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A Flipkart driver al-
legedly tried to lure a six-
year-old boy into a
delivery van outside a city
apartment block.
Management at Purva
Riviera Apartments put up
a notice claiming that Flip-
kart van driver Mukesh
tried to kidnap a boy on July
28.
The notice informs the
residents that a case has
been filed by the family and
warns parents to be aware
of any incoming delivery
vans.
Mr. Raja, General Man-
ager of Purva Apartments
in Marathahalli, said:
“Mukesh tried to lure the
kid into a Flipkart delivery
van. We immediately filed a
complaint in the HAL Po-
lice Station. Security has
been tightened since the in-
cident and we do not let
anyone enter without a vis-
itor’s pass.”
He added, “The family
is very disturbed and does
not want their identity to be
disclosed. But they want
Mukesh to be punished at
all costs and they have our
full support.”
A similar incident hap-
pened in Hyderabad last
week, where a Flipkart de-
livery man molested a
house maid and was ar-
rested two days later.
Payal Banerjee, Flipkart
Public Relations Officer,
said: “We had resolved
everything with the cus-
tomer/building and co-op-
erated fully with them in all
aspects. The same stands
true for the Hyderabad in-
cident and an official re-
sponse have already been
shared externally in this re-
gard yesterday.”
When asked about the
actions taken against
Mukesh and their policies
for background checks on
the employees, Flipkart de-
clined to give any details.
Mr. Guruprasad, Sub-
Inspector of the Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited police
station, said: “Mukesh
claims that he was only in-
teracting with the kid. We
do not have any record of
the case filed since the fam-
ily withdrew the case.
“The Flipkart manage-
ment has taken care of the
whole situation and
Mukesh has been fined for
creating nuisance by the
Mayo Hall court,” he
added.
Manager of the Shree
Ram Spurthy Apartments
in Whitefield said: “The
management of Purva
Apartments sent an email
to all the apartments in
Marathahalli and Whitefield
informing about this inci-
dent. In order to warn the
residents we put up posters
in our society too.”
The Flipkart spokesman
added: "The safety of our
customers is of utmost im-
portance to us; we have a
very strong business ethic
policy that binds not only
our employees but also our
business partners. We have
zero tolerance for such be-
haviour and strictest action
has been taken for this un-
fortunate incident.”
Speaking about the Hy-
derabad incident, she added
that the accused had been
arrested and that police
were now investigating.
ObserverVolume 14 | Issue 7 Thursday, September 18, 2014
The Weekly
Flipkart delivery man accused of kidnapping
Apoorva Choubey
Hebbal police failed to
register an FIR on a 1.5
crore fraud case against a
builder who had reno-
vated the police station
for free.
Mahima World Wide
Builders cheated at least 17
people of 1.5 crore by tak-
ing money for an apart-
ment, Mahima Nest.
One of the directors,
Ashish Das is in jail while
the other, Santhosh is ab-
sconding..
Subramanian, the land
owner, who has entered
into a registered joint devel-
opment agreement is out
on bail.
“On June 18, 2014,
Anand, the writer of Heb-
bal Police Station, asked me
to make a complaint at
8pm,” said Satheesh. “I
wanted to file the complaint
of all the 17 together, but
the police didn’t allow that,”
he added.
Suspicious about the po-
lice, Satheesh, with Mad-
han, who was also cheated,
went to Ashish’s office be-
hind the police station and
found out that Ashish was
arrested.
“He was kept in custody
for about a month. Police
only filed FIR for individual
case, which has weakened
the case. People haven’t got
their money back and Sub-
ramanian is out on bail,”
said Ramanandan, advocate
for the group.
(contd on pg 4)
No FIR, if you renovate the police stationNikhil M Babu
Ashish and Santhosh,
Directors of Mahima
The notice circulated in the apartment block
EXCLUSIVE
Public grounds deny permission to transsexuals
Transsexuals were de-
nied permission to hold
an event at four public
grounds in on the basis
of gender discrimina-
tion.
Unique Solutions Im-
ages Media organizers had
a tough time finding land to
organize an event for the
Onam festival on 7th Sep-
tember, 2014 for transsexu-
als. The event also included
soft skill training and cash
benefit of Rs. 20,000 for
the transsexuals.
The organizers were de-
nied bookings at Vishranthi
Nilayam in Shivaji Nagar.
USI MD Sahile Bakkar,
said, “It is very demeaning
for the third gender to be
discriminated on such
grounds. We went on look-
ing for grounds all day and
at the end of the day got
nothing back in our hands.”
On contacting Vishran-
thi Nilayam, they accepted
that the permission was de-
nied but were unwilling to
talk about it.
According to Kumara,
Civil Rights Lawyer, the dis-
crimination rises due to lack
of authority. “There are no
government departments
for the transsexual’s protec-
tion; it is just the NGO’s
working for them which
usually face financial
crunches.”
Mr. Nagaraja, Manager
at USI said, “The hall at
Shivaji Nagar was booked
then they randomly asked
about the audience. When
they realized that the event
was for transsexuals, they
straight away cancelled the
booking without any justifi-
cation.”
Finally, after being de-
nied permission from four
public ground, Canara
Bank Rural Self Employ-
ment Training Centre
agreed to hold the event.
Mr. Pannapa, director of
the training institute, said,
“The ground is for public,
transgender come under
public, thus there is no rea-
son for rejecting the book-
ing. No development plan
would work if they are not
accepted by the society.”
For the audience, it was
a rewarding event. Yana, a
transgender who was a part
of the event, said, “Apart
from charity, this is the first
time in my life I knew what
a celebration looks like.
About the discrimination,
only awareness and a strong
will can help the situation.”
Only five per cent of
schools in Bangalore
have libraries.
Sujatha, a teacher at
Government Higher Pri-
mary School, Sunkenahalli,
Hanumanthnagar said:
“Books and book-shelves
are provided by donors but
the government has not
provided any space for li-
brary. So piles of books are
left with dust on them.”
“Also there is no provi-
sion for the students to take
the books home,” she
added.
Out of 49,637 schools
in Bangalore that come
under the Karnataka State
Education Dept report of
2013/14, only 2,525 have
libraries. Also schools are
given Rs 22,500 per year for
maintenance which is
claimed as meager and ir-
regular amount by school
official.
Rithvick, a seventh
grade student, said, “We
want to read more books
but because of non-avail-
ability of library we are un-
able to do that.”
“I have my board exams
in coming March and I
need to refer some other
books to have better prepa-
ration. But, because of
non-availability of library in
school, I’m unable to do
that,” said Parvathi, a 10th
grade student at Jayanagar
Secondary School..
My younger brother has
access to enjoy different
types of books at his pri-
vate school library. He
often brings books for me
from his school,” she
added.
Surya Prakash, Educa-
tion Governance Coordina-
tor, said, “We have to build
libraries in schools which
are 60-70 years old which is
not possible as the build-
ings are too old. There are
newly made schools that
have libraries. And we are in
process of providing li-
braries to schools as much
as possible,” said Puroshot-
tam Kumar, Program Offi-
cer, Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan.
Divya Kishore
Punita Maheshwari
GHP School, Sukenahalli, Hanumanth Nagara
Inauguration of the event on Onam Courtesy - USI
The Weekly Observer Thursday, September 18, 20142
No libraries for government school kids
A transgender’s body
was left unclaimed for 18
hours after she died of
HIV/AIDS.
Shalu, 24, was detected
with the HIV virus in
2011. She survived it for
three years and died on 15
September, 2014 at 3:30
pm in Accept Care Home.
Shalu migrated from
Kerela and was part of the
transgender community.
She was accompanied by
her partner, Anmua, who
did not want to comment
of the issue when she died
at Accept Care Homes.
The community organ-
ization for transsexuals
and sex workers, Samara,
tried to contact her family
in Kerela but they refused
to even come.
“We claimed the body
after trying to convince
the family for almost a
day,” Veena, Samara board
member said.
The organization took
initiative and performed
rituals to bury the body at
a graveyard in Mysore
Road after it was released
from Accept Care Center
on Monday.
Transgender body left unclaimed
An RTI activist has been
fighting to clear his name
for the past three years.
On September 22, 2010,
Mr Rakesh Prasanna, an
RTI activist was slapped
with wrongful restraint,
criminal intimidation and
intentional insult. Mr.
Prasanna was cleared of all
the charges by the High
Court of Karnataka.
Mr. Prasanna said: “The
problem started as a result
of my objection to the ille-
gal commercial construc-
tion in the vicinity of my
house. I had filed an RTI
asking the authorities about
the circumstances under
which the approval was
given.
“The proprietors of the
illegal construction, Mr.
Mukesh Prem Chand and
Vivek Prem Chand, ap-
proached my family and
tried to persuade us to sell
our property. Our rejection
to Chand brothers’ pro-
posal led Mr. Suresh
Kumar, an ex-law minister
of the state, to intervene
into the matter. But I per-
sisted on the stoppage of
the illegal construction ac-
tivity,” Prasanna added.
Following the ex-law
minister’s intervention Mr.
Prasanna was picked up
from his residence and was
interrogated at the Rajajina-
gar police station.
I was shocked when In-
spector A.G Carriappa and
Sub-Inspector C.V Deepak
framed charges against me.
Later I found out that the
orders were directed from
the Assistant Revenue Offi-
cer, Mrs. Lakshamma.”
“By the end of this
month the health depart-
ment will be raiding the
commercial complex and
shall be sealing it. But the
date remains tentative” he
added.
After being cleared of
the first set of allegations
on 23rd September 2011,
Mr. Prasanna was again im-
plicated with trying to deter
public servant from carry-
ing out his duty and trying
to assault a woman with in-
tent to outrage her modesty
on September 29, 2011 for
which he has been given an
anticipatory bail.
Mr. Ravindranath Guru
another RTI activist faced
similar harassment by the
‘protectors’ of law. He was
harassed the local councilor
and the MLA.
“In the middle of the
night some goons attacked
my house. They broke the
window pane and tried all
sorts of intimidation possi-
ble. But later they realized I
am hard nut to crack.” he
said
The incident took place
in 2006; a year after RTI
came into practice. Mr.
Guru was using the RTI
tool to peek into the viola-
tions in construction prac-
tice.
According to Mr. Vin-
cent-An RTI activist, the
activists who are witch-
hunted are those who aren’t
part of any ‘umbrella-
group’.
They are targeted be-
cause they do not have the
necessary backing”
The ‘Weekly Observer’
tried to get in touch with
the officials in Rajajinagar
police station but they re-
fused to comment.
Government doctors in
the city say they will not
adhere to a High Court
order banning them from
going on strike.
On September 5, the
Karnataka High Court
bench, headed by Justice D
H Waghela, adjourned a
hearing on a Public Interest
Litigation about a strike
conducted by doctors in
2013.
Before adjourning the
hearing, the court observed
that medical services are es-
sential and both criminal
and disciplinary actions can
be taken against doctors
and nurses who go on
strike.
Dr. C.N. Reddy, a pedia-
trician and assistant profes-
sor at Bowring and Lady
Curzon Hospital, thinks
that the circumstances force
doctors and nurses to go on
strikes.
He said, “A doctor re-
quires a proper place to
practise and salaries at least
equivalent to doctors from
private hospitals. These are
our basic demands.”
Dr. Mududur Ajayku-
mar, Professor of Commu-
nity Medicine, from
Gulbarga, added: “Patients’
relatives fail to understand
the seriousness of the dis-
ease and expect us to save
the patient. When we fail to
do so, we are man-handled.
Doctors require protection
from the general public in
their place of duty.”
Dr. Siddharth, a junior
doctor at K.C. General
Hospital, said: “If the man-
agement refuses to pay
heed to our demands then
we go on strike. Such or-
ders by the High Court
tend to curb our freedom
of expression.”
According to Dr. M.V.
Prasanna Kumar, Resident
Medical Officer at Lady
Curzon and Bowring Hos-
pital, doctors avoided
strikes for the past three
years due to amendments
to the Essential Services
Maintenance Act.
He said, “We work 24/7.
We are also human beings.”
Some government doc-
tors believe that strikes are
a way of expressing their
concern, the hospital ad-
ministration does not sup-
port them. “Doctors are
answerable to the govern-
ment and patients. We are
not responsible for any-
thing,” said Dr. Geetha, As-
sistant Administrative
Officer at Jayanagar Gen-
eral Hospital.
Dr. S Pushparaj, Medical
Superintendent at Jayanagar
General Hospital supports
the High Court Order. He
said: “If doctors go on
strike, patients suffer the
most. It is important to
make laws that stop them
from avoiding their daily
services.”
President of Indian
Medical Association of
Karnataka, Dr. Y. C. Yo-
gananda Reddy agrees that
there is a legal ruling that
bans doctors from striking
work and said, “No law can
stop doctors from going on
strike and we support
them.”
He further added,
“Though strikes are the
best way to pull govern-
ment to listen to us, doctors
can also choose alternatives
like dharnas at their work-
place.”
Kimaya Varude
Doctors reject HC order to ban strikes
Dr. Y.C Yogananda Reddy,
President of IMA
The Weekly Observer Thursday, September 18, 2014 3
Pulaha Roy
File RTI and be prepared to get booked
Rakesh Prasanna, activist
Broken window pane at
Rakesh’s house
The Weekly Observer Thursday, September 18, 20144
OBSERVER Team: Editor - Agnivesh Harshan, Chief Sub-Editor - Devdatta Sukhdev, News Editor - Divya Kishore, News Desk - Aparna
Singh, Sub Editors - Nikunj Ohri, Darshan Rane, Nikhil M Babu, Design Head - Asmita Kundu, Layout Desk - Apoorva Choubey,
Punita Maheshwari, Natasha Singh, Proof Reader - Kimaya Varude, Pulaha Roy Photo Editor - Aadhira Anandh, Reporter - Elizabeth Mani.
The police also held a
meeting with the land
owner and the people who
got cheated for settling the
issue.
“Ashish had renovated
the Hebbal police station
for free,” said Subramanian,
the land owner.
Ravi, officer of Estab-
lishment Section in Com-
missioner Office Bangalore,
confirmed that no funds
were allowed to Hebbal po-
lice station for the past
three years.
Also, Karnataka govern-
ment in 2010 has passed a
circular that police stations
cannot take money from
sponsors.
The Supreme Court has
ordered that FIR is manda-
tory in cognizable offences
and action will be taken
against the police officer if
he fails to register FIR.
“My brother is ill and I
don’t have any money to
treat him as I have spent 10
lakhs for the flat,” said
Vikranth who got cheated.
“I met Ashish while he
was constructing the first
floor of the Police Station.
He also renovated the In-
spector’s room,” said
Robert Louis who lives next
to Hebbal Police Station.
Nagesh Haslar, Inspec-
tor of Hebbal Police Sta-
tion said, “Two-three years
back there was some reno-
vation work in the building
and the department did it.”
But he refrained from
further comments when
asked about the Mahima
Builders case.
Continued
from Page 1
Two government land
clearances left seven peo-
ple dead on the streets,
according to those af-
fected.
People died of sanita-
tion problems following
evacuation of EWS slum.
Five people including a
baby died due to sanitation
problems as residents of
EWS slum, Ejipura have
been living on the street for
the past 21 months.
Shatha Mary, the mother
of a one-year old girl An-
drea who died, said, “My
baby died of water infec-
tion. We did not have any
proper sanitation and water
facilities due to which I lost
my child.”
Residents of the Eco-
nomically Weaker Section
slum, Ejipura said that
when they refused to vacate
their houses on Jan 20,
2013, MLA Harish prom-
ised on the Quran that each
family would get a perma-
nent house within eight
months. He also gave Rs
10,000 for each family to
have temporary shelter.
Everyone shifted to Sar-
japur slum however 70 fam-
ilies soon returned to the
street as they couldn’t af-
ford the rent of Rs 1500.
Ammu, sister of
Ramesh, who died last
week, said, “My brother had
fever and cold for a week,
as we didn’t have proper
shelter and sanitation we
couldn’t save him.”
“My mother, Neelamma
also died due to cold and
fever last year,” she added
Jyothi, a 20-year-old who
delivered a baby girl on the
street said, “When they de-
molished our houses I
shifted to Sarjapura. I came
back to the street in two
months as I couldn’t afford
to pay the rent.
“I was born in this place
and I don’t want to go any-
where else,” she added.
N.A Harish, MLA of
Shanthinagar constituency
said, “There is no-one who
is homeless here, people
who are living on the streets
are creating unnecessary
problems.”
“Before the demolition
the EWS slum was in a very
bad condition, women were
raped and there were lot of
illegal activities. Being the
MLA of the area it is my re-
sponsibility to look after the
people and I have already
built 2400 houses for
them.” he added.
Kannamma, a resident
of EWS slum Ejipura said,
“In the beginning, NGO’s
gave us food but now no-
body comes forward to
help us.”
“We don’t have proper
sanitation and drinking
water facilities. My grand-
son Arjun got pelvic in-
flammatory disease (PIDS),
since we shifted to the
street,” said Mary Fathima.
Evicted families await
rehab package, authori-
ties clueless
Nine years after govern-
ment ordered the demoli-
tion of houses in a rural
Bangalore village, the fami-
lies are still awaiting prom-
ised rehabilitation packages.
“Two people died and
three others were injured in
the aftermath of demoli-
tion. The government de-
molished 185 homes. They
promised us new houses
but never got back to us.”
said Mumtaz, an evicted
victim.
After the demolition,
many evicted families were
forced to take shelter at
their relatives and friends
homes. Some moved to
other sites around Banga-
lore while 20 families con-
tinue to stay in the area
adjacent to the demolished
site.
The victims are daily
wage laborers who earn
Rs.100-150 per day.The
families live in makeshift
houses in cramped condi-
tions.
“We were promised
housing by our MLA, Mr.
S.T Somshekhar when he
recently visited us during
his election campaign for
votes” She added.
Mr. S.T Somshekhar, the
current MLA, said that he
doesn’t know about the
demolition and denied
making any such promises.
Ms Gangambika, Pan-
chayat Development Offi-
cer for Thagacheguppe area
replied:” I have been here
for three months and do
not know of any such dem-
olition incident that hap-
pened nine years back. I do
not know of any such reha-
bilitation package or the
people that were evicted.”
An engineering college
hostel is presently under
construction at the demol-
ished site. Another part of
the demolished site is being
developed for a private res-
idential housing project.
Elizabeth Mani
Darshan Rane
Resident of EWS living on the street
Makeshift houses of the evicted families
Rehab delays leave families stranded