I forgive Jessica's killer, won’t object to his release: Sister to Tihar

TNN
April 23, 2018

New Delhi, Apr 23: Almost two decades after model Jessica Lall’s murder, her sister Sabrina Lall has “no objection’’ to the release of Siddhartha Vashishta, better known as Manu Sharma, from Tihar Jail where he is serving a lifeterm after being convicted for the brutal crime.

“I am told that in this period he has been doing good work for charity and helping inmates in jail which I feel is a reflection of reform,’’ said Lall. In a letter to the welfare officer, Central Jail No 2, last month, she wrote, “I would like to state I have no objection to his release, owing to the fact that he has spent 15 years in jail."

Confirming that she had sent such a letter, Lall told TOI, “He has served his sentences and I am done with it… In my own mind I have forgiven him." “It will be like a catharsis to forgive and move on. I also need to get on with my life," she said, adding, “I don’t want to hold on to any more anger or hurt. I feel that he has served his sentence. I don’t feel there is any need to hanker about the situation.”

Don’t want to hold on to anger, says Jessica’s sister

Her letter was “in response" to the jail officer’s letter to her regarding “compensation and release of Sidhartha Vahishta s/o Venod Sharma convicted in FIR no 287/1999 under section 302 IPC".

Asserting that she didn’t want to hold on to any more anger or hurt, Lall, who lives in Gurgaon, declined ‘financial assistance from the victim welfare fund’ and wrote to the jail saying, “I do not require it and request you to give the same to others, who are more in need”.

Sharma has been in jail for a cumulative period of 15 years, the last six months in an open prison. He might seek an early release from prison citing “remission" worth five years, for “excellent work, discipline and conduct".

Delhi government rules permit a murder convict undergoing a life sentence to approach a review board to seek ‘premature release’. But such application can be made only after undergoing actual imprisonment for a minimum of 14 years without including remission or 20 years including remission depending on the case. The review board, however, has to consider the circumstances in which the crime was committed and possibility of reclaiming the convict as a useful member of society.

The Delhi high court had in December 2006 reversed a trial court acquittal of February 2006 and sentenced Sharma, whose father is a former Union minister, to life term for the brutal killing in 1999 that had attracted nationwide attention. The Supreme Court had two months later in February 2011 upheld the HC verdict.

Jessica had been bartending on April 29, 1999 at a Delhi restaurant, Tamarind Court, for a private party hosted by its owner, designer Bina Ramani. Sharma was held guilty of shooting her when she refused him a drink.

Prison authorities send a convict to open prison for “good behaviour, work and conduct”. Sharma was initially sent to a “semi-open jail” in August 2015 after completion of 12 and a half years in closed prisons as mandated by the rules.

Last October, he was admitted to an open jail allegedly after reviewing his conduct and work, which included running an NGO that has helped in “education of 700 children of jail inmates" and “post-release rehabilitation of inmates".

Sharma’s work in jail includes ‘Computerization of the jail factory accounts and implementation of the management information system (MIS) done by him’, ‘expanding’ and implementing ISO certification for Tihar Jail’s bakery and factory and taking the turnover of the factory from Rs 1.35 crore in 2006 to Rs 32 crore in 2013, and garden work in open prison.

Over the years, jail superintendents gave him “special remission on 11 occasions". Deputy inspector general (DG) Prisons granted remission five times for “exceptional work and conduct’.

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News Network
May 11,2020

Mumbai, May 11: Model-cum-actress Poonam Pandey was on Sunday booked by Mumbai Police for violating the coronvirus-induced lockdown norms, an official said.

An FIR was registered against Panedy and a person accompanying her by the Marine Drive Police.

She was found roaming in her high-end car at Marine Drive without any reason, he said.

"A case has been registered against Pandey and Sam Ahmad Bombay (46) under sections 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of a disease dangerous to life) and 188 (Disobedience of order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the National Disaster Act," senior police inspector Mrityunjay Hiremath said.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Los Angeles, Feb 6: U.S. silver screen legend Kirk Douglas, the son of Jewish Russian immigrants who rose through the ranks to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 103.

One of the last survivors of the golden age of cinema and the father of Oscar-winning actor and film-maker Michael Douglas, the Spartacus actor was renowned for the macho tough guy roles he took on in around 90 movies over a six-decade career.

"It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103," Michael Douglas said in a statement posted to Facebook.

"To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to."

Douglas was Oscar-nominated for his roles as a double-crossing and womanizing boxer in Champion (1949), a ruthless movie producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

But his only Academy Award came in 1995 -- an honorary lifetime achievement statuette "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community."

Douglas is survived by second wife Anne Buydens, 100, and three sons. A fourth child, Eric, died of a drug overdose in his 40s, in 2004.

"(To) me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine (Zeta-Jones), a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband," said Michael.

"Kirk's life was well lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet."

Kirk Douglas rose to the heights of Hollywood from an impoverished childhood as the son of Jewish Russian immigrants.

He was one of the last survivors of the golden age of cinema, often portraying the macho and not-always-likeable tough guy in around 90 movies over a six-decade career.

With charming dimples and a cleft chin, Douglas was a renowned ladies' man but also admitted to being angry into adulthood because of his difficult New York childhood.

"I still have anger in me," he said in a New York Times article in 1988 after the release of his first autobiography.

"I think I'm loath to let it go because I think that anger was the fuel I used in accomplishing what I wanted to do; you see it in my films, you see it in imitations people do of me."

Screen legend

The role that perhaps immortalized him as a star was that of a rebellious Roman Empire slave turned gladiator in the 1960 epic Spartacus.

Douglas also produced the film, which took four Oscars. He won praise for listing in the credits the real name of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted for his Communist sympathies and wrote under a pen name.

There were Oscar nominations for his roles as a double-crossing and womanizing boxer in Champion (1949), a ruthless movie producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and of tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

But his only Oscar came in 1995 as an honorary lifetime achievement award "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community."

Other major acting roles were as a French private in a botched suicidal mission in World War I in Paths of Glory (1957) and American Western legend Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

"Often cast as a villain, amoral climber or self-obsessed grabber, Kirk Douglas took care to color his hard edges with suggestions of pain, wit and sympathy," says American Film Institute, which ranks him as 17th on its list of the greatest male screen legends.

In the 1970s he stood behind the camera, directing Scalawag (1973) and Posse (1975).

He also took up writing, penning his first autobiography The Ragman's Son in 1988 and following with around 10 other titles.

In the autobiography, Douglas writes: "I always worked in the theory that when you play a weak character, find a moment when he's strong. And if you're playing a strong character, find a moment when he's weak."

Tough childhood

Douglas was born in New York on December 9, 1916 to illiterate Jewish Russian immigrants, an only boy with six sisters.

He started out as Issur Danielovitch, later Izzy Demsky. It was tough, he recounted later, with the family poor, anti-Semitism rife and his distant alcoholic father forced to earn a living as a ragman.

"In a sense, I've always felt on the outside, looking in," he said in the New York Times article.

"It's my background, damn it. My father was an illiterate Russian immigrant, a ragman, the lowest rung on the economic scale."

His dream of a way out was through acting and he started in high school, eventually entering the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and changing his name along the way.

To survive he took jobs as a waiter, labourer and porter. In 1941 he hit Broadway but his budding career was interrupted by service in the Navy. After the war, he headed for Hollywood.

His romantic conquests were many, although he once said he had never counted, and included starls such as Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford and Ava Gardner.

Douglas' four sons followed him into cinema.

Oscar-winning actor and producer Michael and Joel were from a marriage to actress Diana Webster, whom he divorced in 1951.

Three years later he married Belgian-American Anne Buydens, having Peter and then Eric, who died in 2004 from an accidental overdose.

Douglas has also brushed death: he survived a helicopter crash in 1991 and a massive stroke in 1996 that nearly robbed him of speech.

Around the time of his 100th birthday in 2016, he attributed his remarkable longevity to his second marriage.

"I was lucky enough to find my soulmate 63 years ago, and I believe our wonderful marriage and our nightly 'golden hour' chats have helped me survive all things," he said in celebrity magazine Closer Weekly.

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News Network
July 23,2020

Mumbai, Jul 22: Actor Sara Ali Khan on Wednesday treated her fans to an extremely adorable family picture from a Holi celebration during her childhood days.

"Mother, Daughter- Iggy Potter. Riot of colours with Water Slaughter. Mommy so young I almost forgot her. Gulaal we threw, off-guard we caught her. But it was healthy fun with no totter. After all she's mother dearest- the OG Fautor," the 'Simmba' star poetically captioned the adorable Holi throwback picture on Instagram.

In the picture, Sara was seen coloured in Gulaal along with her mother Amrita Singh and brother Ibrahim Ali Khan. Sara looked loveable in the childhood picture as she wore an endearing smile with her neatly tied hair in a ponytail. Mom Amrita was seen smiling along with the kids, while she held little Ibrahim as he smiled and posed for the camera.

The post on the photo-sharing platform garnered more than 6 lakh likes within an hour of being posted.

Meanwhile, on the film front, Sara Ali Khan is awaiting the release of her latest comedy-drama 'Coolie No.1' with Varun Dhawan.

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