'Slumdog' Child Actor Beaten By Father

FROM SLUMDOG TO SLAPDOG: CHILD ACTOR BEATEN BY FATHER FOR REFUSING TO LEAVE SHACK

He's become an object of adulation for millions, but ten-year-old Azharuddin Ismail ’s stardom doesn’t appear to cut much ice back at home with his father.The youngster, who played the hero of Slumdog Millionaire as a child, received a beating from Ismail Usnay, 45, apparently for disobedience. On Thursday, Azharuddin had returned to Mumbai after Slumdog’s triumph at the Oscar ceremony. Crying out: Eyes full of tears, Azharuddin Ismail clutches his ears and sobs after being hit by his father.Exhausted by a chaotic welcome and a long flight from Los Angeles, he was given the day off school yesterday. But when he refused to step outside his home in the Dharavi slum in Bandra to speak to journalists, his father lashed out. ‘His father went mad,’ said a witness. ‘He wanted to show his son off to journalists and local people, but Azharuddin said he wanted to be left alone because he was tired.’ Neighbours attempt to restrain Ismail, below, as his son continues to cry .Moments after his father had stopped hitting him, the ten-year-old boy's face is still wet with tears. Crying and holding his ear, Azharuddin ran inside the makeshift home and tried to hide in the corner. The ugly scene lasted no more than 30 seconds after Usnay, who is infected with TB, was restrained by neighbors. The child's mother, who is blind in one eye, had also begged the 45-year-old to stop the physical punishment. Last night, he apologised for striking his son. ‘I was so confused and stressed by my son’s homecoming,’ he added. ‘I love my boy and I am very happy to have him home.’ The aggression was in stark contrast to the previous day's triumphant return to the slums, when Azharuddin's father lifted him up and paraded him like a trophy for the expectant crowds. With the massed media long gone and the euphoria of returning home ebbing away, the reality of life in the slums seemed to be hitting the child hard. Having paraded down the red carpets of Hollywood only six days ago and enjoyed the luxury of five-star hotels, returning to the slums must have come as something of a shock. However, the families of Azharuddin and his co-star Rubina Ali, eight, have each been promised a flat each from the city in recognition of the honour they have brought to Mumbai. Details on their location and size are not yet known. Shortly before the attack, Azharuddin sits outside the shack playing with his Sony camera while his father sits behind him , Only moments before his father's attack, Azharuddin had spoken of his tiredness due to the long flight and desire for the attention to stop.'I do not want to speak today to any reporters,' he said. His father, possibly hoping that his son could be his ticket out of the slums, has insisted his son poses for pictures and gives interviews to the foreign media. He has also claimed that Slumdog director Danny Boyle and the producers of the eight Oscar-winning film have not done enough for him and his family. Another world: Azharuddin with co-star Rubina Ali at the Governors Ball during the Oscars last week Azharuddin plays main character Salim as a child in the film, which won eight Oscars.
Chhers ........

26/11 TERRORISTS’ CALLS TRACED TO PAK SERVING COL R. SADATULLAH

The threat posed by al-Qaeda and the Taliban would grow if sustained action is not taken against them in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, a top US intelligence official said today. "They get stronger," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during an open hearing in response to a question from a lawmaker. When asked "does the threat that it poses to us grow?", Blair said: "Yes". "Right now, FATA is the headquarters of al-Qaeda," the top US intelligence official, who overseas as many 17 US intelligence agencies, said in response to a question from Congressman Mac Thornberry. "They've operated from other places in the past. In Africa, there are al-Qaeda affiliates, in the Maghreb, in Northern Africa, in Yemen, in Iraq. So, the most convenient and hospitable place for them right now is the place (FATA) that you described. But we are concerned about their ability to move around. It's kind of like toothpaste in a tube," Blair said. He said the primary objective of al-Qaeda in the US is another spectacular, large, people-killing attack. "That's what they seem to be thinking about," he said in response to another question.
WHO IS PAK COL SADATULLAH?
The VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) calls made by the 26/11 terrorists to their handlers have been traced to a serving colonel of the Pakistani army, investigations have revealed. Although the 11,509-page chargesheet in the 26/11 case filed by the Mumbai police on Wednesday does not spell this out explicitly, it does name the officer as Colonel R Sadatullah from the SCO, reports The Times of India.
The SCO, army sources say, stands for Special Communications Organization, a telecommunications agency of the Pakistani government which is run by officers from the army's signals corps and operates only in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the conflict-wracked Northern Areas. During the 58-hour siege of Mumbai, a total of 284 calls, running into 995 minutes, were made by the terrorists using mobile phones from the Taj Mahal hotel, Oberoi-Trident and Nariman House to their handlers in Pakistan. They took the minutest of instructions from their handlers sitting in Pakistan. The Pak-based co-conspirators also gave their agents in Mumbai pep talks to keep them going. The chargesheet says that the calls which were made over VoIP — a cheap way of making international calls using the net — were traced back to an IP address created with Callphonex, a VoIP service provider based in New Jersey, USA. The payments for this were made by opening an account in the name of Kharak Singh from India. However, the payments to this account were made on two occasions by wire transfer through MoneyGram and Western Union Money Transfer by two Pakistani nationals, Javed Iqbal and Mohammed Ishtiaq. These two, while communicating with Callphonex, used the e-mail id kharak_telco@yahoo.com. This e-mail id was accessed from at least 10 IP addresses, says the chargesheet. One of them, 118.107.140.138, belongs to Col R Sadatullah whose official address is SCO, Qasim Rd, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Sadatullah's official e-mail id is pmit@sco.gov.pk, which police say is the official e-mail service for all SCO officers. One of the wanted accused is `Major General sahab' whose name crops up repeatedly in the taped conversation between the terrorists and their handlers. Incidentally, the general manager of SCO happens to be Major General Muhammad Khalid Rao, who joined the Signals Corps in 1979
Asked about the involvement of the Pakistani army, joint commissioner (crime) Rakesh Maria said, ``We are looking into the involvement of two army personnel, who could be supposedly serving or retired.'' The chargesheet is against 38 persons, 35 of them yet to be apprehended. The three who are in police custody include the lone Pakistani terror operative caught alive, Ajmal Amir Kasab, and two Indians, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ansari. The 35 wanted accused include high-profile Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives. Kasab was not brought to court because of security concerns. Described as an LeT operative responsible for the conspiracy and the attack on Mumbai, he was charged under nine different laws, including waging war on the government of India under the Indian Penal Code. The other charges are under the Foreigners' Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Railways Protection Act, the Explosives Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the Arms Act, the Bombay Police Act and the Customs Act.

Government Keen to keep farmers happy, after 19000 farmers commiting suicide

Blessing in disguise

The problems of farmers and completion of development projects in state have suddenly become most important issues. In view of the forthcoming elections, the state Government keen on keeping everyone happy.
After the suicide deaths of so many farmers in the state, Home Minister Jayant Patil has finally announced that, “The State government has taken the initiative to implement a scheme and 23.39 lakh farmers who have taken loan up to Rs.20,000 will get the benefit of a 100 per cent waiver. Rs 2,881 crore will be paid to banks through cheque for principal amount and not the interest.”
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had already announced a financial package of Rs.6,208 crore to farmers who were left out by the Central government loan waiver package.
Another scheme is for farmers whose loan amounts are above Rs.20,000 and 16.76 lakh farmers will be covered under this. Rs.3,327 crore will be released for this from April one to June 30 this year. “As many as 78 lakh farmers in Maharashtra will be benefited by Rs.14,189 crore loan waiver package of both Central and State governments,” said Maharashtra Co-operatives Minister, Harshwardhan Patil. “Under the Central government scheme, Rs 3,012 crore will be utilized for the farmer loan waiver,” Patil said. NABARD is implementing the loan waiver scheme through Co-operatives Department. Nearly 4,000 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in the year 2008. The figures for the period 1995-2005 stand at an appalling 32,000, with nearly 19,000 farmers committing suicide after 2001. 500 cotton farmers have committed suicide since June 2005. Of the roughly 1.5 lakh farmers who killed themselves across the country, every fifth one was from Maharashtra. Maharashtra is one of the country’s richest states and its capital, Mumbai, is home to 25,000 of India’s 100,000 dollar millionaires.
An embarrassed government has started working on a mega loan waiver package worth over Rs.65,000 crore for the agricultural sector, which would hopefully support 600 million out of the massive 1.1 billion population. The package would be borne by nationalised and cooperative banks, as per the official sources. Whether the funds needed should be raised by levying a “farmers’ rehabilitation cess or surcharge” or through a budgetary provision by diverting resources, will be discussed at the prime ministerial level. The total outgo over four years is expected to be about Rs.70,000 crore and could well increase the burden on the taxpayers. Whether the move is election-motivated or genuinely intended for the welfare of farmers and saving them from committing suicide, there is no doubt that the farmers will benefit from this historic loan waiver proposal.
Kishor Tiwari, a human rights activist said, “The government has made no effort to get to the root of the problem. Whatever campaigns are announced never go to the heart of the matter, they only tackle side issues.”
Lower incomes of farmers, caused by the low productivity, leads them into taking incremental debts from local moneylenders. Because of their illiteracy and many other reasons, they hesitate to take loans from banks and ultimately starvation forces them to commit suicide. Several factors such as disastrous policies, no access to affordable credit, greedy and corrupt middlemen, and indifferent administrations have pushed farmers to their breaking point.

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Radically Amended Criminal Procedure Code

from Day One....................

By Vaidehi Sachin

If you're a criminal, or a would-be criminal, in India the law is a gas. And it just got gassier. On December 23, 2008, the Lok Sabha gave criminality a Christmas bonanza by passing a radically amended Criminal Procedure Code Bill along with seven other Bills, all of which were passed within a mere 17 minutes without any time-wasting frivolities such as debate and discussion which, in effect, prevents law enforcement authorities from arresting someone who has committed a crime which carries a prison sentence of up to seven years.

Instead of clapping behind bars the accused in such cases which include attempt to commit culpable homicide; voluntarily causing grievous hurt; cheating; outraging a woman's modesty; death caused by negligence; and assaulting the President the police will now have to issue a 'notice of appearance' to the individual concerned who will be expected to 'cooperate' with the investigation (rather in the same manner in which Islamabad has offered by way of a 'joint mechanism' to 'cooperate' with Indian agencies to get to the truth behind the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai). Only if the accused fails to respond to the 'notice of appearance' can the police have recourse to arrest by which time the accused, having been helpfully tipped off by the 'notice of appearance', presumably has had the good sense to get as far as possible out of the reach of the no-longer long arm of the law.

Criminals and potential criminals can now, like other sensible citizens, plan their criminal activities as people plan their investment portfolios, purchase of consumer durables, and their choice of holiday destination in terms of affordability and the cost-benefit ratio involved. For example, prudent wrongdoers will now be able to apply the principle of due diligence to the crimes they might be contemplating. A quick deco at the provisions of the penal code which stipulate the maximum sentences for different criminal acts will, like consulting a ready reckoner, reveal what may, or may not, be undertaken with impunity. For instance, murder, rape, dowry death, waging war on the state, robbery or dacoity with deadly weapons are all no-nos as the jail-time in these cases exceeds the seven-year exemption limit for arrests. As such, the risk-averse criminal would be advised to avoid such acts and seek safer options. So instead of rape, a public servant, for example, might contemplate inducing a person in his (or, possibly, her) custody into having sex, an offence which, under Section 376 B, attracts a sentence of only five years and as such is safely within the no-arrest limit.

It's like taking your own breathalyser test and determining whether you're over or under the safety limit. In such a scenario, a savvy murderer might well be motivated to make the planned act look like a hit-and-run, or other form of terminal mayhem which falls within the seven-year escape clause.

Apart from helping criminals to freely plan their careers in crime, the seven-year solution will also help ease the huge logjam of pending court cases and the stifling congestion in jails and prisons. There are almost 30 million cases pending in the country's law courts. This, in turn, impacts prison congestion as thousands of undertrials (15,784 and 15,777, respectively, in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh alone, according to the National Crime Records Bureau), swell penal populations to bursting point. The 1,140 central, district and sub jails, with a total capacity of 2,33,543, currently house 3,26,519 inmates, of which as many as 66.7 per cent are undertrials. Each prisoner, convict or undertrial, costs the taxpayer an average of Rs 11,901.30 (2003-04 figures) per annum in maintenance.

The seven-year-no-arrest rule should significantly reduce prison populations and costs. As such, it should be welcomed both by the thrifty taxpayer as well as the career criminal, who can now cheerfully mug the former (after ensuring that mugging is within the seven-year safety zone) without fear of repercussion, knowing it's all perfectly legal. What a gas.