Kolkata police 'hijack' rape victim's hearse, forcibly cremate body

January 2, 2014

Hijack_rape_victimKolkata, Jan 2: Gang-raped twice and dumped in a government hospital for nine days with fatal burns, the 16-year-old victim had no peace even after death. Police hijacked the hearse carrying her body on Tuesday night and forcibly took it for cremation, ignoring the family's requests to wait till Wednesday.

The girl's father rushed to governor M K Narayanan to complain against police high-handedness and demanded action against the "tyrannical" officers.

Police were in such a hurry to cremate her before daybreak that they landed up at the house of the bereaved family - with the body - at 2.30am and threatened to break down their door unless they were given the death certificate that would allow cremation. When the girl's father refused, police officers allegedly told him to go back to Bihar's Samastipur. A police team tormented the family all night.

The unexplained haste and utter disregard for family sentiments by the administration triggered widespread protests in the city. Filmmaker Aparna Sen lent weight to the outcry, saying: "I am devastated. All this should stop." All that the family wanted was to wait for a day for their relatives to come from Bihar. But that was not to be. Around 10.30pm on Tuesday, police intercepted the hearse that was carrying the body from RG Kar Hospital to a mortuary and forcibly took it to the crematorium although they did not have the death certificate, said a relative of the victim. "Sensing something wrong, I jumped off the hearse," he said.

The body lay at the crematorium for over three hours until, around 2pm, police decided to get the certificate from her family. The girl's father narrated in his letter to the governor what happened next. "The superintendent of police and other officers reached our house in the dead of the night and asked us to open the door. We were scared and refused to come out before day broke. They threatened to break down the door and told us to go back to Bihar."

While police were pressuring the family, a stranger - possibly a police plant - appeared on the scene with a poster that said "I Condemn". He tried to pacify the crowd but failed. Then, a self-proclaimed rights activist, Rakesh Upadhyaya, raised a ruckus. "The pressure on us got worse. Protectors had turned tormentors. But I stuck to my stand and refused to come out," the victim's father said. By then, Left activists had started arriving at the house.

Taking a leaf out of Mamata's book as Opposition leader, CPM's labour arm Citu took control of the body on Wednesday, but with the sanction of the family members. Sensing the damage they had done, police backed off and allowed the body to be taken to the Citu state headquarters. CPM supporters took out a huge rally with the body on Wednesday afternoon. The girl's father, who had gone to meet the governor, joined the rally around 3pm and agreed to the cremation only after getting an assurance of protection from Narayanan.

The victim's brother-in-law had no regret that the body lay at the Citu HQ all day long. "CPM was with us when we were camping in the hospital for the last nine days. They helped us. If you call this politics, so be it," he said.

Trinamool leader Mukul Roy reacted by saying: "The incident is unfortunate. The rest is an attempt by the Opposition to denigrate Trinamool and the government." He had no comment on the police haste to cremate the body on Tuesday night.

Police could not give a clear explanation for the night-long drama. "We wanted to ensure that there is no law-and-order problem," said joint commissioner (HQ) Rajeev Mishra. But sources close to the development said police acted under the directions of a Trinamool minister from North 24-Parganas who wanted police to prevent the incident from spilling over into January 1 when Trinamool celebrates its foundation day. "Calls to home secretary Basudeb Banerjee on the police high-handedness on Tuesday night fell on deaf ears," said Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra.

NCW questions Kolkata police's role in rape case

National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Mamta Sharma on Wednesday questioned the role of Kolkata Police in the gang rape leading to the death of a minor girl and said had the police been alert, they could have prevented the gang rape a second time.

"The girl was gang-raped once before going to the police station, and while returning, she was gang raped again. I don't think the role of police is right in this case. If the police had been alert, then they could have prevented her from being raped again. The chief minister should take up this case very seriously," said Sharma.

The NCW took suo motu cognizance case. "I am going to write a letter to the CM to answer us in a week why such crimes are happening against women, and what action has been taken in these cases," said Sharma.

She also said the victim was traumatized, and had she been given proper guidance and medical treatment, she wouldn't have committed suicide.

"We are thinking of sending a committee there to analyze the situation," she added.

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News Network
March 23,2020

New Delhi, Mar 23: The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 390 on Monday after 30 fresh cases were reported.

The figure includes 41 foreign nationals and the seven deaths reported so far.

Gujarat, Bihar and Maharahstra reported a death each on Sunday, while four fatalities were reported earlier from Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra and Punjab, the Union Health Ministry said.

The total number of active COVID-19 cases across the country now stands at 359, while 24 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

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News Network
May 22,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, May 22: Domestic flyers arriving in Kerala must undergo strict home quarantine as per the lockdown guidelines, in view of increasing COVID-19 cases in the state, Health Minister K K Shailaja said on Friday.

"Even if the domestic flight services resume, those coming in must remain under strict home quarantine as per the guidelines.

There is no change in that. Most people will be coming from the major hotspots of the country," she said.

Announcing the resumption of domestic flight services from May 25, the Civil Aviation Ministry had indicated on Thursday that it was not in favour of quarantining passengers on short-haul flights.

However, the Assam government has made it mandatory for all air passengers coming to that state to stay in quarantine for 14 days.

Apart from the health department and the local self government institutions, Shailaja said the people of Kerala must also ensure that every returnee to the state remained under strict home quarantine in order to curb the spread of the disease.

"We need to strictly keep under observation all those who come fromoutside the state and make sure that they do not come into contact with others including their family members.

They should be effectively remain under room quarantine at their residence," she said.

The state reported 690 cases after 24 more tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday.

As of now over 80,000 people are under observation across the state.

On the death of a 73-year-old woman, who came from Mumbai, on Thursday, the minister said, "Khadijakuttycame from Mumbai along with three others. She alighted at Chavakkad. Her son who picked her up from there took her to the govt hospital as she was tired. She was given good care."

"However, as her condition worsened, had taken a decision to sent her to the medicalcollege. Her swab test was taken and she was tested positive, but she passed away," Shailaja said.

The minister sounded a word of caution that there would be an increase in cases in the coming days as the influx of people coming from abroad and other states would continue.

"We cannot prevent anyone from coming. They are our brothers and were suffering there. We need to save those who come here and also those who are here," the Minister said.

Shailaja said the southern state had successfully managed the first two phases of the viral outbreak in January and March.

"There were three deaths. But we managed to save the rest of the people including a 93-year-old man," she said.

The Minister further said the situation in the state changed after flight services resumed and the border roads were re-opened after May 7.

"Our fatality rate is low and recovery rate is high.

After May 7, when the flight restrictions were lifted and people from other states started coming in, we reported 188 cases.

At least 90 per cent of the positive cases came from outside and the rest are their contacts," she noted.

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: The total number of people who have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 in India has risen to 649 in India, including 593 active cases and 42 people who have been cured or discharged from hospitals, according to the recent update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday morning.
The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the country has reached 13, the official data reported. There have been 3 more deaths due to COVID-19 reported in the country since last evening.
An 85-year-old woman in Gujarat died yesterday while with the passing away of a 65-year-old woman, Madhya Pradesh reported its first COVID-19 death. Tamil Nadu also reported its first death in the state yesterday due to the deadly infection.
According to report from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) India had tested 24,254 people as of 8 p.m. on March 25.
The country is now in its second day of a 21-day lockdown that was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.
The central government had on Wednesday announced that it will provide 7 kg ration to 80 crore people in India. The Centre also said that it has earmarked Rs 1.80 lakh crores for providing wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg
"Union Cabinet has decided to provide wheat at Rs 2 per kg which is worth Rs 27 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg which is worth Rs 37 per kg. A total amount of Rs 1 lakh 80 thousand crores is being spent for the cause. The amount will be given in advance to the states for the coming 3 months," Union Minister Sadananda Gowda said yesterday.
Those shops which are catering to essential services will continue doing so during the 21-day nationwide lockdown.

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