Observer The weekly
ursday, October 3,, 2013
VOL 13 ISSUE 11
Lack of firefighters in city is pushing service to its limits
PAGE 2
Schoolgirl raped by neighbor is pregnant
PAGE 3
Poverty forces minors to work after school hours.
PAGE 4
‘Suicides’ among minors increase fivefold, KSHRC to launch probe Nikita Narvekar State Crime Records Bureau data revealed that 796 minors have committed suicide in Karnataka this year. An analysis of the data given by the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB), Bangalore revealed that 232 girls and 550 boys between the age group 0-14 years of age have committed suicide in Karnataka from January 2013 to September 10, 2013. is implies that every day three minors ended their lives this year Karnataka State Human Rights Commission member Meera Saksena promised to investigate the records, adding: “Suicides among young ages are not possible.” Data also revealed out of the total number of suicides, 413 cases were by hanging, 210 were due to poisoning, 62 by burning, 45 cases were of drowning, 16 minors killed by trains, two killed themselves using firearms, and 48 suicides were due to various “other factors”. e figure of 796 minor suicides, even before the year ends, is more than five times the previous year’s figure of 156 minor suicides. Data reveals that of the 796 listed, around 700 minors who apparently killed themselves this year were listed as being between zero to five years of age. Ayyapan, Co-Ordinator, Bosco Nilaya, an NGO, said: “ere is something wrong with the data. It could be possible that the family or
relatives of these children have done something to them and termed the death as suicides.” He added that such minor chil-
would personally like to go through the data and look into these cases.” Sunil Agarwal, Inspector General of Police, Karnataka State Human
Data provided by SCRB on minors committing sucides dren do not know what a suicide means, so it is not possible that they have committed suicide. Roopa Reddy from the NGO, Makkala Jagruti, said, “Elder children can take such drastic steps of ending their lives due to educational and emotional trauma, but children in the age group of one to five have no idea of what suicide is, so how would they commit it? ere can be high possibilities of murder and forgery of details in such cases.” Meera Saksena, member of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission said, “Children commit suicide due to study and exam pressures and ragging. But this applies to upper age group children. I
Rights Commission, said: “It is quite surprising two and threeyear-olds commit suicide. Many times we feel that there is forced poisoning or forced hanging.” He added, “I don’t know which data it might be which says that it is possible for a two-year-old to commit suicide on his own by hanging.” According to Narmada Anand, Program Manager at Child and Women Welfare Department Karnataka, children commit suicide due to various reasons, such as parental problems, academic issues and insecure life. She said: “ey do not have the maturity to make decisions in life and thus make wrong decisions.” She added that the deaths could
have been accidental, where the child has no intention to commit suicide but the police, to make their work easier, register their case as suicides. Narmada pointed out that the Child and Women Welfare Committee concentrates more on development of children and they think that development would reduce such problems, but this does not happen. PR Chandrashekhar, former head of the department of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, said: “Minors see a lot of suicide cases in the visual media which has a great impact on their impressionable minds. It also may motivate them to commit suicide.” He added: “Children also take such drastic steps when they get intimidated by constant physical torture from teachers and parents. Frustration and depression among children generated by academic pressure also result in suicide.” Also there is a lot of confusion and inconsistency in the data collected by the SCRB. Around 698 cases in the records have the age of the dead mentioned as zero. When asked about the confusion in the data over the age zero, R.B. Singh of the statistical office, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said that they have no clue of what the zero stands for in the age column. Only the state crime record bureau can substantiate it. Also the data that they receive from state record bureaus is categorized
data. He said, “We get data between the age group 0-14 and so forth, and not individual cases for all ages.” To this, a senior programmer at SCRB said: "ose whose age is termed as zero means that their body has decomposed and their age cannot be determined. Investigations regarding their age are still on." When asked about suicides among two and three-year-olds, he said that there must have been some error in compiling the data. He also asked to ignore the data between the age groups zero to five and continue the analysis of the rest. He refused to comment on the drastic increase in minor suicide cases this year when compared to 2012. About their data collection methods, he added, “We get data directly from police stations. We compile the data the way we get it.” Even aer repeated attempts, the officials at Karnataka Director General of Police office, remained unavailable for comment.
Nirmala Anand, from CWC
e Weekly Observer
ursday, October 3, 2013
Fire service in staffing emergency Anagha Sawant e fire emergency service in Bangalore does not have sufficient manpower to deal with emergency calls e Karnataka Fire and Emergency Service Department lacks sufficient staff members to address emergencies adequately. According to the fire and emergency department statistics dated till June 24th, the Bangalore west zone fire service department has 118 vacancies while the east zone has 165. N.R.Markandeya, Chief Fire Officer, West Zone, Bangalore said: “We have three shis. We don’t have manpower to work for all the three shis. e quarters to the staff are allotted nearby so that during the time of emergency, even the off duty officers can take quick action.” He added that in the event of a fire accident, two or three fire stations were contacted and asked to reach the spot of emergency. is ensured that at least one fire truck reached the place on time.
One of the primary reasons for such massive understaffing is the number of vacancies in the fire department. According to the statistics provided by the department, only 447 out of 730 job positions are occupied at the moment, leaving 283 seats vacant. ere were a total of 1061 fire accidents in the city this year. As a result, 263 people have died and the total loss of property has amounted to Rs. 6, 46, 41, 950. Out of the total number, 243 fire accidents took place in residential areas, 286 occurred in commercial areas and 81 of them took place in industrial zones. 443 such accidents took place in other areas of the city. Commenting on the massive
shortage of staff, Om Prakash, the Director General of the fire services department said that 42% of job positions in the department are vacant at the moment.
ment is doing its level best to reach accident spots on time and conduct rescue operations as smoothly as possible. Speaking about what caused this
Firefighter Staffing Levels
2
NEWS BRIEF Sexually abused minors rescued, trauma remains ree sexually abused minor girls were rescued by Childline members in August. In accordance with the National
12%
Child Labor Project, the sisters aged 5, 10 and 11 have been ac33%
commodated into regular classes. e FIR has been filed against
20%
those who had employed these minors under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. e concerned police Source: Karnataka Fire and Emergency Department
officer is to be produced before the CWC on October 8.
He added that they were soon going to try and fill up these vacancies and hire new firemen, drivers and station officers. is, he said, will happen aer the changes to recruitment rules and regulations are made by the government. However, Prakash also said that despite the vacancies, the depart-
shortfall of employees, Prakash said that the primary reason was the annually changing set of recruitment rules. He added: “After 2008 there is a decline in the employment of fire service department. The new rules and regulation will soon be implemented.”
One year on, ‘fast-track’ court yet to rule on rape case In a shocking incident on October 19, 2012, three girls were raped by
2750 driving licenses yet to be suspended Anannya Sarkar e fate of 2750 driving license suspension recommendations is still uncertain as the Transport Department waits for a report on the delay despite the Home Minister urging speedy action. K.J. George, Home Minister, had urged Ramalinga Reddy, Minister of Transport, during Question Hour in the Legislative Council in July to speed up the procedure as there have been pending suspensions since 2012 when only 63 suspensions were ultimately carried out. Only 250 out of a total of 3000 driving license suspension recommendations have actually been carried out this year till August.
11 men in Gyana Jyothi Layout. While the case is running in a fast track court the verdict of the case is still not out.
e Transport Department officials had varied responses to this delay. P. Ravikumar, Principal Secretary, Transport Department, seemed surprised to hear about it. When he called up the Joint Commissioner of Transport(JCT), he learnt about any such delay for the first time. R. Muniveera Gowda, JCT and Secretary, Karnataka State Transport Association (KSTA), said that he had asked for a report from the department which was still being readied. Maruthi Sambrani, Joint Commissioner, Transport Department, who is also in charge of formulating this report, said that
he was issuing letters to all the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) in the State asking them to look into the matter as fast as possible.
He added that the suspension of driving licenses was a lengthy procedure which required the RTOs to issue notices to the offenders ,allowing them a chance to present their pleas. e decision of suspension could be arrived at, only aer this.
He pointed out that many out of the 3000 recommendations include people holding licenses of other states which do not fall under their jurisdiction, therefore the number of pending suspensions would come down. However, he was unable to provide a concrete number of the cases pending or the number of offenders who held licenses from other states as he had just begun with the report. He was also unable to give an estimate of the time that the Transport Department would take to carry out the entire procedure because it would depend on the time taken by individual cases and their pleas by the offenders.
e accused have also been charged with IT Act, 66E for taking naked pictures and videos of the girls while they were being raped.
Husband stabbed wife to death aer dispute On May 5, 2013 Annayappa killed his wife Geetha as a result of a marital dispute e complaint was registered by Geetha’s mother Irama. e incident took place at Sulikera village. He is presently in Central Jail Bangalore under judicial custody.
e Weekly Observer
ursday, October 3, 2013
3
Minor raped, 4 months pregnant Bhavika Bhuwalka & Apurva Venkat
threatened to kill my parents if I complained to them.” She added, “He used to say what
A 14-year-old girl was allegedly
we did yesterday, we’ll again do
repeatedly raped by her neigh-
today. I was feeling uneasy since
bour in Pulakeshinagar and is
many days in the bottom of my
now four months pregnant.
stomach. I used to cry the whole
(name
time. ere were some lucky days
changed), 14, she was being raped
when he did not catch hold of me
by her 55-year-old neighbour,
aer school.”
According
to
Sarah
Anwar alias Prince, since March
Only when Sarah vomited and fell
this year. e class nine student
unconscious playing on the road
said, “Anwar used to lure me with
one day, the family went for a med-
chocolates while returning from
ical check-up. On September 2,
school and call me to his home.”
2013, the police medical report
“
He raped me four to five times. Since the last two months I did not want to go there anymore. He used to say that I am committing a sin according to Quran by disobeying him. He threatened to kill my parents if I complained to them. - Sarah, the victim Sharif, 50, Sarah’s father, works as a security guard in a bungalow in
showed that she was already more than three months pregnant. Gopal, from Ambedkar Hospital, Kammanahalli, who was present during Sarah’s ultrasound said, “is is not the first case of minor pregnancy that we have witnessed, but I would not like to comment on whatever is going on with them. We just do our job.” Sharif said, “Now I understand
Sarah, the 14-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped by her neighbour and is four months pregnant
why she used to refuse to go to
As of now the case has been re-
till the time of the delivery. en,
against women among many oth-
school. I had no idea this is going
ferred to the Child Welfare Com-
aer her and her family’s consent,
ers. Bhimaya, project coordinator,
on.”
mittee. e CWC is suppose to
the child will be given to a govern-
said, “Sharif and Amina came to us
provide her with food and shelter
e family lodged an FIR in the
ment adoption centre. Meena K.
on September, 23, 2013. By then the
Pulakeshi nagar police station on
Jain, from the CWC, said, “It is her
girl was already around four
September, 7, 2013, and even
will if she wants to keep her baby
months pregnant. Anwar will have
though Anwar tried to flee, he was
but it is not advisable due to multi-
to provide some amount of com-
booked under section 4 of the Pro-
ple complications.”
pensation to the family as he has a
tection of Children against Sexual
e CWC will also sit a legal com-
Offences Act and sections 376 and
mittee and the chairperson will
According to Beena Dayanand,
420 of the Indian Penal Code. At
look at the case. Meena added,
legal advisor, Anwar is incapable to
present he is in the central jail.
“Anwar was a drunkard. If it would
sexually perform. He claims in his
number of properties.
Atchin’s Cross where the family
According to Narayana Swami,
have come to us at the start of Sep-
statement that he can prove that the
tember itself, we would have been
child is not his. He daily used to call
Anwar will have to provide compensation to the family as he has a number of properties. His actions were based on lust; ideally he should be hanged.
in a better position to do some-
a few friends of his who raped
thing.”
Amina. ey used to give her Rs.
- Bhimaya, Project co-ordinator, Janodaya
Aasif, the owner of the house
well looked aer. If the CWC per-
where Sharif and his family lived,
mits, I will also send her to school.”
told them about Janodaya, an NGO
e case is awaiting trial in the
that deals with cases of violence
court.
lives in a small quarter. Her mother,
police sub inspector, Anwar used to
Salina, 48, works in the same house
live alone at his place. He used to
as a maid servant. Sharif said, “We
call Sarah when she played outside.
knew Sarah sometimes went to the
Sarah also went to his house to
neighbouring house to play with
watch TV. “It was difficult to find
other children, but we had no idea
about him initially. He is an influ-
she even talked to Anwar.”
ential business man and the neigh-
Sarah said, “He raped me four to
bours had a good opinion of him.”
five times. Since the last two
Swami added that he had advised
months I did not want to go there
the parents to get the child aborted
anymore. He used to say that I am
but they feared for her health.
committing a sin according to
“Once the child is born, we will also
Quran by disobeying him. He
conduct a DNA test.”
“
According to the referral doctor
200-300 for each time and she,
of the CWC, abortion at this stage
being naive, used to contentedly
is not possible. “She has already en-
comply.
tered her second trimester. Her or-
Sharif said that he doesn’t care
gans will be affected if anything is
what story the NGO has made out
tampered with now.”
of the girl’s grievances. “She will be
e Weekly Observer
ursday, October 3, 2013
Poverty drives minors to work after school
Chitharth Mathivanan
hours in the evening. I have
Poverty has forced children to
to earn for my family.”
4
Events
Sandhya, a standard nine
work for a living aer school
student, said, “I work as a
hours. Most of the students studying in Seva Ashram Educational Institute,
helper in a garment shop, earning Rs. 80 per day.”
Gandhinagar are below poverty
Subramaniya Iyer, a Tamil
line. A senior teacher at the school,
instructor at the school,
who asked not to be named, said:
said, “Most of the parents
Micheal
“ey work aer school hours till
are not concerned about
rough Asia
late in the night and hence are un-
the future of their children,
A creative landscape photographer pre-
able to focus on their studies.”
rather interested in having
senting his journey across Asia through
their child as an earning
a series of black and white photographs
member. Most of these stu-
compiled from 2006 to 2013.
dents work aer school Students of Seva Ashram Educational Institutions work aer school hours hours.”
Venue: Sua House, Kasturba Cross
She added, “eir academic results are extremely weak.” Amirsha, a standard seven student at a Kannada medium school, said: “I work as a helper at a garage
Aravind, studying in standard
ery boy in the morning as well as in
in Sriramapuram for four and a half
nine, said: “I work as a milk deliv-
the evening to support my family. He added, “I am the eldest in the
“
My father is a drunkard and in order to repay his debt, my mother and I have to work hard.” - Ravi, student of Seva Ashram
house and I have two sisters. My fa-
Iyer added that they attend school only for the mid day meals and
chronic disease; hence, it is my re-
itor of Karnataka State Child Labor
sponsibility to help my mother.”
Eradication Project Society, said: “I
Ravi, 14, said, “My father is a
will inform the Chief Officer of the
drunkard and had taken a lot of
State Labor Department. We will
debt. My mother and I are working
visit the place and take suitable ac-
hard to repay the debt.”
tion as early as possible.”
A
Journey
Date: Aug 31 - Oct 30, 2013 Time: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
ARTS
studying here work aer school. Kishore, Eradication General Ed-
-
Road , Bangalore
milk. Sixty percent of the children
ther passed away because of a
Kenna
Idiosyncratic Expression
4-year-old girl wakes up after six days in coma
An art exhibition by Kumar Singha & Warsha Lath, artists of the month. Venue: Gallery ird Eye, Yemlur
Apurva Venkat
Dr Roopa added: “Our managing
Main Road, Next to Logican IT Park,
e condition of a girl raped by
director has decided that the hospi-
Behind HAL Airport
her uncle on September 23 is still
tal will incur all the cost of treat-
Date: Oct. 1, 2013 - Oct.31, 2013
not stable.
ment.”
Time: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
e four-year-old girl suffered ex-
Commenting on this, her uncle
tensive injuries aer she was raped
said: “We have been helped by the
and dumped on the road.
hospital. All expenses are being in-
e girl was in a coma for six days
curred by them. But no govern-
and finally opened her eyes last Sat-
ment official has come to see the
urday, according to her family.
condition of the girl or offer us any
Dr. Roopa Bellad, HOD, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit(ICU), said: “While the child’s condition has improved, she has a lot of other morbidities.”
e minor is being treated at the KLES Prabhakar Kore Hospital dition yet.” Gajanand says that his niece is better now that she has opened her
THEATRE
kind of help.” Under the Karnataka State Victim
will take another ten days in the
Compensation Scheme, formed
ICU itself. We hope that she will be
under 357A of Code of Criminal
her normal self soon.
procedure, the victim is entitled for
Russell Peters- Notorious World
She added, “We have done a
eyes. But her mental condition is
e girl’s father is a farmer at Baad
interim financial help. Specifically
Tour 2013
Craniotomy for the swelling in her
very bad. She does not recognize us
village and the mother is a house
the scheme mentions up to Rs
Russell Peters is touring four cities in
brain. She is still in an acute condi-
or respond to us. She just moves her
wife. e girl has been in the KLES
50,000 of financial help for minor
India this October making a return
tion. When we call her, she re-
eye balls. She is still like a dead
Hospital, for the last eleven days
rape victims and up to Rs 10,000 for
with his biggest touring show yet.
sponds by looking at us but she is
body to us. We are waiting and
now.
grievous injury from the fund,
Venue: Koramangala Indoor Stadium
not recognizing us. Neurologically
praying for her mental condition to
which is at the disposal of District
Date: Oct.31, 2013
we are not able determine her con-
get better. Doctors have told me it
Legal Service Authority.
Time: 8:00 PM onwards.
e hospital has decided to waive all the expenses.
Observer Team: Reporters– Neha Singh & Pranay Lakshminarasimhan Emergency Call Services- Karishma Ravindran News Editors– Bhaskar Dutta, Anannya Sarkar & Gaurav Kumar Picture Editor– Bhavika Bhuwalka Design Desk- Nivedita Mohanta Sub Editors– Anand Jain, Apurva Venkat, Chitharth Mathivanan & Mayuri J. Ravi Proof Reader- Aurosmita Acharya Chief Sub Editor– Nikita Narvekar Editor- Ishan Bhattacharya Email- editor@iijnm.org An IIJNM Publication (For Private Circulation)