The Observer - issue 5

Volume 15 | Issue 5

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Cyber cops clueless over online sex in the city racket Parvathi Benu Bangalore pimps who sell sex online are completely ignored by the city's cyber crime cops.

One senior officer in charge of social media for the police has even claimed that the posts are fake.

Men selling women for sex via Twitter and Facebook are making fortunes as cops tweet about traffic tickets and parking violations.

The cyber pimps use the hashtag #Bangalore to drum up business online on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp.

They are happy to send photos of women to customers who call. Prices range from R's. 50,000 to one lakh for an evening.

Bangalore City Police and traffic cops were quick to realise the potential of social media as a policing tool. But rather than actively patrolling the web for crime, they prefer to post success stories and act on minor complaints received from members of the public.

While prostitution is not illegal in India, under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, pimping, running brothels and advertising of sex through any medium are unlawful. Section 3 of the act states that any person who manages, acts or assists in keeping a brothel shall be punishable on first conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than three years and also with a fine which may extend to Rs. 2,000.

Siddalingappa, DYSP Deputy Superintendent , Cyber cell claimed that the numbers given for sex services on social media sites are false. “No action was taken and no cases regarding online escort agencies have been registered. We haven’t received any complaint. These numbers should not be trusted,” he said.

BRIEFS KSRTC bus drivers on hunger strike demanding transfer in services

A hunger strike by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) started from Shanthinagar on September 9. As the number of striking workers increased to 400 they decided to shift their venue to Freedom Park.

PAGE 2 One suicide every five minutes in India, says Director of NGO Online websites showing advertisements of escort services Our reporter contacted pimps via their online contact numbers on Twitter. Identifying himself as a customer, he enquired about the service and the rates.“We have women from the age group of 21 to 25. A client will have to book a room in a good hotel and a girl will cost Rs 50,000 per day,” said an agent who runs different escort websites like www.vinni.co.in, 4escortservice.com, bindyajacob.in, asia.rotci.com etc. with one mobile number. He uses the name ‘UmaRai’ online. He assured that everything is done in a discrete manner and the police will not interfere in the matter. He also refused to talk about escorts below 18 years of age over the phone. “You have to book a 3 star hotel as we want to avoid raids and the price is not negotiable. The girl will come alone to the hotel and one has to pay in hard cash,” he added.

FACT BOX 1. India’s largest red-light district is in Shonagacchi , Kolkata.

2.Telegu actress Aish Ansari was caught red-handed in the act in 2013.

3. Surveys show there are an estimated 1.2 million children involved in prostitution 4. The primary law dealing with the status of sex workers is the 1956 law referred to as The Immoral Traffic (Suppression) Act(SITA).

According to this law, prostitutes can practise their trade privately but cannot legally solicit customers in public.

5. Prostitution, has been a theme in Indian literature and arts for centuries, Mrichakatika a ten-act Sanskrit play, was written byŚhudraka in the 2nd century BC. It entails the story of a courtesan Vasantsena.

It was made into Utsav, a 1984 Hindi film. Amrapali (Ambapali) the nagarvadhu of the Kingdom of Vaishali famously became a Buddhist monk later in life, a story retold in a Hindi film, Amprapali (1966).

6. According to National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) Mumbai is the biggest sex market of India.

(continued on page 3)

The increasing rate of suicide in the world is a matter of concern for society and government. To raise awareness for the prevention of suicides, the world celebrates World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10 every year.

PAGE 2 Hospital airs its dirty laundry in public A BBMP referral hospital is using the railings outside its main entrance to dry its bed sheets and laundry

PAGE 3 Burns units of reputed hospitals working with 6-10 beds Shortage of beds in hospitals to treat burns patients is leading to long waiting lines in the city.

PAGE 4 Ambulances with no life saving kit Ambulances in the city are lacking in essential facilities such as life supporting oxygen equipment.

The pictures of girls working for the agency, as sent by the agent

PAGE 4

2 THE OBSERVER

Thursday, September 10, 2015

One suicide every five minutes in India, says Director of NGO Payal Gangishetty The World Suicide Prevention Day campaign was held at Freedom Park. Around 300 people participated in the campaign organized by Safe Hands International, an NGO. “In India, every five minutes there is a suicide that is reported. People who have lost all hope in life take such a drastic step, but suicide is not the solution ” said Daniel Madapur, Director of Safe Hands International. He further said “People get suicidal thoughts due to various reasons such as family problems, financial problems and in

some cases people are mentally not strong so they feel left out and take this drastic step to commit suicide. Counselling for such people is very important and provides emotional support.”

Benny Prasad, who holds a record in the Limca book for the fastest traveller of all countries of the world, was the guest speaker at the campaign. He shared his personal experience and said “There was a time when nothing was working out for me in the field of music. I lost all hope and had suicidal thoughts. But through moral support from

Members of Safe Hands International displaying solidarity in Freedom Park

Members of Safe Hands International

my family I could cope up.”

“Nothing is impossible, just believe in what you do” he added.

To raise awareness for the prevention of suicides, the world celebrates World Sui-

cide Prevention day on September 10 every year.This year’s theme is “Reaching Out and Saving Lives.” World Suicide Prevention Day is organized by the International Association for Suicide Pre-

vention (IASP) and the WHO, a co-sponsor of meetings and events related to WSPD 2015.

KSRTC bus drivers on a hunger strike demanding transfer in services Sanskriti Talwar The hunger strike by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) started from Shanthinagar on September 9. As the number of striking workers increased to 400 they decided to shift their venue to the Freedom Park.

The transport corporation employees have three major demands – a rise in their meagre wages, transfer to their native place and a re-

Slogans of the strike

vival of transportation facilities from their residences.

"Up till 2010, transfer of services was allowed within the four corporations. The management now says they will not give inter-service transfer. Employees are demanding for transfer to work in their native place," said Raj Gupta, joint secretary, Staff and Workers federation who had joined the hunger strike with his workers.

In 1997, KSRTC split into four smaller units-KSRTC, NWRTC(North West Road Transport Corporation) which covers Huballi, NERTC(North East Road Transport Corporation) which Covers Gulbarga and BMTC.(Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation).

"They split the corporation because of increase in the number of employees and they thought this will put them in loss. That division of KSRTC was never meant to favour us. We've travelled 600km to Freedom Park and

KSRTC servicemen on hunger strike will remain on strike till the government meets our demands," said Lakshman, a KSRTC driver on hunger strike.

They also demanded an increase in wages as they were

too meagre. He was confident that the hunger strike would not lapse until all their demands were met.

“We have complained about it but they didn't take any actions we want work in our na-

tive place so that we can stay close to our family," said Holeppa, another KSRTC driver.

Thursday, September 10, 2015 3

THE OBSERVER

Principal granted conditional bail after he allegedly harassed girl students Laxmi Narayani .M.Waddin, principal of KLE College of Business Administration, Hubli, who was arrested for alleged sexual harassment of the girl students of BBA department

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while on a trip to Goa, has been granted conditional bail.

The principal and 43 students had gone for a college trip to Goa on September 4. There were 13 girl students in the crew who complained

that they were sexually harassed on their return trip to the college. The students along with their parents attacked the principal and also damaged his car.

The police managed to control the situation and

arrested him under Section 354(indecently assaulting a women to outrage her modesty), 506(criminal intimidation) and 509(insulting women’s modesty through word or gesture) of the Indian Penal

Code.

When asked about the victims, the college spokesperson denied revealing information regarding it. The Vidhyanagar police were unavailable for comment.

Principal of KLE College of Business Administration Picture credit- KLE's College of Business Administration Facebook page

KLE College of Business Administration In Vidhyanagar, Hubli.

Continued from page 1.

Hospital airs its dirty laundry in public

Online sex not a big issue, say social media cops

Ankita Sil

“We’re running our business successfully and have faced no police encounters till now.

It is pretty safe,” said a pimp from Kerala, who runs an escort service in Bangalore. He said that acquiring the services of some girls will cost upwards of Rs.1, 00,000.

“The price starts from Rs. 25,000 and the girl can be picked from JP Nagar”, said Mayank, another pimp our reporter called. The pimps who are very active on Twitter, tweet every hour or so and also have their own websites and/or blogs.

“Do you need a girl for Fun? Have Fun with them Book Early #Hot #EscortService #Bangalore”,“Only high class people call for high class #Hot #Escorts #Service #Bangalore”,say a fewtweets by pimps on Twitter.

While the pimps are advertis-

ing themselves online,the city police tweets,“Smt. Radhika, IPS, ADGP, SCRB, Odisha State visited Traffic Management Centre @CPBlr”, “Due to Gowri-Ganesh&Bakridfestivals,@CPBlr& BBMP Commissioner conducted citizen peace committee meeting at shikshakarasadana yesterday” and @BlrCityPolice Care on your Children's while you drive.”

“We monitor the trends and publicize the activities of the police department. Most of the time, the trending hashtags are set up by us. This is a very small problem and our team is very efficient”, said an officer of the social media team,”who does not wish to be named. He was surprised to know how the hashtags, ‘Bangalore’ and ‘Bengaluru’ were used for these activities.

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asappaThirumalamma hospital is using the railings outside its main entrance to dry its bed sheets and laundry.

Linens used in the hospital are sun dried inthe open where passing vehicles cover them in dust.

The BBMP referral hospital which deals with maternity and childcare receives more than 15 patients a day.

“Though the UV rays kill bacteria, the soil particles present in the air can infect patients with low immunity,especially babies,” said Dr Yuvraj Singh, a former employee of BR Ambedkar Medical College, Bangalore.

The hospital authorities refused to comment on the issue.

Linen outside Dasappa Thirumalamma- BBMP referral hospital kept for drying

4 THE OBSERVER

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Ambulances with no life saving kit on city streets Laxmi Narayani

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mbulances in the city are lacking in essential facilities such as life supporting oxygen equipment.

This has led to inefficiency in the manner in which the ambulances function.

National Health Commission reported that there are 711 GVK EMRI ambulances in the state. One can avail of the services of these ambulances by calling the toll free number 108. They take the patients to the nearest government hospital for treatment. But the traffic in the city rarely gives way for ambulance. Though the Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption System (EVPS) for ambulances has been started, it is yet to be implemented. “Many patients who were admitted during emergencies have been declared brought dead to the hospital. This happens mainly because of delay in bringing them, which worsens their condition. A medical advisor

should be accompanied by them to handle the patient” said B. Kumar, public relations officer of BGS Global Hospital. They have five ambulances, out of which three have advanced life supporting system. “We charge about Rs.12.50 to Rs.15 per kilometre and we attend six to seven calls during the weekend” he concluded.

“My husband was ill and I dialled 108. They sent me the ambulance within 10 minutes, but there was no one to transfer the patient other than the driver and as it was midnight I couldn’t manage without calling for my neighbour’s help.” said Kavita Patel . Avinaash said , “ When my friend drowned in a water body near Mysore, the 108 ambulances arrived on time but they lacked the apparatus for artificial respiration. Now he is no more”.The GVK EMRI has four types of road ambulances and they are funded by the state government for 95 percent of their operating cost. A GVK ambulance

Ambulance of a Government Hospital Picture by: Gautham R

Tweets of the day @Amara_Bengaluru A regional party with connect to the people & language of the land can fight & #StopHindiImperialism Karnataka needs one @karave_KRV @ndtv Beef ban in Jammu and Kashmir must be enforced strictly, High Court tells state police chief

Unhygenic interiors of an ambulance driver, who was waiting for son, Mr. Sreedhar Murthy, oxygen cylinders in Victoria who deals in ambulance sales hospital, said “My junction is in the city said, “An ambuChandapura, where I receive lance cost Rs. 14 lakhs minus calls to pick up patients. I atthe medical equipment and tend to 150 patients per the mandatory rules for these month. I’m paid Rs.9500 per tools are not stated in any rule month. Ambulances provide unless specified in the tender us with medical kits to handle documents. Each ambulance patients and sometime nurses of GVK was paid Rs.1,29,000 accompany us to handle serifor maintenance by the health ous patients.” department.”

Khivraj Motors spokesper-

Burns centres of reputed hospitals working with 6-10 beds Mouli Shree Shortage of beds in hospitals meant to treat burns patients is leading to long waiting lists in the city. While Victoria Hospital has 52 such beds, burns centres in most other reputed hospitals work with less than ten beds.

A report by Organization of Burns Care has recommended a capacity for 19 to 26 patients in “expanded burns centres”. The spokesperson of St. John’s hospital said:“since there are only six beds in the burns unit and all of them are occupied most of the time, we are finding it difficult to accommodate the incoming patients. They are more likely to be infected outside the burns unit” “When poor people come to hospitals with severe burns injuries they are admitted but they die anyway because of

lack of adequate facilities,” said Dr. Ramesh, a plastic surgeon at Victoria Hospital.

He said that reputed hospitals like Rajarajeshwari, Bowring and Lady Curzon have only six to ten beds per room. He added that private hospitals like Fortis and Ambedkar Hospital, which are recognized by NABH (National Accreditation Board of Hospitals) do not have adequate facilities.

Fortis, Sagar, Columbia Asia, People Tree, Jayanagar General Hospital and Ramakrishna Hospital are some of the other hospitals that have insufficient number of beds.

“Regal Hospital does not have a burns unit and patients who go there for treatment are referred to other hospitals”, said Dr. Smita, head of the burns unit at Victoria Hospital.

“Our hospital possesses the minimum requirement of 50 beds in the burns unit,” said

Dr. Ramesh. “However I’m not Deputy Director of the NGO satisfied with the quality of the “Rehabilitation of Burns Vicinfrastructure, trained staff tims for Poor People” and materials such as skin Eshwarappa said that people grafts, injections and so on. find it difficult if they have Tissue banks have also not burns that exceed 10 percent. been set up yet.”

Vijay, a burns victim at Victo“The number of beds will be ria Hospital, said, “I’m still increased soon,” said Dr. waiting for my turn; it has Smita. “The hospital can been 30 minutes. They aren’t house over 1,000 patients.” treating it like a medical emerRecords show that deaths in gency.”

Victoria Hospital on account of burns injuries run into hundreds. In 2012, there were 827 deaths, while the same figure for 2013 is 709 and 721 for 2014. By April 2015, 152 deaths were recorded. Women account for over 62 percent of the victims. While deaths due to burns injuries caused by accidents make up over 70 percent of the Burns unit of Victoria Hospital victims.

@htTweets Mother toungue is a great treasure for every state. If we can use Hindi to connect them all, our connection will be strengthened: PM Modi @paulfarmermind Today is #WorldSuicidePreventionDay where we remember those who took their own lives and pledge to reduce suicide in every community. @IndiaTodayFLASH #BREAKING: Police detains MNS workers who were selling chicken in Dadar as a mark of protest against 4-day #meatban in Mumbai @TheWISHCentre We vow to support young people to never give up and find strength in community #WorldSuicidePreventionDay @IChangeMyCity Using a drone camera, the #police on Tuesday traced the body of 8 year-old Ali Abbas to an open drain in a forest area in HBR Layout. #News @ETPolitics LC Goyal's removal from Home Ministry gets murkier, allegations of mess in #NDMC's functioning http://ow.ly/S1eFa @ETMarkets #FIIs find India bright spot among emerging market peers http://ow.ly/S1fmd

THE OBSERVER Editor: Parvathi Benu | News Editor:Maqsood Ahmed Maniyar | Chief Sub-Editor: Oindrila Sarkar Picture Editor: Mathew Joy Mathew | Sub-Editors: Aparajita Khandelwal, Irien Joseph, Laxmi Narayani Reporters:Ankita Sil, Akshaya NA, Aditi Mallik | Design and Layout: Mouli Shree