Kerala confirms Bitti Mohanty’s arrest

The Kerala Police has confirmed the arrest of Bitti Mohanty, son of a former top police officer, convicted for raping a German national in 2006 in Rajasthan and then jumping parole.

N. Shankar Reddy, additional director general of police told IANS that it would be the Rajasthan Police will have to confirm through finger printing that the arrested person is Mohanty.

“As far as Kerala Police is concerned we have arrested him for impersonation because his real identity was concealed. We expect the arrival of the Rajasthan Police any time,” said Reddy.

According to Rahul R. Nair, the Kannur district superintendent of police, Mohanty was picked up by the police and was questioned based on a complaint from the head office of State Bank of Travancore (SBT), who requested the police to confirm his identity.

He baffled the police by showing his passport and an electoral identity card with the name Raghava Rajan.

Mohanty, for the past seven months, has been working as a probationary officer with the SBT and early this week, the SBT officials, based on an anonymous letter, approached the police to ascertain the real identity of Raghava Rajan.

The police have done the customary medical check up on Mohanty and will produce him before a court here for his remanded. Mohanty is the son of a former top police officer from Odisha. He was convicted, along with a friend, of raping a German tourist in Rajasthan.

The trial was completed quickly and Mohanty was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on rape charges. In November 2006, he secured parole to meet his ailing mother. Since then, his whereabouts are unknown.

His father, B.B. Mohanty, served as director general home guards and fire services, Odisha, at the Bitti Mohanty committed the crime, and was accused of aiding his son’s escape.

B.B. Mohanty was suspended from work for coming to his son’s aid, but later reinstated. He retired from service in 2012.

Delhi gang-rape: ‘Confident rapists carried on with normal work after crime’

The six men, who allegedly gang-raped a young girl in a moving bus in Delhi on Sunday, were apparently so confident they will not be caught that the assailants carried on with their routine chores the next day while one brought back the vehicle to his house.

But luck ran out for the men within 24 hours as police, who were aided by the description provided by the victims about the vehicle, zeroed in on them and even arresting one from Rajasthan where he was in hiding.

Just before raping the 23-year-old para-medical student in a moving bus on Sunday night and beating her male friend who tried to protect her, the gang of six men, two of them still absconding, looted a carpenter by providing him a lift in the bus.

These details that emerged during the ongoing probe into the dastardly crime were given by Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar at a news conference on Tuesday.

The arrested have been identified as driver Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Pawan, a fruit seller, and Vinay, an assistant instructor in a gymnasium. Two persons Akshay Thakur and Raju are still on the run.

“Pawan and Vinay went back to their normal vocations and pretended nothing happened while Ram Singh and Akshay took the bus to Noida in the early hours of Monday to avoid being caught.

“But later Ram Singh thought nothing would happen and brought the vehicle back to R K Puram where it was detected on secret information and while all similar vehicles were being checked,” Kumar said.

Just before heading for a joyride, he said, they had a party. Ram Singh and his helper Akshay had cooked chicken and had a small party along with his younger brother Mukesh, also a driver-cum-cleaner and staying in the same neighbourhood.

“They decided to go for a joy ride and have fun while picking some extra bucks from giving lift to people so that more drinks can be bought,” Chhaya Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), said.

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Nearly Half of World’s Child Marriages Occur In India

Contemporary India continues to be plagued by social and health ills like child marriage, early motherhood and domestic violence.  More than 40 percent of the world’s child marriages still occur in India. More than 60 million women worldwide who are between 20 and 24 years were married before they turned 18. Latest records in the ‘State of the World‘s Children report 2012’ released by UNICEF revealed that almost 22 percent women in India, who are now aged between 20 and 24 years gave birth to a child before they turned 18.

Almost 45 in every 1,000 births are born to mothers in the age group of 15-19. Around 57 percent of male adolescents (age 15-19) and 53 percent of female adolescents thought a husband was justified in beating up his wife under certain circumstances.

The report revealed that only 35 percent adolescent males (aged 15-19) and 19 percent adolescent females have a comprehensive knowledge of HIV. Almost 33 percent of children under the age of five in urban India and 46 percent in rural India are underweight.

Around two in four people in urban India and one in five in rural India use improved sanitation facilities. India ranks 46 and is among the 50 worst nations with the highest under-five mortality rate.

The report suggested that school attendance is lower in slums. A survey in Delhi found a primary school attendance rate of 54.5 percent among children living in slums in 2004–2005, compared with 90 percent for the city as a whole.

The report also threw light on child trafficking. It was seen that at any given time, nearly 2.5 million people are in forced labor as a result of trafficking, 22 to 50 percent of them are children. One study indicated that most trafficked girls are put to work as sex workers in major Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

43 percent of children under the age of five are underweight with 16 percent being severely undernourished, 20 percent are wasted and 48 percent are stunted.

It was noted that 18 percent children between the years 2000-2010 were married by the age of fifteen and 47 percent were married by the age of eighteen. 5 percent of male and 30 percent female adolescents aged 15-19 are currently married/in union.

Karin Hulshof, UNICEF representative to India said to Times of India “A child born in a slum in urban India is as likely to die before her or his first birthday, to become underweight or anemic or to be married off before her 18th, as a child in rural India. Unfortunately for the urban poor child, the situation is most of the time not as visible and gets diluted by a much rosier picture of urban life. Great inequities are found within towns and cities, where great opportunity and great deprivation exist side by side.” He added that “Child brides become mothers much before their bodies are physically mature.”

World Health Organization‘s executive board meeting in Geneva had also taken up the issue recently. As per WHO, half the girls in early marriage live in south-east Asia. According to the National Family Health Survey, about 10 million girls are married each year before the age of 18 worldwide and one third of them live in India. Child marriage is now prohibited by law in India, with the minimum age of marriage being 18 for girls and 21 for boys. Though the latest available government survey found 48 percent of women (aged 20-24) were married or are in union before the age of 18.

Extinct Indian Musical Instruments

Hardcore music devotees will tell you that even in this electronic age, there is not even a single instrument to match the versatility of human body. We can produce aerophonic sound by using our lips, our vocal cord is a perfect chordophone and we can create idiophonic sounds by clapping hands, no wonder why the ancient people used human bones and skin to make music instruments.

India has a rich culture in music and it’s a birth place to many famous instruments. But with the influence of modern instruments, wide varieties of old instruments have gone silent and ended up in museums. Here we list some famous instruments which have disappeared or on the verge of extinction.

Rudra-veena

Rudra veena is considered as the mother of all stringed instruments. It reigned supreme two centuries ago but today there are hardly any Rudra veena players left in India. The instrument has a hollow tubular body made of wood or bamboo and strings which is meant to produce a music that is perhaps too subtle and refined for the modern age although it is famous for its meditative qualities.

Nagfani (serpentine horn)

Nagfani is made of brass tube with a serpent stylized head. It is commonly associated with the Sadhus or holy men because of the power harnessed by invoking the serpent which coil around the neck of Siva, Hindu god. Its name literally means “snake hood.” The beautiful instrument which was found around Gujrat and Rajasthan is now in the verge of extinction.

 
Mayuri

This peacock shaped stringed instrument was very popular in nineteenth century. The instrument is made of wood and metal which is attached with actual peacock bill and feathers. Peacock is said to be the vehicle of Saraswathi, godess of music. The instrument when played with a bow produces a resonant and mellow music. This instrument was nearly extinct, but it seems to have made recovery in the last few years.

Morchang

Morchang is a nice and tiny rhythmic musical instrument made of wrought iron. The instrument consists of a metal ring and metal tongue on the middle. It has a special capacity to make many patterns of rhythm and sounds when played using the mouth and left hand. The instrument which was very popular among the Rajasthani folk singers is now very difficult to find.
 

Yazh

The ancient popular instrument Yazh disappeared from India long ago. This stringed instrument which resembles a bow was considered to be the sweetest of instruments. It is described in some of the ancient literature works. The instrument is played with both the hands by tuning the strings to a particular scale. It was also called as “Vil Yazh.”

Pena

Pena is an ancient musical instrument of Manipur. It’s made of a slender Bamboo rod attached to a dry coconut shell which is made in the shape of a drum. A string made of horse tail is fastened from end of bamboo road over drum and is played with a rod. It is believed that Pena is the source and origin of all the tunes of various folk songs prevalent in Manipur.

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‘Hawa Mahal’ Gets It’s First Bath

On the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) 2012, the famous Hawa Mahal, gets its first ever bath in 213 years. This iconic monument, built by Maharaja Pratap Singh in 1799, was washed to renovate for the PBD eve.

 This cleaning process removed the stains of the walls but because of the water released at high pressure removed the paint coats at some parts. It is only now being suggested by Experts that the 5 storey building must have been washed by soaked sponge in solution of alkaline water and non-ionic soap to preserve its spectacle.

The annual PBD 2012 will be held in Jaippur from 7^th to 9^th January. Chief Guest for this occasion would be the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad Bissessar. 1300 delegates and 54 countries have registered to attend the eve.

For this special day, the civic authorities washed the “Palace of Winds” using the fire brigade’s water pressure hoses. Due to this, there are several patches made on the monument with faded colour.

An official in a state archaeological department said, “During a visit to tourist spots in the city a couple of days ago, Rajasthan Tourism Minister Bina Kak had Expressed dissatisfaction over the sanitation work at Hawa Mahal as it had a lot of dirt and dust.” To compensate the situation such step was taken immediately without any thought of after effct.