Spanish woman raped in Pushkar, India

It very shameful thing to happen to any woman in the world. We should protest just as we protest for any girl raped in India. We don't see much comments on this story as if it is normal for a spanish. No matter how modern she must be. it hurts really bad when anyone forcibly puts a woman in that situation.

UP: Minor raped, found dead in police station

Shocking Video: Horror in Uttar Pradesh, India: Girl stabbed in the eye resisting rape

Maoists brutally beat two police informers in Bihar

Cops detain IIT boy, extort money for 'porn' on phone

Piyush had not expected his vacation to end in such a nightmare. After a long journey from his home in Chhattisgarh, he got off at Dadar station only to be picked up by a group of railway policemen who snatched his phone and threatened to arrest him for allegedly having pornographic clips on it. They then extorted money out of him after intimidating him with handcuffs and belts inside a locked-up police chowky.

The IIT-Bombay third year student (20), who returned from a summer break on Wednesday afternoon, said, "I was stopped by two policemen. One of them asked me to open my bag and rummaged through my belongings while the other took my phone and started playing with the keypad."

When they found nothing suspicious in the bag, they asked Piyush (name changed) to shut it. When he asked for his phone back, they took him to the chowky on the station platform. "I wondered what was wrong but they started talking roughly. They took me to a small room where another policeman was seated. He said they had found porn clips on my phone and I could go to jail for five years and be fined Rs 1 lakh," recalled Piyush.

They pulled out laminated paper clips of people who they claimed had been nabbed for storing porn on their phone. Piyush demanded they show him what they had found on his phone. "They showed me the phone for a fleeting second. I didn't notice anything. Then, they pulled out a belt and a pair of handcuffs. I was terrified. I didn't know what was going on, or what I should do."

The policemen started demanding Rs 10,000 to settle the matter, claimed Piyush. "I told them that I just had a little more than Rs 2,000 on me. They took the money. Then they noticed an ATM card in my wallet. One of the policemen changed into civilian clothes and took me to a nearby ATM. I withdrew another Rs 5,000 and handed it to him. He demanded to see my bank balance and when he noticed I had about 8,000 rupees there, he demanded more money," said Piyush.

The engineering student pleaded and said his parents had filled his account because he needed to pay the fees. "Then the policeman agreed to let me go." They told Piyush they would delete the porn clips from his phone to spare him further trouble.

Piyush said he didn't know whether to feel relieved at being let go, or cheated, or angry. He went to Powai where he related his experience at the station to the dean of students' affairs, Prakash Gopalan. The dean called in IIT-Bombay's security personnel. "We contacted the senior inspector at the Powai police station to help lodge a complaint and recover the student's money. He in turn contacted the Dadar GRP office," said Gopalan.

Accompanied by the security staff, Piyush went back to Dadar station. Fearing that the matter might make its way to the top, the policemen returned his money. "They requested that I don't file a complaint and offered to give me another Rs 6,000. I refused. Finally they paid me Rs 1,000 more for the 'inconvenience' caused and apologized too," said Piyush.

He realized that this wasn't the first time the policemen had pulled a trick like this. "The entire episode was so perfectly set up." Shivaji Shinde, senior inspector of GRP at Dadar station, said that although there was no formal complaint against the policemen who had taken money from Piyush, they had been moved to another post.

Railway police commissioner Tukaram Chavan said he had often warned his men not to check passengers' mobile phones or laptops. He promised to conduct a departmental inquiry.

This paper will follow the story to see if action is taken against these as-yet-unnamed policemen.

Times View 
Such cases of intimidation and extortion are all-too commonplace— it's just that this time the policemen made the mistake of picking on a student from one of the world's most elite education institutes, instead of poor, helpless people from the margins of society. Merely taking disciplinary action against the errant policemen won't be justice enough. They have not only violated the privacy of a citizen without provocation, they are also guilty of wrongful harassment and extortion. This calls for prosecution of the individual policemen for these criminal offences. Moreover, the victim should be entitled to file for damages in a civil case against the railway police, just as Krittika Biswas is doing for wrongful arrest and detention in New York. Only if both the individual wrongdoers and the institution they represent face serious consequences, will there be a deterrent effect. 

LG and Dell relying on Android to capture Indian mobile market

Summary

Dell is expanding their manufacturing plant in Chennai, India to increase their mobile export quantities. LG is hoping to make a dent in Samsung’s dominance by coming up with 45 handsets in 2011. Dell and LG are betting on Android for their handset portfolios.

The Indian divisions of LG and Dell have committed to Android as their platform choice for mobile products. Google’s Android has helped eliminate a huge barrier for handset manufacturers by allowing them to come up with handsets and concentrate less on the software. According to Android (in India)-focused website AndroidOS.in, LG and Dell have six and four handsets respectively. Motorola, HTC and Samsung are other major manufacturers, each with at least 10 devices in the market.

The Korean brand war between LG and Samsung so far has seen Samsung as the clear leader in mobile. Going forward, LG India is targeting 40% revenues from their mobile and IT businesses and plans to launch up to 45 new handsets this year.

A late entry in the handset manufacturer race, Dell, has tried their hand at Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 and Android. At Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Mango event, Dell was conspicuously missing from their hardware partners list. Earlier this year, Dell acknowledged their late entry in mobile but claimed that they will try to cover up lost time with new handsets. Dell is right now expanding their manufacturing plant in Chennai (South India) to increase exports to the Western market. The current break-up of the plant output is 80% to 85% for India and the rest for Western countries. Post expansion, the export quantity will be increased to 30% of plant production.

Apple releases their iPhone handsets in India a year after the US launch, which to users is annoying since these year-old handsets are still sold at a premium while people in the US get the latest iteration. Apple’s reluctance to include India in their initial launch list is difficult to comprehend since people find ways to import the latest handsets. An unlocked iPhone (latest version) is sold at around $600 on launch, which is the price one pays in India for the year-old handset with a two-year contract. Android and iOS are competing for the first spot and if LG and Dell can bring in competitive handsets with the newer versions of Android to India, they can make a mark in the market.

In India, Samsung has been trying to promote their indigenous mobile platform, Bada, for feature phones,  while Android is being used for smartphones. The strategy for LG and Dell to use Android might give them the much required initial traction courtesy of Android’s brand name and Google’s dedication to the platform. Dell has been a hardware manufacturer and focusing on hardware makes sense. Despite the unfortunate failure of Venue Pro, the handset was nicely designed and complemented Windows Phone 7 quite well. If Dell is able to have design quality that leverages Android’s capabilities, they can develop an experience for the user around tablets and phones. LG on the other hand needs to hire some smart handset designers.

All Indians, Please Visit this Website before executing your Vote

Learn About your Leader

Go to this website and Search for Leaders/Politicians name you wish to know about.

MLA held for pouring petrol into youths' rectum

In a development being seen by many as an embarrassment to ruling JD (U), party MLA Ramsevak Singh (Look at his Crime Meter) was on Tuesday arrested along with his brother, three bodyguards and a driver for allegedly assaulting four youths and pouring petrol into their rectum at Asmat Gola in Gopalganj district's Balesara village on Monday and Tuesday.

Police said the bodyguards of the MLA, who represents Gopalganj's Hathua constituency in the state assembly, assaulted Afroz and Tabrez who are relatives of a winner of the just-concluded panchayat election in the area. On Tuesday, the MLA's bodyguards allegedly took Vishal Singh and Rakesh Dubey to the MLA's house and mercilessly assaulted them, police said and added that the culprits later poured petrol into the rectum of the victims.

As tension prevailed in the village, Gopalganj DM Pankaj Kumar Pal and SP K S Anupam visited the victims. Pal told TOI Vishal and Rakesh were rescued by a police team led by Hathua SDPO Jitendra Kumar Mishra from the MLA's house. "The SP and I also met the Hathua MLA and heard his version," he said and added the medical report confirmed pouring of petrol into the rectum of victims following which an FIR was lodged against the MLA, his brother Ramashray Singh, three bodyguards and a driver.

Villagers said the wife of the MLA's brother contested the election for the post of Balesara mukhia, but lost. The DM admitted that though police were yet to probe the reason behind the crime, it prima facie appeared to be related with the panchayat election.

While the MLA could not be reached for his version as he was in custody, the JD (U) leadership in Patna did not defend its MLA. "Wrong-doers will not be protected even if they belong to our party," party's state president Vashishth Narayan Singh told TOI. He said his party-led NDA government has been working overnight to establish the rule of law and those taking law into their hands must be punished as per the law. 

Kanimozhi's Tihar troubles: Heat, toilet, mosquitoes

Far from the ease she is used to, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi spent a sleepless first night at Tihar Jail on Friday and when a warden woke her up around 5.30 am on Saturday, she said "Don't disturb me. I am sleeping late".

The Tihar experience for DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter — lodged in Jail number 6 as an accused in the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam — was hardly anything to write home about.


Kanimozhi was not smiling much after reaching Tihar, and kept to herself most of the time. She was in her cell around 11.30 pm on Friday and could not sleep till about 2.30 am as the heat, despite a fan in her 10x15 feet cell, was smothering.
The jail warden could not accommodate the request for more bed time and told the MP she needs to follow rules, said a jail source. Kanimozhi also complained about mosquitoes and asked for a repellent from the jail superintendent.

Allowed home-cooked food, Kanimozhi had two slices of bread with aalo sabzi and coffee from the jail canteen for breakfast, and then got ready for her court hearing. Apparently, she did not speak to anyone on Saturday morning and took a round of jail number 6 to see how it looks.

A jaded Kanimozhi appeared before the special 2G court on Saturday. Her lawyer told special judge O P Saini that she faced difficulty in getting ready in the morning due to lack of a proper toilet facilities. Kanimozhi remained mostly silent during the proceedings sitting next to her husband Aravinthan.

Kanimozhi's minor son Adithyan, her mother Rajathi Ammal and other relatives also met her when she appeared before the court. While she was being taken to the lock-up room, Rajathi Ammal broke down and was in tears. She was asked to stay back by the constables as Kanimozhi caressed and kissed Adithyan and took him in her lap. She assured him she will be meeting him again on Monday.

She had her food in the jail court and after returning to Tihar around 4.30 pm, she interacted with staff and Tamil Nadu Special Police as well as a few inmates. She is believed to have spoken about Tamil Nadu with inmates. "She was talking about her lifestyle and what all she does at home and in politics," said a source.

In the evening, Kanimozhi read some Tamil books and went to her cell but did not interact with two other high-profile prisoners in her jail – Madhuri Gupta who spied for Pakistan and pimp Sonu Punjaban.

Perhaps apprehensive about how long she will remain in jail, given the trial court's view that she is capable of influencing witnesses, Kanimozhi is also missing son Aditya. On Sunday, she will be spending all day in jail as there is no court date, and will have the option of watching TV or reading books. 

PM's fake Twitter a/c creates flutter

A Twitter account purportedly in the name of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh created a stir for a few hours on Wednesday before it was officially clarified that this was not the case. A little later, the creator of the blogging account said that the account was a forum to discuss Singh and his policies.

But the account is likely to attract official attention if it is mistaken for Singh's account and may prove to be cause of concern going by the comments generated in the cyberspace. A spokesman of the ministry of external affairs said that on checking with the PMO, it was found that the account was not being operated on behalf of the Prime Minister. With several politicians taking to twittering, the account immediately caught attention.

25 paise coins to become history from June 30, 2011

The Reserve Bank of India will withdraw 25 paise coins and those of lower denomination from the market starting June 30. These coins will not be in circulation and can't be used as legal tender for payment.

RBI in a press statement said that those who have these coins can exchange them for their worth at 41 banks across the country. The banks where such coins can be exchanged are:

Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab and Sindh Bank, State Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India, United Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore, IDBI Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd, Dhanlaxmi bank Ltd, The Federal Bank Ltd, The Catholic Syrian Bank Ltd, The HDFC Bank Ltd, The Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd, The Karur Vysya Bank Ltd, The Laxmi Vilas Bank Ltd, ING Vysya Bank Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank, City Union Bank, Axis Bank Ltd and Karnataka Bank Ltd.