December 16-31, 2012 Vol. 8, Issue - 12

A-223,Vashi Plaza, Sector - 17, Vashi,Navi Mumbai 400 703. Tel: 67912189 / 27894570

www.sunnynews.infoEmail:sunnynewsmumbai@yahoo.com

Yes, I am talking about the Hiroshima of the chemical indus-try. The chemical accident occu-rred on the night of December 2nd 1984 has failed to arouse the conscience of the human kind and the mini Bhopals and the micro gassasinations continue to take its toll unabated allover the world, particularly in India. The toll it took, the death of 5,000 to 30,000 innocent people and injury to an estimated 20 million is a blot on our industrial history. We have not learnt our lessons and therefore history is sure to repeat. The acci-dent due to the leakage of a highly reactive chemical, MIC (Methyl Isocyanate) from tank number E-610 which was holding 42 mt of the chemical reacted with the ingressed water resulting in highly exothermic reaction and the escape of the lethal gas which created Hiroshima like situation around Bhopal without causing an explosion. How such large inven-tory of hazardous chemical came to be stored and how the storage license under SMPV rules were issued by the office of the chief controller of explosives has not yet been explained. Whether the leakage was an accidental one or an experimental one is now irrelevant and beside the point. The fact is that no one has been held responsible for this act of criminal negligence which result-ed in the ghastly crime. The per-petuator, the multi national giant Union Carbide Corporation has put up a valiant fight to escape

from its liability in tort, civil and criminal as a result of which its chairman and chief executive Mr.

Warren Anderson escaped untou-ched and unpunished. It goes to the credit of Justice Keenan, USA who redeemed his faith in Indian Judiciary and said it was capable of adjudicating the issue in India thereby exculpating his country and shifting the trail to India. When a crime goes unpunished, the end of justice is not met keep-ing the flame of retribution burn-ing and intensifying. A paltry 4.1 million US $ as compensation to-wards economic losses did not take into account the human losses and sufferings which simply could not be quantified. The claim by M/s. BHEL for their one months production loss alone stood at $ 20.8 million.

The trial in India and then at

USA mostly benefited the advocates on both sides but not the victims. This is also the case with most of the litigations involving HSE issues (Health, Safety and

Environment). Our obsession with large chemical plants and power plants did not end here. In the name of modernization and march towards progress, we have been surreptitiously egging and encour-aging multi national collaboration and investments without proper evaluation of the health and safety implication and environmental impact. We are yet to understand and appreciate the limitations and the futility of the so called fail safe and fool proof systems. Most of the accidents in our country are the result of non compliance with the law, whether it is safety laws and regulations or the environmental enactments. Our corporates are more than willing to pay the paltry

Pages : 6PRESS ACCREDITATION

THE BHOPAL GASSASINATION – A CELEBRATION OF AN ASSASINATION

Adv. Sivasankaran

(Continued on page 4 )

What a Journalism !! There is a report about a tragedy where the father kills his two kids and tried to kill him self. In the middle of the report there is an advertisement of Britannia Biscuit “Good Day”. Any comments ?

Appeared in a leading English daily.

It has come to our notice that someone has put up a political display banner at the entrance of Vashi Plaza building with the photo of our editor. Public is hereby informed that our editor is in no way connected with such displays or publicity and if someone has indulged in such acts for obvious reasons, it is without his permission. Our editor clarifies that while he has strong political views, he is not subscribed to any party politics. He is committed to social causes for the past 40 years in Mumbai and likes to continue to do his bit.

Sd/-Sub-Editor, Sunny News

NOTICE

“We wish our readers Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2013"

Shri. Oommen David, Director of Holy Angels' School & Jr. College, Dombivli was felicitated at the hands of Shri. Ganesh Naik - Hon. Minister of Maharashtra for Excise at a function organised by Mumbai Pooram Foundation for his achievements in the field of Education. Besides him is the Hon. Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri. Oommen Chandy.

FIR ( First Information Report ) or MIR ( Mockery Information Report ) ?

Any citizen of India who wants to make a compliant at the police station has to face a lot of problems and he passes through rigorous mental trauma before the com-plaint is lodged, which is a well known fact. First the police officer incharge asks you a lot of question which is irrelevant, and a few relevant. Then the complainants complaint is written down in the so-called police language, which even the leading Advocates cannot understand.

Sunny News paper has come across a prescribed form of FIR being used by Mumbai Police.

It is pertinent to note here column 3 & 3b wherein it is men-tioned Name & Residence of com-plainant & Name & Address of the Non-Complainant respectively. Shall we presume that meaning of Non- complainant is accused ?

Is it not an indication that the legal loop holes starts from the FIR stage itself ? Or is the format prin-ted for confusing the complainants and judiciary ? It is left to the readers and concerned department for their comments.

Staff Reporter

What you mean by K.F.C. in Kerala?

It is Kerala Fried Chicken

Name and Residence of Complainant Name and Residence of Non-Complainant(s)

December 16-31, 2012

Maharashtra Rashtriya Kamgar Sangh Vice President (S.E.O.)

(INTUC)

Rajanbhai Lad

Rashtriya Mill Masdoor Sangh,G.D. Ambedkar Marg,

Parel Bhoiwada, Mumbai - 400 012Tel.: 022-2411 4657

To

SUNNY NEWS REPORTER,

RAIGAD DIST.

MR. VIKAS MANOHAR SOSHTE

Dear Sir,I am a regular reader of your esteemed paper ever since its

inception. I appreciate and admire the fact that your paper has been carrying informative and public interest topics with bold coverage. However I do not subscribe to the views appeared on your December 1-15 issue on the last page 'Diwali Stands for the emancipation of Human spirit form earthly desires'.

Diwali or the festival of light is derived from the word “Deepavali” which signifies the eclipse of darkness before the lights. Notwithstanding the historical perceptive of Diwali, today it has become symbolic of two most dreaded evils called corruption and pollution. People in need of favours take this opportunity to shower gifts in order to appease the powerful which has degenerated into a corrupt practice which has resulted in many less privileged being side tracked and neglected. It is no secret that people roam around the corridors of power with expensive gifts which include Scotch whisky bottles and gold bars and silver ingots. The fire crackers burnt during the festival of lights creates environmental pollution which is already above the threshold, not to speak about the noise pollution which has a debilitating effect on the sick, infirm, the young and the old. The Diwali revelers, it appear to have no concern even for the guidelines pronounced by the honorable courts and the police, the law enforcement agency prefers to ignore such nuisances or look the other way. Diwali has lost its spiritual content and has become an occasion for the display of wealth and arrogance.

Sudha Gangadharan , Nerul.

Letter to Editor

ACTION AGAINST INACTIONction and reaction are Aequal and opposite. So

said Sir Issac Newton. It is true because the mango still comes down from the tree and the car comes to a grinding halt on the road and for that matter anything which goes up comes down defying the gravity. The rockets to the outer space has to break the escape velocity barrier to reach the outer space. In our system of life, action plays an important role and inaction is often frowned up on. We enjoin people to act, not in the dramatic sense or the filmy style, though they are more rewarding. But a large number of people are unable to act even when called up on. Their response is muted or delayed. Some refuse to act even under pressure or when they are required to act. People in authority or those in decision making position are vested with enormous powers. Some with more powers. This power flows f rom a pheno-mena cal led discretion or at times compulsion. They are paid to act and are responsible for their actions, like our police force. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, Lord Action has warned that power flows from the barrel of a gun is the sentence uttered by a Great Chinese leader of our times. In our country power is often derived from proximity or contact. Power when vested in undeserving hands become toxic and its abuse and misuse frequent. With power at the back and you are asked to bend, the reaction often is to kneel down and crawl. Action invites reaction and action can be by acts or by omissions. Legally one can be culpable by his acts or by omi-ssions depending upon the situa-tions and with so many people arrogating power in varying degrees, the reaction is not far to seek. Our society today is in the

of the conflicting interests and the vested interests should at least settle for the defacto equilibrium, till then we have to endure the statusquo. A closed society, which we were for many years is like a sealed reactor or enclosed vessel, the reaction being exothermic. Those in authority react with a mouthful and at times reacts with body blows as in our police custody. These are instances of over reaction. While reactions are active and passive and depends upon the situation. Reaction can also be conditioned and bought out. While positive reaction always comes from the haves, the negative reaction is the reserve of the have-nots. There are at times violent reactions from the co-mmon man unable to bare the

reaction mode and the people are on a powder keg waiting to ex-plode. Power centers often derive their inherent strength not from the statutes but by manipulation and misinterpretation of it. The con-flict

(The writer is a Post Graduate from IndianInstitute of Human Rights, New Delhi.)

December 16-31, 2012

The recent story about a Jehovah's Witness follower gett-ing a heart surgery done without any blood transfusion sounds to be one of the most ridiculous practices that show how idiotic, people can get due to their super-stitions in religious beliefs. These are people who take the words of their religious texts literally without taking the context into consideration.

Jehovah's witnesses, a Chris-tian group decided in 1945 to abstain from blood transfusions. Some of the Jehovah's witnesses subscribe to this ideology while others do not agree to it. Either way, when they have surgeries, they have to get blood transfusions or else they will die, so this is just a theory that is more rhetorical than practical. It is hardly ever put it into practice except by few.

Those who subscribe to this ideology claim that, according to the Bible, blood is something that should not be drunk or eaten. Therefore some Jehovah's wit-nesses have theorized that blood transfusion is bad according to the Bible and that surgeries have to be done without blood transfusion. Well, to a simpleton, this sounds logical and so he might refuse blood transfusion as he believes that he is following what is being said in the Bible.

Now the Jehovah's witnesses consume meat. They eat chicken, mutton, and what not. According to them, while eating meat, they should only eat meat and not consume blood. The Bible does says that blood should not be consumed, which in effect literally means that not a drop of blood should be consumed. But the question here is how can a person

consume meat without any blood in it ? Now scientifically speaking, how it is possible to remove all the blood in meat before eating? One of the processes that can be used to extract all liquid blood from the meat or say chicken is by a vacuum centrifugal process; whereby all the liquid is extracted and what we get is dry chicken meat. However even this meat is not blood free. Of course it is just dried meat but there will always be traces of dried blood in it. Any forensic scientist will tell you that there is going to be some amount of blood left in any living creature even if all the blood has been extracted using the best separation techniques avail-able today.

A similar analogy would be that of Jain Munis sweeping the ground in front of them so that no living creature is stepped upon by them and killed. When the practice started, probably they did not know that there are millions if not billions of micro organisms living and thriving in the ground and every step they take will kill many of these organisms, irrespective of whether they swept the ground or not before walking. In the same way, Jehovah's witnesses should also understand that they are consuming blood by just eating meat.

Probably the only people who really follow the Bible's command on not consuming blood are the vegetarian Brahmins and Jains but not the Christians or Jews or Mus-lims or particularly the Jehovah's witnesses. Jehovah's witnesses should first become vegetarian and then decide on not accepting blood transfusions. Otherwise it is just an exercise in futility.

Judicial Responsehe letter of law recognizes Tthe right of an accused to

speedy trail, but the problem is how to make it a reality. Mere passing of a law is not enough. The life of law according to Justice Holmes is not logic, but experi-ence. The test of a law is that it must be able to achieve its goals; ie, the justice to the individual and the society. The most urgent ques-tion at present is to determine the efficacy of our criminal justice system in terms of human rights. Whether it benefits the society and the individual involved ? How far it has been successful in the pre-vention of crime and the reduction of criminal population? It is evi-dent from the cases coming up before the Supreme Court that dilatory tactis in criminal trials are rampant in our legal system. Justice krishna iyer, while dealing with the bail petition in Babu Singh V. State of U.P. remarked.

Our justice system, even in grave cases, suffers from slow motion syndromes which is lethal to “fair trial” whatever the ultimate decision. Speedy justice is a component of social justice since

the community as a whole is concerned in the criminal being punished within a reasonable time and the innocent being absolved from the ordeal of Criminal proceedings.

Criminal justice breaks down at a point when expeditious trial is not attempted while the affected parties are languishing in jail. The Criminal procedure Code in sections 167, 209, and 309 has emphasized the importance of expedious disposal of cases in-cluding investigations and trials. It is unfortunate, that there should

have been such considerable delay in investigations by the police in utter disregard of the fact that a citizen has been deprived of his freedom on the ground that he is accused of an offence.

Justice Bhagwati, in Huss-ainara Case declared the right to speedy trial is an essential part of fundamental right to life and liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution and stated, “If a person is deprived of his liberty under a procedure which is not 'reasonable' fair or just, such deprivation would be violative of his fundamental right under Article 21 and he would be entitled to enforce such fundamental right and secure his release”. Now obviously procedure prescribed by law for depriving a person of his liberty cannot be reasonable, fair or just unless that procedure ensures a speedy trial for determination of guilt of such person. No procedure which does not ensure a reasonably quick trial can be regarded as 'reasonable' fair or just and it would fall foul of Article 21.

WHO REALLY FOLLOWS THE BIBLE ? JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES OR BRAHMINS ?

Adv. Sivasankaran

The news published by various authors this publication are their sole opinion and Editor is in no way accountable and responsible.

in

DISCLAIMER

Diabetes increases your risk for develop-ing many other chronic diseases, including heart disease. Your chances worsen if your blood glucose is not in control. Everything you eat contributes to your blood glucose, so choose your foods carefully. Fruit, es-pecially the high-fiber pear, is a good food for diabetics to eat.

Pears offer a person with diabetes a very healthy snack. They are low in carbo-hydrates and calories. One medium-size pear contains just 100 calories and only 26 grams of carbohydrates. The key to picking a good snack for diabetics is both calorie and carb control, and pears offer both.

The best way to get the vitamins and minerals your body needs is to eat them through food. Pears offer a vast assortment of vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy, which is important for anyone, but especially diabetics. Pears contain the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium, and the vitamins C, E, K, folate, beta-carotene, lutein, choline and retinol.

Pears, especially with the skin left on, are considered a high fiber food. One medium pear contains 5 g of fiber. Fiber is a very important part of a healthy diet for a diabetic. Dietary fiber helps reduce cholesterol and control body weight and blood sugar. A meal or snack with fiber slows the absorption of carbs into the bloodstream. This makes for a more sustained and slower rise in blood glucose over a longer period of time, reducing the chance of a spike in blood glucose.

A craving for a sweet food can set a diabetic up for poor blood glucose control. Pears are a sweet treat that can help calm your sweet tooth without sacrificing control over your disease. Eat a pear for dessert or as a sweet snack. You can even combine pear slices with some sugar-free, fat-free whipped cream for a satisfying and healthy dessert.

BENEFITS OF PEARS FOR DIABETESHEALTH NEWS

(Continued on page 4 )

Are children born in India destined to be battered and abused? Are they to be denied their freedom which is their fundamental right? Are they not entitled to basic needs, health and elementary education? Are only the children born in Norway, the U.K or the U.S.A as well as those who migrate there are supposed to enjoy freedom (including freedom from abuse), basic comforts and the right to grow in a healthy environment?

The Norway incident involv-ing an Indian couple was widely reported in the Indian press. All those who read it would have compared the situation in that country with the one prevailing in India. It was difficult to miss the screaming headline “Norwegian court jails Indian couple for child abuse”.

On December 4, 2012, a Nor-wegian court sent to jail an Indian couple who was found guilty of the charge of child rights violation for trying to “discipline” their seven year old son.

V. Chandrasekhar, a computer engineer with the TCS, on deputa-tion to Oslo and his wife Anupama were found guilty of “gross or repeated maltreatment “of their son Sai Sriram. The couple from Krishna district of Andhra Pra-desh was arrested by the police in the last week of November and remanded to jail. When the case came up, the court upheld the pro-secution contention that the parents were guilty of burning the boy's leg with a hot spoon and also beating with a belt.

Nine months ago, Sai Sriram told his teachers that his parents had threatened to send him back to India if he did not stop wetting his pants in the school and on the road. The boy also told them that he was afraid his parents would “burn his tongue”.

Norwegian social services were alerted by the school. It led to the opening of a case by the Oslo police who investigated he matter.

The Oslo court has sentenced Chandrasekhar to 18 months and Anupama to 15 months in prison.

Almost simultaneously, there were several stories in the Indian press, of child abuse by parents and teachers giving an impression that there was no law in India to protect child rights. The fact is that there are laws on the statute, but,

they mostly remain on paper. One Diwan Singh, a resident of

Oshiwara, near Mumbai, was sentenced to five years imprison-ment for driving his 11 year old son to suicide (December,3, 2012). The prosecution case was that the boy ended his life suffering from severe depression, after being repeatedly beaten by Singh. The boy was a standard four student of the Oriental School at Oshiwara and lived with his father in a one room chawl . He committed suicide on July, 13, 2011 by drinking phenyl.

A post mortem showed that the boy had 20 bruise marks over his body and also signs of hemorrhag-ing. When the police questioned Singh, he said that he used to beat his son in order to 'discipline' him. He admitted that on July, 11, when the victim bunked school, Singh was infuriated and he thrashed him.

Neighbours told the police that Singh used to hit the boy with belt and bamboo stick. Each time they intervened, he would ask them to mind their own business.

If the neighbours had seri-ously pursued the matter with the police or Child Rights Organiza-tion, or any other concerned authority, perhaps action would have been taken against Singh then and there and the child would have been alive today. The sad truth is that we all lack civic responsibility and condone such cruelty as something that doesn't concern us. People believe that beating their children is their prerogative and no one has any right to intervene. In western countries, if you happen to wit-ness an incident of this nature, you can call the police and they will be right there within minutes.

The atrocities being unleash-ed on children by their teachers are too many and too common to recount here. One can only say that the defiant attitude shown by the teachers who resort to cor-poral punishment caring two hoots for rules is an open challe-nge to the authorities.

A teacher in a private school in Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh allegedly beat up a 9 year old boy leaving him with a fractured hand. The doctors said that the boy's hand was fractured at the same spot where he had suffered a fracture three years ago. It was a lady teacher who got furious with the student for not covering his book properly and caned him.

A report from East Godavari says that in another horrific act of child abuse, a teacher in a private school allegedly forced a six year old child to drink his own urine. The victim, a 1st standard student of Satyabhama High School was forced to drink urine as a punisment by his teacher Gowri, who suspected

him of having left a mug full of it in the bath room. The incident sparked off a public out cry after parents and relatives of the boy staged a protest in front of the school and lodged a complaint with the police. The teacher absconded from the school after news of the incident spread.

A news item from Bhopal says that the Sagar district police arrested a teacher and his brother for allegedly thrashing an eight year old girl and then pulling off a tuft of hair from her scalp. The victim Nisha was a class 2 student. The teacher Sandeep Kurmi saw her playing in the village when he thrashed her and pulled out her hair.

In Fatehgarh Sahib, a seven year old dalit girl suffered severe internal injuries after being kicked in the stomach by her teacher just because she could not solve a mathematical sum. When the report was filed, the girl had already been in the hospital for six days. “The teacher kicked the child in the stomach and twisted her arms several times “, said N. Singh, father of the girl.

All the above horror stories happened in the space of a couple of days. They are serious criminal offences which deserve severe punishment.

However, by child rights protection, we just do not mean that the children should be protected against physical assaults. The term has a much wider connotation. The essence of the proposition is that children should grow up physically and mentally in a conducive atmosphere free from fear and humil ia t ion with opportunities for their talents to bloom.

E v e n t h o u g h c o r p o r a l punishment has been banned in schools for the last two decades or so, by High court or Supreme court orders or by an Act of legislature or through government notifications, the fact is that it is rampant in schools across the country.

Some unfortunate children get assaulted, kicked, beaten or subjected to mental torture by the teachers. Those who are not so unfortunate, get away with minor punishments like a few whacks on the palm, standing on the bench for a period, standing in the sun for some time, or imposition of copying something a hundred times and all that.

Let us admit it. India's record of child rights protection has been abysmal compared to the advanced nations like the U.K, the U.S.A, Norway etc. A start can be made by strictly enforcing child rights protection rules in the schools without any delay.

Child rights in India NAVI MUMBAI - NEWS

December 16-31, 2012

fine rather than comply with the rules. Most of our legislations are nothing but bills of pains and penalties under which small penalties are imposed which have no deterrent or retributive effect as in the case of bills of attainders. Our judiciary talks of strict and absolute liabilities but the legal fraternity is often caught unaware of such concepts resulting in miscarriage of justice at every step. We are also yet to receive a plausible explanation from the concerned about the disposal of nuclear waste and we are in a hurry to commence the Koodankulam nuclear plant despite strong oppo-sition. It is no secret that wastes are being shipped and dumped in seas

around as well as on our shores. This combined with our own was-tage pile up is soon going to pose a problem of insurmountable proportion. Electronics and plastic waste disposal offer no simple solutions and the technologies such as high temperature incinera-tion etc are yet to be adapted by our planners and authorities. With all our soil, air and water contamina-ted and the flora and Fauna at the verge of liquidation, we are em-barking on a suicidal course from which no amount of “Bisleri water” or oxygen masks can save us. The threat today is not from naxalites, terrorists or from across the border and the real threat is from the pollution of the planet

and the one who aids and abets it which includes those enforcement agencies who are mandated to ensure legal compliance, be it municipality, government agen-cies or the pollution control board. It is a shame and blot on our en-forcement authorities that they do nothing and lack competence to prevent the toxic emissions making our breathing air foul and noxious. Anybody who knows what happened at Niger with the abandoned leftover pesticide “dieldrin” would think twice before embarking upon such suici-dal activities. Dieldrin yielded place to endosulfan in India and this could happen only in India. Soon we will be approaching December 2nd and there will be a

(The Bhopal Gassasination .... continued from page 1)

brunt. Such reactions can also come from party bosses and media which are often not the reflection of the public opinion and amounts to kneejerk reaction, which is often instantaneous. There are cases of over reaction in our society to departed souls of our leaders. Long live the king, the king is dead. Our reverent leaders become immortal in death. Some of them become Swargavasies while few of them attain Samadhi. The death as we know is the prerogative of the common man including U and Me, the cattle class and the cats, dogs and the rats. While some of our actions are shrouded in mysteries, the reactions are shrouded in monasteries. Last but not the least another form of reaction which is spontaneous. It comes from our railways after every accident which strictly are not accidents by definition. It is the compensation for the dead and the injured. Not to be outdone, the spontaneous reaction also comes from the fire brigade after a major fire. The latest fire at Himalaya house in New Delhi cannot be an accident. There are many commer-cial establishing and insurance companies operating from there. While there were no causalities, the reaction is clear but not the cause. The victims as usual shall be the helpless clients and custo-mers along with the insurance companies. Prevention of such massive fire has not been one of the reactions. It is the cause which invariably is pre determined and the villain is often the “short circuit”. But nobody thinks for a movement that how come a short circuit, when the circuit is intact. The next excuse is the “static charge”. Fine, no one could ever dispute the cause. It is the reaction from insurance companies which are static in this case. Is the brain over reacting? Our society also reverently overreacts by maintain-ing and preserving the Samadhies of some select leaders with jealous devotion which also involves considerable expenses. After all a grateful nation is indebted to its people which produce them. Passive reaction one can find at the government offices and in its corridors. It is passive till it is activated by some one by under the table pay off. Nothing moves even if it is life threatening, détente in war or peace. There is a price atta-ched to the reaction towards all your actions. The high pressure of disillusionments and the high temperature of social injustice is sure to trigger the volatile reac-tions which if uncontrolled could spell disasters of catastrophic pro-portions. Let us have the relief mechanisms and controls in place before it is too late. It is a wake up call for action and a remedy for reaction. Anybody listening ?

lot of talks and deliberations on the Bhopal accident and a lot of crocodile tears will be shed. How-ever this is not an occasion to commemorate the disaster but one of introspection and remedial action. The innocent souls of the Bhopal victims shall not rest in peace till suitable actions are taken to prevent recurrence of such man made disasters and the corporate villains punished.

Proliferation of chemicals and wastage is spreading fast in our country with the electronic waste leading the list and everyone

(Action Against Inaction .... continued from page 2)

concerned looking the other way. Misplaced priorities are taking its toll in our country. We have many problems associated with chemi-cals, plastics, nuclear radiation etc which need to be tackled by professionals on a priority basis to save this country and its people or else we are sure to become a “sick nation” very soon.

(The author is a Mumbai based safety Engineer, Disaster manage-ment expert with an MBA in environmental studies and a prac-tising Advocate .He can be con-tacted on Mobile No.9867193025)

Sharp rise in rapes, molestations in 4 yrsMUMBAI: Crimes against women such as rape and molestation

shot up between 2008 and 2012, while cases of murder dipped, according to a white paper released by the NGO Praja Foundation. If the last four years are taken into consideration, vehicle thefts have gone up substantially as well.

Activists say that in most instances of crime against women, the perpetrators are acquainted with the victim. "Few cases of rape or molestation are committed by complete strangers. In a majority of cases, it has been observed that the accused is a parent, relative, neighbour or a man who made false promises of marriage to the victim," said a women's rights activist. "When penal action isn't taken against a sex offender immediately, it emboldens him.”

According to data with Praja, north central Mumbai (Vile Parle-Bandra-Kurla) had the highest number of rape cases in 2008 and 2012. In 2009, this was the case with south central Mumbai (Chembur-Sion Koliwada-Mahim) and in 2010, south Mumbai (Worli-Byculla-Colaba-Malabar Hill).

The Amboli molestation case of October 2011, where Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez were murdered when they tried to protect their female friends from harassment, drew strong reactions from across the globe. But a special squad to curb eve-teasing, which was launched with much fanfare in the west region, has lost steam.

This August, the Bombay high court held that courts should not show any leniency when deciding cases where a woman's modesty was outraged and action against those found guilty should serve as a deterrent to others. The high court was hearing an appeal filed by Namdeo Agarkar against the verdict of a special judge, who sentenced him to six months in jail and levied a fine for trespassing into a woman's home and trying to force himself on her.

Commenting on Praja's statistics, an IPS officer said Mumbai police's crime branch was well-equipped with special units for the protection of minors, women and senior citizens.

4

December 16-31, 20125

Manoj Bhai Sansare National President

To

SUNNY NEWS REPORTER,

RAIGAD DIST.

MR. VIKAS MANOHAR SOSHTE

December 16-31, 2012

PRINTED, PUBLISHED AND EDITED BY G.T. VARGHESE ON BEHALF OF G.T. VARGHESE, PUBLISHED FROM A/223, VASHI PLAZA, SECTOR - 17, VASHI, NAVI MUMBAI - 400 705.WEB-www.sunnynews.info TEL : 27651247 AND PRINTED FROM GREAT ART PRINTERS, 25, S.A. BRELVI ROAD, UNIQUE HOUSE, FORT, MUMBAI - 400 001. TEL : 2267 6777 / 2262 6336.

Ready Possession

'Christmas' is a celebration of Love, Peace and Brotherhoods for the emancipation of human spirit from earthly desires

hristmas is a festival cele-Cbrated by Christians the world over on December 25, com-memorating the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is the celebration of love, generosity, benevolence, peace, kindness, brotherhood, and familial bonding. The word Christ-mas has derived from the Old English 'Cristes Maese' (Christ's Mass). Jesus Christ also called Jesus of Nazareth was the founder of Christianity.

According to the Biblical Gos-pel accounts, miraculous events surrounded the conception and birth of Jesus. He was the son of Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth, but is believed to have been miracu-lously conceived by his mother, Virgin Mary. Tradition has it that he was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth. He was baptized by John, the Baptist and he preached a message of religious reform and divine love.

Christianity is a major religion stemming from the life, teachings and death of Jesus Christ. There are three principal groups of Christians belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox chur-ches and the Protestant churches. Christianity began as a movement within Judaism. Jesus and his chief followers called the Apostles were Jews and they accepted him as the 'Christ' or the Chosen One, sent to

fulfill God's promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The authority passed through the Apostle St. Peter, and the teachings of Jesus Christ were collected and consolidated in a body of writings known as Gospels. There are four gospels written by Apostles St. Mathew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John and they deal with the life, the person, and the teachings of Jesus Christ. The word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term 'god-spell', meaning 'good story'. The Holy Bible con-tains the sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament whereas the Jewish Bible includes only the books known to Protestants as the Old Testament. The New Testament is by far the shorter version of the Christian Bible. Like the Old Testament, the New

Testament is a collection of books including a variety of Christian literature.

Although Christmas was not celebrated by the early Christians, there was a custom to celebrate a Saint's birth into eternal life. Thus Good Friday (Christ's death) and Easter Sunday (His Resurrection) took centre stage. Besides Christ-mas, the Christian Church cele-brates two more birthdays - he Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Birth of John the Baptist. According to a Roman Almanac, Christmas was celebrated in Rome by AD 336. However, in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, the festival was celebrated on January 6 commemorating the manifestation of God in both the birth and the baptism of Jesus Christ. During the 4th century AD, most eastern chur-ches adopted the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth on December 25. The reason for celebrating Christmas on this day is probably to coincide with the Roman festival marking the “birthday of the unconquered Sun” (natalis solis invicti). December 25 was also regarded as the birth day of Mithra, the Iranian mystery God known as 'Sun of Righteousnes'.

The 19th century has been characterized as the great century of Christian missions as the followers took the faith to every corner of the world. However, the Malabar

V. N. Gopalakrishnan

Christians living in Kerala claim to have been Christianised by the Apostle St. Thomas as early as the beginning of the first century AD. It is believed that St. Thomas landed in Kerala in 52 AD and spread the message of Christianity and Jesus Christ. Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malan-kara, Syrian Jacobite and Mar Tho-mite are the four major Christian groups in Kerala.

Since European Middle Ages, evergreens, firs and lights have been associated with Christmas as symbols of survival, warmth and lasting life. Christmas is regarded as the festival of the family and of the children. Presents are exchan-ged in many countries in the name of Santa Claus, the traditional patron of Christmas who is also known as Father Christmas in the United Kingdom. The popular image of Santa Claus is based on traditions associated with Saint Nicholas, the 4th century Christian saint who was reputed for his generosity and kindness. Saint Nicholas became a benevolent, gift-giving figure in the Netherlands, Belgium and other European countries besides the United States.

Christmas Card is usually sent by mail as an expression of goodwill at Christmas time and the practice has been followed in all English speaking countries. The first Christmas card is believed to have been designed in England in

1843. Christmas Tree, usually a balsam or douglas fir, decorated with lights and ornaments, forms part of the Christmas festivities. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths and garlands as a symbol of eternal life was an ancient custom of the Egyptians, Chinese and Hebrews. Modern Christmas Tree originated in West Germany and was intro-duced into England in the early 19th century. Christmas trees were popular in Austria, Switzerland, Poland and The Netherlands during the same period. In China and Japan, they were introduced by western missionaries in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The true meaning of Christmas is a kind of hallmark sentimentality about a world where there is no strife, anger, hatred, and criticism. The true meaning of Christmas is not about man loving man but is about God loving man. World-renowned non-Christian historian H. G. Wells has ranked Jesus Christ as the most influential person who has ever lived.

(The article was earlier carried in the web portal Catholicism.org. Mr. Scott has carried the following comment: “Thank you for this most informative article. It is interesting to note the first Christmas was celebrated in the fourth century. Through the years there have been times when persons of different Christian faiths and non-Christian faiths have disagreed. It is reaffir-ming to hear this message of hope and love. The theme, I, believe, is to remember that Christmas is about God loving man, not man loving man. May the true spirit abound in our hearts every day? Thank you, Scott and staff for all you do to brighten my day and deepen my spirituality.”

f reports are to be believed, Ithe local residents of Kelwe, a coastal village near Tarapur, about 90KM from Mumbai, took the law into their hands and doused the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) official with pollut-ed water. It is no secret that in-dustries particularly chemical units have been releasing their untreated effluent water to the nearest water streams, rivers and even in the sea with impunity and this reckless act is not possible without the connivance of the regulating and enforcement authorities. The people living nearby the Paaneri River near Tarapur have been watching the river water turning yellow due to the industries from the Palghar and Shirgaon industrial estate releasing their chemical

waste into the river. Not long ago a pharmaceutical company in the outskirts of Ahme-dabad was caught discharging their effluents into a nearby well and when the well got full they used steam to pressurize the well after capping it with a concrete slab which resulted in the foul water leaching under ground and reaching a nearby river bed emanating foul smell all around. The MPCB official Mr. R. Bandappa had no answers when the villagers questioned him about the inaction of the MPCB. Not satisfied with his explanation that he had come to collect samples, the villagers emptied the polluted water bottles over him. When the water has been polluted over a period of time and no action has been taken under the law, the ritual of

collecting sample does not satisfy any one. It becomes a mockery.

While we have a plethora of laws and regulations for the abatement of pollution, there is no reason why our air and water should remain polluted. It is obvious that the authorities mandated to ensure compliance are not doing their job. It appears that the enactment of the environmental protection act in 1986 did not serve its purpose except showing our governments lip sym-pathy to the stock home conference of 1972. The forerunner enactments such as the Water act of 1974 and the Air act of 1981 has served only cosmetic purposes. It is safe to assume that our govern-ment's commitment to Montreal Protocol 1987, Basel convention 1989 and the ILO convention No. 170 are only an eye wash of the international community.

Much before the pollution scenario became grave and unma-nageable, we had in our statutes provisions such as Sec 133 CrPC

and Sec 268 of IPC designed to combat public nuisance due to pollution. Sec 277 IPC makes the fouling of water of public springs and reservoirs a punishable offence and Sec 278 IPC makes any act of making atmos-phere noxious a criminal offence. Our Hon. Supreme Court has way back in 1980 held that the municipal corporation is mandated to remove the Garbage nuisance and passed the order under Sec133 of CrPC in Ratlam Municipal Corporation Vs Vardhichand Jain. When we had such stringent provisions of law, it appears to the common sense that the further legislations were an attempt to enlarge the scope of loop holes and to help the felonious firms and factories to continue with their fugitive emissions. With the ecolo-gical lawlessness spreading and the green consciousness under pressure there is no reason why people should not take law into their hands as a last resort as it happened at Kelwe last week.

THE LAST RESORTStaff Reporter

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