Am sure all of you who are reading this have seen the overly stressed out Nikita Mehta with her big belly running around the TV screens. I wonder what was the judge thinking while refusing aborting a 26-week fetus with a serious heart defect after rejecting the mother’s plea to terminate the pregnancy in a case torn between trauma and ethical issues. Guess what this silly decision is going cost the couple their entire life of trips to the hospitals, medical bills, extra efforts to generate money and the list goes on.
Haven’t the court thought about the aftermath of this decision? If yes then have they offered any kind of medical assistance for the couple? If not then why not? Has the Indian court become so insensitive towards the public? If the laws can be tweaked for actors and politicians whose actions have cost zillions of rupees (Yes our blood and sweat which we pay as taxes) and many lives (Yes am hinting here) then why not for Nikita Mehta’s case?

In the end am sure that Nikita would want to take a double barrel gun and shoot the judge and then the rest who help him make this decision. Also the gov/ law have set a bad example with this incident. First it is not that we have hundreds of Nikita’s walking in every day asking for court’s help to abort a child. Secondly the one person who has faith in the laws and wanted to go about the right way has been bowled out. After this I don’t think that people will have any hopes of receiving the justice to any issue. The moral of the story is such incidents will make the people loose faith in law and justice. And more importantly its is high time for India to change/amend certain laws.

This is what Bal Thackeray has to say to BMC through his newspaper - Samna editorial section. Read More Here.

“Khabardaar, Marathila hath laval tar…” roars Bal Thackeray in his editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna today.

Thackeray warns all Sena corporators to be very particular about speaking in Marathi and said he would not be lenient with people who do not.

“We will not tolerate any language other than Marathi in the BMC,” said Thackeray.

His statement comes a week after Congress corporator and leader of the Opposition in the BMC, Rajhans Singh’s proposal.

‘If you are a lion, we are tigers’

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Raj Thackeray has just been arrested and is being driven to Vikroli for the court hearing. Now what? Let’s see. This titbit has enjoyed much more publicity in the past week in Mumbai than the falling temperatures, the art festival and all such mundane things as national news.
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On Sunday, violence erupted in Mumbai (not again…). Taxi-drivers, paan-wallas and ‘outsiders’ (read UPites and Biharis) were the target of assault by frenzied MNS supporters. In an is-it-related-or-not incident, Amitabh Bachchan’s house was attacked the next day, spurred by resentment towards his move to set up a girls’ school in Uttar Pradesh rather than Maharashtra.

I was at home on Horror Monday (Can we call it that? - We’d probably have to name at least one day each month for the sundry episodes of communal clashes that errupt so frequently in this so-called cosmopolitan metropolis). The news channels had a field day running and re-running the clips of a taxi-driver being dragged out of his car and beaten to pulp and soundbytes with the public expressing their outrage at this breach of peace.
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While the whole city is stuck on the scumbag being released from prison on bail, our civil rights are being trampled upon.

In an effort to root out terrorism the city police is in the process of putting on key logging software on computers in internet cafés.

The Mumbai police will soon have khabris deployed (not physically) at over 500 cyber cafes in the city. A new software will allows cops to swoop down on terrorists the moment a keystroke is pressed at any cyber café across the city.

Investigations into the recent Hyderabad and Mumbai blasts have revealed that the planning was done using the Internet especially, chat rooms. [link]

Personally I think it is a breach of privacy of the individual user and frankly if the terrorist planners know that their communication is being recorded, they will use other means and methods of communication. But as a result of this draconian law, we will loose our right to privacy. Yes terrorism is a threat, but it cant come at the cost of our rights. If it does, then the terrorists have won, so you can pack up and go home !!

And what’s the gaurantee that the same police force wont leak out information of people visiting Orkut communities like this one and this one. Now when the Shiv Sena burns down a cybercafe, they will at least have proof that someone did logon to these communities.

Amit Varma, an ex-Mumbai Metblogger, has some tips for you to avoid being key logged if you ever need to use a cybercafe.

Okay, I know he hasn’t been arrested as yet but it’s just matter of sometime now.

Sessions Court in Jodhpur which upheld the five-year jail term for actor Salman Khan in the Chinkara poaching case, turning down the actor’s appeal against his sentencing last year. The actor failed to appear for the hearing, saying he missed the flight to Jodhpur from Hyderabad where he is currently shooting.

Salman will now be arrested unless he surrenders before the court himself. [IBN Live]

It’s astonishing isn’t it, the way our thinking works? When Sanjay Dutt was handed with 6 years prison sentence, I felt a little bad but overall was happy with the outcome. As they say, “Justice had prevailed”, though I know there are many who would argue with me on this.

But the thing that bothered me the most since Sanjay Dutt’s punishment was what would become of my favorite Salman Khan. To make things clear, no I am not delusional - I am well aware of the fact that many across the nation are more sympathetic towards Sanjay but not Salman. To the actor’s disadvantage, his past (besides the crimes committed) has a lot to do with it as well - troubled relationships, scandals, (rumored) underworld connection, dadagiri and the likes.

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Okay, now before you get the wrong impression - it’s not that I have some personal vendetta against actor Sanjay Dutt and so what if I get teased (a lot) as his long-distance twin. What truly bothers me here is the lengthy time-line taken by our judiciary system, to come to a decision. But then again this isn’t just a one off trail; the same “delay” continues to be smacked upon tons and tons of cases nation-wide.

Hopefully July 31^st would put an end to the ever-going Sanjay Dutt Trail - either the man’s probation plea gets rejected or he is allowed to walk off with freedom for good.

Judge Kode had earlier declared that Dutt was not a terrorist but had found him guilty under the Arms Act for illegal possession of an AK-47 and other weapons. If the actor’s probation plea for suspension of sentence (on grounds of good conduct) is tossed out, then he could be sent behind bars for a maximum term of five years.

And if one takes into account Judge Kode tough stance, he has sentenced as many as 11 convicts to death; the above scenario seems to be the most likely outcome. Plus sitting behind Yakub Menon in the TADA court while he was handed with “death sentence” must have surely done some damage to Dutt’s moral.

Personally speaking, I think Sanjay Dutt’s probation plea should be rejected. Since he has been convicted under the Arms Act, he needs to be suitably punished for it. As they say - You do the Crime, You do the Time. Obviously the sentencing should take into account his 18 months already served in prison, I guess a slightly lenient term of a year sounds more appropriate.

On the other hand, if Dutt is set free, this decision may not go down well with the certain sections of the society and many others prosecuted under the 1993 blasts case.

Now whether his blue striped shirt and denim pants would help clean out the voodoo off him (and Bollywood), well only time will tell - me just praying for an end, once and for all.

The Gateway of India, is Bombay, and arguably India’s photographic icon. It is on postcards what the Statue of Liberty is to the USA and the Sydney Opera House to Australia. However this magnificient structure has been in the news from time to time because of all the wrong reasons. The latest controversey is about the proposed plans to redesign the public space outside the Gateway.

Meanwhile, the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has insisted that it was not a mere “tree-cutting” organisation and would go all out to protect as much green cover as possible in the Grade I heritage precinct.[link]

The INTACH team is headed by Ar. P. K. Das and they propose to re-landscape the area and create a more cohesive ambience befitting the structure. However this means the removal of 115 trees. And the Green brigade is up in arms.

Meanwhile, the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has insisted that it was not a mere “tree-cutting” organisation and would go all out to protect as much green cover as possible in the Grade I heritage precinct.

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The Shiv Sena, it seems has resorted to petty bullying, now that it is all but obliterated in the political world. Its leader Bal Thakeray, “toothless tiger” as he is these days, needs to find real issues for his followers.

On Sunday

Shiv Sainiks affiliated to the Bharatiya Kamagar Sena (BKS) turned up in strength at Big Bazaar’s Mulund, Lower Parel and Kandivli stores to protest the sacking of 120 Marathi employees. [ Link ]

However the same article continues

Kishore Biyani, MD of Pantaloons, said, “Shiv Sena unnecessarily caused inconvenience to the customers and did not let them shop. Our customers are very important to us. The incident has maligned the reputation of Big Bazaar.”

“The 120 employees who are protesting were to be absorbed at the new Big Bazaar store at Raghuleela, Vashi. The store opening was delayed as the builder has not received the mandatory NOC from the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

We could not afford to keep so many employees at one store. We had to serve them termination notices,” said Atul Takle, head spokesperson, Pantaloon.

It is at times like this, that I wish we could have a delete button in politics and society, and automatically empty the “recycle bin”. How easy it would be to purge the Shiv Sainiks, and their ilk.

Photo credit The Hindu

Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has said that if he feels that the film Black Friday glorifies Dawood, then he’ll shut it down.

The controversial film on the 1993 Mumbai blasts had finally made it to the theatres two weeks ago.

“I haven’t seen the film. I plan to watch it, and if it glorifies Dawood, I will make sure the film is never shown again,” said Bal Thackeray, Leader, Shiv Sena.

But the threat has shocked the makers of the film. They say that they had already screened the film for the Thackeray family and even accepted the cuts that they had asked for.

Moreover, they say that there’s no attempt to glorify Dawood or the underworld, but instead it is a graphic depiction of the city’s darkest hours - the 1992 riots, communal polarization and the coming together of the underworld to trigger a series of blasts on March 12, 1993.

However, Bal Thackeray’s threat is just the latest in a line of setbacks for the film, which has already faced legal censorship.

The film’s release was earlier stopped for two years by the court hearing the 1993 blasts case. The reason for that was that the film could bias public opinion.

Now that the trial is over and the film is out, it appears that it has run into Mumbai’s moral censors. I feel its better to leave the choice to the viewers. After all they are the once who pay for the tickets. For once why cant these politicians look into something which really requires their attention ? Poverty, Disease, Unemployment, Pollution, Gov officials who accept bribe and so on… The list is endless.. Mr Thackeray are u listening ??