L to R: Kedar, Sandeep, Me and Asfak
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Posted: March 23, 2012 in Uncategorized
L to R: Me, Amit and his friend
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Posted: March 23, 2012 in Uncategorized
L to R: Aspakul, Kedar, Sandeep, Me and Tappa
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Posted: March 21, 2012 in Uncategorized
Travelling over 2000 kilometres, leaving their families behind and with hope to earn more money than they usually do, almost 10,000 migrants from the North-east have already come to Chennai for job opportunities. Life in Sringara Chennai through their eyes…
Last Updated on March 9, 05:00 pm IST
Aishik Chanda and Aditi Saxena
There is no need to go looking for them—they are here, there, everywhere. Participating in almost all job activities of the city. According to a recent report published in an English daily, there are more than 10,000 people from the North-east states of the country who have migrated to the Chennai in the last eight years. “We come so far from our lands for the sake of our families,” admitted Loknath Chetri, who works as a guard in Anna Centenary Library in Kotturpuram.
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Girls from Manipur enjoying with their friends at Marina beach, Chennai
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The oval, wrinkled and sunburnt face of Loknath Chetri, reflects the weariness he feels due to long hours of duty. The faded blue shirt and the black trousers bear a testimony to the harsh hours spent as a guard in the scorching sun. In Chennai for two years now, Loknath, 42, who hails from Tinsukia in Assam, found Chennai different from Calcutta, where he worked for five long years.
“People in Kerala and Karnataka know and speak Hindi, but Tamilians don’t even try,” said Loknath. But still he preferred Chennai over Calcutta and Delhi because the pay was higher, the feeling of being secure and safe, better in Chennai as compared to the other metros.
Keeping vigil for 12 long hours for meagre Rs 5000 may be not worth the while for most of us, but for these poor migrants from Assam, it is a big sum. Working overtime, they even manage to earn Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 a month, half of which is sent to the family back home.
“My two young sisters and my mother have to manage with the Rs 5000 I send them per month. For that I have to work four hours overtime a day,” explained Satosh Chetri, who hails from Dibrugarh in Assam and is also a fellow guard with Loknath at the library.
Lack of job opportunities, low wages and insurgency are reasons cited by Santosh for his migration to Chennai. Santosh, who earlier worked as a guard of an ATM of a private bank near Pallikarnai marsh, found Chennai ‘a nice place’ to live after the hardships he faced initially. He had language problems. Adapting to the South Indian tastes — the rasam and dosai — was a difficult task for him, but today he has accepted his lot.
“We go home once a year for a full month during the winters. Once at home, I don’t feel like coming back, but looking at the faces of my mother and sisters, I pack my luggage after a month’s rest,” said Santosh with a wry smile. Responsibility of the family has made these Gorkha guards from Assam little ‘Dadhichis’, a Hindu mythological saint who is known as the epitome of sacrifice, sacrificing their happiness for the betterment of their family.
Story of Asangla M Jamir moving to Chennai differs from that of these guards. A twenty something girl from Nagaland, moved here when she was in sixth standard. Her parents came to Chennai looking for a job and when they got one they made the city their home.
Asang, as called by her local friends, while attending to customers in the beauty parlour she worked in, said she has no intentions of going back to her native state. “I almost grew up in this city. Yes, you can call me and my family as migrants but we have adapted ourselves to this place.”
Asang and her friend from Assam, Sharon Gogoi who works with her are well aware of the security issues people from North east, especially girls, face. They say Chennai is safer than Delhi. “We travel from Adyar to T Nagar everyday when it’s dark. We have never experienced any threat from people here,” confirmed Sharon.
Majority of them come from the seven sisters of the North-east side of the country. The migrants do not wish to impose their culture over Chennai nor do they believe that their culture is superior. They just want to live and let live.
National Human Rights Commission lays guidelines to be followed by the states in regard to encounter killings.
Aishik Chanda, ACJ, Feb 24, 2012, 02:31PM IST
“The police does not have a right to take away the life of a person. If, by this act, the police kills a person, he commits an offence of culpable homicide or not amounting to murder, unless it is established that such killing was not an offence under the law.”
This is what the then Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Justice A.S. Anand had to say in 2003 in his letter to all chief ministers and heads of union territories regarding deaths of in police encounters. In that letter JusticeAnand had reiterated the need for state governments and the police to follow the guidelines laid out by the NHRC.
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“Many states do not send |
The guidelines themselves had been formulated by the NHRC way back in 1997 while taking note of grave human rights violations during alleged fake police encounters. These had been spelt out by then NHRC chairman Justice MN Venkatachalaiah, in a letter to all state and union territory governments in his letter of March 2007. This was further modified and the revised guidelines were issued by Justice Anand in December 2003.
As per the guidelines police station in charge should enter in an appropriate register all details about information received about deaths in an encounter between a police party and others. If the police officers belonging to the same police station are members of the encounter party, it case should be investigated by some other agency like State CB-CID. If specific complaint is made against the police alleging fake encounter, an FIR to this effect must be registered and the case investigated by CB-CID.
The guidelines also make it mandatory for a Magisterial Inquiry to be held in all cases of encounter deaths. The next of kin of the deceased must invariably be associated in such inquiry.
NHRC also made it clear that at all cost no out-of-turn promotion or instant gallantry rewards should be given to concerned officers soon after the occurrence, and that such rewards should be given only after the gallantry of the officers concerned is established beyond doubt.
The NHRC also insisted that the Directors General of Police send six-monthly statements of deaths in police action to the Commission.. The statement must clearly include the date and place of encounter, circumstances leading to deaths, findings of magisterial enquiry on whether the use of force was justified and the names and designations of the officers, if found responsible for deaths.
In his 2003 letter Justice Anand had noted with regret that many states did not send these statements. As a result, there is no specific data of encounter killing with the commission, which the commission says, is extremely important to protect the human rights and give justice to the persons killed.
Kidnapped youth Yuvaraj has been rescued and four kidnappers arrested by a special team of Chennai police on Thursday.
Aishik Chanda, ACJ, Mar 2, 2012, 04.30 PM IST
Chennai: Four youths, including two juveniles, have been arrested by the Chennai Police for the kidnapping of their teenager friend, Yuvaraj, here on Thursday. He was kidnapped on February 26 and the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs.1 crore.
The kidnapped boy was rescued by the police in the early hours of Thursday from a house in Kodungaiyur.
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Joint commissioner of Police(West), K .Shankar shakes hand with the rescued teenager, Yuvaraj, standing beside his father. |
Four country-made pistols and 43 rounds of bullet have been recovered from the gang. Vijay Kumar, 18 of Raghava Nagar,Kodungaiyur ,an engineering student in a private engineering college is the alleged kingpin of the gang.
Yuvaraj had gone missing on Feb 26, and after searching for two days, his father filed a complaint with MKB Nagar Police Station. But on Feb 29, he received a call from an unknown person who that his son had been kidnapped and demanded Rs. One crore as ransom for his release.
Yuvaraj’s father, however, informed the police about the ransom call, following which six special teams were formed under assistant commissioners of Puliyanthope police range…
Police investigations found that Yuvaraj was friendly with the other boys, including Vijay kumar, with whom he went biking on the East Coast Road every evening. On Thursday early morning they raided the house of one them, Vijaykumar, from where they rescued Yuvaraj. Vijayakumar and his associates were also arrested.
Joint Commissioner of Police (West) K. Shankar said, “Yuvaraj and his friends went to East Coast Road on Sunday evening and went missing thereafter.”
The four young men are arrested on charges of kidnap and possession of fire arms and remanded to custody. Investigations have revealed that the fire arms belongs to Israr Ahmed Khan, father of one of the two accused juveniles. Israr Khan is currently in jail in UP on charges of 32 cases, including 5 murders.
Chennai: The 40- year old Burma Bazaar on the left foot of Rajaji Salai is one of the oldest and most popular markets in Chennai. The bazaar is famous amongst Chennaites and tourists alike for the repertoire of the items sold. One needs to learn the art of bargaining before foraying into the bazaar,which is famous for its ‘Imported’ items.
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| The 40-year-old Burma Bazaar on the left foot of Rajaji Salai has over 500 shops |
The items sold in the market range from suitcases to pornographic D.V.D’s
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| Scent of a French woman | Dial W for ‘Imported’ watches |
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| One needs to learn the art of bargaining before foraying into the bazaar | Quench your thirst post- shopping |
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| Window shopping is not his lifestyle | Plenty and empty wallets on sale |
Theft In Century Old Temple, Idols Worth Over 50 Lakhs Stolen
Posted: March 21, 2012 in Uncategorized
Two thieves steal asthadhatu idols from Ram Janaki temple in Pratapta village injuring the priest
Aishik Chanda, last updated: January 18, 06:11 pm
Bhagwanpur: Asthadhatu idols worth over Rs.50 lakhs were stolen from the century-old ‘Ram Janaki’ temple last night in Pratapta village, six kilometres from here. The theft took place at around 2 am, when two thieves on a bicycle barged into the temple, injuring the priest with a revolver butt and breaking open the bronze lock.
The stolen idols of Lord Ram, Lakshman and Sita weigh eight kilograms each. The idols were of gold plating worth 10 kilograms and had diamond studded eyes.
Police investigation says that the thieves may be related to a syndicate operating in Vaishali district that is also responsible for the recent idol thefts in the other parts of the district. Further investigation revealed that the thieves were drunk, as pouches of country liquor were recovered from behind the temple. The thieves escaped by jumping over the temple wall.
The cycle used for the theft was stolen from the nearby Ranigarh village. It belonged to Ram Manohar, a villager from an adjacent village, who had registered a complaint with the local police station a month ago.
The priest narrated the incident saying, “While I was asleep, at around 1.30am, I heard voices in the backyard. Suddenly two men with their faces covered appeared and threatened me with a revolver. When I refused them the keys, they hit me on the head and I lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, the temple door was wide open and the idol podium empty.”
The Ram Janaki temple was built in 1876 by the then local zamindar, who had the patronage of the British rulers. The temple is one of the most famous temples of Vaishali district and is thronged by devotees from all over the district during Dussera. The temple has also been visited by some eminent personalities like former Chief Ministers of Bihar Krishna Ballabh Sahay and Dr. Jagannath Mishra. The locals are not ready to settle for anything less than the return of the idols to the temple and punishment to the criminals.
Gone with the wind 