Sexual abuse cases rock Kerala temple

April 20, 2014

Kerala_templeNew Delhi, Apr 20: Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, estimated to be home for assets worth Rs 1 lakh crore, has been found to be marred with “frequent instances of sexual harassment” within its premises by the Supreme Court appointed amicus curiae, who also discovered systematic pilferage from its treasure trove.

In his final report, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam pointed out that during visits, he noted unaccounted invaluable items stored in different rooms, besides gold plating and sheeting machines.

However, he was bothered with “an issue which cropped up with alarming frequency, instances of sexual harassment within the temple premises.”

“A woman was appointed for stitching clothes for the main deity. She was later appointed as computer operator on daily wages. One guard commander called Krishnan Kutty Kurup had attempted to sexually harass her,” Subramaniam wrote.

“She was treated insensitively and there was total inaction on the part of the administrative officer. Because she raised the issue, she was dismissed from service, following which she filed an FIR,” he said in his 500-page report.

“The amicus curiae believes that all women employees must be safe from any act of sexual harassment. Apart from that woman, another person brought to the attention of the amicus curiae that there is sexual harassment. The deputy commissioner of police also said there are frequent allegations of molestations,” the report submitted to the apex court said.

The counsel suggested setting up a three-member committee consisting of Lakshmi bayi–a member of the Travancore royal family which controls the temple trust–along with Prof Sashibhooshan and a woman lawyer to look into any allegations of sexual harassment. In the first case, the executive officer offered to reinstate her to the post that she held at the time of her dismissal upon the request made by the amicus curiae, the report stated.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: Life was limping back to normalcy in some parts of the riot-hit northeast Delhi, with police and paramilitary personnel maintaining strict vigil in view of Friday prayers at mosques.

Police officers said they were also making extra efforts to quell rumours, and holding regular flag marches and interactions in the neighbourhoods of affected areas as confidence-building measures.

In some areas of northeast Delhi, signs of normal life were witnessed with opening of shops. In violence-hit areas also, shops in streets and bylanes were open.

Nearly 7,000 paramilitary forces have been deployed in the affected areas of the northeast district since Monday. Besides, hundreds of Delhi police personnel are on the ground to maintain peace and prevent any untoward incident.

At least 38 were killed and over 200 injured in the communal clashes that broke out in northeast Delhi on Monday after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control The areas affected include Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chand Bagh, Khureji Khas and Bhajanpura..

The Union Home Ministry had said on Thursday night that no major incident was reported from the northeast district in the past 36 hours, It had said that prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 would be relaxed for 10 hours in view of improvement in the situation.

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News Network
February 2,2020

New Delhi, Feb 2: The Congress on Sunday released its manifesto for Delhi polls, promising to implement unemployment allowance of Rs 5,000-7,500 per month and cashback schemes for water and power consumers, if voted to power.

Presenting the manifesto, Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra said the party will provide free power up to 300 unit per month.

The manifesto also committed to spend 25 per cent budget each year on fighting pollution and improving transport facilities.

An unemployment allowance of Rs 5,000 for graduates and Rs 7,500 for post graduates per month will be provided under the Yuva Swabhiman Yojna, he said.

The Congress will launch flagship cashback schemes for power and water supply to benefit consumers saving these resources. The party, if voted to power, will open 100 Indira Canteens to provide subsidised meals at Rs 15, Chopra said.

The Congress will challenge the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the Supreme Court and demand the Centre to withdraw the law. The party will also not implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the existing form of the National Population Register (NPR), if voted to power in Delhi.

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Agencies
June 22,2020

Mumbai, Jun 22: After downgrading India's outlook to negative from stable, Fitch Ratings on Monday revised the outlook on nine Indian banks to negative.

The outlook on the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) was revised to negative from stable due to the banks' high dependence on the Centre to re-capitalise them.

Accordingly, the IDR outlook of the Export-Import Bank of India, the State Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda, the Bank of Baroda (New Zealand), the Bank of India, the Canara Bank, the Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank Ltd have been downgraded to negative.

"At the same time, Fitch has affirmed IDBI Bank Limited's (IDBI) IDR while maintaining the outlook at negative," Fitch said in a statement.

The rating actions follow Fitch's revision of the outlook on the 'BBB-' rating on India to negative from stable on June 18, due to the impact of the escalating coronavirus pandemic on India's economy.

"The IDRs for all the above Indian banks are support-driven and anchored to their respective SRFs," the statement said.

"They are based on Fitch's assessment of high to moderate probability of extraordinary state support for these banks, which takes into account our assessment of the sovereign's ability and propensity to provide extraordinary support."

According to the statement, the negative outlook on India's sovereign rating reflects an increasing strain on the state's ability to provide extraordinary support, due to the sovereign's limited fiscal space and the significant deterioration in fiscal metrics due to challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The rating action does not affect the banks' Viability Rating (VR). EXIM does not have a VR as its role as a policy bank makes an assessment of its standalone credit profile less meaningful."

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