India Train Accident DeathTtoll Rises To 96
LUCKNOW: At least 91 passengers, most of whom were sleeping, were
killed when an express train derailed in northern India early Sunday,
police said.
Rescue workers were searching for survivors believed still trapped
inside the badly mangled coaches of the Patna-Indore express after the
crash near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh state.
Police initially put the death toll at 63 but revised the figure later.
- “The death toll has unfortunately increased and it is 96 now,” Daljit Singh Chawdhary, the additional police director-general, told reporters, adding 150 were injured.
- All local hospitals have been placed on alert and more than 30 ambulances have been deployed.
- TV footage showed rescue workers using gas cutters and other equipment to slice through severely mangled coaches strewn with suitcases and other luggage.
- Witnesses spoke of being woken by a huge bang and being thrown around.
“We woke up to a great thud this morning. It was pitch dark and the
noise was deafening,” a passenger told reporters as he waited with his
family at the scene.
“I am lucky to be alive and safe. But it was a near-death experience for us.”
Nitika Trivedi, a student who boarded the train with her family from
the eastern city of Patna, said images of the bodies of her fellow
passengers would long haunt her.
“I had never seen something like this in my life before. I am shaken to the core.”
Railway officials said special trains had been pressed into service for stranded travellers.
“We are also trying to clear the tracks and complete the restoration
work as quickly as possible,” Vijay Kumar, a spokesman for north-central
railways, told AFP.
National Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said in a tweet the
government would investigate what caused the derailment and announced
compensation for the victims.
India’s railway network, one of the world’s largest, is still the
main form of long-distance travel in the vast country, but it is poorly
funded and deadly accidents occur relatively frequently.
In 2014 an express train ploughed into a stationary freight train, also in Uttar Pradesh, killing 26 people.
And last year 27 people died after two trains derailed in Madhya Pradesh state during heavy rain.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was “anguished beyond words” by the loss of life in the latest accident.In 2012 a government report said almost 15,000 people were killed every year on India’s railways, describing the deaths as an annual “massacre”.Modi’s government has pledged to invest $137 billion over five years to modernise the crumbling railways, making them safer, faster and more efficient.
Source: AFP
INDIA TO INCREASE PUINISHMENT FOR MINORS AFTER GANG-RAPIST FREED
NEW DELHI: Indian lawmakers on Tuesday (Dec 22) passed a
bill allowing harsher punishments for juveniles aged 16-18 after an outcry over
the release of a young rapist who served three years in a detention facility
for his part in a notorious gang-rape in 2012.
"I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it, the ayes
have it. The bill has been passed," P.J. Kurien, a speaker of the upper
house of parliament, said after a day-long debate on the bill.
The release two days ago of the youngest convict in the case
of the fatal gang-rape of medical student Jyoti Singh in December 2012 triggered
widespread calls for amendments to the existing law.
The changes to the law will allow minors aged 16 onward to
be sentenced to at least seven years in young offenders' institutions if
convicted of "heinous crimes" including rape and murder. However, they
will not face the death penalty.
Source: Channel News Asia...Full News...
TRAIN CRASH KILLING MORETHAN 10 IN INDIA
NEW DELHI, India - A passenger train derailed in southern
India on Friday after a boulder fell on the tracks, killing at least ten
people with more bodies still trapped in the wreckage, officials said.
Scores of passengers were also injured in the crash that occurred
Friday morning near Anekal, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the
southern city of Bangalore.
Federal Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said some carriages were
derailed after a boulder fell on the tracks as the inter-city express
train was travelling from Bangalore to southern Ernakulam.
“Total deaths are 10,” senior Bangalore railways officer Rajiv Pratap Sharma said.
Law Minister Sadananda Gowda, who rushed to the accident site early
Friday, said “some dead bodies are still inside”, indicating that the
death toll could rise.
TV footage showed rescue workers using metal cutters and other
equipment to retrieve those trapped, while others were clearing the site
and repairing the damaged tracks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi(photo) expressed his sadness at the loss of
life and conveyed his “condolences to the families of the deceased” on
Twitter.
Deadly accidents are common on India’s railways, whose vast and
rundown network carries tens of millions of people daily.
In August, an
express train ploughed into a packed rickshaw in northern Bihar state,
killing 20 people, some of them children.
Source:– AFP
A MAN FAILED TO RAPE A GIRL, INSTEAD HIS PENIS IS BEING CUT OFF
Almost every day the India media reports shocking sex crimes alleged
to have been committed from across the length and breadth of the
country.
The prominence and space given to such reports has been sharply
elevated since the December 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student in
Delhi.
The assault and murder of the young woman, who had boarded a bus with a
friend after a visit to the cinema, sparked protests and a debate within
the country about the treatment and position of women.
However, an Indian teenager in the Indian Madhepura district of Bihar, took a law on her own hand by cutting of a man penis . The man was allegedly tried to rape her for a second time.
When he allegedly tried to assault her a second time, she was
prepared and had armed herself with a knife.
The man, who is also the girl’s uncle, is currently being hunted by
detectives who praised what they described as the young woman’s
“courage”.
Police in the Madhepura district of Bihar said the young woman,
believed to be aged either 17 or 18, had been raped last month by her
uncle, who is known in the local area as a tantric and who performs
rituals.
The girl then reported what had happened to a village council. When
the council failed to tackle the matter to her satisfaction, the young
woman contacted women police officers
located at the local station.
Source: Agencies
A MAN FAILED TO RAPE A GIRL, INSTEAD HIS PENIS IS BEING CUT OFF
INDIA BUILDING WORLD'S HIGHEST RAILWAY BRIDGE
KAURI, India - Indian engineers are toiling in the Himalayas to
build the world’s highest railway bridge which is expected to be 35 metres
taller than the Eiffel Tower when completed by 2016.
The arch-shaped steel structure is being constructed over
the Chenab River to link sections of the spectacular mountainous region of
India’s northern Jammu and Kashmir state.
The bridge is expected to be 359 metres high when completed
— surpassing the world’s current tallest railway bridge over the Beipanjiang
River in China’s Guizhou province, which stands at 275 metres high.
“It is an engineering marvel. We hope to get this bridge
ready by December 2016,” a senior Indian Railways official told AFP.
“The design would ensure that it withstands seismic
activities and high wind speeds,” he said on Wednesday.
Work on the bridge started in 2002 but safety and
feasibility concerns, including the area’s strong winds, saw the project halted
in 2008 before being green-lighted again two years later.
The estimated cost of the project, which is being handled by
Konkan Railway Corporation, a subsidiary of state-owned Indian Railways, is $92
million.
The bridge will connect Baramulla to Jammu in the Himalayan
state with a travel time of six-and-a-half hours, almost half the time it
currently takes.
The main arch is being erected using two cable cranes
attached on either side of the river which are secured on enormous steel
pylons, according to engineers of the project.
The 1,315-metre long bridge will use up to 25,000 tonnes of
steel with some material being transported by helicopters due to the tough
terrain, they said.
Source: Agencies
6 RAPED IN NEW DELHI EVERY DAY
NEW DELHI, India - Delhi Police figures yet again show that
the city is unsafe for women. Data of the first four months of this
year show that six rapes and 14 molestation cases have been reported
every day. Police, however, claim to have solved almost 90% of the cases.
According to a recent compilation of data by Delhi Police as reported by the Times of India,
616 rapes and 1,336 molestation cases were registered between January 1
and April 30.
36% increase in rape cases compared with around 450
cases registered in the same period last year.
Cases of molestation recorded in the same corresponding period show a similar rise with over 1,000 registered cases.
Police said over 89% cases of rape and molestation reported in the first four months had been solved and the accused arrested.
In 2013, a total of 1,559 rape and 3,347 molestation cases were
registered as compared with 680 rape and 653 incidents of molestation in
2012.
Additional commissioner of police (crime branch), Ashok Chand said
the increase in the number of cases against women was due to police
following the “zero tolerance policy”. “Every case against women is
being registered on a priority basis.”
According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Delhi registered
the highest 568 cases of rape in the country followed by 218 in Mumbai
in 2011.
Delhi, which earned the infamous tag of “rape capital”, saw street
campaigns, especially by the young, in 2012 after a 23-year-old
physiotherapy intern was gang-raped by six people, including a minor,
and died later of grievous injuries.
Following the shocking incident, Delhi Police took several steps to ensure safety of women.
Another senior police officer said data had shown that in 90% of
cases people known to the victims were involved, while a small
percentage were committed by strangers.
“In most of the rape and molestation cases, the accused were known to
the victim and this makes prevention of such crimes comparatively more
difficult.”
Counting the steps taken by Delhi Police for women’s safety,
additional deputy commissioner Varsha Sharma said, “a special police
unit for women and children is already in place to handle women-related
cases in all 11 districts.
A mobile women police team is also available round the clock to help women in distress.
Source: Agencies
INDIA BUILDS WORLD’S TALLEST STATUE?
NEW DELHI - A grandiose project to build the world's tallest statue was launched amid intense political controversy in India
on Thursday by Narendra Modi, the Hindu nationalist leader who is the leading
opposition candidate for prime minister in next year's general
elections.
The 182 metre high statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,
who was India's first home minister after independence from Britain, is
to be built in Gujarat on a river island close to India's largest
irrigation dam, which is also named after Patel.
Narendra Modi, leader
of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and the state's
chief minister, set up a trust to fund the £200m estimated cost of its
construction.
The statue – to be called the Statue of Unity – will
be made of reinforced concrete on a steel frame, and then clad with
"rich bronze".
Super-fast elevators will take visitors to the
observation deck inside the statue's head with a panoramic view of the
surrounding countryside, including the dam with its huge reservoir, and
dozens of poor villages. Below the statue will be a three-storey
visitors' centre housing a museum, an aquarium, and other tourist
attractions.
The trust funding the project says it will be finished in four years. "The world will be forced to look at India when this statue stands tall," Modi said.
Super-fast elevators will take visitors to the
observation deck inside the statue's head with a panoramic view of the
surrounding countryside, including the dam with its huge reservoir, and
dozens of poor villages. Below the statue will be a three-storey
visitors' centre housing a museum, an aquarium, and other tourist
attractions. The trust funding the project says it will be finished in four years. "The world will be forced to look at India when this statue stands tall," Modi said.
Source: The Guardians...More...
WOMAN PUTS UNBORN BABY FOR SALE IN INDIA
NEW DELHI, India - A mother of three shocked the civil society in the
northern state of Haryana by offering to sell her unborn child.
The woman, identified as Pooja, justified her plans saying she wanted to pay
off loans and build a house.
The incident took place in Yamunanagar district of the state. She placed an
advertisement offering to sell her child in a popular Hindi language newspaper
with her mobile number.
- As soon as the advertisement was published, a flood of phone calls followed. She says he must have received about 300 calls.
- “My husband [a rickshaw puller now] incurred losses in business. We don’t have means to look after the three children. We have so much of loan to pay and need to build a house too,” she said.
- While she wanted Rs600,000 (Dh37,067), the maximum she was offered was just half of the price.
- What shocked many was that she agreed to talk to media and defended the unusual step.
- While social activists slammed the government, the police said they could not do anything without a complaint.
- The district administration said it had ordered an enquiry into the issue.
- “It is nothing short of human trafficking for which the punishment varies between the minimum five year imprisonment and maximum being life imprisonment,” Ajay Chaudhary, a Gurgaon-based lawyer said.
Social activist Poonam Bhatnagar criticised the police saying they can take suo
motu action without waiting for any formal complaint.
“Do police wait for formal complaint when they arrest robbers or criminals
while planning a crime?” she questioned.
Apparently, despite being entitled to social benefits being poor, Pooja’s
family has not received them.
Under a federal government scheme, those holding BPL (below poverty level)
cards are entitled to Rs 75,000, for the construction of a house, as well as
access to food grains and other essentials at a highly subsidised rate.
Allegedly, BPL cards are often issued to the rich and the affluent while the
poor are deprived of them.
INDIA ADMITS ‘LAPSE’ IN DEATH OF RAPE SUSPECT
India's interior minister has described as "a major lapse" the security in a prison where a man on trial for the gang rape and fatal beating of a woman aboard a New Delhi bus committed suicide.
Sushil Kumar Shinde made the comments on Monday hours after it emerged that Ram Singh, who was accused of driving the bus on which the 23-year-old student was raped by a group of six men in December, had hanged himself.
Singh used his own clothes to take his life and had been put on suicide watch at New Delhi's Tihar Jail, police said.The minister said an inquiry was under way and would be headed by a magistrate.
Singh used his own clothes to take his life and had been put on suicide watch at New Delhi's Tihar Jail, police said.The minister said an inquiry was under way and would be headed by a magistrate.
source: Al Jazeera...More...
THOUSANDS THRONG KUMBH FOR HOLY DIP IN INDIA
Thousands of devotees today took holy dip at Triumakudali Narasipura
about 35 km from here, where Cauvery and Kabini and mythical Spatika
sarovar meet, as part of the ninth Kumbh Mela.
The event is
dubbed as the Kumbh Mela of the south as large number of devotees
perform rituals were held at Triveni Sangam. Spatika, a rivulet also
known as Gutapa Gamini.
The south kumbha mela, meant to
provide an opportunity to the devoute who may not be able to have a holy
dip at Allahabad where Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati meet is
held every year.
The event this year was held in the presence of
Suttur math seer Sri Shivarathi Deshikendra swamy, newly nominated seer
of Adichunchanagiri math 
Sri Nirmalanandanath swami and Sri
Shivanandapuri swamy of Kaginele Kanakaguru Peeta.
Sri Nirmalanandanath swami and Sri
Shivanandapuri swamy of Kaginele Kanakaguru Peeta.
The venue of the special event was an island to which a walkway of sand bas has been created. Others take the coracles.
Barricades have been erected around the deeper areas of the river, a result of excessive sand mining.
The district administration has also deputed locally selected expert
swimmers as life guards, who stood guard on the banks to tackle any
untoward incidents.
Devotees took a holy dip in the
'sangama', offering prayers at the Agasthyeswara, Bhiksheswara and Sri
Gunja Nanrasima Swamy temples around the places.
Source: Agency
ANOTHER BRUTAL GANG RAPE OF A WOMAN BUS PASANGGER REPORTED IN INDIA?
NEW DELHI, India - Six men have been arrested over the
rape of a woman on a coach in northern India in an attack which has
disturbing echoes of the gang-rape and murder of a student on a New
Delhi bus just weeks ago.
The
victim was travelling to her in-laws' home in Punjab on Friday when she
was allegedly snatched 
and driven to a district bordering Amritsar, the
Sikh holy city.
and driven to a district bordering Amritsar, the
Sikh holy city.
Five men
joined the driver and conductor, who had taken her by motorbike to an
unknown address, and took turns to rape the 29-year-old.
A seventh suspect is still on the run from the police, he added.'The lady, after being kidnapped, was raped brutally throughout the night by the seven accused,' he said.
'After
raping the victim throughout the night, one of the accused dropped her
near her in-laws' house the next morning where she narrated the whole
incident to her two sisters-in-law.'Source: CBS
RADIO ARE USLESS WHEN THERE IS NOTHING TO EAT?
PATNA, Bihar, India - What do we do with a radio when we have nothing to eat? This is the refrain of many Mahadalits (poorest of the poor) in Bihar who are selling off free radios given by the state government to buy meat and country liquor.More than 1,500 Mahadalits, the poorest of the poor in Bihar, in Dhanarua block in Patna district are reported to have sold their radios for just Rs150 (Dh11) to Rs200 in the last few days.
"What will we do with a radio when we have nothing to eat? Where is the money for its battery? That is why we have sold the radios," Brahamdeo Manjhi of Anjani village, a beneficiary of the radio scheme, said.
- He said the money he got was used for a small party with his friends. "We enjoyed our country locally brewed liquor," he said.
- Radios were distributed to educate the Mahadalits about the importance of literacy, sanitation and kicking bad habits like consuming alcohol and tobacco.
- Another beneficiary of the Mahadalit radio scheme, Doman Manjhi, said: "Songs and news sound bad when we have empty stomachs."
Doman admitted he along with dozens have already sold radios provided by the government."After I sold my radio, I purchased country liquor and chicken for dinner," he said.
Dhanarua Block welfare officer Sadhna Kumari said there was information that Mahadalits in some villages had sold their radios.
According to block officials, to date, 5,552 radios have been distributed and 663 are yet to be distributed.
NEW YEARS'S BASH IN KARALA WASH AWAY BY HEAVY RAIN
THAIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India - Cyclone Thane yesterday played spoil 
sport to New Year's bash in Kerala apart from claiming five lives in rain-related incidents in the state's capital city and leaving a trail of destruction.
A federal government spokesman said a 75-year-old grandmother and her three-year-old grandson were electrocuted while an elderly woman was crushed to death as she was trapped in her mud house which collapsed in the heavy rain. Her husband was seriously injured. Two men drowned in a stream flowing through the city.
Many city areas have been flooded and relief camps are being opened to move the affected people.
Though other parts of the state received heavy rain in the cyclonic weather, no loss of human life or damage to properties have been reported yet. The heavy rain has disappointed hundreds of tourists who have reached the state to celebrate the New Year.
Disappointment is writ large on the faces of tourists who have flown down to Alappuza. The rain has forced them to remain indoors during the New Year's eve.
"Ever since I had heard from a friend of mine about Alappuzha, it was my dream to celebrate a New Year in the old port city. It took five years to raise money for the trip, but unseasonal rains spoiled my dream at the last moment, bad luck," said William James, a Briton who arrived in Alappuzha a couple of days back with his girlfriend.
Source: Agency
sport to New Year's bash in Kerala apart from claiming five lives in rain-related incidents in the state's capital city and leaving a trail of destruction.A federal government spokesman said a 75-year-old grandmother and her three-year-old grandson were electrocuted while an elderly woman was crushed to death as she was trapped in her mud house which collapsed in the heavy rain. Her husband was seriously injured. Two men drowned in a stream flowing through the city.
The government has announced ex-gratia payment of Rs100,000 each to the family of the victims.- In the heavy downpour of Cyclone Thane, which reached the state belying the prediction that the state is safe, more than 50 houses in the city were heavily damaged.
- The flash flood has inundated the Neyyar dam reservoir that provides water to the city and the authorities have decided to open the shutters to release water.
Many city areas have been flooded and relief camps are being opened to move the affected people.Though other parts of the state received heavy rain in the cyclonic weather, no loss of human life or damage to properties have been reported yet. The heavy rain has disappointed hundreds of tourists who have reached the state to celebrate the New Year.
- Many hotels and resorts across the state have cancelled their planned extravaganzas after the open air venues decked up for the occasion have turned slushy and the weathermen forecast heavy rain to thunder showers for the next 24 hours.
- In Alappuzha, where tens of hundreds of tourists have thronged to celebrate the new year on house boats, the authorities have issued a warning against boat cruises in the sprawling lake in the night. They imposed restriction on waterfront celebrations. The area received 24mm of rainfall in 24 hours that ended at 8:30am.
Disappointment is writ large on the faces of tourists who have flown down to Alappuza. The rain has forced them to remain indoors during the New Year's eve."Ever since I had heard from a friend of mine about Alappuzha, it was my dream to celebrate a New Year in the old port city. It took five years to raise money for the trip, but unseasonal rains spoiled my dream at the last moment, bad luck," said William James, a Briton who arrived in Alappuzha a couple of days back with his girlfriend.
TERROR STRIKES INDIA AND PAKISTAN
NEW DELHI, India - India and Pakistan fell victim to terrorism again yesterday when blasts in New Delhi and Quetta claimed 35 lives.Terror group Harkat-ul-Jihadi Al Islami (HuJI) claimed responsibility for the powerful blast yesterday morning at the reception counter of the Delhi High Court killing 11 and injuring at least 76.
The Pakistani Taliban said it was behind the twin bombings in Quetta that targeted security forces responsible for the recent capture of senior Al Qaeda operatives killed 24 people and wounded 82 others.
The death toll in the Delhi blast is expected to rise as many of those injured are in critical condition.- HuJI claimed the attack was in retaliation to the death sentence awarded to December 13, 2001 terror attack accused Afzal Guru, who is on death row.
related story:Suicide bombs targeting Quetta's security forces kill 24 and injure 82
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