policeman

not to do welding on silencers. If

a law does exist, I don’t know

about it.”

One youngster Jameel, a resi-

dent of BTM layout who recently

got his bike modified, said: “I had

my silencer modified at a local

garage. It gives my bike the touch

of a racing bike.” When asked

about the

noise created by such alter-

ations in silencer, he said: “Even

generators on construction sites

create noise. How can someone

accuse me of creating noise pol-

lution?”

By law, the Section 182 (a) of

the Motor Vehicle Act recognizes

such alterations of a vehicle as a

cognizable offence. A fine of Rs.

1000 is to be imposed on anyone

who modifies the construction of

a vehicle without the permission

of an authority (traffic police in

this case).

Further, the section 190 of MVA

imposes a fine of up to Rs. 1000

in case of violation of standards

set for noise and air pollution.

Noise rules have also been is-

sued by the government of India

under the Environment (Protec-

tion) Act, 1986. They are known

as the Noise Pollution (Regula-

tion and Control) Rules, 2000.

These rules set a

permissible noise level for differ-

ent areas at different times. The

noise level in decibels, allowed

during the day time in a residen-

tial area is 55 dB. The same dur-

ing night is 45 dB.

However, the modified silencers

of motorcycles and cars clearly

flout these rules. Dr. M.A.

Saleem, Additional Commis-

sioner of Bangalore Traffic Police,

had a different take on this issue.

“There have been 9,189 cases

registered against modification

/alteration of vehicles. Also,

11,880 cases have been regis-

tered against pressure horns in

vehicles”: said Dr. Saleem.

The statistics shows an in-

crease in the number of regis-

tered cases.

However, the high decibel noise

of a vehicle can still be heard on

any road of Bangalore.

Motor bike silencers is modified. - Sumit

3 The Weekly Observer 05 OCTOBER 2012

Alack of properly trained staff

at Rajarajeshwari Medical

College and Hospital during the

night is causing distress for pa-

tients.

There are very few senior doctors

at night and diagnostic facilities are

unavailable. Patients are incor-

rectly prescribed by interns, even

for basic treatment.

A village dweller from Kengeri

visiting the hospital for his wife’s

treatment said, “I came here yes-

terday night but couldn’t get any

senior doctor so I had to wait till

this morning.”

“The urgent surgical cases re-

quire immediate diagnosis, but

they can’t be done in this hospital

as diagnostic machines often re-

main closed whenever you come

in the evening and often interns

prescribe medicines which people

can’t rely upon.” said Ramesh D, a

resident from the locality.

He added: “We have to rely on

this particular hospital as the treat-

ment cost is cheap and there are

no other hospitals nearby. If any

emergency arrives, doctors give

excuses that diagnosis machines

are not available. People suffer a

lot."

Interns are on rounds in the

evening along with only a few sen-

iors and experienced surgeons,

but these seniors are usually un-

available for appointments. In case

of a casualty, the responsibility di-

rectly falls upon the interns avail-

able. It is often risky for patients, as

interns usually fail to render proper

treatment.

When contacted, Mr. Ramchan-

dra, Medical Director of the hospi-

tal said: “There must be some

seniors during the night. Interns

are not allowed to take any deci-

sion on their own, even if they are

just prescribing a medicine. But if

this is the situation then I would

certainly look into the matter.”

Asked about the lack of diagnosis

facility during night he said, “We

have sufficient diagnosis machines

but it’s mostly used in urgent

cases.”

“As it is a government hospital,

doctors avoid taking any hasty de-

cision like private hospitals do for

the sake of earning money. Thus

we wait for a day in case of any

surgery or major treatment that

needs to be undertaken,” he

added.

Patients can avail treatment, di-

agnosis and medicine at a low

price because it’s run by the gov-

ernment.

The diagnostic services are pro-

vided for free.

Therefore, this hospital’s serv-

ices are availed by a large number

of patients from neighbouring vi-

lages like Kumbalgodu.

Child laborers face occupational hazards in plastic factories

Property fraud cases leave

Bangaloreans out of pocket

Bangaloreans are afraid to

buy property in the city over

fears they will lose their de-

posits.

According to statistics from the

deputy police commissioner’s of-

fice, last year 3155 cases were

registered whereas this year 2150

cases were registered upto Au-

gust.

Mrs. Shobna Prakash, a local

resident in Koramangala, said: “I

have planned to buy a flat long

time back, but I changed my mind

after listening to several people

being deceived by property own-

ers.”

Mr. Raj Kumar Choudhary, a vic-

tim of property fraud case said: “I

had booked a flat with two bed-

rooms, hall and a kitchen by Or-

ange Property, a real estate

company. The flat was near Ban-

galore International airport in the

name of my wife, Mrs.Shanti

Choudhury. I paid Rs.1 lakh to the

property owner’s account in ICICI

bank, Bangalore. But after a few

days, when I asked for the owner-

ship of flat and legal papers, they

started giving excuses and de-

layed the tentative date of transfer-

ring the ownership to us.”

“My son tried his best to contact

the authorities of the Orange Prop-

erty for the refund of the amount.

He used to go and visit the com-

pany office and the site of the proj-

ect, but nothing happened. The

doors of the office were closed,

they changed their contact num-

bers and the office was shifted

somewhere else,” he added.

He also said: “I was sure that the

police would do something but

nothing concrete has happened.”

Mr. Shrihari Saraf, another victim

of property fraud case said: “last

year I booked a plot in Kanakpura

road in Bangalore from another

real estate office, People Infrabuild

Company.But later, the company

started giving excuses in handing

over my plot.”

“ Soon I realized that the project

is not being implemented and Peo-

ple Infrabuild denied returning my

amount,” he added.

But, Mr. Ravi, one of the directors

of People Infrabuild said: “It is not

our fault, the landlord of the plot

changed his mind and started de-

manding more money for it, but we

are trying our level best to either

relocate the clients or refund the

money.”

ACP Kumar said: “These cases

have recently increased.The com-

panies convince common people

by offering sites at low cost.”

By Romana D’Souza

Children as young as 10 are

being brought to Bangalore

to work in unsafe factories.

The children have been trans-

ported from North Indian states

such as Uttar Pradesh and

Haryana.

The factories in question

process, manufacture and recycle

plastics and are under the control

of Karnataka Industrial Areas De-

velopment Board (KIADB).

Child laborers at the factories

work for more than 12 hours a day

and live at the industrial site in

crude sheds with wet and dry

waste littered all around.

Their wages of Rs.5,000-

Rs.10,000 for an entire year’s work

are directly handed over to their

families.

Safety regulations are violated as

workers processing thermoplastics

and polymers work without respi-

rator masks while the fumes of

burning plastic engulf the small,

cramped workshops.

Minors handle hot presses, sheet

cutting and laser cutting machines

without any prior training.

Deepak Krishna, a worker in one

of the nearby factories which does

not employ children, said: “A 10-

year-old child had his fingers cut

off while operating a sheet cutting

machine.”

The Child Labour (Prohibition &

Regulation) Act, 1986, states that

“employment of children not com-

pleted the age of 14 years in cer-

tain hazardous processes and oc-

cupations as listed in part A & B of

the schedule to the Act is prohib-

ited under this Act and it regulates

the conditions of work of children

in certain other employments.”

The law stipulates that no child

be allowed to work in any estab-

lishment for more than 4½ hours a

day, one hour rest be given after

three hours of work and weekly

holidays, medical facilities are to

be provided.

However, under Section 24 of the

Karnataka Shops & Commercial

Establishments Act, 1961, employ-

ing children below the age of 14

years is prohibited.“

Therefore, the question of regu-

lation does not arise in Karnataka,”

the law states.

The Karnataka state government

has allocated Rs. 189 million dur-

ing the last nine years to put into

operation various programs for the

eradication of child labor.

Mrs. Pankaja N., deputy director

of the Women and Children Devel-

opment Department, said: “Kar-

nataka will become a child

labor-free state by the end of 2012.

The labor department has been

carrying out raids on factories,

construction sites and other haz-

ardous industries.”

The current penalty for employing

children in hazardous occupations

is up to one year’s imprisonment

and a fine of Rs.20,000 per child

as per the directions of the

Supreme Court. In August, the

Union

Cabinet cleared a proposal to in-

crease the penalty to imprison-

ment up to two years or a fine up

to Rs.50,000 or both.Repeated of-

fenders can be jailed for upto three

years.

The monitoring of the law is the

labour department’s responsibility.

Children workimg in hazardous conditions in a factory - Romana

Patient fears over lack of doctors on night duty

Hospital where patients struggle to get treated - Priyanka

By Urmi Sengupta By Priyanka Roy

A construction site - Sumit

4 The Weekly Observer 5 October 2012

Petrol black marketed round the city

Publisher: Indian Institute of Journalismand New Media

Address: Opp.BGS International Residen-tial School, Kumbalgudu, Kengeri,

Bangalore-560060

News Editor: Shreya Mukherjee

Chief-Sub Editor: Pyusha Chaerjee

Photo Editor: Deepu Aby Varghese

Sub-Editors: Piyanka Roy, SiharthShekhar, Nikita Malusare, Urmi Sengupta

Proof Readers: Kriti Khandelwal, Vintu Au-gustine, Amrita Ray, Rohan D.Premku-

mar,Sumit

Printer: Lotus Printer, 32/25, 2nd MainRoad, Sir M.V. Industrial Town, West of

Chord Road, BangaloreMail us at: editor@iijnm.org

The Observer

Team

Petrol is being black mar-

keted in areas around Elec-

tronic City at exorbitant rates.

Motorcycle garages and other

unauthorized shops in the city sell

petrol openly at an approximate

rate of Rs.80 per litre. Going by the

Petroleum Rules, 1976, petrol can-

not be stored at illegal outlets;

however black markets thrive in

the city.

The Petroleum and Explosives

Safety Organization makes it clear

in its guidelines that inflammable

fuel cannot be sold at any place

other than the authorized dealer’s

outlet. But the unauthorized outlets

in the city are clearly flouting these

rules. Petrol and diesel can be ob-

tained even from a bakery in the

city.

Apart from being a threat to the

shops and residential areas in the

near vicinity, these outlets also

adulterate the petrol. Though the

customers know about the impurity

of petrol, they are left with no other

option if a petrol pump is not lo-

cated in the near vicinity.

Chandrakanth, a bakery owner in

Kaglipura area also stores petrol in

tanks with a capacity of 35 litres. “I

buy petrol from the petrol pump in

Kanakpura and sell it for Rs. 85 a

liter. People buy fuel for their vehi-

cles from my shop” said Chan-

drakanth.

The petrol pump owners in the

city are aware of this black market-

ing but they are helpless as no ac-

tion is generally taken.

Mr. Anand, owner of a petrol

pump in Madiwala expressed his

concern over this issue as he said

that the police are hand-in-glove

with the unauthorized dealers. “I

have not heard of any recent raids

conducted. It’s an open fact that

police are aware of such outlets

but then, action has not been

taken” said Mr Anand.

On questioning him over the

losses incurred to the petrol pumps

by this black marketing, he said:

“they buy petrol from us. So there

is no question of loss.”

Petrol is explosive in nature and

if stored under improper condi-

tions, it can be a high potential

threat for people.

The Explosive Act, 1884 and the

Petroleum Act, 1934 therefore,

have laid down rules for the pur-

chase, transport, import, export,

possession, sale and use of petro-

leum products and compressed

gases.

By Sumit

Pitcher full of petrol kept in a shop - Sumit

Immersion of idols pollutes city lakes

Man immersing idol in mobile tank -Nikita

Hardly any idols were im-

mersed in mobile immer-

sion tanks in the city.

Out of around 3 Lakh Ganesha

idols, a total of only 4,308 were im-

mersed in 17 mobile immersion

tanks all over Bangalore. That con-

tributes to only 1.43% of the total

idols immersed.

Karnataka State Pollution Control

Board (KSPCB) says they have

successfully implemented the idea

for the 11th year. But the low rates

suggest otherwise.

Bangalore city west had only one

tank but, 1000 idols were im-

mersed in it. A total of 846 and 752

idols were immersed in Bangalore

City East and Dasarahalli mobile

tank respectively.

Senior environment engineer,

KSPCB, Mr. Nanda Kumar, said:

“KSPCB is a regulatory body and

not administrative. We initiated the

program in order to create aware-

ness among the people on other

eco friendly methods to tackle pol-

lution caused during immersion. It

is the duty of the BBMP or the Res-

idents Welfare Association to take

the initiative forward and imple-

ment in their respective areas.”

Presently KSPCB has only 200

workers all over Karnataka. Nanda

Kumarn, thinks, if KSPCB

strengthens its workforce they

would be able to implement their

goals at a wider scale.

Ideal Homes Resident Associa-

tion’s member, Mr. Srinath, be-

lieves that people must also act

responsibly “We, people are

BBMP. Why should we rely on

BBMP to take any kinds of meas-

ures?”

Many of his friends took the initia-

tive to go eco friendly and im-

mersed their idols at their homes.

“If all of us take such initiative,

we won’t need any government

aid,” said Mr. Srinath.

On the contrary an ex member of

the association, who preferred

being anonymous, spotted only

one mobile tank at Raja Rajesh-

wari Nagar. He believes a change

cannot be brought in a day. “We

don’t have funds to allocate mobile

tanks. BBMP should take up the

responsibility instead of shoving it

off,” he said.

Despite a workshop being held

by KSPCB and Parisara Rural De-

velopment Society on the usage of

eco-friendly Ganesha idols, there

has been no change in the pattern

of usage of chemical colors.

These colors have high percent-

age of lead, mercury,cadmium and

arsenic which pollute water

bodies.

KSPCB are disappointed by the

high number of colored idols used.

Records released by KSPCB of

2012 show that 60 % of the idols

immersed in the mobile tank were

colored. While 38 percent were not

colored and rest were made of

Plaster Of Paris (POP).

Mrs. Karthikeyan , assistant envi-

ronment officer stated “ Although

POP are hazardous to the environ-

ment people are buying POP idols

as they are light in weight.”.

On the contrary, public points out

at the economical value of the

idols, Shylendra Rao, a mechanic,

who has stringent budget to take

care of his house said, “Clay idols

are expensive than POP.I cannot

afford them. ”

KSPBC with the help of its Board

of Directors pools in funds and dis-

tribute to its regional offices.

They use the funds to allot trucks

and blue barrels to the specific lo-

cations. The collected waste water

is then purified in a waste water

treatment plan at Peenya, said,

Pralhad Rao ,PRO of KSPCB.

By Nikita Malusare Rhetoric Sidharth