The weekly

VOL 13 ISSUE 11 ursday, October 3,, 2013

Observer

PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4

Poverty forcesminors to workafter schoolhours.

Schoolgirl

raped by

neighbor is

pregnant

‘Suicides’ among minors increase fivefold, KSHRC to launch probeState Crime Records Bureau datarevealed that 796 minors havecommitted suicide in Karnatakathis year.

An analysis of the data given bythe State Crime Records Bureau(SCRB), Bangalore revealed that232 girls and 550 boys between theage group 0-14 years of age havecommitted suicide in Karnatakafrom January 2013 to September10, 2013. is implies that everyday three minors ended their livesthis year

Karnataka State Human RightsCommission member Meera Sak-sena promised to investigate therecords, adding: “Suicides amongyoung ages are not possible.”

Data also revealed out of the totalnumber of suicides, 413 cases wereby hanging, 210 were due to poi-soning, 62 by burning, 45 caseswere of drowning, 16 minors killedby trains, two killed themselvesusing firearms, and 48 suicideswere due to various “other factors”.

e figure of 796 minor suicides,even before the year ends, is morethan five times the previous year’sfigure of 156 minor suicides.

Data reveals that of the 796 listed,around 700 minors who apparentlykilled themselves this year werelisted as being between zero to fiveyears of age.

Ayyapan, Co-Ordinator, BoscoNilaya, an NGO, said: “ere issomething wrong with the data. Itcould be possible that the family or

relatives of these children havedone something to them andtermed the death as suicides.”

He added that such minor chil-

dren do not know what a suicidemeans, so it is not possible that theyhave committed suicide.

Roopa Reddy from the NGO,Makkala Jagruti, said, “Elder chil-dren can take such drastic steps ofending their lives due to educa-tional and emotional trauma, butchildren in the age group of one tofive have no idea of what suicide is,so how would they commit it?ere can be high possibilities ofmurder and forgery of details insuch cases.”

Meera Saksena, member of theKarnataka State Human RightsCommission said, “Children com-mit suicide due to study and exampressures and ragging. But this ap-plies to upper age group children. I

would personally like to go throughthe data and look into these cases.”

Sunil Agarwal, Inspector Generalof Police, Karnataka State Human

Rights Commission, said: “It isquite surprising two and three-year-olds commit suicide. Manytimes we feel that there is forcedpoisoning or forced hanging.”

He added, “I don’t know whichdata it might be which says that it ispossible for a two-year-old to com-mit suicide on his own by hanging.”

According to Narmada Anand,Program Manager at Child andWomen Welfare Department Kar-nataka, children commit suicidedue to various reasons, such asparental problems, academic issuesand insecure life. She said: “ey donot have the maturity to make de-cisions in life and thus make wrongdecisions.”

She added that the deaths could

have been accidental, where thechild has no intention to commitsuicide but the police, to make theirwork easier, register their case assuicides.

Narmada pointed out that theChild and Women Welfare Com-mittee concentrates more on devel-opment of children and they thinkthat development would reducesuch problems, but this does nothappen.

PR Chandrashekhar, former headof the department of National Insti-tute of Mental Health and NeuroSciences, said: “Minors see a lot ofsuicide cases in the visual mediawhich has a great impact on theirimpressionable minds. It also maymotivate them to commit suicide.”

He added: “Children also takesuch drastic steps when they get in-timidated by constant physical tor-ture from teachers and parents.Frustration and depression amongchildren generated by academicpressure also result in suicide.”

Also there is a lot of confusionand inconsistency in the data col-lected by the SCRB. Around 698cases in the records have the age ofthe dead mentioned as zero.

When asked about the confusionin the data over the age zero, R.B.Singh of the statistical office, Na-tional Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) said that they have no clueof what the zero stands for in theage column. Only the state crimerecord bureau can substantiate it.Also the data that they receive fromstate record bureaus is categorized

data.He said, “We get data between the

age group 0-14 and so forth, andnot individual cases for all ages.”

To this, a senior programmer atSCRB said: "ose whose age istermed as zero means that theirbody has decomposed and their agecannot be determined. Investiga-tions regarding their age are stillon."

When asked about suicidesamong two and three-year-olds, hesaid that there must have beensome error in compiling the data.He also asked to ignore the databetween the age groups zero to fiveand continue the analysis of therest.

He refused to comment on thedrastic increase in minor suicidecases this year when compared to2012.

About their data collection meth-ods, he added, “We get data directlyfrom police stations. We compilethe data the way we get it.”

Even aer repeated attempts, theofficials at Karnataka Director Gen-eral of Police office, remained un-available for comment.

Nikita Narvekar

Nirmala Anand, from CWC

Data provided by SCRB on minors committing sucides

Lack of firefight-ers in city ispushing serviceto its limits

e Weekly Observer ursday, October 3, 2013 2

e fire emergency service inBangalore does not have sufficientmanpower to deal with emer-gency calls

e Karnataka Fire and Emer-gency Service Department lackssufficient staff members to ad-dress emergencies adequately.

According to the fire and emer-gency department statistics datedtill June 24th, the Bangalore westzone fire service department has118 vacancies while the east zonehas 165.

N.R.Markandeya, Chief Fire Of-ficer, West Zone, Bangalore said:“We have three shis. We don’thave manpower to work for allthe three shis. e quarters tothe staff are allotted nearby sothat during the time of emer-gency, even the off duty officerscan take quick action.”

He added that in the event of afire accident, two or three fire sta-tions were contacted and asked toreach the spot of emergency. isensured that at least one fire truckreached the place on time.

One of the primary reasons forsuch massive understaffing is thenumber of vacancies in the firedepartment. According to the sta-tistics provided by the depart-ment, only 447out of 730 jobpositions areoccupied at themoment, leav-ing 283 seatsvacant.

ere were atotal of 1061fire accidents inthe city thisyear. As a re-sult, 263 peoplehave died andthe total loss ofproperty has amounted to Rs. 6,46, 41, 950.

Out of the total number, 243 fireaccidents took place in residentialareas, 286 occurred in commer-cial areas and 81 of them tookplace in industrial zones. 443 suchaccidents took place in otherareas of the city.

Commenting on the massive

shortage of staff, Om Prakash, theDirector General of the fire serv-ices department said that 42% ofjob positions in the departmentare vacant at the moment.

He added that they were soongoing to try and fill up these va-cancies and hire new firemen,drivers and station officers.

is, he said, will happen aerthe changes to recruitment rulesand regulations are made by thegovernment.

However, Prakash also said thatdespite the vacancies, the depart-

ment is doing its level best toreach accident spots on time andconduct rescue operations assmoothly as possible.

Speaking about what caused this

shortfall of employees, Prakashsaid that the primary reason wasthe annually changing set of re-cruitment rules.

He added: “After 2008 thereis a decline in the employ-ment of fire service depart-ment. The new rules andregulation will soon be imple-mented.”

e fate of 2750 driving licensesuspension recommendations isstill uncertain as the TransportDepartment waits for a report onthe delay despite the Home Min-ister urging speedy action.

K.J. George, Home Minister, hadurged Ramalinga Reddy, Ministerof Transport, during QuestionHour in the Legislative Council inJuly to speed up the procedure asthere have been pending suspen-sions since 2012 when only 63suspensions were ultimately car-ried out. Only 250 out of a total of3000 driving license suspensionrecommendations have actuallybeen carried out this year till Au-gust.

e Transport Department offi-cials had varied responses to thisdelay.

P. Ravikumar, Principal Secre-tary, Transport Department,seemed surprised to hear about it.When he called up the JointCommissioner ofTransport(JCT), he learnt aboutany such delay for the first time.R. Muniveera Gowda, JCT andSecretary, Karnataka State Trans-port Association (KSTA), saidthat he had asked for a reportfrom the department which wasstill being readied.

Maruthi Sambrani, Joint Com-missioner, Transport Depart-ment, who is also in charge offormulating this report, said that

he was issuing letters to all the Re-gional Transport Offices (RTO) inthe State asking them to look intothe matter as fast as possible.

He added that the suspension ofdriving licenses was a lengthyprocedure which required theRTOs to issue notices to the of-fenders ,allowing them a chanceto present their pleas. e deci-sion of suspension could be ar-rived at, only aer this.

He pointed out that many out ofthe 3000 recommendations in-clude people holding licenses ofother states which do not fallunder their jurisdiction, thereforethe number of pending suspen-sions would come down.

However, he was unable to pro-vide a concrete number of thecases pending or the number ofoffenders who held licenses fromother states as he had just begunwith the report. He was also un-able to give an estimate of thetime that the Transport Depart-ment would take to carry out theentire procedure because it woulddepend on the time taken by in-dividual cases and their pleas bythe offenders.

Anagha Sawant

Anannya Sarkar

Fire service in staffing emergency

2750 driving licenses yet to be suspended

Sexually abusedminors rescued,trauma remainsree sexually abused minor girlswere rescued by Childline mem-bers in August.In accordance with the NationalChild Labor Project, the sistersaged 5, 10 and 11 have been ac-commodated into regular classes.e FIR has been filed againstthose who had employed theseminors under the Protection ofChildren from Sexual OffencesAct, 2012. e concerned policeofficer is to be produced beforethe CWC on October 8.

Husband stabbedwife to deathaer disputeOn May 5, 2013 Annayappa killedhis wife Geetha as a result of amarital dispute e complaintwas registered by Geetha’s motherIrama. e incident took place atSulikera village. He is presently inCentral Jail Bangalore under judi-cial custody.

One year on,‘fast-track’ courtyet to rule onrape caseIn a shocking incident on October19, 2012, three girls were raped by11 men in Gyana Jyothi Layout.While the case is running in a fasttrack court the verdict of the case isstill not out. e accused have also been chargedwith IT Act, 66E for taking nakedpictures and videos of the girlswhile they were being raped.

Source: Karnataka Fire andEmergency Department

Firefighter Staffing Levels

12%

20%

33%

NEWS BRIEF

3e Weekly Observer ursday, October 3, 2013

Minor raped, 4 months pregnantA 14-year-old girl was allegedlyrepeatedly raped by her neigh-bour in Pulakeshinagar and isnow four months pregnant.

According to Sarah (namechanged), 14, she was being rapedby her 55-year-old neighbour,Anwar alias Prince, since Marchthis year. e class nine studentsaid, “Anwar used to lure me withchocolates while returning fromschool and call me to his home.”

Sharif, 50, Sarah’s father, works asa security guard in a bungalow inAtchin’s Cross where the familylives in a small quarter. Her mother,Salina, 48, works in the same houseas a maid servant. Sharif said, “Weknew Sarah sometimes went to theneighbouring house to play withother children, but we had no ideashe even talked to Anwar.”

Sarah said, “He raped me four tofive times. Since the last twomonths I did not want to go thereanymore. He used to say that I amcommitting a sin according toQuran by disobeying him. He

threatened to kill my parents if Icomplained to them.”

She added, “He used to say whatwe did yesterday, we’ll again dotoday. I was feeling uneasy sincemany days in the bottom of mystomach. I used to cry the wholetime. ere were some lucky dayswhen he did not catch hold of meaer school.”

Only when Sarah vomited and fellunconscious playing on the roadone day, the family went for a med-ical check-up. On September 2,2013, the police medical reportshowed that she was already morethan three months pregnant.

Gopal, from Ambedkar Hospital,Kammanahalli, who was presentduring Sarah’s ultrasound said,“is is not the first case of minorpregnancy that we have witnessed,but I would not like to comment onwhatever is going on with them. Wejust do our job.”

Sharif said, “Now I understandwhy she used to refuse to go toschool. I had no idea this is goingon.”

e family lodged an FIR in thePulakeshi nagar police station onSeptember, 7, 2013, and eventhough Anwar tried to flee, he wasbooked under section 4 of the Pro-tection of Children against SexualOffences Act and sections 376 and420 of the Indian Penal Code. Atpresent he is in the central jail.

According to Narayana Swami,police sub inspector, Anwar used tolive alone at his place. He used tocall Sarah when she played outside.Sarah also went to his house towatch TV. “It was difficult to findabout him initially. He is an influ-ential business man and the neigh-bours had a good opinion of him.”

Swami added that he had advisedthe parents to get the child abortedbut they feared for her health.“Once the child is born, we will alsoconduct a DNA test.”

As of now the case has been re-ferred to the Child Welfare Com-mittee. e CWC is suppose toprovide her with food and shelter

till the time of the delivery. en,aer her and her family’s consent,the child will be given to a govern-ment adoption centre. Meena K.Jain, from the CWC, said, “It is herwill if she wants to keep her babybut it is not advisable due to multi-ple complications.”

e CWC will also sit a legal com-mittee and the chairperson willlook at the case. Meena added,“Anwar was a drunkard. If it wouldhave come to us at the start of Sep-tember itself, we would have beenin a better position to do some-thing.”

According to the referral doctorof the CWC, abortion at this stageis not possible. “She has already en-tered her second trimester. Her or-gans will be affected if anything istampered with now.”

Aasif, the owner of the housewhere Sharif and his family lived,told them about Janodaya, an NGOthat deals with cases of violence

against women among many oth-ers. Bhimaya, project coordinator,said, “Sharif and Amina came to uson September, 23, 2013. By then thegirl was already around fourmonths pregnant. Anwar will haveto provide some amount of com-pensation to the family as he has anumber of properties.

According to Beena Dayanand,legal advisor, Anwar is incapable tosexually perform. He claims in hisstatement that he can prove that thechild is not his. He daily used to calla few friends of his who rapedAmina. ey used to give her Rs.200-300 for each time and she,being naive, used to contentedlycomply.

Sharif said that he doesn’t carewhat story the NGO has made outof the girl’s grievances. “She will bewell looked aer. If the CWC per-mits, I will also send her to school.”e case is awaiting trial in thecourt.

He raped mefour to five times.Since the last twomonths I did notwant to go thereanymore. He usedto say that I amcommitting a sinaccording to Quranby disobeying him.He threatened tokill my parents if Icomplained tothem.

- Sarah, the victim

Bhavika Bhuwalka

& Apurva Venkat

Anwar will have toprovide compensationto the family as he hasa number of proper-ties. His actions werebased on lust; ideallyhe should be hanged.

- Bhimaya, Projectco-ordinator, Janodaya

“

Sarah, the 14-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped by her neighbour and is four months pregnant

“

e Weekly Observer ursday, October 3, 2013 4

Observer Team: Reporters– Neha Singh & Pranay Lakshminarasimhan Emergency Call Services- Karishma Ravindran News Editors– Bhaskar Dutta, Anannya Sarkar & GauravKumar Picture Editor– Bhavika Bhuwalka Design Desk- Nivedita Mohanta Sub Editors– Anand Jain, Apurva Venkat, Chitharth Mathivanan & Mayuri J. Ravi Proof Reader- Au-rosmita Acharya Chief Sub Editor– Nikita Narvekar Editor- Ishan Bhattacharya Email- editor@iijnm.org An IIJNM Publication (For Private Circulation)

Events

Idiosyncratic ExpressionAn art exhibition by Kumar Singha &

Warsha Lath, artists of the month.

Venue: Gallery ird Eye, Yemlur

Main Road, Next to Logican IT Park,

Behind HAL Airport

Date: Oct. 1, 2013 - Oct.31, 2013

Time: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM.

Micheal Kenna - A Journeyrough AsiaA creative landscape photographer pre-

senting his journey across Asia through

a series of black and white photographs

compiled from 2006 to 2013.

Venue: Sua House, Kasturba Cross

Road , Bangalore

Date: Aug 31 - Oct 30, 2013

Time: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Russell Peters- Notorious WorldTour 2013Russell Peters is touring four cities in

India this October making a return

with his biggest touring show yet.

Venue: Koramangala Indoor Stadium

Date: Oct.31, 2013

Time: 8:00 PM onwards.

THEATRE

ARTS

Poverty has forced children towork for a living aer schoolhours.

Most of the students studying inSeva Ashram Educational Institute,Gandhinagar are below povertyline. A senior teacher at the school,who asked not to be named, said:“ey work aer school hours tilllate in the night and hence are un-able to focus on their studies.”

She added, “eir academic re-sults are extremely weak.”

Amirsha, a standard seven stu-dent at a Kannada medium school,said: “I work as a helper at a garagein Sriramapuram for four and a half

hours in the evening. I haveto earn for my family.”

Sandhya, a standard ninestudent, said, “I work as ahelper in a garment shop,earning Rs. 80 per day.”

Subramaniya Iyer, a Tamilinstructor at the school,said, “Most of the parentsare not concerned aboutthe future of their children,rather interested in havingtheir child as an earningmember. Most of these stu-dents work aer schoolhours.”

Aravind, studying in standardnine, said: “I work as a milk deliv-

ery boy in the morning as well as inthe evening to support my family.

He added, “I am the eldest in thehouse and I have two sisters. My fa-ther passed away because of achronic disease; hence, it is my re-sponsibility to help my mother.”

Ravi, 14, said, “My father is adrunkard and had taken a lot ofdebt. My mother and I are workinghard to repay the debt.”

Iyer added that they attend schoolonly for the mid day meals andmilk. Sixty percent of the childrenstudying here work aer school.

Kishore, Eradication General Ed-itor of Karnataka State Child LaborEradication Project Society, said: “Iwill inform the Chief Officer of theState Labor Department. We willvisit the place and take suitable ac-tion as early as possible.”

Poverty drives minors to work after schoolChitharth Mathivanan

“My father is a drunkardand in order to repay hisdebt, my mother and I

have to work hard.”

- Ravi, student of Seva Ashram

Students of Seva Ashram Educational Institutions work aer school hours

e condition of a girl raped byher uncle on September 23 is stillnot stable.

e four-year-old girl suffered ex-tensive injuries aer she was rapedand dumped on the road.

e girl was in a coma for six daysand finally opened her eyes last Sat-urday, according to her family.

Dr. Roopa Bellad, HOD, PediatricIntensive Care Unit(ICU), said:“While the child’s condition has im-proved, she has a lot of other mor-bidities.”

She added, “We have done aCraniotomy for the swelling in herbrain. She is still in an acute condi-tion. When we call her, she re-sponds by looking at us but she isnot recognizing us. Neurologicallywe are not able determine her con-

dition yet.”Gajanand says that his niece is

better now that she has opened hereyes. But her mental condition isvery bad. She does not recognize usor respond to us. She just moves hereye balls. She is still like a deadbody to us. We are waiting andpraying for her mental condition toget better. Doctors have told me it

will take another ten days in theICU itself. We hope that she will beher normal self soon.

e girl’s father is a farmer at Baadvillage and the mother is a housewife. e girl has been in the KLESHospital, for the last eleven daysnow.

e hospital has decided to waiveall the expenses.

Dr Roopa added: “Our managingdirector has decided that the hospi-tal will incur all the cost of treat-ment.”

Commenting on this, her unclesaid: “We have been helped by thehospital. All expenses are being in-curred by them. But no govern-ment official has come to see thecondition of the girl or offer us anykind of help.”

Under the Karnataka State VictimCompensation Scheme, formedunder 357A of Code of Criminalprocedure, the victim is entitled forinterim financial help. Specificallythe scheme mentions up to Rs50,000 of financial help for minorrape victims and up to Rs 10,000 forgrievous injury from the fund,which is at the disposal of DistrictLegal Service Authority.

4-year-old girl wakes up after six days in coma

e minor is being treated at the KLES Prabhakar Kore Hospital

Apurva Venkat