'Dewani Tours - treat your wife to a killer holiday' t-shirts spark outrage in South Africa

June 25, 2012
honeymoonmurderbig

Johannesburg, June 25: Selling of T-shirts carrying objectionable slogan referring to the gruesome murder of Indian-origin Anni Dewani have sparked a fresh controversy in Johannesburg, attracting criticism from different sections of the society, including that from the victim's family.

The apparel with the message "Dewani Tours - treat your wife to a killer holiday" apparently refers to the killing of Indian-origin honeymoon bride Anni Dewani in Gugulethu township of Cape Town in 2010, for which her British husband Shrien Dewani is facing extradition plans to stand trial after being implicated in the murder.

The message uses a popular English font type resembling Hindi script, reminding readers of Anni Dewani's Indian origins.

"This is a blatant disregard and disrespectful way of showing no remorse over a killing that shocked not just South Africa but the world," said Mr Gugulethu resident Vusi Ndoda, noting the incident has severely impacted on tourism in the area.

He said he will talk to the Indian-origin businessman Dinesh Dowlath, who is the man behind the idea, to withdraw the clothing, failing which he would campaign for boycotting his stores and organise protests at his businesses.

Mr Dowlath, on the other hand, has rejected suggestions that he was making light of the horrific murder, pointing out that T-shirts with often controversial and ambiguous statements had been the speciality of his stores.

Although agreeing to the sensitivity of the matter, Mr Dowlath told the weekly Sunday Times Extra that there was a market for such clothing as people see the humour in them.

"These T-shirts are for a discerning intelligent market," Mr Dowlath said, adding that although he created most of the slogans on his T-shirts, this one was suggested by a customer.

Meanwhile the victim's family has decried the situation, calling on Mr Dowlath to "let decency prevail."

"As a family, we haven't even started our grieving because the case is on hold and yet, there are those horrible people out there who see profit in this," Anni's uncle Ashok Dewani told the weekly from his Sweden home.



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Agencies
May 24,2020

Kanpur, May 24: Three persons onboard separate Shramik Special trains lost their lives due to various ailment, officials said here on Saturday.

"Family members of the deceased said all were suffering from serious ailment. The travel history of all the three deceased passengers was taken, Kanpur District Magistrate Brahma Deo Ram Tiwari said.

Giving details about the deceased, he said Naichinalyu Disang (23), a resident of Nagaland, was going from Delhi to Dimapur.

"She was suffering from liver ailments," Tiwari said. As she coughed and vomited in the train, other passengers got terrified, he added.

The district magistrate said the body reached Kanpur Central Station at around 10.00 am.

Sample has been taken to check for the presence of novel coronavirus. She was working at a spa in Himachal Pradesh, he said.

Tiwari said Rajendra Prasad (50), a resident of Unnao, died on the Lucknow-bound special train from Andhra Pradesh.

Munni Devi (80), a resident of Siwan district in Bihar, died onboard the special train going from Surat to Siwan, the senior official informed.

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News Network
May 12,2020

May 12: A Madhya Pradesh Police sub-inspector was fined Rs 5,000 after he performed a daredevil act of balancing himself on two moving cars, copying the famous stunt from Ajay Devgn-starrer 'Singham'.

Manoj Yadav, the in-charge of Narsinghgarh police post in Damoh district, was also warned against any such daredevilry in future, police sources said on Monday.

Sporting shades as the hero of the cop drama film and wearing his police uniform, Yadav got the entire episode video-graphed, they said.

As the video of the stunt went viral on social media, senior police officials took serious note of it as it will send wrong signals to youngsters, the sources said.

Inspector General, Sagar range, Anil Sharma directed Damoh Superintendent of Police Hemant Chauhan to probe the matter.

After an investigation, Chauhan imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the sub-inspector and warned him not to repeat such mistakes.

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News Network
January 18,2020

New Delhi, Jan 18: Two men accused of kidnapping and brutally raping a five-year-old girl in Delhi in 2013 have been held guilty by a court in the national capital today. The POCSO court, which will announce the quantum of punishment on January 30, said, "In our society the minor girls are worshipped as goddess on certain occasions but in the present case the victim child had experienced exceptional depravity and extreme brutality."

"The crime against the victim was committed in a most grotesque and revolting manner and the collective conscience of the community was shaken," the court added while holding the accused - Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar - guilty.

The assault which took place just four months after Nirbhaya's brutal rape had grabbed headlines with its shocking details. The girl, who was named Gudiya by sections of the media, went missing and the police told her parents to look for her themselves. She was found two days later, tied in the basement of the east Delhi house she lived in with traces of candles and bottles inside her private parts.

The convicts had fled after raping Gudiya and shoving a candle and bottle inside her private parts, leaving her at Manoj Shah's room, after believing the five-year-old to be dead. The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17, 2013.

Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar were arrested by Delhi police separately from Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in Bihar respectively in 2013. The charge sheet was filed on May 24 that year and charges were framed by the court on July 11. But, it took more than five years to complete the recording of the statement of 57 prosecution witnesses in the POCSO court.

"Though the trial should have been completed in two years, we are happy we got justice," said the father of the girl.

One of the convicts, Manoj Shah, allegedly assaulted some reporters while being taken out of the courtroom.

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