CRIME

On October 8, NGO Arappor Iyakkam spearheaded the launch of “Kollayane Veliyeru”, a large anti-corruption campaign movement aiming to bring together all those who are against corruption. I arrived at the event a bit late, at around 6:30 or 6:45 pm on that day. Ordinarily, North Mada Street is extremely chaotic and crowded, but surprisingly, it was relatively peaceful and calm that day. Arappor had one end of the street cordoned off and traffic was being actively diverted by their volunteers, clad in shirts and caps bearing anti-corruption slogans. I put my name down on the sign-up sheet and collected…

Last Saturday, I was on my way to a workshop 'In My Name - Open Letters in the Park' organized by the Fearless Collective, when I became a witness to an incident of violence and joined others in resisting it. Unlikely coincidence or a sign of our times? I feel that this incident can best be described through the Open Letter I wrote later at the workshop. Dear Advocates, I don't know you and you don't know me. Our paths crossed coincidentally this morning (15th July 2017) when I entered Cubbon Park at the Hudson Circle gate (near the High…

On a Tuesday morning in early April this year, over a thousand teachers and students at a Kilpauk school were part of an interactive, fun-filled session, that was unlike any other they had ever taken part in. For, while there were fun and games and audio-visual presentations, as there might have been during other school events, the focus on this occasion was different. It was a session meant to raise awareness among those present, as well as break the silence around one of the greatest social evils of the times - child sexual abuse, or CSA. Much as we would…

“If you kill someone with a gun, if you shoot them, they die once. But if you throw acid on them they die every day.” These moving words by an acid attack survivor motivated Sandeed Farooq to take action. Calm, collected and articulate, Delhi-based Sandeed shows a maturity far beyond his sixteen years. Alongside his co-founders Sakshi Agarwal and Neha Thadani, he started a campaign called “Flawless Flaws”, which works to raise both awareness and funds in support of acid attack survivors. A student himself, Sandeed is not unlike many other students in a lot of ways. His favourite subject is history,…

Even as society struggles to break gender stereotypes and end physical and mental abuse of women, movies continue to be made with regressive plots involving the male lead winning over the female lead, through various forms of coercion including stalking. Remo, a movie that has hit the screens recently follows the same template where male lead Sivakarthikeyan stalks and wins over the female character played by Keerthi Suresh. The movie was boycotted by many people across the state for glorifying the act of stalking. While the Tamil film industry continues to produce movies such as Polladhavan, Padikkadhavan etc., that redeem…

A few weeks ago, I’d just come out of my gym in RT Nagar when a couple with a child, looking as if they hailed from somewhere rural, approached me. Both of them asked me if I spoke Hindi and told me how they’d come to Bangalore on train from some place in Bihar, was summoned for a job by a contractor who had then cheated them. Now they were without money and couldn’t go back to their village. The man had tears in his eyes and the woman looked sad. It was late evening and they begged me to…

Encouraged by the success of Neighbourhood Watch (NW) initiative in Whitefield, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East Division), Dr Boralingaiah M B has announced the extension of the programme to other areas of South East Division, ie, Kadugodi, Varthur, HAL and (Old) Airport. In an event organised by Whitefield Rising (WR) on August 20, 2016, at Ecumenical Christian Centre (ECC), the DCP launched the NW4 Group within Whitefield PS limits to cover residents of ECC Road. The first such group was formed near Forum Value Mall in March, and two other groups followed.   As over 50 citizens from different…

Jyoti Singh Pandey. Qandeel Baluchi. Shakti steel mills. Kopardi. Rohtak. Dalit. Muslim. 22-year-old. 14-year-old. 6-year-old. Strangulation. Rape. Acid attack. The crimes are varied, as are the ages of the victims, the location, their religion. Even the method of attack. What's common in every one of these cases, and more of the kind, is the fact that all of the victims are women. Crimes against women are on the rise and every day, women everywhere are losing their life and liberty as easily and as carelessly as bugs get crushed under our feet. But we are always able to move on,…

On Monday, (September 12 2016) as I was watching the prime-time news on Kannada TV channels, my child walked in. Sitting beside me, she watched the televised show of miscreants vandalising various places. Suddenly she exclaimed: 'Ammaa!' The TV showed the vandals ransacking an Adyar Anand Bhavan outlet, probably on Mysore Road. She asked me, 'Amma, so there won't be Adyar Anand Bhavan anymore?' I reassured her, 'Yes there will be. These are all temporary problems. Malleshwaram's A2B is intact, so you don't need to worry.' A2B is her favourite hotel and has been a lifesaver for us on the…

It's disgusting to see the many small ways (adding up to large totals) in which the catering contract staff on Southern Railways cheat the passengers. On the 26th of July, 2016, I travelled by the Bangalore-Chennai Exp (train no. 12609) to Chennai, and on the 27th, I travelled back by the same train.   An elderly gentleman asked the man selling bottles of mineral water, "How much is a bottle?" and the answer was, "Rs.30". Even before I could react, another alert passenger caught the man and said, "It's Rs.15 a bottle, why are you giving twice that price?" The…