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

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

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

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