The Other Side of Kerala

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

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

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.

Sunday, September 6, 2020

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

Sunday, July 26, 2020

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

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

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

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

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

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Kerala is No. 1 in child sex abuse complaints

Kerala recorded the highest number of child sexual abuse complaints (1,742) among the states, followed by Tamil Nadu (985) and Maharashtra (443), according to 2018-19 data from Childline, a nationwide phone emergency outreach service for children in distress.

Supported by the Union ministry of women and child development, Childline “1098” covers 522 districts and 100 railways stations across India.

In 2018-19, nearly 60,000 abuse complaints were received from across India, of which those of child marriages topped the chart (37%). Physical abuse was next (27%), followed by sexual abuse (13%), emotional abuse (12%) and corporal punishment (4%). The top five districts that made child sexual abuse complaints were all from Kerala — Mallapuram, Thiruvananthpuram, Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Kollam.

Of the 7,684 child sexual abusers reported to Childline nationwide, 35% of them were neighbours. Friends, family, neighbours, relatives, teachers, step-parents, caretakers and employers together constitute 73% of child sex abusers. “Children must be taught to say no and that it’s never his/her fault,” a counsellor said.

Reference TOI

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Allegations of Mismanagement Taint Governing of Hindu Temples in Kerala

The Supreme Court is currently hearing a petition to appoint a broad-based committee instead of the erstwhile royal family of Travancore to manage the temple. The petition alleges large-scale mismanagement and possible theft of gold ornaments over the years.

Simultaneously, the court is hearing a petition by Subramanian Swamy and TG Mohandas, seeking to wind up the five Devaswoms and end state control of Hindu temples. Christian and Muslim religious places were exempted from state control by British colonialists in the early 20th century following protests by the two communities. One of the provisions of the laws governing the Devaswoms requires an MLA — even a non-Hindu — to be a member of the committee. The petitioners contend that non-Hindu lawmakers often end up on the panel, jeopardising the interests of the Hindus.

Most of Kerala’s temples were owned by kings or royal families. After Independence, most of them came under the management of Devaswoms. The first government in Kerala led by Marxist leader EMS Namboodiripad and the one thereafter headed by Achutha Menon passed the Land Reform Act, which handed over thousands of acres of temple property to the cultivators, leaving the temples with little or no source of income. They were all subsequently brought under the control of the autonomous bodies.

Rahul Easwar, president of the Ayappa Dharma Sena, alleges that both the Congress and the CPI(M), which have alternated in power, packed the Devaswoms with their appointees of select castes with an eye on their vote banks.

Media reports have frequently highlighted allegations of mismanagement in the Devaswom, mostly to the effect that the assets have never been verified or inspected.

Source: The Federal | Taken from: https://hindurightsregister.blogspot.com/2019/11/kerala-allegations-of-mismanagement.html

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Pushed Against The Wall, Kerala’s CPM Regime To Finally Act Against Its MLA PK Sasi, Accused Of Sexual Harassment

Days after the police submitted a report giving a breather to Kerala’s CPM legislator P K Sasi, who was accused of sexually harassing a woman member of DYFI Palakkad committee, the party is reported to have decided to take action against the MLA, Mathrubhumi reports.

Despite the State women’s commission and the police refusing to take action against the MLA alleging absence of evidence and an official complaint, the CPM had constituted an internal committee to investigate the matter.

The Opposition has alleged that CPM saved their MLA and that even though the party committee found the MLA guilty, they somehow convinced the victim not to file a police complaint.

Following this, the National Commission For Women (NCW) had filed a complaint against the MLA even as the Kerala government and the state women’s commission kept passing the buck.

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/pushed-against-the-wall-keralas-cpm-regime-to-finally-act-against-its-mla-pk-sasi-accused-of-sexual-harassment

Saturday, October 31, 2015

The Other Side of Kerala - October 2015

Jolt for Kerala UDF as court orders further probe against minister

Thiruvananthapuram: A vigilance court in Kerala’s capital on Thursday ordered further investigation into the bribery allegation in the liquor bar case, against state finance minister and Kerala Congress (M) leader, K.M. Mani.

Mani is facing charges of taking a bribe in order to ensure favourable terms for liquor bar owners in the state in 2014 at a time when the state government itself was contemplating a phased shutdown of all bars in the state.

The court found that there was prima facie substance in the allegations against the finance minister.

The directive comes at the most inopportune time for the ruling United Democratic Front in Kerala and particularly for the Kerala Congress (M), because the state is going to polls in four days to elect local body representatives.

http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/india/jolt-for-kerala-udf-as-court-orders-further-probe-against-minister-1.1609356

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