The Weekly
Observer Volume 14 | Issue 13
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Villagers lose sight after free eye ops EXCLUSIVE Elizabeth Mani Agnivesh Harshan At least eight people who attended a rural eye camp have lost their sight amid allegations that student doctors conducted operations. The patients underwent surgery in April last year and within six months they had all lost the sight in their right eye. They were supposed to be treated for minor conditions like cataracts and glaucoma.A total of 22 people
since their program started in 2009, according to a spokesman. The joint director of the hospital responsible for the camps has promised a full investigation after the Weekly Observer revealed that at least a quarter of the patients treated at the camp had lost their sight. One patient, Venkatamma, 55, said, “The camp co-ordinator came to my house and after check up some dust particles were detected. They operated my eyes just for a mere dust particle. My right eye is blind after the operation."
Name: Maraka Age: 45 Lost sight: four months after the operation were treated at the one-day camp in April last year, according to a spokesman. It is not yet known if the remaining patients have suffered a similar fate. Kempegowda Institute of Medical Science organizes at least 100 similar eye camps every month and has treated over 5000 patients
is an internship program funded by the District Blindness Control Society for the final year medical students of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Science in Bangalore. "The students are supervised by a professional doc-
Name: Anjanappa Age: 60 Lost sight: six months after the operation
The camp, organized in April 2013, operated on 22 people from Devagiri village of which eight are now partially or completely blind. The camp was co-ordinated by final year students under the guidance of just one professional doctor. Camp co-ordinator, Dase Gowda P. R, said, “It
us. We did our best to treat them. If they have an issue they should have it checked up at the hospital.” But Lakshamanna, a gardener who went for surgery, rubbished the doctor's claim. "Before the operation I was able to work in the field without wearing glasses, now I can't do any work," he said. According to the Medical Council of India, "no person other than a doctor having qualification recognized by Medical Council of India and registered with Medical Council of India/State Medical Council (s) is allowed to practice
Name: Lakshmanna Age: 46 Lost sight: a few months after the operation
tor while they are operating. The program began in 2009 and since then we have operated on over 5,000 people.” Dr. Sowbhagya H.N, Head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Supervising doctor at the camp, said, “The patients were already visually impaired when they came to
medical equipments. “The private hospitals usually do not follow up on their patients after surgeries and capitalize on the government schemes for their own monetary benefits. It's not impossible, it can happen.” Patients from the village were contacted by the eye camp team one week after the operations and then again six weeks later. Dr. Ratna V C, joint director of Ophthalmology Department, said, “It is not possible to comment before any prior investigation as the camp was organized one year ago. There are
Name: Venkatamma Age: 55 Lost sight: a few months after the operation
modern system of medicine or surgery." Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, a public health doctor who works with marginalized communities, said: “I cannot be sure but they could have used expired or experimental drugs which would explain the gradual loss of vision. Or it could be that they did not sterilize the
over 100 such camps conducted every month across the state.” The patients, now victims, claim that they were doing well before the treatment in the camp and had only minor issues with their vision.
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Web cafes defy laws in the city Teenagers more Cyber crime rates on a continual hike since 2010 prone to cyber trolls Darshan D. Rane Web cafe owners in Bangalore are flouting the law despite the city recording the highest number of cyber crime rates in India.
poses. Atreya Narvekar, an IT professional working with SAP Labs, Bangalore, said: “Most of these cyber crimes which include potential support to terror activities, net banking frauds etc. can be traced on IP addresses or machine addresses of the com-
Annual comparision of cyber crimes according to the IT and IPC Act, Bangalore According to guidelines framed in 200405, café owners are to demand proof of identity from visiting internet users. In case the user does not have proof of identity, the owner has to himself take the user’s picture through a camera device and store it in their system before allowing them to use the internet.
Cyber cafe in Cubbonpet However, when the Observer visited internet cafes in Cubbonpet, Gandhinagar, Shivajinagar and Cottonpet, none of the cyber cafes asked for proof of identification or any valid document. Only “In and Out” timings were noted for billing pur-
puter. "So, a cyber cafe without any identification procedure becomes a haven for hackers and cyber criminals because even if the IP or machine address is located, we won’t reach the criminal because there is no record of the person with the cyber cafe owners." “The government gives us licenses. They do not prescribe any rules and regulations, so we are unaware. I have a CCTV camera in my cafe. If we suspect someone of suspicious activity, we go to their system and check their e-mails” said cyber cafe owner. Cyber attacks on government websites have also increased. The present leader of the opposition, Jagadish Shettar, was a victim of one such cyber attack recently when a hacker accessed Shettar’s personal homepage and left a message demanding an Independent Kashmir. The police were supposed to set up a nodal agency to individually inspect cyber cafes to ensure compliance with the Karnataka Cyber Cafe Regulations, as per section 90 of IT Act, 2000. Ravindra Gadadi, Deputy Superintendent of CCP, denied having any separate nodal agency to inspect the cyber cafe before issuing them a license.
Aparna Singh As cyber crimes are increasing in the city, the state council has proposed to issue a circular for schools to educate students and parents about safety issues in the cyber world. The Government of Karnataka has proposed to issue a circular to all government and private schools, asking them to hold workshops and seminars for students and parents in order to educate them about cyber ethics and protect their social media accounts. The number of cases reported to the Cyber Crime Police Station in 2011 under Section 66 IT Act was 35 and it has increased to 42 in 2014. The authorities at the Cyber Crime Police Station said, “It is generally the people below 19 years who file complaints for obscene e-mails and photos being stolen from social media websites.” There is a need of awareness campaign among students and parents, he added. “There are many parents who do not even know about the parental controls on the internet and they think that they cannot check on what the children are doing.” Neelam, head of the computer department at Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, said: “There is a chapter for the students of Grade 8 and 11 but no such workshops have been held recently. We held one long back but not recently. “Students on whom
Dr. D C Rajappa these workshops should be focused are the Grade 7 and 8 students as they are exposed to the cyber world and they access the internet more these days. They are also the most vulnerable lot of all.” The Karnataka State Higher Education Council is saying that private schools have only a chapter in curriculum but there is more to be done for awareness about these issues. But the government schools hold a different point of view and they say that they do not need such campaigns hence there is no need of such workshops for the students and parents. A parent at Bangalore Education Society said, “It is a good way of creating awareness if they hold such workshops. The parents should also be up to date with the tech things and it is nice that the schools are taking up these initiatives.” Another parent of an eighth grade student said, “These days kids are exposed to internet more than ever. It would be a good initiative to hold such seminars and also involve the parents in them.”
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City cops hunt serial con artist Natasha Singh A conman who dupes students out of lakhs with the promise of a job has had 50 FIRs registered against him. Police stations across the city have heard sob stories of young job seekers who parted with thousands of rupees only to watch Hemant, as the cops know him, disappear. Hemant usually strikes a partnership with a property dealer or an architect to set up a rented apartment for Rs. 5-6 lakhs after which he recruits recent graduates into a fake call center company. The cheque handed over to the architect or dealer can only be encashed after a week or 10 days. It is in these 7-10 days that he does all the fake recruitment work. He quickly renovates the apartment to make it look like an office
Hemant has 50 FIRs registered against him
space. Hemant targets students in the final year who face difficulties in getting jobs. He promises them work and conducts interviews in this 'office'. After the interview, he tells them that they are selected, takes Rs40-60,000 from them and then disappears. When these students try to contact him back, his number is switched off and un-traceable. Hemant has managed to dupe many students. One of the students, Deepak Prakash, studying in Nitte Meenakshi College, said, “He said he would give me employment in his company ‘Holy Basil’, and took Rs45,000 from me after an interview. When I contacted him after a week, his number was switched off and the place was shut.” Ravi Shankar, a local contractor, has gone into
huge losses because of Hemant. He said, “He owes me 14.5 lakhs. It has been more than a year now but the case is still not resolved. He gives money to the police and lawyer and gets away every time.” When the architects get notified about the cheque getting bounced, Hemant has already disappeared. Rohan Shenoy, a local architect, went into a loss of 15 lakhs after renovation. He said, “When I found out that the cheque bounced, I knew that this man had duped me. I straight away went to the local police station to file an FIR only to find out that there were 49 cases already registered against him.” The police inspector, Siddlingappa, said that initially they tried to find him but to no use. “Now the case is with the court so we cannot do anything.”
Tourism sector faces manpower crunch Aadhira Anandh More than 50 per cent of posts lie vacant in Karnataka’s tourism department due to the budget cuts by the State Government. 105 out of the 195 posts allotted to the tourism department are vacant, according to the reports by Karnataka Tourism Department. “The government is very slow in taking decisions. We have been writing to the government because of the resource crunch we are facing, but our efforts lead us with no results. We
are in a situation where we ask people from other department to work for us.” said Mr. Srikant, head of accounts department. Mr. J.K Murthy, Secondary Joint Clerk who works with the administration said, “Getting sanctions from the government for these many posts is a big issue. First they will sanction few posts and then they will again stop the recruitments.” “We have written a letter to the government many times asking for the fast recruitment of at least 69 seats, of which they have sanctioned only 24, but no actions were taken.”
Department of Tourism Picture Courtesy - Noah D’Mello Mr. Poovaya, Joint Director of Department of Tourism, said, “There are a lot of procedures to be followed. They have to pass orders, issue policies and
sanctions, which they hardly bother themselves with. We cannot do anything other than accepting their decisions and waiting for them to do something.”
“We have been banned from recruiting now.” said Mr Basavaraju, Deputy Director of Department of Tourism. “Government has said no to recruitment owing to its economic measures. We have been asked to makedo with a minimal budget. If we have to do the process early then we will have to put pressure from all levels and even after all that we can only hope for changes and nothing can be assured.” When the Weekly Observer tried contacting the tourism minister R.V Deshpande, he was unavailable for the comment.
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Disaster management website averts ‘PR’ disaster Nikunj Ohri A website for the state's disaster management team didn't work for a month and the hastily arranged new portal spelled 'disaster' and 'relief' incorrectly. Twenty-four hours after we asked them about their broken site, a brand new hosting site had been found and a new site created, albeit with some serious flaws. The old official site ( http://www.ksdma.co.in ) which gave information about forecasting, early warning and preparedness for disasters, has been hastily abandoned. The National Disaster Management Authority of India has a website which educates people about national disasters and how to take preventive measures for such disasters. It has links for all the states of the country. The official link
(L-R) Screenshot of the new website and previous website which expired on September 13 for the Karnataka State’s Disaster Management Authority expired on September 13, 2014. When The Weekly Observer informed the officials about it, the website was renewed the next day. Disaster and relief were spelled as ‘diaster’ and ‘relif ’, which shows that the website was developed in a hurry. Somashekar, Statistics Officer, Karnataka State Revenue Department
(Disaster Management), said: “We are unable to find out what has gone wrong with the website. We were trying to include all the districts of the state in the website but, it couldn’t take the load and the website crashed. The website may take one more week to repair.” But apparently, the website was renewed and repaired the next day. The state government had given the contract to
Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS) for the developing of the website. A spokesperson from KEONICS, said: “We are unable to find a reason for the crashing of the website and it is not clear whether we will continue with the website or not. The committee will decide what has to be done.” The website which was to be given a thought
whether it should be continued or not according to KEONICS, was fixed in hours. Michelle Nalini Kumar, Head of Corporate Communications, Mphasis, the software company which has developed the website for the country, said, “We developed the website three years back and the maintenance of the website is handled by a third party developer.”
Murderer to be tried despite missing corpse Natasha Singh A man will stand trial for murder even though police have yet to find his victim's body. Eerappa, A 28-year-old orchestra singer and fatherof-two, had a fight with the accused and ordered him to leave his village in peace. The rowdy, Mahadev, then plotted his revenge and stabbed Eerappa to death, with the help of two other men. Despite Mahadev telling cops where he dumped Eerappa's body, it is still missing some 50 days after Mahadev says he killed him. Police and Eerappa's
Eerappa’s poster in the village family have been unable to find it. Under Indian law, where no body is found and therefore death cannot be certified, a murder trial can go ahead on the basis of the accused's guilty statement. Gangasangra village residents did not know that
Eerappa would meet this fate for fighting for them. Mahadev, a rowdy resident of Andhra Pradesh, was visiting the village as his wife and children stay in there. Eeerappa’s body has been missing for the past 50 days. After searching for him for six days, his family filed a missing report in the Thalaghattapura police station. In the meantime, Mahadev’s mother in law, Ratnama, who had been subjected to repeated beatings by him, reported the murder to the police. “Whenever he gets drunk, he fights with peo-
ple and also beats me and my husband. He had been planning this murder for the past 15 days with six other people,” said Ratnama.
Eerappa’s family Mahadev, along with his brother and friend, were caught by Bangalore Police after 17 days in Andhra Pradesh, and then confessed to the crime. Eerappa is survived by his
23 years old wife, Rupa and two children. “One and a half years back, Eerappa slapped Mahadev for creating a ruckus in the village and asked him to go back. Mahadev had been planning the revenge since then,” said his widow Rupa, crying. Rupa and her sister-inlaw work in a field and earn 120rs per day. “We have to think of other possibilities so that our children Meghna and Jeewan, can go to school.” Mahadev, who has confessed to the crime, has been kept in lock up while the case is going on in the court.
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Open door for Ebola at airport? Nikhil M Babu The doctor in charge of Ebola monitoring at Bangalore Airport does not know what a hazmat suit is. According to one worker on the Ebola monitoring desk, the suit, a "hazardous material" suit that must be worn when treating Ebola patients, is not being stocked at the airport, one of the country's busiest air hubs with flights arriving from Africa on a daily basis. When asked if he had "hazmat" suits, Dr Rajesh, in charge of the medical team at the airport, said: "What is that?" When our reporter then asked if he had stocks of "hazardous material suits" he again asked: "What is it?" before finally stating: "When we have a case, we'll get the suits." The airport only screens flights from six West African countries and has a nominated hospital where suspected cases can be taken. Two African men were rushed there recently and quarantined for two days before medics realised they had Malaria. There are thermal cameras in Mumbai and Delhi Airports for identifying anyone who has an illness or high temperature and has not disclosed it. At Bangalore, the camera is only focused on the West African flights. “We have a thermal check for
“Hazmat suits? What is it? When we have a case, we'll get the suits." all passengers from West Africa to check their temperatures and look out for any possible Ebola threat. We don’t check people from anywhere else,” said Praveen, a worker in the Ebola centre next to immigration in Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru. “There is a questionnaire for all passengers coming from Africa to India which has questions about whether they have cough, cold or any other illness. It also questions
whether family members or friends had Ebola,” said student Habel, who flew into Mumbai Airport from Ethiopia this week and who studies in Bangalore. “We have to give this form at the counter next to immigration in Mumbai, but the whole process will be over in no time and it’s nothing serious,” he added. Hazmat suits or hazardous materials suits are to be used by the doctors while attending highly contagious diseases like Ebola, according to World Health Organisation guidelines. “How many times should I tell you that we don’t have the suit,” was the reply from Praveen, a worker in the Ebola checking counter at KIA Bengaluru, when
Dr. Shashidhar Buggi The Weekly Observer asked. “Two people with suspected Ebola from the Airport were sent to our hospital,” said Dr Shashidar Buggi, Medical Director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, the hospital that will treat any Ebola patients found in Bangalore. “They stayed here for two days and later tests revealed that they had Malaria,” he added. Later he claimed that they have a protective kit to protect them from Ebola. In the US, Coast Guard corpsmen, medical workers, Customs and Border Protection staffers together carry out screening for Ebola. Even with all the checks in place the US have told that they can't bring the risk down to zero. The death of Thomas Duncan in the US and a nurse in Spain also contacting the disease has instilled the fear of spread of Ebola all over the world.
‘I worked in the field...now I cannot’ Continued from page 1 Lakshmanna, 46, who works as a gardener in BGS Residential International School, added, “I had no problems with my vision till the surgery. They strongly persuaded me to have the operation just because I went for an eye check up. Now my left eye has no vi-
sion at all and my right one only works well if I have my glasses on.” Marrakka, 45, a farmer, said, “They asked me to go through an operation for both the eyes. I am glad I agreed for only the left eye otherwise I would have lost my complete vision.” Hanumakka, 65, also had a similar story to tell. “I
lost my eyes to the campaign, now I am dependent on others for life,” she said. “I do not even know the name of the person who operated my eyes and left me completely blinded for life, said Anjanappa, 60. Hanumanthappa, an unemployed villager, also lost his vision to false promises of the camp members who
assured clear vision after the operation. Instead he lostall sight. Narayanappa K, a daily wage labourer, said, “I have bad vision. But I know those people are just students and not doctors and am scared to approach the camp at Golahalli to undertake the surgery.” According to the Indian
Council of Opthalmology, blindness in India is linked to literacy and environmental conditions. A recent study found that the primary cause for blindness was cataract and glaucoma. Low vision cases were recorded at 2.9 per cent and visual impairment causes at 3.8 per cent in a study of 4800 subjects.
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Treat abused children with care: Nimhans Punita Maheshwari Abused children should be dealt with in a sensitive manner by experts, according to city childcare experts. National Institute of Mental health and Neurosciences has proposed guidelines for sophisticated interrogative methods that limit further harm to the child being questioned by police and medical experts in the wake of abuse. The Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in NIMHANS, under the guidance of Dr. Shekhar Shishadari, released a report in August guiding police, hospitals, schools and media to adopt a child-centric response. Dr. Shishadari is also a professor in the same de-
Session with school children Courtesy: Enfold partment. Commenting on the issue he said, “The abused child should be the last person to be bothered, for which we proposed Forensic Interview Methodology.” Forensic Interview Methodology is a child-sensitive, age-appropriate method to find out if a child has suffered sexual abuse. The method uses art, pictures, dolls and other supportive mechanisms to
help children speak out. Bangalore City Police does not have a child specific department but does train its officers in tandem with NIMHANS. Ayushman Ghosh, DCP, Crime, said, “We have regular training sessions with the existing personnel but having a separate department is not possible due to diversity in cases.” For schools, the action plan consists of preventive
workshops, personal safety workshops and life skills. Abinay Rao’s brother, who is in fifth grade, was abused by the driver of his school bus. “The method they follow helps the child to actually handle the incident well,” the brother said, refusing to mention the victim’s name. To bring the plan into action, the department collaborated with an NGO named Enfold Proactive Health Trust in Bangalore. Shaibya Saldanha, founder of Enfold, believes that the Forensic interview methodology is apt. “This is very relevant in the context of the POCSO Act, 2012 which has marked non-penetrative sexual assault which may be harassment that cannot be proved through a medical examination,” she said.
Khushi Khushalappa, a member of the NGO, said, “We have trained staff in seven hospitals and it is compulsory for all government and private schools to follow the guidelines in order to avoid any legal action against them.” She added: “Media is insensitive and treats a child abuse case as a juicy burger to gulp. Reporters from reputed names are well behaved but local news houses cross the ethical limits quite often.” Nina Nayak, Chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, considers sc hool children most vulnerable. “All schools must include provisions for recruitment of staff, code of conduct, complaints committee and redressal mechanism ,” she said.
More teenage runaways in city, say cops Divya Kishore More teenage and underage couples are running away together to escape the ire of their parents, according to city police. One officer from Missing Child Bureau(MCB),Bangalore believes elopement cases have risen this year by as much as 40 per cent. According to sub-inspector Dinesh, Head Constable at Ramamurthy Nagara Police Station, the ages range between 16 to 30 years among which 10per cent are minors. Most of the cases registered under elopement are love affairs,
he added. Police recently registered a case in which a minor girl fled from home with a 20-year-old in order to save their relationship as they knew their parents would object. Her parents did, and registered a missing report case at Ramamurthy Nagar Police Station on October 4, 2014. The investigation then revealed that the boy Appu eloped with the minor. They were arrested on October 10. Police traced the mobile number of the boy and the tracing process went on for eight days. They found the couple near
Entrance to state home for children K R Puram Railway Station where they were planning to leave for Tamil Nadu. “He eloped with her as the girl was minor and their parents would not accept the relationship,” said Dinesh, the Head Constable. According to a relative, the minor worked in a factory to support her family. Her family was not aware about her friendship with
the boy. “As usual on October 4, she went to work but did not come back so we registered a missing report in Ramamurthy Nagara police station.” “We arrested the boy and referred the girl to the State Children Home for Girls. The boy is in central jail, Parappana Agrahara. He is charged under section 366 and POSCO act," Dinesh added. Divya Narayanappa, District Child Protection Officer, said: “In these types of cases minor girls are rehabilitated at State Children Home for Girls, under the Child Welfare Committee. We also coun-
sel their parents.” The family was ready to take their daughter back, but as the district court closed by 3pm, they had to wait for the next working day. “I don’t know what to say but yes it’s good that she is out of a major problem, but I have decided that now I’m not going to send her outside for anything,” said the father. “We are really happy and thankful to the police who found our daughter. We are also grateful to the Child Welfare Committee and the Children Home for Girls whose staff counseled her for a better future,” said the minor’s uncle.
OBSERVER Team: Editor - Kimaya Varude, Chief Sub-Editor - Nikunj Ohri, News Editor - Elizabeth Mani, News Desk - Agnivesh Harshan, Sub-Editors - Darshan D. Rane, Aadhira Anandh and Punita Maheshwari, Designer - Aparna Singh, Layout Desk - Devdatta Sukhdev and Pulaha Ray, Photo Editor - Nikhil M Babu, Proof Reader - Divya Srivastava, Asmita Kundu, Reporters - Natasha Singh and Apoorva Choubey