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