Staring at a woman for over 14 seconds can land you in jail: Kerala official

August 16, 2016

Kochi, Aug 16: A top Kerala official's comments that staring "annoyingly" at a woman for 14 seconds can land a man in jail as per certain sections of law has gone viral on social media with a state minister terming them "irritating".

kerofficer"There are sections in law to jail a man for annoyingly staring at a woman for 14 seconds. Please use it (the provisions in the law), if it is the case," State Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh said.

He made the comments at an event organised by a charitable trust here two days ago.

Urging women to fight the hooligans disturbing them, Singh had also asked them to carry knives and chili spray in their bags to protect themselves from such elements.

"Are you carrying a knife in your bag? Are you carrying chilly spray? Time is over for taking such precautions" he had said.

While Singh's words drew varied reactions on social media, Kerala Sports Minister E P Jayarajan termed them as "irritating".

"The remarks are irritating. If a bureaucrat makes remarks which are not in law, certainly the minister concerned will examine it and necessary steps will be taken," he told reporters.

Singh's comments drew humorous reactions on social media, with jokes such as -- how a man who went to see a woman at her home following a marriage proposal ended up in jail for staring at her for more than 14 seconds.

Some also expressed doubts over the points made by Singh.

They asked, "What will happen if a man blinks while staring at her continuously for 14 seconds?... what about a man who stares at a woman wearing a sunglass?".

Rishiraj Singh had courted controversy in July last year for not saluting the then Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala at a passing out parade in Thrissur.

Supreme Court lawyer KV Dhananjaya who spoke to media persons brought some perspective to the statement made by Singh. "This is an unbelievably mindless statement to make. There is no such provision in any law of this country and there cannot be such a mindless provision of law in any other country of the world. The offence of outraging the modesty of a woman is a very serious issue and it is a matter of concern that such a high ranking public servant is publicly saying an evidently false and mindless thing about it."

Comments

Morality
 - 
Wednesday, 17 Aug 2016

Manku Thimma udupi,

Please try with your house hold members with an outsiders and SEE HOW It feels and wats your reaction??????????????????????.

Satyameva jayate
 - 
Tuesday, 16 Aug 2016

If a person stares at a girl more than 10 seconds....she feels irritated and move away....what does this mean.....will anyone love to see someone staring at his wife or daughter continuously for sometime....will you not react.....this guy is somewhere right....trying to protect women...at least someone trying to do something....if modi said it....

MN DSouza
 - 
Tuesday, 16 Aug 2016

The one who gave this statement is wearing sun glasses. I think he wants to stare for more than 14 seconds and not get arrested.

Manku Thimma
 - 
Tuesday, 16 Aug 2016

Ok boss. Next time I will carry a timer with me and stare only 13 seconds.. Hope its not an offence ???

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News Network
March 11,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 11: Amid the prevailing political uncertainty in Madhya Pradesh with Jyotiraditya Scindia's exit, Congress leader DK Shivakumar on Wednesday asserted that "leaders may come and go but no one can destroy Congress."

"No one can destroy Congress. Leaders may come, leaders may go, that doesn't make any difference," said Shivakumar while speaking to news agency on the current political scenario for Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

Speaking about the Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs, who are lodged in Bengaluru, he said: "All the Madhya Pradesh MLAs who are here do not want to lose their membership. I am sure they will understand, go back and save the government."

On Tuesday, Congress sent two of its leaders -- Sajjan Singh Verma and Govind Singh -- to Bengaluru in order to pacify some of the rebel MLAs who are lodged in a hotel there and who claimed to have resigned from the state Legislative Assembly.

After meeting with 19 party MLAs who have tendered their resignations, Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma on Wednesday said they are neither willing to support Jyotiraditya Scindia nor in favour of joining BJP as they were "misled and taken to Bengaluru" in Karnataka.

"Nobody is ready to go with Scindia ji. They said they were misled and taken to Bengaluru, most of them said they are not ready to join BJP," Verma told ANI on being asked about the 19 MLAs.

"I just came from Bengaluru and now I am going to Jaipur. Besides 5-6 ministers and one MLA, we all are going to Jaipur. They (MLAs) have said they have the blood of Congress and they will remain in the party. Since Scindia was a senior party leader, all our MLAs followed his order as a courtesy," he said.

The Congress leader further claimed that BJP is using both "muscle and money power" to influence Congress MLAs.

He also claimed that he is strongly in contact with 7-8 BJP MLAs.

Most of the rebel MLAs are perceived close to Scindia and are apparently unhappy at Scindia being "ignored" in the party. The grand old party has been witnessing an internal turf war in Madhya Pradesh since the party formed the government in the state in 2018.

Scindia is likely to join BJP later today.

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News Network
April 16,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 16: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr Ashwath Narayan today said that if former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, being a law-abiding citizen, does not follow guidelines then action will be taken against him.

The Deputy CM made this comment when he was asked about Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil's marriage, which has been fixed on April 17 at a farmhouse near Bidadi in Ramnagar.

Narayan said: "Any violation of the guidelines will not be tolerated. We will ask the concerned authority to film the entire event and document it."

He said that so far Kumaraswamy has made public statements that guidelines will be followed.

"HD Kumaraswamy is a people's representative. He has been in public life for a long time. He should abide by the guidelines," Narayan said.

"Since he has been in a responsible position for a long time and he was the Chief Minister, guidelines must be followed in his son's marriage as per the rules amid COVID-19 scare.

After the marriage, there must not be any excuses. He cannot say that people came without an invitation," the Deputy Chief Minister added.

Kumaraswamy clarified that only his family members will attend the marriage and that there will be around 60 to 70 people.

"All guidelines will be followed as per the central government directives," he said.

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News Network
February 7,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 7: To stop the NRC and CAA from being implemented everyone has to fight unitedly highlighting the failures of the ruling party, said National President of Priyadarshini squad, All India National Women’s Congress Kavya Narasimha Murthy.

Addressing the workshop for the protection of Citizenship against CAA, NRC and NPR for the party workers at the Cordel Hall, Kulshekar here Thursday by district Congress party, she said, “Protests are being held everywhere against the CAA, NRC and NPR but if we only go on protesting, the ruling party will implementing divisive policies and new laws every day.

Many think that they may not be affected by the CAA, NRC or NPR and keep away from protesting against it. The congress should fight against the CAA concentrating on three approaches. We cannot fight against divisive politics by fighting only against the CAA and NRC. We need to expose the government’s failures, their divisive politics and continue our protests against the CAA, NCR and NPR.”

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