Tag: INDIA
Indian court jails 3 for life in rape case in Kashmir
Article via ABCNews
A court on Monday sentenced three Hindu men, including a police officer, to life imprisonment for kidnapping, raping and murdering an 8-year-old Muslim girl in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in a case that has exacerbated tensions in the disputed region.
Judge Tejwinder Singh sentenced three other policemen to five years in prison for destroying evidence, prosecutor Santokh Singh told reporters. The judge acquitted another defendant due to insufficient evidence.
An eighth suspect, a minor, will be tried separately by a juvenile court, Santokh Singh said.
The girl, who was a member of a nomadic tribe, was grazing her family’s ponies in the forests of the Himalayan foothills when she was kidnapped in January 2018. Her mutilated body was found in the woods a week later.
The case sparked protests across Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region where rebels have been fighting for years for independence or unification with Pakistan and there is great distrust of the government.
Singh said prosecutors plan to appeal to a higher court and seek the death penalty for the three defendants who received life sentences.
Thousands of members of a radical Hindu group had demanded the release of the defendants, insisting they were innocent.
The trial was shifted to Pathankot, a town in neighboring Punjab state, following accusations that local Hindu leaders and politicians were trying to block the investigation.
The prosecution said the girl was raped in a small village temple in Kathua district after having been kept sedated for four days, and was then bludgeoned to death.
The girl’s father, Mohammed Akhtar, told The Associated Press by phone that the men should be “punished speedily, not just convicted.”
“Our family has gone through hell,” he said. “Our hearts are bleeding. These beasts should be hanged.”
India has been shaken by a series of sexual assaults in recent years, including the gang rape and murder of a student on a New Delhi bus in 2012. That attack galvanized a country where widespread violence against women had long been quietly accepted.
While the government has passed a series of laws increasing punishment for rape, it’s rare for more than a few weeks to pass without another brutal sexual assault being reported.
Air India flight attendant falls from plane
An Air India flight attendant has been injured after falling from the door of a parked aeroplane at India’s Mumbai airport.
Harsha Lobo was preparing the flight for boarding to Delhi on Monday morning when the incident happened.
Ms Lobo, 52, suffered a fracture and other injuries and has been taken to a hospital.
Air India, the country’s national carrier, said in a statement that it was investigating the incident.
“In an unfortunate incident, one of our cabin crew (members), Harsha Lobo, fell down on the tarmac from the Boeing-777 aircraft door while closing it,” the airline said.
Doctors attended to Ms Lobo at the Mumbai airport before sending her to the hospital.
“She is conscious and well-oriented but has sustained compound (open) fracture of right lower leg bones and multiple blunt injuries,” an airport official was quoted as saying by The Hindu newspaper.
Last week, an Air India plane travelling from the southern Indian city of Trichy to Dubai sustained damage after hitting the airport wall during take off.
The plane, which was carrying 130 passengers and six crew members, was diverted to Mumbai, where it landed safely.
The incident came weeks after more than 30 passengers aboard an aircraft of Indian carrier Jet Airways had to receive treatment after pilots “forgot” to turn on a switch regulating cabin pressure.
Article via BBC
India throws out ban on gay sex, but challenges remain
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s top court scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex on Thursday, in a landmark judgment that sparked celebrations across India and elsewhere in South Asia, where activists hope to push for similar reform.
Gay sex is considered taboo by many in socially conservative India, as well as in neighboring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It was reinstated as a criminal offense in India in 2013, punishable up to 10 years in prison, after four years of decriminalization.
A five-judge bench in India’s Supreme Court was unanimous in overturning the ban. But the ruling could face a legal challenge from groups that say gay sex erodes traditional values.
“Any consensual sexual relationship between two consenting adults – homosexuals, heterosexuals or lesbians – cannot be said to be unconstitutional,” said the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, as he read out the judgment.
Read more via: India throws out ban on gay sex, but challenges remain
Fake doctor accused of infecting 21 people with HIV
LUCKNOW, India — An Indian health official says a fake doctor treating poor villagers for colds, coughs and diarrhea has infected at least 21 of them with HIV by using contaminated syringes and needles.
Sushil Choudhury, the official, says police are looking for Rajendra Yadav, who has fled Bangarmau, a small town in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
The villagers say they rarely saw him changing the needles. Choudhury said Tuesday that probably led to the spread of HIV.
With India’s health care system facing a massive shortage of doctors and hospitals, millions of poor people seek fake doctors for cheap treatment.
India had 2.1 million people living with HIV at the end of 2016, according to UNAIDS.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/02/06/fake-doctor-accused-of-infecting-21-people-with-hiv/
Man has 200 coins, 100 nails and glass pieces removed from stomach
An Indian man complaining of stomach pains was found to have approximately 15 pounds of foreign metal objects in his stomach.
Maksud Khan of Satna, Madhya Pradesh in India, arrived at the hospital experiencing stomach pains that doctors presumed was food poisoning, but an endoscopy revealed the cause to be metal objects.
Those objects — 236 coins, 100 nails, dozens of razor blades, a 6-inch piece of a rusted iron shackle, four needles, and a few glasses pieces — were found in the man’s stomach.
Priyank Sharma, who led the surgical team, told International Business Times, “We were shocked to discover coins, nails and nut-bolts in his stomach. We come across such a case for the first in our career.” Khan’s relatives said he was suffering from depression, which may have triggered the habit.
“Usually, people start eating abnormal things under certain psychological conditions. He had been eating metal for a year but did not tell anyone,” A.P.S. Geharwar, head of surgery, told Times of India.
Another doctor said the condition was caught in the nick of time. “Some of the nails lodged had pierced his stomach, caused bleeding and resulting in loss of hemoglobin,” the doctor told International Business Times.
Doctors said Khan was in stable condition, with no lasting damage to his internal organs and a promise from Khan that he wouldn’t do it again.
A 2010 study looked at 33 adult patients who were responsible for 305 cases of medical intervention because they ingested foreign objects, including batteries, knives and razor blades.
Angry wife beats up husband on flight after discovering he’s cheating, forces plane to make emergency landing
A plane headed to Bali had to make an emergency landing after a woman went ballistic and started fighting her husband over his alleged affair.
According to India’s Hindustan Times, the Iranian woman was traveling with her husband and child on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha, Qatar, to Bali, Indonesia, on Sunday when she discovered that her husband was cheating.
The outlet reports that as the husband was sleeping, his wife used his hand to unlock his fingerprint-protected cell phone. As she was going through it, the woman reportedly discovered her husband was being unfaithful.
She then started hitting her husband. Crew members on the flight tried to calm the situation down, but when they couldn’t get the woman to stop attacking her spouse, the pilot decided to land in Chennai, India. Times of India reportedthat alcohol played a factor in the mid-flight brawl.
Officials said the family was kicked off the plane, and the flight continued on to Bali.
“The family spent the day at Chennai airport and was sent to Kuala Lumpur by a Batik Air flight,” the official said. “No police action was taken.”
via: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/angry-wife-beats-husband-flight-affair-article-1.3616700