Category: Vaishali

2 women assaulted, tonsured for resisting rape bid by councillor in Bihar

Source: hindustantimes.com

A 48-year-old woman and her newly married 19-year-old daughter were ‘punished’ in Vaishali’s Bihari village for protesting against a rape bid by a local ward councillor. The police said that ward councillor Mohammad Khurshid and his henchmen assaulted the women, shaved their head and paraded them across the village. The ward councillor, a barber and three others were arrested by the police on Thursday, after a video of the incident went viral on social media.

Sanjay Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of the Bhagwanpur police station confirmed the incident and said that the matter is under investigation. He said that half a dozen people barged into the victims’ house and attempted to rape the daughter. After the mother tried to rescue her daughter, the accused physically assaulted the two women.

One of the accused beat them with wooden sticks, dragged them outside their house and held a ‘panchayat’. Khurshid called a barber and ordered him to shave the women’s heads, and paraded them across the village.“Around 6.30 pm, half a dozen armed men forcibly entered my house and attempted to rape me. When my mother tried to save me, they started beating us,” the one of the victims told the police.

Eyewitnesses said that Khurshid alleged that the duo was involved in a flesh trade racket.

A case has been registered against seven people under sections 376 (punishment for rape), 511 (punishment for attempting

Bihar police arrest Maoist injured in encounter, seize arms

Source:- newindianexpress.com

The encounter between the anti-naxal team and the ultras ensued when the cops intercepted the duo moving suspiciously near Ram Sharan College on Jandaha-Mahnar road

PATNA: Bihar police have arrested a Maoist who was injured during an anti-naxal operation in Vaishali district of the state on Monday.

The injured Maoist has been identified as Mohammad Aijaz. His associate Raja Sahni managed to flee. 

The encounter between the anti-naxal team and the ultras ensued after the cops intercepted the duo. The cops found them moving suspiciously near Ram Sharan College on Jandaha-Mahnar road. 

The operation was carried out on a specific intelligence input by ASP (operation).  Vaishali Superintendent of Police (SP) MS Dhillon, who monitored the operation said, ” We got tip off that some persons affiliated to a Maoist outfit led by one Amarnath Sahni were reaching a spot to purchase arms and ammunition”. 

Following this, an anti-naxal team was formed and rushed to the spot. “The ultras came in a bike. When intercepted, one of them fired on the police party. The team retaliated and in the encounter Mohd. Aijaz suffered bullet injuries in his leg,” Dhillon said, adding, Sahni, a resident of Dih Bicholi, however, escaped. 

“Both are wanted in three murder cases and three other cases under Arms Act and ULAP act. A country-made revolver, 6 ammo and one fired cartridge along with bike have been seized from the duo, the SP further added.  

None of the cops was injured in the encounter.

The captured accused, Aijaz,  son of Mohammad Idrees Mian from Chandsarai has been hospitalised and is said to be out of danger.  “Even after the encounter with ultras, the areas affected with Naxal activities are being sanitised for remaining associates”, Dhillon said.  

In the past, two farmers were abducted and killed by CPI (Maoists) after they were returning from a nearby village Dihouchauli. The areas falling under the Jandaha and Patepur police stations in Bihar’s Vaishali district are suspected to be in the grip of ultras.

BCG SEAsia head Vaishali Rastogi honoured with IIMA alumni award

Source:- consultancy.asia

The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad has honoured six of its young alumni for 2019, including Vaishali Rastogi, head of BCG for Southeast Asia

Established in 1961 via the prompting of renowned Indian independence leader and the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA – one in network of twenty Indian Institutes of Management) is the nation’s leading provider of MBA programmes, ranked 7th last year in the Asia Pacific on the QS Global University charts.

A previous analysis from Livemint showed that by far away IIMA alumni made up the highest proportion of MBA-holding CEOs at BSE 500 companies, among them; Rajesh Gopinathan, the CEO and managing director of Indian-based global IT giant Tata Consultancy Services, who in 2014 was awarded by the IIMA with an inaugural Young Alumni Achiever’s Award. Joining him on that list; Vaishali Rastogi, head of BCG for Southeast Asia.

A 1997 IIMA master’s degree graduate, Rastogi has been named among a group of six as recipients of the 2019 Young Alumni Achiever’s Award, with the awards, now into their fifth edition, being open to alumni under the age of 45. Rastogi was joined in the corporate category by Warburg Pincus Managing Director Viraj Sawhney, and Sumit Jalan, Managing Director for Credit Suisse in India.

“It is an award that recognises excellence, but more than anything else, it is actually saying something about the motivation that drives these individuals,” commented IIMA Director Errol D’souza. “It is a journey from which everyone can learn. This sort of drive must have been inherent in them but we hope that some would have emerged at the institute and they continue to achieve more in the fields they are in.”

Joining Boston Consulting Group’s Mumbai office in 1997 (which is today headed by fellow IIMA graduate Alpesh Shah) as one of the strategy and management firm’s first cohort of consultants in the country, Rastogi has since established an impressive leadership resume, crossing to BCG’s Singapore office in 2000 and elected as the firm’s first female partner of Indian descent globally.

Since then, Rastogi has gone on to hold numerous leadership positions for BCG in the region, including as the current Asia-Pacific Marketing, Sales & Pricing practice leader and head of the firm’s Center for Customer Insight for Southeast Asia, ultimately rising to senior partner and head of BCG’s Southeast Asian practice – where she reports to recently elected Asia-Pacific chairman Neeraj Aggarwal, an IIMA graduate and 2016 Young Alumni Achiever’s awardee.

“Today I manage the whole of Southeast Asia,” said Rastogi on receiving her award. “I hope that it inspires the future leaders from IIMA to reach for the stars. I hope my journey will inspire women as well. I like mentoring women and see them grow… There is no ceiling except the one that you define in your own mind. If you can get over that, you can achieve whatever you want.”

Act Of Touching A Colleague’s Hand Does Not Constitute The Offence Of Outraging Modesty Of A Woman: Bombay HC [Read Judgment]

Source: livelaw.in

The Bombay High Court has held that the bare act of touching hands of a fellow colleague is not sufficient to constitute the offence of outraging modesty of a woman. Division bench of Justice TV Nalawade and Justice KK Sonawane quashed a FIR filed against Dilip Lomate under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code. Lomate, the headmaster at Shri. Sant Dnyaneshwar Prathmik Ashram School, Osmanabad district was accused by an Assistant teacher of outraging her modesty.

The complainant Vaishali, was working at the same school as an Assistant Teacher since 2004. Her medical bills and leave allowance bills between 2015-2016 before the school authority. According to prosecution, on September 26, 2018, in the morning hours, when the complainant was busy teaching the students, the applicant headmaster appeared in the class-room. He came near Vaishali and after touching her hands, disclosed that her pending bills will be made cleared. He requested her not to complain against him to the Trustees of the School. He then threatened the complainant saying that he has relatives on high posts and no one can harm him. But, after the threat, complainant folded her hands in order to apologise, the applicant then touched her hands and pressed them.

The complainant narrated the incident to another teacher and on October 12, 2018, she filed the report to the police for penal action against the applicant headmaster.

The applicant then filed an application under Section 482 of CrPC for quashing of the said proceedings.

Submissions

Applicant’s lawyer SJ Salunke submitted that all allegations about the attempt of applicant to outrage the modesty of complainant are false, baseless and vexatious. He argued that there was inordinate delay in lodging the FIR.

Also, while discharging her duties in the school, complainant had a habit of insubordination. She always remained absent in the school without giving prior intimation or application for leave. She ventured to put her signature on the muster roll subsequently without permission of the higher authority. A memo was issued to the complainant for her negligent conduct and demeanour in the school. The Divisional Deputy Commissioner, Social Welfare Department was appraised about frequent absence of complainant on duty without prior intimation. The applicant being headmaster of the School used to try and make her understand to behave properly. But she threatened him with a case of sexual harassment, Salunke submitted.

APP SS Chaudhari appeared on behalf of the complainant opposing the arguments advanced by the applicant’s lawyer. The FIR lodged against the applicant categorically reflects that the applicant committed offence of outraging the modesty of complainant. He caught hold the hands of complainant and pressed it with ill-intention, Chaudhari said.

Judgement

Court examined the submissions and noted-

“The aforesaid provision of Section 354 of IPC has been enacted to safeguard the public morality and decent behaviour. Therefore, if any person uses criminal force upon any woman with intention or knowledge that the woman’s modesty will be outraged, he is to be penalized. In order to constitute the offence under Section 354 of IPC, mere knowledge that the modesty of a woman is likely to be outraged is sufficient without any deliberate intention of such outrage alone for its object. It is a rule of law that, while dealing with the cases of allegation of outrage of modesty, the Court should adopt a careful approach and offence cannot be treated as trivial.”

After careful assessment of the complainant’s statement, Court observed-

“The intense scrutiny of the factual score reflects that there was no use of criminal force or assault by the applicant-Headmaster to the respondent No.2 – Assistant Teacher at the time of alleged incident. The bare act of touching the hands of fellow woman-teacher by Headmaster while uttering words that her bills would be made cleared and she should not make complaint to Trustees of the School, would not itself sufficient to constitute the offence of outraging the modesty of respondent No.2 – complainant.

The factual score of the episode of allegation of indecent behaviour of the applicant- Headmaster, prima facie, reflects that there was no culpable intention on the part of applicant-accused while touching the hands of respondent No.2 Teacher to commit the offence of outraging her modesty.”

Thus, the said FIR was quashed and set aside.

Octogenarian with ruptured heart undergoes ‘high-risk’ cardiac surgery: Hospital

Source: health.economictimes.indiatimes.com

New Delhi: An 83-year-old Delhi man who suffered a heart rupture has got a new lease of life after undergoing a “high-risk” surgery at a hospital near here during which his heart was put on a special support device for almost two hours, doctors said.

The patient, N S Mehra, a retired businessman from Preet Vihar in East Delhi, “had suffered a massive heart attack due to sudden blockage of the main artery supply in the heart, leading to the death of the heart muscle causing a heart rupture,” Max hospital said in a statement Tuesday.

The six-hour open-heart surgery was performed recently by a team of doctors at a private hospital in Vaishali, hospital authorities said.

Heart diseases claim a significant number of lives in India across a wide range of demographic profiles. Men are known to be at a “higher risk” in comparison to women and with age and pre-existing co-morbidities, complexities go up, it said.

“The patient had a history of hypertension and had suffered a massive heart attack due to instantaneous blockage leading to a hole in the wall of left ventricle. And his heart was beating at double the normal rate when he was brought to the hospital,” the statement said.

Mehra was brought to the Max Super Speciality Hospital in Vaishali on a ventilator.

“The patient was put on a heart-lung machine and his heart was arrested for almost two hours,” the hospital claimed.

“The rupture was repaired through double suturing also known as ‘double-layered repair’ using a small part from synthetic materials or PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) and pericardium (the outer the membrane enclosing the heart),” said Gaurav Mahajan, Principal Consultant and Head – cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, at the hospital.

In majority of heart rupture cases, patients are unable to reach the hospital in a treatable condition as the condition deteriorates at a life threatening rate, he said.

“A highly complex open heart surgery was performed by a multidisciplinary team of doctors, including cardiac surgeons, physicians, anaesthetists, nurses and perfusionists. After a week of surgery care and observation, Mehra was discharged with a positive prognosis,” Mahajan said.


After pre-monsoon showers, parts of Pune buckle under power cuts

Source: indianexpress.com

While the recent pre-monsoon showers came as a relief after the extreme heat faced by Pune residents, the strong winds and lightning strikes have caused several problems in the city, including frequent power cuts. “With most of the software companies in our area, the power cut is turning out to be a huge problem here. The industry is totally dependent on the power supply and without it, no work can be done,” said Sanjeev Tare, who lives in Wakad. “For the last 2-3 days, we have been suffering due to this issue. The power kept coming and going intermittently,” said Tare.

The intermittent power cuts also caused problems in other areas, especially ones which rely on water tankers for their basic needs. As the tankers depend on borewells, which cannot function without electricity, their supply too was affected.

Sarla Williams, a resident of Viman Nagar, said her family was unable to sleep because of the fluctuation in power supply. “I have filed a complaint with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) several times, but still this problem continues,” she said.

MSEDCL officials, on the other hand, said the matter was not always in their hands. “Most of the power supply cables are fitted underground to ensure safety, but there is a chance that the cables come in contact with water and thus power supply gets affected. Another reason can also be digging of roads for Metro work,” said Sachin Talewar, Chief Engineer, Pune Zone, MSEDCL.

“Usually, registered consumers are informed about issues related to the power supply through text messages,” added Talewar.

Officials have also started a WhatsApp group. “Through the use of technology, we now have an easy and quick way to reach people and we can see positive results,” said Anjali Mone, Assistant Engineer, MSEDCL.

Over 50 Children Have Died of Suspected Japanese Encephalitis in Bihar

Source: newsclick.in

Patna: In the last nine days, several children have died in North Bihar of suspected Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). On Monday alone, about 20 children reportedly died, while three deaths were reported early Tuesday in Muzaffarpur town hospitals. As per reports, five five children died in two villages — Harvanshpur Paschim and Khirkhaua under Bhagwanpur police station in Vaishali district — in last the 24 hours due to symptoms similar to AES after being admitted to hospital.

As helpless parents look on, dozens of children are still battling for their lives with symptoms similar to AES and are undergoing treatment at two hospitals in Muzaffarpur. So far, the disease has already claimed the lives of 53 children, but the state government is playing these deaths down by claiming that these were due to hypoglycaemia.

In Muzaffarpur, the state government-owned Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) and private Kejriwal Hospital, where most of deaths took, have names and address of the victims. But state government, particularly the health department, is not prepared to accept this reality.

Meanwhile, Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey has denied that these deaths were due to AES. Pandey, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, said that only 11 children had died since June 2 and most of the deaths were due to hypoglycaemia, adding that only one child died due to Japanese encephalitis. “There is a situation of misconception in connection with deaths of children in Muzaffarpur. We have got information of deaths due to hypoglycaemia, except one death due to JE,” he was reported as saying.

AES cases have surfaced in Bihar in such a large number after a gap of three years. Last year, a total 40 cases of AES were reported in which seven deaths occurred.

But this year, the situation is alarming, said sources. This can be gauged from the fact that the two paediatric intensive care units at SKMCH are full and the hospital authorities were forced to open a third PICU to accommodate fresh cases. Ironically, with heavy rush of seriously ill children on Monday, there were no bed available to admit new suspected AES cases in the PICU the hospital and officials had to get the general ICU vacated by shifting patients to other wards.

“We have been admitting seriously ill children in PICU and the general ICU to provide treatment in view of the situation and regular arrival of new patients” SKMCH’s chief medical officer, S P Singh, said.

SKMCH superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said “It took us by surprise. We hardly expected such a bounce back this year”.

Helpless parents, after failing to get their seriously ill children admitted in SKMCH, are left with no option but to rush to privately run Kejriwal Hospital in Muzaffarpur.

Most of the children with suspected AES belonging to the rural poor section (dalit, other backward classes and extremely backward classes) of the population in Muzaffarpur and the neighbouring districts of Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Samastipur, Sheohar, East and West Champaran.

Locally known as Chamki Bukhar or Mastishk Bukhar, AES is widely seen as a deadly disease for children in flood-prone North Bihar districts. While the cause of deaths of children may be AES or any other, Sanjay Kumar, the principal secretary in the health department, reiterated that the deaths this year had occurred due to hypoglycaemia, resulting from high heat and humidity.

Kumar explained that when children play in the open under the scorching sun, it leads to dehydration and affects their intake of food and water, leading to hypoglycaemia.

According to him, Bihar had reported 34 cases of hypoglycaemia, resulting in 10 deaths till date this year, while one death was due to dyselectrolytemia (electrolyte imbalance).

However, with increasing cases of suspected AES, the state government has introduced a verbal autopsy form to fix responsibility for any lapses in treatment and referral. “We have a standard operating procedure for treatment of AES”, he added.

The health department has also issued an advisory urging parents to prevent their children from playing in the open under the sun at a time when the temperature was hovering between 42 to 43 degrees Celsius.

Interestingly, contrary to the denial of children deaths due to AES by a top health department officer, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday at a press conference, in reply to question on child deaths due to AES in Muzaffarpur, said the health department had been keeping a close watch on the situation. “Ahead of the rains (monsoon) ,every year this disease (yeh bimari) creates havoc. It is a matter of concern that every year children are dying due to it”, he said.

The chief minister said the health department had taken steps to contain the disease and was sensitising the people about measures to prevent it.

According to doctors, AES is a severe stage of encephalitis characterised by inflammation of the brain. The disease is transmitted through mosquito bites, leading to infection that causes high fever.

“Every year, encephalitis hits Muzaffarpur, Gaya and other neighbouring districts in May or June. But this year it seems to have affected a large number of children,” a health department official said.