BOOK PUBLISHED 
mukti.prakashan@gmail.com Suicide ‘abettors’ attacked- 14-day judicial remand for two | ||||||||||||
TT, Kalimpong, Oct. 23: Jiwan Thapa and Bimal Rai, arrested on the charges of abetting the suicide of Papu Singh Darnal, were assaulted by about 100 people when they were being taken to the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Darjeeling today. The attackers, alleged to be mainly the members of the Nepali Damai Samaj and the All Nepali Scheduled Castes Association, had been gathering in front of the Darjeeling District Court since 10.30am. When the duo were finally brought to the court about 1pm, the mob pounced on them despite heavy police presence. The policemen on duty had a tough time escorting the accused from the police jeep to the court room. However, no serious injury was caused to either of them as most of punches missed their targets. Darnal, a 46-year-old school teacher, hanged himself to death yesterday. In his suicide note, Darnal said he had been humiliated by people who were “jealous” of his success in life. He alleged that Thapa and Rai used to mentally torture him. Thapa, aged 66, was released on bail on October 15, a day after he had been arrested for assaulting Darnal following a heated argument between the two on October 13. Thapa, whose left leg has been amputated after a road accident, had assaulted Darnal with his crutch. Thapa not only got bail, but also the “weapon” he had used to hit Darnal after his defence lawyer argued that a crutch could not be considered a “dangerous weapon”. Usually a weapon used for assault is seized by police. Once in court today, the judge, U.K. Nandi, took little time in remanding Thapa and Rai in 14 days of judicial custody. The duo were charged under Section 306 of the IPC (abetting suicide) and another provision that seeks to prevent atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Offences under both the sections are non-bailable. The All India Nepali Scheduled Castes Association (AINSCA) and the Nepali Damai Samaj have urged the lawyers in Darjeeling not to defend the duo in the court. The AINSCA in a letter to the Darjeeling district magistrate Surender Gupta also demanded that the accused should be brought to book after a free and fair investigation. The association said Darnal was forced to take his life because of the constant humiliation hurled at him by Thapa and Rai at every opportunity. “It had become a matter of habit for them to insult and humiliate Darnal,” said N.B. Kalikotey, the secretary general of the association. Caste controversy erupts after teacher’s suicide SNS, SILIGURI, 23 OCT: The Darjeeling Hills are in the eye of a caste controversy over the suicide of a 46-year old schoolteacher, Pappu Singh Darnal in Darjeeling yesterday. According to the suicide note addressed to his wife, the deceased pointed fingers at caste slur hurled repeatedly on his caste status by some. The incident has revived the caste discrimination controversy under wraps for long with the Hill society seemingly divided over the survival of the ante- diluvian custom in the Darjeeling hills. Treating the issue seriously, the “All Nepalese Scheduled Castes Sangh” has decided to approach the National Commission for Scheduled Caste, seeking redress to the caste grievances in the Hills. Referring to the incident, which purportedly drove the teacher to commit suicide, an ANSCS central committee member, Mr Rajman Darnal said that two upper caste persons, Mr Jewan Thapa and his friend, Mr Bimal Rai had been tormenting him, alluding to his lower status in the caste hierarchy. “The tragedy has exposed the chinks in the Nepalese society in Darjeeling on caste lines. Ours is a society, which can boast of a unique position where the Brahmins do not preside over the religious functions in the lower caste households,” Mr Darnal pointed out. However, disagreeing to the view, an eminent academician, Dr MP Dahal said that the immense elasticity of the caste structure had remained a distinctive feature of the society in the Darjeeling hills. Expressing surprise over the development, the Darjeeling-Sikkim Catholic Bishop Rev. Stephen Lepcha said that the caste-demon was less truculent in the Darjeeling Hills than in the traditional society elsewhere. However, a GJMM central committee member, Mr Subhamoy Chatterjee admitted that three castes, Kami, Damai and Sarki, had always remained outside the pale of the mainstream society in the hills. “The upper caste people might become friends of these three castes, but an inviolable untouchabality stigma remains attached to them when it comes to sharing food and the like. A reform is still a far cry,” he commented. TT, Dhumchipara, Oct. 23: A MiG-27 that had taken off from an Indian Air Force base at Hasimara crashed into a stream here this afternoon, injuring two boys with burning fuel and killing four cows close to a tea garden. The pilot bailed out safely. This is the ninth crash of an IAF plane this year, the second of a MiG27. The MiG 27s — there are more than 100 of the Russian-origin aircraft in the IAF's fighter fleet — were modernised recently. Flight Lieutenant Gautam Cholaill had taken off on a routine sortie at 12.30pm and had contacted the Hasimara flight control at 1.10pm to report that his aircraft was on fire and he was bailing out, IAF sources said. The pilot parachuted down into a bamboo grove at Uttar Rangalibazna, about 2km from the spot where the plane, a blazing fireball, crashed just beside the Mujnai Tea Estate, 65km from Alipurduar town. IAF sources said the pilot suffered minor injuries and was completely safe. Eight-year-old Amit Tirkey and his brother Sanjit, 6, who had gone to the stream, locally called Ratna Jhora, to take a bath had spotted the plane coming down in flames. Both they were too scared to run even as the MiG crashed close to them making a deep crater on impact. Amit suffered burns on his back while Sanjit’s right hand and hip got scalded. They were standing 20 metres from the point of impact. Both were taken to the Madarihat health centre. While Sanjit was released after treatment, his brother was referred to the State General Hospital in Birpara. The boys had difficulty in hearing, being temporarily deafened by the huge explosion, doctors at Madarihat said. “We were so scared that we could not move. We had returned from school and were taking a bath when we saw a ball of fire rushing down from the sky. We heard a loud crash and then we could not see anything. There was pain and the next thing we knew we were carried to the hospital,” Amit managed to say. The boys’ parents are garden workers. A fire tender from Hasimara arrived at the spot in 30 minutes and controlled the flames. The pilot was taken back to base by a helicopter. The black box has been recovered from the debris that lay scattered over an area of about 400 metres. The area has been cordoned off and IAF officers will remain there overnight. Wing Commander V. Roy, the safety officer from Hasimara, said an inquiry had begun to ascertain the cause of the crash. “Our pilot is safe and we have recovered the black box,” he said. The block development officer of the Madarihat-Birpara block, Naved Akhtar, said a report was being sent to the IAF base. “Four heads of cattle have perished and we have been told by the IAF officers that they will provide compensation,” the BDO said. Wing Commander R. Sahoo, the public relations officer of the Eastern Air Command, told The Telegraph over the phone from Shillong: “Some technical snag seems to have led to the incident for which the air force has ordered a court of inquiry.” Later a press release issued by the ministry of defence in Delhi said: “There is no reported damage to any civil property or life. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the accident.” Since its upgrade, the MiG 27 is expected to function better than it was despite its Soviet vintage. The modernisation meant that it had improved avionics, a more pilot friendly cockpit and navigation technology. Some of the computerised gadgetry installed in the avionics system of the MiG 27 are also used in the Jaguar and the Sukhoi 30 Mki aircraft of the IAF. Elephant depredation on the rise in N Bengal SNS, JALPAIGURI, 23 OCT: Elephant depredation in north Bengal, particularly in the Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts is on the rise and the forest officials are holding destruction of the century-old elephant corridor between the Sankosh River bordering Assam in the east and the Mechi River bordering Nepal in the west as the chief reason for the problem.
According to senior foresters, the confused elephants lose their paths and intrude into the localities, which are mushrooming every other day compounding the problem.
“Sufficient help does not come from the Centre sponsored ‘Project Elephant’ to revive the corridor points either,” the foresters say.
The state forest department had sent a report to the ‘Project Elephant’ authorities eight years ago on the matter pointing out human encroachment on the elephant corridor and unscientific dolomite mining in the Bhutan hills were the main two reasons for the destruction of the elephant corridor.
Acknowledging the problem, DFO Jalpaiguri division, Mr Kalyan Das said that northern part of the corridor has been affected by natural reasons while the southern part suffers from man made problems. “Unscientific dolomite extraction from the Bhutan hills has increased the level of acidic elements in soil destroying large tracts of the Buxa forest. Increasing human settlements are encroaching on the elephant corridor affecting forest cover as well,” he said.
According to the DFO Wild Life II Mr Tapas Das, the man elephant conflict has caused several other problems as well. “The people often assault forest employees after elephant attacks. Five such cases were registered in the past week. The situation is alarming.
“The people often lose sight of the crux of the problem and hold us responsible for the elephant attacks,” Mr Das added.
The important elephant corridor points like Paro, Dhumchi, Titir, Chamurchi etc forest areas have been largely affected in the past five decades giving rise to the problem.
Admitting the problem, the CF Northern Circle Mr Manindra Biswas said that they received a minor amount ever year from Project Elephant, which was not enough to restore corridors, develop vegetation over large areas, remove human habitations and rehabilitate them and other works necessary to eradicate the man-elephant conflict problem.
TT, Siliguri, Oct. 23: Congress leaders in Darjeeling district are preparing themselves to run the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) board with the Left Front and Trinamul Congress in the Opposition. While Nantu Pal is expected to be the deputy mayor, the post of the leader of the Opposition may go to Nurul Islam of the CPM. Shankar Malakar, the Darjeeling district Congress president, and Gangotri Dutta, the mayor of SMC, returned from Delhi today after meeting PCC chief and Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. “We went to Delhi to meet him (Mukherjee) and some other party leaders,” Dutta said on the way to Siliguri from Bagdogra. “It is good that we have consulted him on the future course of action in the SMC and we feel that with his able guidance, which we will seek from time-to-time, we can work for the people of Siliguri.” The Siliguri board is still wobbly as the Left Front, despite helping the Congress bag the mayor and chairperson’s posts, has decided to sit in the Opposition. The Trinamul, which had demanded the mayor’s post, had not taken lightly to its ally wresting the post with CPM help. It has also decided to sit in the Opposition in protest. Congress sources said it was necessary to consult the PCC president, as the party had realised that it will have to do without Trinamul. “As the Congress has to run the board with Trinamul in the Opposition, our leaders felt it necessary to talk to the PCC president and discuss on probable consequences,” a Congress councillor said. “The discussion was important as several factors like the statewide alliance of the two parties, presence of a Trinamul leader (Sougata Roy) as the minister of state in the urban development ministry and the role of Trinamul councillors who will consistently criticise us, have to be considered.” The mayor’s assertion that candidates for different posts would be selected in the next few days indicate that the Congress was no longer interested in pleading with Trinamul to join the board. “We sincerely feel that it is because of one man, who could not become the mayor, that the alliance did not survive at SMC,” a Congress leader said, blaming Trinamul district Congress president and leader of the party at the SMC, Gautam Deb. The Congress councillors said the selection process had started and Nantu Paul, a veteran at SMC, was likely to be the next deputy mayor. About the post of the leader of the Opposition, both the Left Front and Trinamul have demanded it. Congress sources said Nurul Islam of the CPM would probably be selected as the Left has 17 seats while Trinamul, along with the support of independent Ranjan Sil Sharma, has only 15 seats. Traffic held up on NH-31 SNS, SILIGURI, 23 OCT: Protesting against “frequent misbehaviour” in local private buses, more than 500 disabled persons today held up traffic for around four hours on the National Highway 31A (in SNS picture). The demonstrators demanded reservation of seats for the disabled and proper treatment on local private buses.
“If we do not get any result within a week, we would intensify our protest,” said Mr Deepak Modak, an agitator. The protestor also alleged that the administration does not pay proper attention towards the disabled.
“We had served deputations on the matter to the BDOs of Matigara, Naxalbari and Phansidewa blocks, but they did not take necessary action, which compelled us to block the NH today,” he added.
The protestors held up traffic movement on National Highway 31A at around 10:30 a.m. The blockade continued for four hours before a representative of the Siliguri SDO reached the spot and assured the demonstrators of necessary action. The demonstrators alleged that the staff of most buses does not allow disabled persons to board the buses and even misbehave with
them. “The disabled have been assaulted several times by the bus workers,” said Mr Subrata Kar, the coordinator of the North Bengal Council for the Disabled. Speaking on the matter, the Siliguri SDO, Mr Rajat Saini, said: “I will talk to the bus owners and try to solve the problem soon.” The PUS also demanded that the disabled should be included in the NREGA and other government activities.
“The disabled should be given a chance to work according to their abilities under the NREGA,” Mr Modak demanded. Local cable operator compensates subscriber SNS , SILIGURI 23 OCT: After a long-drawn case of subscription dispute which spanned over seven years, the Siliguri based private cable operator ~ Combine Cable Network (CCN) finally gave in today and handed over a compensation of Rs 18,787 to a disgruntled subscriber based at Baghajatin Park in Siliguri.
Mr Samir Ghosh, the advocate for CCN handed over the compensation amount (cheque) to Mr Suresh Kumar Mitruka, the counsel for the disgruntled subscriber Mr KK Choudhuary. The Siliguri Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum had fixed the compensation at Rs 18,450 on 10 August, payable within 30 days and 9 per cent interest per day until the order is complied with.
Hence, adding a 9 per cent interest on the compensation for 74-days, CCN today coughed up a total of Rs 18, 787 to the subscriber.
“This is a major achievement and would be remembered as a victory for the consumer rights,” advocate Mr Mitruka said on receiving the cheque on behalf of his client.
He however added, the Consumer laws should be amended to offer speedy justice and the complainant should also be awarded the entire litigation cost.
The dispute in question originated in 2002 when CCN disconnected the cable connection of subscriber Mr Choudhuary's house without prior notice.
Aggrieved at this, the subscriber filed a suit before the Siliguri consumer court for restoration of the cable connection and seeking compensation for the arbitrary disconnection.
But the court dismissed the case, prompting the subscriber to move to the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Kolkata in 2004. Hearing into the case, the state consumer court in its order in 2007 asked the cable operator to restore the connection within 30 days or else pay a compensation at Rs 50 per day until the connection is restored.
But when CCN did not comply with the order, the subscriber appealed before the Siliguri consumer court again, which retained the state court's order asking the cable operator to restore the connection and also pay the prescribed compensation.
CCN now challenged the order before the state court saying that they could not find the subscriber at his address and that a letter sent to the subscriber by registered post has returned undelivered.
Hearing into this, the state court waived CCN from paying the compensation but asked to restore the connection at once. The connection was restored on 6 March 2008.
The subscriber however, was not satisfied with the waiver of the compensation and went to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in New Delhi challenging the state court's verdict and also claiming that the cable operator in connivance with the postman was responsible for the letter being undelivered at his residence.
Finding weight into the matter, the national court sent back the case to the Siliguri consumer court and asked it to verify the allegation and then pronounce a full judgment.
Hearing into the case, the Siliguri court found the connivance of CCN and the postman to be true and asked the operator to cough up Rs 18,450 as compensation within 30 days.
Meanwhile, on 10 September when the deadline was to lapse, CCN authorities appealed before the Siliguri court and got additional time till 8 October for compliance.
However, CCN again flouted the date, prompting the Siliguri Consumer Court to issue a bailable warrant against one of its director, asking the police to implement the order by 23 October. Thus, faced with no other option, CCN finally gave in today. |
Saturday, October 24, 2009
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