News meeows - 7

Alistair Pereira, the Bandra man who killed seven persons due to rash driving was sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment, under Sec. 304(2) of the IPC.

In November 2006, Pereira had been found guilty for rash and negligent driving at Carter Road, Bandra, in a drunken state which had resulted in death of seven people and injury of eight others, who were sleeping on the footpath. He was later convicted by the additional sessions court judge to a term of six months of simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakhs under Sec. 304(A) of the IPC, for causing death by negligence. Periera had further paid Rs 35 lakhs as compensation to the victims.

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I have written about this - reproduced here.

As always, discussions are now veering towards Salman Khan. So, what do I have to say about it? I have at no point in time condoned Salman’s act of rash driving that led to the death of one person. If the law as applied to Alistair is followed, then Salman should get less than six months RI, if it is three years for seven dead and 8 injured.

And someone might like to recollect the case of Puru Raaj Kumar, son of the late actor, who ran his vehicle over six people. CRPF men were witness to the crime, yet he got out on bail immediately.

We need more stringent laws, not three years in prison. And it must apply to anyone who commits the crime. Anyone.

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The VHP in Kerala has said it will not allow the Kerala government to confer the Ravi Varma award on renowned painter M.F. Husain as "it will be a national shame to honour a person who has depicted Hindu Gods in the nude."

They plan to prevent him from landing anywhere near the airport and will hold rallies to protest the honour.

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I do have a problem with the Husain persona and his blatant playing-to-the-gallery tricks. Again, it has been stated and the whole art tamasha thing has been explicated in another column.

I might only like to point out here that Raja Ravi Verma himself made paintings of gods and goddesses that lacked any ethereal quality; there was a buxom siren-like depiction. Perhaps the VHP might like to protest against him and make sure his soul does not rest in peace? And then they might like to visit temples again and see what is on the walls?

And please take Husain somewhere. He really irritates me. The problem is that unlike us poor ‘wannabe jihadis’ who never get liberal empathy, the likes of him do precisely because they are seen as secular. Why? They paint Hindu gods. Heck, will it do if I tell them that I have a cute Ganesha on my shelf?

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Angry Buddhist monks in central Burma have released all of the 20 hostages they seized on Thursday, ending a tense confrontation with the nation’s military government, residents said.

The monks had set four of the officials’ cars on fire. Young monks flipped over their two remaining cars and forced the officials to leave on foot through a back door, residents said.

"It’s good the monks did this. The monks are showing the reality of what’s happening here to the world," one resident said by telephone.

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The reason for this move has been the locking of a monastery and the police beating the monks with bamboo sticks. The monks wanted to handle it themselves.

Great? Will there be a cheep of protest as to how men of god are turning violent? No. Because Buddhism is such a peaceful religion. Visit their monasteries. No sermons, no call to rubbish the infidels. They are only going round and round turning the wheels. And they look seriously cute, most of them.

But, it is time we realised that violence is not restricted to certain groups. Everyone wants a piece of the pie.

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The Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week is on. I don’t know what is going on, except for a quick look at some pages in the newspaper. It is covered like some Saarc Summit. The discussions, the trends, the goof-ups, the people-to-people contact, the high-profile versus the lowly…and then there are the models. Okay, the ramp requires a certain walk, so with their pencil heels in a narrow space they have to knock knees and pull their stomachs in, jut their bony butts out and strut. What I notice most are the faces. Is there any particular reason these women must not smile? Will the clothes come apart or will it take away from the couturier’s reputation? Are the models angry about something? Have their lips been glued to their teeth?

If that silly pout is meant to look sexy, it doesn’t work. They look like they are sucking on a lemon to prevent from barfing.