Sad end of a Kerala family

 

Draconian law in Kerala: Three-year jail for 'offensive' social media posts

Despite the widespread criticism from various quarters, the Communist government in state of Kerala has passed  the controversial Kerala Police Act Amendment ordinance, which makes expressing, publishing or disseminating any matter that is threatening, abusive, humiliating or defamatory a punishable offence with imprisonment for up to three years. 

Last month, the state cabinet had decided to give more teeth to the Police Act by recommending the addition of Section 118-A. This replaces the now-defunct Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which made posting ‘offensive’ comments online a punishable crime.

The addition stipulates either imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to Rs 10,000 or both to those who produce, publish or disseminate content through any means of communication with an intention to intimidate, insult or defame any person through social media.

“Whoever makes, expresses, publishes or disseminates through any kind of mode of communication, any matter or subject for threatening, abusing humiliating or defaming a person or class of persons, knowing it to be false and that causes injury to the mind, reputation or property of such person or class of persons or any other person in whom they interest shall on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 or with both," reads the new section 118 A.

While Section 66A (punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service) of the IT Act was a cognizable and non-bailable offence, the 118-A is a cognizable and bailable offence.

The amendment would give more power to the police and also curtail the freedom of the press. 

Experts disagreed with Kerala’s move, and have cautioned against it.

When the Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the IT Act and Section 118D of the Kerala Police Act, it held speech to a standard where advocacy is fine but incitement to violence is not. The communist led Kerala government would do well to not impose such draconian considerations on citizens, and learn from the mistakes they made with Section 118-D.

Source and complete news: TNM, Scroll

Kerala: Women Activists Physically Thrash YouTuber and Chief Minister Supports Them

A dubbing artiste and two other women barged into the residence of a Kerala YouTuber, beat him up and elicited an apology on live video, before seizing his laptop and handing it over to the cops.

One day after the episode in Thiruvananthapuram, artiste Bhagyalakshmi, and activists Sreelakshmi Arakkal and Diya Sana, Sunday won the strong backing of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Health and Social Justice Minister K K Shailaja, as well as a wide section of civil society.

Bearing the brunt of the women’s fury was YouTuber Vijay P Nair, known to upload videos with derogatory and sexually explicit comments on his channel. He was slapped, doused with motor oil and made to apologise on a Facebook Live video. Source: IE

While proper action should be taken against people who use vulgarity or make derogatory remarks on anyone, within the purview of freedom of speech, it is not a symbol of a developed society that people should take law in their own hands and openly thrash people they do not like. What is further shameful in this incident is that even the Chief Minister of the state has given support to the women activists who took the law in their own hand and used violence means to make their point; when the case is already in Police. This is Kerala's shame. 

Covid-19 patient raped by ambulance driver in Kerala

A coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patient was allegedly sexually assaulted by an ambulance driver in central Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district on the way to a hospital on Saturday night, officials said.

Police said the suspect was arrested within hours of the crime, which has triggered an outrage and a political bickering in the Left-ruled state.

Two women from a family tested Covid-19 positive on Saturday evening and they were taken to a health facility in an ambulance, police said. There were no family members in the vehicle in accordance with protocols laid down by the Kerala government.

While one of them was admitted to a dedicated Covid-19 facility, authorities advised the ambulance driver to take the second woman to another hospital --- just around 4km away.

But the driver took a detour and drove about 18km. On the way, he stopped the ambulance at a desolate place and raped the 22-year-old patient inside the vehicle, police said.

The driver threatened the woman with dire consequences if she spoke up. The woman told doctors about the incident upon being admitted to a hospital. Later, a medical examination confirmed the sexual assault.

State health and family welfare minister KK Shailaja called the incident “inhuman” and said “it should not have been happened”.

Police found that the 29-year-old suspect was involved in several criminal cases in the past, including a murder attempt.

Source: HT

How Kerala's Covid 'success story' came undone: BBC

Barely two months ago, Kerala was looking like a striking outlier in the battle against coronavirus in India. But cases have surged in the last few weeks, and the state government is now saying the virus is locally transmitting through coastal communities, the first such admission by officials in any state since the beginning of the pandemic in India. 

"The real surge in Kerala is happening now. The virus had earlier been curbed in a controlled situation when the state's borders were closed," Dr Lal Sadasivan, a Washington-based infectious disease specialist, told me. 

In January, Kerala reported India's first Covid-19 case, a medical student who returned from Wuhan in China, where the pandemic began. The number of cases rose steadily, and it became a hotspot. But in March, half a dozen states were reporting more cases than the picturesque southern state. By May, sticking faithfully to the contagion control playbook of test, trace and isolate and involving grassroots networks, Kerala brought down its case count drastically - there were days when it reported no new cases. "The mark of zero", The Hindu newspaper rhapsodized in an editorial about the containment effort. There were breathless stories about the state flattening the curve. "I remember saying that Kerala had achieved a viral miracle," says Jayaprakash Muliyil, a leading epidemiologist. 

The celebrations were clearly premature. Kerala took 110 days to report its first thousand cases. In mid-July, it was reporting around 800 infections a day. As of 20 July, Kerala's caseload had crossed 12,000, with 43 reported deaths. More than 170,000 people were in quarantine, at home and in hospitals. 

The easing of the lockdown led to many people moving out of their homes and not taking enough precautions. "Some amount of laxity was expected as people have begun going out to work in most areas. We are trying to motivate them to be safe," Dr B Ekbal, head of an expert panel advising the government on prevention of the virus, told me. 

Some critics say testing slowed after the caseload fell in what they believe was a sign of complacency. These days Kerala is testing more than 9,000 samples a day, up from 663 in April. 

Source and complete article: BBC 

Kerala Gold Smuggling for Terror Funding

The National Investigation Agency, probing the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case, on Monday submitted in the special court that the smuggled gold was meant for “terrorism purposes” and not jewellers. The ministry of home affairs had, while allowing the agency to probe the case, also said its initial enquiries had revealed that the proceeds of the smuggled gold could be used for financing terrorism.

Source and Detailed news: TOI

Pregnant Elephant Killed in Kerala in Most Insane Manner Ever

A pregnant wild elephant in Kerala’s Silent Valley Forest fell victim to an act of human cruelty after a pineapple filled with powerful crackers offered by a man exploded in her mouth when she chomped on it, a senior forest officer said here on Tuesday.

“Her jaw was broken and she was unable to eat after she chewed the pineapple and it exploded in her mouth. It is certain that she was offered the pineapple filled with crackers to eliminate her,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden Surendrakumar told PTI.

The incident was reported from the fringe areas of the Silent Valley in Attappadi.

Source and detailed news: TH