Raped for 14 months, Dalit woman commits suicide

Bhopal: A 30-year-old Dalit woman has committed suicide after being raped repeatedly in Betul in Madhya Pradesh.
"What was the point of living if I won't get justice? Today I went to the Collectors office and wanted to give him a memorandum and consumed poison," Urmila said when asked why she consumed poison on Tuesday.
Urmila died on Wednesday at the hospital. For 14 months, the 30-year-old Dalit woman ran from pillar to post seeking justice but no one heard. Police went into an overdrive within hours of the suicide and the accused was arrested.
They have denied any negligence on their part but the District Collector believes the matter needs to be investigated.
"We will investigate the reasons behind this and based on that, we will take further action,” said Collector Betul, Arun Bhatt.
The accused Kallu Yaduvanshi is the son of the village Sarpanch against whom Urmila had complained for irregularities when she was the village panch between 2002 and 2004. A complaint has been lodged and the victim's husband has threatened of dire consequences.
"If all the accused are not arrested within 10 days, I will also do what my wife did. I can not live like this,” says Urmila’s husband, Shyam Rao.
With the police trying to wash their hands off, saying it was a long-standing dispute between the two families, justice for Urmila seems to be a far cry..

After Vengsarkar episode, it's now SRK vs BCCI

New Delhi: Shah Rukh Khan's presence at cricket matches involving the Indian Cricket team has triggered some controversy.
Some newspapers quoted an unnamed BCCI official saying that cricket was a bigger platform than a private television station and that the Bollywood superstar was using the sport to build brand value.
King Khan was was last seen at the Jaipur One-Dayer on Sunday and had also come to see the Twenty20 World Cup final as well as India's Twenty20 game versus Australia in Mumbai.
"What I read in the article today is using the platform of cricket in terms of the reach of this game for promoting one's movies or one's activities. I think that is probably a slightly debatable topic," said BCCI's Chief administrative Officer, Ratnakar Shetty.
To this, Shah Rukh Khan responded, "I am disappointed by the comment of my promoting film at cricket match. I watched the match for my son. I will only talk about my films. Next time I probably will not go for any match."

Cabinet recommends Prez rule in Karnataka

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet, which met early on Tuesday morning, decided to accept the recommendation of Governor of Karnataka for proclamation of President's rule in the state. This will be followed by dissolution of the Assembly.
On Monday night the Cabinet met at the Prime Minister's residence to discuss the Karnataka crisis, but it proved to be inconclusive.
The meeting could not arrive at a decision because the Cabinet did not have all requisite papers, Law Minister H R Bharadwaj said outside the Prime Minister's residence.
Earlier, it was believed that the meeting was that of Political Affairs Committee and not a full-fledged meet and the meeting has to take place before Manmohan Singh leaves for his week-long tour outside the country.
Exactly seven days after he took oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa handed over his resignation letter to the Governor on Monday.
Yeddyurappa was in the Governor's office even before the vote of confidence he had called was conducted. He knew he couldn't have won that vote. His alliance partner, the JD(S), led by H D Deve Gowda pulled out from supporting him on the floor of the House.
The JD(S) has blamed the BJP for the collapse of the government. The 12-point memorandum of understanding given by the JD(S) that the BJP didn't agree to, was put forward as the immediate provocation.
But the real rift was over the control of the Bellary mines and some crucial portfolios like ports and urban development that both parties wanted to keep for themselves.
By Monday evening, the sun finally set on the BJP's political ambition south of the Vindhyas. The first BJP chief minister in the south had bowed out of office.
But with the Congress waiting on the sidelines, this will not be the end of the political nataka in Karnataka.
It's a new low for Karnataka politics and the stable government the people want is a long way away.

Woman forced to 'drink acid', hospitalised

New Delhi: In a bizarre case of domestic violence, a 28-year-old woman was allegedly forced to drink acid by her in-laws.Radhika, a Delhi-based housewife, was admitted to Apollo Hospital on Tuesday evening in a serious condition. While her parents allege her in-laws made her drink acid, Radhika has denied the charge.

She has told the police that she consumed acid by accident. Her parents say Radhika's in-laws had been making demands for dowry since her marriage seven years ago.
They also complained that the guards at the Apollo Hospital did not allow them to meet her. Radhika's condition is reported to be stable.

“My sister called the day before. She was being tortured by her in-laws. We had given them a Santro in dowry," says Radhika's brother Deepak Mehta.

PTI quotes a senior police official as saying a call was received at Sarita Vihar Police Station around 1915 hrs (IST) from a hospital official informing them of the incident.

However, no criminal case was registered in the matter as Radhika gave a statement that she drank the acid inadvertently, the official said.

SMS alert: Beware of fake messages!!!!!!!!!!

New Delhi: Texting, or sending SMSs is one of the favourite past-times of most mobile-savvy people, particularly youngsters.
However, the simple SMS message in now increasingly becoming a weapon of fraud.
The practice of fraudulent SMS texts has intensified so much that two unresolved high-profile lawsuits are more or less hinging on the mystery of SMS texts.
An hour before his death, Rizwanur Rehman had texted his father-in-law, telling him that he would leave a letter. This and few of the preceding texts have formed the crux of the case that is still shrouded in mystery.
Even Pravin Mahajan's death threat SMS message to his brother Pramod was considered concrete proof of a motive for murder. But an expert, Rajesh Kumar's testimony proved that just about anyone could have sent that text to Pramod Mahajan.
But sending fraudulent SMS messages is so simple that it is downright scary.
Googling "Bulk SMS" will bring forth a slew of results, several of them pointing to websites that will permit any user to send text messages to anyone's cellphone. What is a cause for serious concern is that these websites do not verify their users - users are free to pose as just about anyone.
One such website is pimpmysms.com. You only needs to register to access the service. Each user gets 1 free SMS to send as part of the introductory offer before the paid service kicks in. When sending the SMS message, you just key in the number you want to impersonate and the number you want the text to go to, enter the message and that's all that needs to be done. And all this is done without any form of verification.
What is more shocking is that for the recipient, the actual source of these messages cannot be traced, except in select phones.
SMS messages can also be meddled with if the cellphone has a USB port. They can even be sent via the Bluetooth technology that is there in most cellphones.
For some phones, impersonating becomes even easier.
A Nokia S-60 3rd edition phone can simply download a program called Active File to create and even place a fake text in any of the messaging folders, without actually having sent such a text message.
With cellphone technology growing unchecked in this manner, one has to take all possible precautions to not be implicated in any malicious prank.
With inputs from Hindol Sengupta

Butt's ton in vain as India win by 46 runs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kanpur: India vice-captain Yuvraj Singh played a dominating knock of 77 runs and took one wicket to guide India to a 46-run victory against Pakistan in the third One-Day International here at the Green Park Stadium on Sunday.

Put into bat by the visitors, Yuvraj, who was adjudicated the man of the match, hit the ball hard for the big shots along with aggressive running between the wickets to guide India to a competitive total of 294 for 6.
In reply Pakistan folded up for 248 in 47.2 overs.
The left-handed batsman, who was in devastating form, sent the visitors on a leather hunt and then bowled well to help India take a 2-1 lead in the five-match ODI series.
He also shared a solid 100-run partnership with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who hit a cavalier 49 off 52 balls.

For Pakistan, the highlight of the day was Salman Butt’s sparkling innings of 129 runs from 142 balls studded with 17 fours. But it couldn’t translate into a win as Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Butt fought a lone battle on his way to his 4th ODI century against India playing some fine strokes in the process but he didn’t get enough support at the other end.
In company of Misbah-ul-Haq, he tried to keep his team in the hunt by sharing a solid 80-run partnership but the required run-rate kept on mounting.

The loss of three top-order batsmen – Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf – pushed Pakistan on the back foot.
The tourists were always fighting a lost battle with no specialist batsmen to take charge in the slog overs.
India opened the bowling with R P Singh, and Irfan Pathan who got the breakthrough claiming the wicket of the hero of the last match played here in 2005.
Shahid Afridi, who opened the innings with Butt, tried to hit one shot too many and perished for 12.
The wickets of Younis and Yousuf gave India the much-needed impetus.
India's pacers bowled with control; Zaheer Khan, who had a rather forgettable game at Mohali, returned with commendable figures (25 for 1 in seven overs).
Runs dried up in the middle-overs when Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were introduced into the attack.
The target got stiffer as Pakistan were up against an asking rate of 10 in the last twelve overs. Eventually they fell short by 46 runs.

BJP makes south debut, set to form govt in K'taka

New Delhi: After days of uncertainty, hectic lobbying and political flip-flops, President’s rule was finally revoked in Karnataka on Thursday. The end of stalemate means BJP-JD(S) coalition will form government in the state yet again.
The reunited coalition paves the way for the formation of the first BJP government in South India.
“It’s a happy Diwali not only for BJP but for all people who didn’t like Congress in Karnataka. We are hopeful this government will last for remaining 20 months. Both parties have understood the necessity of continuing for a longer period,” said BJP state spokesperson Suresh Kumar.

While BJP spokesperson Prakash Jawadekar said that this news is the best birthday gift for L K Advani.“It is good news, though a little late. The Centre should have considered the political situation and done it earlier. But it’s okay. All parties should now understand the ground reality. This is the message of the one-month drama and the coalition will complete its term. It’s a birthday gift for L K Advani,” Jawadekar said.

The decision to withdraw President's rule was taken by the Union Cabinet two days after Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur submitted his "final" report on the BJP-JD(S) demand for invitation to form the government.
The Karnataka Governor had told the Centre that the JD(S) and BJP command a majority in the Karnataka Assembly, but doubted whether the two-party coalition could provide a stable government.
Thakur's report, which was sent to President Pratibha Patil on October 31, said constitutionally there is no bar on the JD(S)-BJP coalition coming back to power but recommends an investigation into the charges the two parties leveled against each other after their first government fell on October 9.
Thakur, in his report, had also referred to the petitions received by him from political leaders since October 7, the day BJP withdrew support to the JD(S)-led government.
The Governor had annexed copies of advertisements by BJP and JD(S), after they ended their partnership and accused each other of betrayal.
Thakur on Tuesday had met Home Minister Shivraj Patil and briefed him about the situation in the state.
The two parties claim they have 129 MLAs to form a government led by BJP leader B S Yediyurappa.