Smita gets government aid to fight legal battle

It is not a sin to be deadly attractive, no doubt. But unfortunately, many a young officers have been victims of feminine jealousy and the fourth estate seems to be the villain in most of the cases. Well, most often the victims of fetishism are left to defend themselves, but this pretty, petite civil servant is luckier than her counterparts. Smita Sabharwal, the IAS officer who was insulted by a national magazine and its Hyderabad-based assistant editor through a caustic column has got a mentor in the form of none other than Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

Looks like it doesn’t hold up, but the government, yes, I mean our own Telangana government, has given its Additional Chief Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (read Smita) a financial aid of Rs 15 lakh for her to take a legal battle to its logical conclusion. Remember, hurt and humiliated, Smita filed a defamation suit against the magazine and sought Rs 10 crore from the magazine management.

Millions protested against the outrageous treatment of a promising officer and condemned the magazine in unison (I was one among them).

Soon the snarky piece and Smita’s outbursts hit the headlines across the country, my close friend and a senior journalist with a Mumbai-based tabloid spoke to her husband, Akun Sabharwal, who is currently heading the Drug Control Administration. Outraged by the column, he said, “We were shocked and upset that a reputed national magazine had carried such a nasty, slanderous piece against a woman IAS officer. It took no time for her to realise that she should fight. We are married for 10 years. No slanderous piece against my wife by anybody is tolerable. Fortunately, I did not need to console her, as she is very strong. We were initially shocked but quickly realised our duty lay in taking on the magazine. What does the so-called journalist who wrote that indecent piece know how Smita is treated by the CM? The CM addresses her ‘naanna’, which means ‘little child’. How can such affectionate relations be misinterpreted?”

And that is it. How affectionately the legislature treats the executive? Chief Minister treats her as a little girl and heaps on her his affection in a fatherly manner. And now that his affection turned out to be true, with him providing her financial aid from the tax payers’ money, where can you find such a compassionate government?

I just remember how Merin Joseph IPS, a trainee officer went viral on social media in January this year when someone in her native Kerala posted her ‘very attractive’ photo on facebook with a caption “Merin Joseph IPS - How many likes for our new ACP of Kochi?” even as she was undergoing training at Hyderabad’s National Police Academy and how she handled the situation with ease.

Poor Smita does not know Madhavi Tata, the assistant editor of Outlook, but I do. It was after all a wrong way to handle a hitherto little known and insignificant journo for an IAS officer of Smita’s caibre. Now, with the government joined the fight, Tata stands a formidable challenge to the government and the bureaucracy.

Racist pigs, Miss America has Indian blood!

While it was a moment of pride for people in the country in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular, for 24-year-old Nina Davuluri, who was crowned as the first ever Miss America of Indian origin, she had some tough time facing the racist comments in social media.

When there was a huge outcry against racist comments across the world, Nina was calm and composed. She said she just ‘had to rise above such things. Nina, daughter of a gynecologist who emigrated from India, from Vijayawada to be precise, some 30 years ago, showed her true inner beauty, rather than just skin and curves and sizes.

The racists even termed her an Arab and a terrorist who had ties with Al Qaeda! One hater tweeted: "It's called Miss America. Get outta here New York you look like a terrorist.” There were so many such comments, but Nina said: "I have to rise above that...I always viewed myself as first and foremost American."

And that is true. She was born and brought up in the US. She lived her whole life in America. She is very much an American but with Indian blood. And for those do not know, thousands of years ago, much before Christopher Columbus landed in the land, America was inhabited by Indians. Indians were the aboriginal tribe of the present USA.

Those white racists do not seem to know about this bit of a fact. Though the general idea is that racism is largely against people of African origin, the fact is Indian Americans are the largest victims of racism in the States.

From 1980s, this hate groups have been growing in number, apparently unable to digest the “outsource-offshore” white-collar labour and Indian Americans’ economic growth. It may be recalled that a man of Punjab origin was murdered, a pizza delivery boy of Indian origin was manhandled and mauled and another American Indian was pushed out of a running train over the years.

Haters, remember the US is the land of Indians, and not anybody else’!

An untimely piece on premarital sex!

I am sure you will say this is an untimely piece, but humbly, yet firmly I disagree with you. I know you are busy discussing the national calamity and abhorring people and the governments for their insensitivity in times of chaos, crisis and catastrophe. You are heartbroken, you are woebegone. Yet, people will forget this soon and the nature will continue to nurture its spitefulness and as long as we don’t love her, respect her and stop ill-treating her. Yes, hell hath no fury as nature scorned!

But then, my ‘untimely piece’ will remain relevant forever, as the topic is sex and that too premarital sex! The day The Hindu carried a big report, ostensibly misinterpreted, about Madras High Court’s ruling on premarital sex, an old friend of mine (she is of course young!) called me and threw this question. “Hey, did you read the report? How can a court of justice make such a judgement? If this is the case, all young men and women have many wives and husbands!”

Yes, I understood the undercurrent. You can’t say when sex happens and how. Though the Firstpost carried a detailed report on the context the court had made this ruling, social networking sites were abuzz with discussions, for hours together. Youngsters were apparently angry. They have all reasons to be angry.

Let me clarify. The Madras High Court’s judgment conceived premarital sex as a mode of solemnising a marriage. But what was the context? A Hindu woman and a Muslim man were living under one roof and had sexual relations. The woman gave birth to two children between 1994 and 1999. Documents proved that the man was the father of the second child and that he had applied for a family card for himself, the woman and the two children. The marriage was not registered in the Islamic marriage register. The woman was deserted by the man in 1999 and the woman in 2000 filed for maintenance for her and the two children from the man.

When the case came up for trial, Madras High Court Justice CS Karnan said, “A ‘valid marriage’ does not necessarily mean that all the customary rights pertaining to the married couple are to be followed and subsequently solemnized.  Solemnization of marriage is only a customary right and obligation and not a mandatory one. In the instant case, both man and the woman lived together as spouses and therefore the relationship between them cannot be termed as ‘illegitimate’. If a woman aged 18 or above has a sexual relationship with a man aged 21 or above, and during the course of such relationship, if the woman becomes pregnant, she would henceforth be treated as the wife and the man would be treated as the husband. Even if the girl does not become pregnant after having such sexual relationship with a man but if there is a strong documentary evidence to show the existence of such relationship then also the couple involved would be termed as wife and husband.”

And that was it. But newspapers and television channels did their best to blow things out of proportion. Their over-creative sub-editors worked overtime to come up with flowery headlines. Good job for aspiring Mehtas and Nayars and Khushwants!

Human relations are strange and beyond any definition. Man-woman attraction cannot be judged and defined by any court of law. It has been pre-destined by the Maker. If a man, or a gang of men, assaults a woman… or if a woman or a gang of women assaults a man, let the law take its own course, but if two grownup human beings, man and man, or man and woman or woman and wo

man, have consensual sex, please leave them alone, as long as they are happy and content!

Pre-teen takes police for a ride

A 12-year-old girl from South Carolina has literally taken the police for a ride, when she stole a car that led cops on a hot chase.

According to a report appeared in the Huffington Post, the police initially thought the unidentified pre-teen was a drunk driver after noting her swerving and reaching speeds up to 70 miles per hour.

It all happened when the girl got into a brawl with her father that spurred her to leave the house. Angry over this, the girl stole a truck from a nearby VFW hall and hit the road, the report quoted the police.

“Police gave chase to the girl for 20 minutes from near her Gaffney, S.C. home all the way to Charlotte, N.C. The girl covered around 50 miles overall during the joyride,” says the report.

The owner of the truck had no clue how the little girl was able to steal the car telling WSOC in Charlotte that he wanted to know how she got inside the car and was able to get it started.

Officers corralled the young girl after she slowed down enough for officers to surround the truck.

The girl and her father may face charges in Charlotte for the incident.

Though the girl’s dad has to be mad and punish her for her reckless actions, on some level, you have to be proud, right? Endangering herself and others aside, it’s kind of cool that your daughter got all Dukes of Hazzard. Raising a badass ain’t easy, says the report.

UK Parliamentarians use comps for porn

If some of the BJP members in the Karnataka State Legislative Assembly are still embarrassed over their alleged porn surfing a year ago, here is bigger news of how elected representatives use their official computers to enjoy hardcore pornography, albeit not in our country.   

According to a report in Daily Mail, parliamentary computers are being used to view hardcore pornography featuring sadomasochism and foot and fat fetishism. In a shocking discovery, it was found that the X-rated websites have been accessed more than 2,500 times on computers used by MPs, peers and their staff.

The report says that gay cruising websites have also been visited a further 3,500 times along with obscure erotica sites – including one showing naked women posing with cats. Asked for an explanation, a parliamentary spokesman claimed the sites may have been “visited accidentally”.

The Mail claims to have obtained the information through a Freedom of Information enquiry. It covers a 14-month period between May 2011 and July 2012. The visits are a breach of parliamentary IT rules, which bar online ‘pornography’, ‘nudity’ and ‘adult/mature content’.

It was earlier reported by The Mail that parliamentary computers were used to click thousands of times on a website that encourages adulterous affairs.

Harry Potter, a barrister specialising in obscenity cases was quoted as saying: ‘Having viewed the material, it does not in my opinion fall foul of the law as constituting extreme pornography. It is, however, undoubtedly hardcore pornography.’

The report further says that a variety of foot fetish websites – which include pornographic images of lurid sex acts involving feet – have been viewed 470 times. Another website featuring an array of pictures of naked women lying next to cats has been viewed 17 times.

According to the report, a Polish pornography website was accessed 292 times in May 2011. In the same month, a dating website was clicked on 653 times. The website boasts it is ‘dedicated to connecting fun-loving singles across the UK’.

Further shocker by the report: “A gay dating website was accessed 2,828 times in May 2011. The website states it provides a ‘platform for the gay and bisexual male and transgender community.” And here is the most bizarre news: another website that allows users to pick which MPs have ‘the most sex-appeal’ has been clicked on 12,371 times.

So, should we understand that politics and porn go hand in hand?

Wolf in sheep’s skin

It was found that an English nurse turned out to be one of the worst serial killers, Britain has ever seen. According to criminal records archives, Amelia Elizabeth Dyer, killed 400 babies in the Victorian era

In what looks like a practical adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hide, an Englishwoman fondly called the “Angel Maker” one has now emerged as Britain’s worst-ever serial killer. In a spine-chilling discovery, it was found that she brutally killed 400 babies in the Victorian era, according to criminal records from 1770 through 1934 placed online by the National Archives.

According to reports, Amelia Elizabeth Dyer, born in 1829 in Bristol, killed about 400 babies - mostly illegitimate infants - between 1880 and 1896. The killings horrified society, and the public outcry led to stronger regulations on adoption and foster care in England.

Dyer was a trained nurse and decided to be a caretaker who would look after children until they were placed in foster care or were adopted, because it was a more lucrative business. She advertised her services and got responses from desperate unwed mothers who gave their children to Dyer for a fee to place them for adoption. Greedy Dyer was quick in pocketing the fee from the mothers – mostly impoverished laborers - but never took care of the babies. Instead, she gave them an opiate drug to keep them sedated and let them starve to death, says the report.

For almost a decade Dyer continued to do her nefarious activities, but was arrested for child neglect and sentenced to six months in prison. It was then that she was believed to have realized that killing the children immediately would be easier and safer than putting them to a slow death.

After her probation period, Dyer moved to Reading, which had liberal adoption rules, and started an adoption agency. She preyed on unmarried mothers who were more than relieved to hand over their unlucky children to Dyer. Some of the mothers asked her to kill their illegitimate children while others trusted her to find their children a loving home, say reports.

Dyer reportedly strangled the babies with a dressmaking tape and threw the bodies to the River Thames. She could continue her crimes unabated as doctors at the time couldn’t differentiate a stillborn baby from one that was strangled, reports say.

She continued her ghastly crimes for about three decades until 1896, when she was arrested after scores of bodies fished out of the Thames aroused suspicion and triggered an investigation. When interrogated, Dyer confessed to the crimes.

She was sentenced to death and hanged at Newgate Prison June 10, 1896.

A princess blackmailed!

Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al Saud is not that kind to be easily mortified and cornered. Instead she has decided confront the situation boldly and to expose the matter to the public.

Princess Basmah -a Saudi Arabian princess – fell victim of a blackmail attempt involving a video of her that could anger and shock the establishment in the hardline Islamic state.

According to The Daily Mail UK, the Princess is being held to ransom by a man who plans to embarrass her with a video - if she does not pay him £320,000.

The video shows her blowing a kiss and smoking with her head uncovered - taboos in strict Saudi Arabia.

But Princess Basmah did not bow to the demands of the man, but exposed the extortion attempt on her website and through social media channels.

The London-based Princess campaigns for human rights in the kingdom. According to the report, the plot began while Princess Basmah was on holiday at Christmas at The Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland.

She received a message on Facebook from a man claiming to be a friend, who she refuses to name but described as a sheikh in his 30s from the United Arab Emirates. She later discovered the account had been hacked by her blackmailer.

She was quoted as saying: 'He sent me a message saying how fascinated he is by my work, how he admired my writings and how I was a hero of the Arab world.'

She continued corresponding and then had a long video conversation via the internet just after Christmas. 'He was a young man. He started getting emotional, saying he would be coming to see me and that I had to see him. He said he was very attracted to me and I started to become suspicious.'

She felt the man, who resembled the sheikh, was trying to entrap her into saying potentially embarrassing things of a sexual nature and confronted him. Her blackmailer has demanded money not to publish the contents of conversations the princess was tricked into having, as well as videos and photographs. Princess Basmah says the video was stolen from her laptop and has no sound but shows her talking to her son by Skype.

Princess Basmah is the the granddaughter of Saudi Arabia's first king and founder of the modern state, King Abdulaziz, and the 115th daughter of his son King Saud, who reigned from 1953 to 1964.

She describes herself on her website as 'a tireless advocate of peaceful but essential reform in the Kingdom and elsewhere'.

Beware, farting can be dangerous!

Everyone must have experienced this most embarrassing situation – an uncontrollable urge to pass on gas when in public. While most of them hold it tight, some of them let it go. Those who let it go are the happier lots as once it goes right ahead, well, everything is pretty cool. But for those who hold up, it is potential indigestion and heartburn.

That is common, but imagine, you are in a plane and need to pass gas. No worries—assuming you're a passenger, says an oddball new study. According to the newser.com, the study, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, says If you're a pilot, however, you might want to think twice about letting one go. The "co-pilot may be affected by its odor, which reduces safety onboard the flight," the authors—five European gastroenterologists—say.

Researchers encourage you to go right ahead: Pressure changes associated with flying do indeed make us more gassy, and holding it means potential indigestion and heartburn.

The study weighed in on other flatulence-related topics: It found, for instance, that women's farts are smellier than men's, and that sulfur is at the root of the bad smell. Researchers also discovered a hidden benefit to sitting in economy class: The textile seat covers absorb up to half a fart's smell; first-class leather seats offer no such advantage.

Looks like these researchers have run out of topics!

Eat to die, Las Vegas style

When wise men say, ‘eat to live’, pay heed to it, man! If not, you may give up the ghost. That was what exactly happened when 52-year-old John Alleman fell dead outside an eatery.

The unofficial spokesman of an American restaurant - The Heart Attack Grill's – with a slogan "Taste Worth Dying For", had to prove the restaurant management right. Alleman, who dined at the infamous Las Vegas restaurant so often that he became its mascot, was waiting for a bus outside the eatery when he collapsed.

According to www.news.com.au, The Heart Attack Grill gained worldwide notoriety for its high-calorie menu which included the record-breaking 9,982-calorie, 3-pound Quadruple Bypass Burger.

It employs waitresses dressed as sexy nurses who "prescribe great-tasting, high-calorie meals including the Double Bypass Burger, Flatliner Fries, Full Sugar Coke, Butterfat Shake and no-filter cigarettes!"

Mr Alleman was "prescribed" so many burgers - often teamed with cream-laden milkshakes topped with a dollop of butter - that he was nicknamed "Patient John".

Restaurant owner Jon Basso was quoted as saying: "He never missed a day, even on Christmas. He lived, ate and breathed the Heart Attack Grill."

The reports say that Alleman was not the first Heart Attack Grill customer/mascot to succumb to an early death. In 2011, another loyal customer, the 260kg Blair River, died of flu-related pneumonia. Shortly after Mr River's death, a man had a heart attack in the restaurant prompting customers to laugh and take pictures of what they though was a publicity stunt. And in April last year, a woman in her 40s collapsed eating a double bypass burger, smoking cigarettes and having a margarita.

Women flash breasts to celebrate Pope’s exit!

Pope Benedict XVI‘s announcement that he was stepping down must have shocked Catholics across the globe, but a group of rebel women activists outraged visitors even more at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral by undressing in public to celebrate the Pope’s resignation.

The small group of topless women activists, affiliated with radical feminist group FEMEN, flashed their breasts and banged on bells in the cathedral, shouting slogans such as, "Bye Bye Benedict" and "No more homophobe," according to a report appeared in Huffington Post on Tuesday.

The "French Femen sextremists" were playing a "funeral march" for the pope, said the report. Another report was cited as carrying a photo of the women, accompanied by the following description:

FEMEN France noted the final hour of the homophobic Pope. FEMEN is congratulating the whole progressive world with the resignation of fascist Benedict XVI from the place of the head of the Catholic mafia. It's symbolic that today is the day of the voting of law of same-sex marriage in France. The ex-Pope was a fierce opponent of gay marriages. FEMEN applaud the complete capitulation of the middle age homophobia! Pope go to the devil! Viva common sense! Viva freedom!

The women jumped velvet ropes and banged on a set of bronze bells cast for Notre Dame's 850th anniversary. In order to avoid further embarrassment, staff turned off the lights and security dragged the women outside, say reports.

Adult films, human excrement most wanted items!

What is happening in North Korea? Reports indicate that all things weird are taking place in the "axis of evil" and "outpost of tyranny. The latest news from the ill-reputed country is that skinny jeans, adult films and human excrement are among some of the most wanted items for consumers in North Korea!

According to www.news.com.au, Kim Young-soo, a professor at Seoul's Sogang University who has interviewed several recent defectors from the Communist country, said that the items were selling "like hot cakes".

Other popular items sold in North Korea included TV dramas and instant noodles, Kim was quoted as saying.

Shops began selling human excrement to deal with acute shortages of fertiliser in North Korea, says another report.

"Each household used to use human excrement as fertilizer, but because it's hard to keep up with the amount, human manure shops showed up at markets," Professor Kim said.

Skinny jeans also became popular items for sale in the North after a ban on fashionable trousers was lifted.

"Skinny jeans are now popular and are changing the fashion style of women in Pyongyang," Professor Kim said.

A holy pastor and his sacred milk!

Are all these believers effing crazy? The pastor says and the sheep believe. If he says that his penis secretes ‘sacred milk’ as “it was blessed and the Lord had consecrated him with divine milk of the Holy Spirit", come frenzied followers to suck it out and find the ‘divine’!

In a most bizarre and shocking incident that happened in Brazil, an evangelical pastor - Valdeci Sobreni Picano - managed to abuse victims after convincing them that his penis contained ‘holy milk’!

According to a report appeared on January 28 in www.islandmix.com, the criminal pastor claimed that the Holy Spirit would secrete from his penis in the form of "sacred milk". This pastor said that his penis was blessed and that "the Lord had consecrated him with divine milk of the Holy Spirit" and, of course, he had to release it in order to "evangelize".

One of the victims was quoted as saying: "He has convinced us that only God could come into our lives through our mouth and that's why he would do what he did". Often, after worship, pastor Valdeci would take us to where the funds were kept at the back of the Church and asked us to have oral sex with him until the Holy Spirit would come through ejaculation".

And the worst of it all, the pastor who is already in jail, said when they arrested him, that he intended to continue watering his cellmates with his sacred milk! Oh God, don’t forgive him!

Woman chops off rapist’s penis!

This is one woman who has guts! When the whole of India is yet to get over tragedy that struck 23-year-old Jyothi Singh in a moving bus in the national capital in December last year, this 40-year-old Bangladeshi woman took law in her own hand. She literally thwarted rape by chopping of her neighbor's penis when he tried to assault her.

According to Huffington Post, Monju Begum, a married mother of three, made the sensitive cut as she fought back after neighbor Mozammel Haq Mazi forced his way into her shanty and began to assault her while she was asleep. The incident took place in Mirzapur village, Jhalakathi, about 124 miles south of the nation's capital, Dhaka.

Huffington Post reports:

"As he tried to rape her, the lady cut his penis off with a knife," police chief Abul Khaer is quoted by the AFP as saying. "She then wrapped up the penis in a piece of polythene and brought it to the Jhalakathi police station as evidence of the crime." He went on to note, "It is quite an unusual incident. As far as I am aware, this is the first time that a woman has brought a severed penis to the police station as evidence."

However, according to medical experts, Mazi’s loss is a permanent one.  It will not be possible to reattach the organ on the body of 40-year-old, married father of five, dashing hopes of him ever thinking of doing any action with his penis!

…

Drunk woman bites schoolteacher!

Women are often funnier after drunk. While many of them act silly under the influence, some of them go violent at the drop of a hat.  For 32 year old Kelly Kociela, a mother, could not control her anger when she was stop from entering into a school and she did the worst. She bit a teacher hard!

According to the Daily Mail, Kociela bit a teacher after turning up drunk at her children's school has been banned from entering the playground.

She had drunk lager and rum before arriving at Filton Avenue Junior and Infant School in Horfield, Bristol ‘distressed and slurring,’ reports the Daily Mail.

Kociela was held back by teachers as she tried to push her way into a school building to reach her children at an after-school club. When teacher Matthew Cox tried to block her path, she bit him on the arm.

Cox had to go to hospital and get precautionary tetanus and hepatitis B injections done.

Kociela was arrested and taken to Southmead police station where she told officers that she had drunk three or four pints of Stella and four rum and cokes before she argued with her partner and decided to collect her children.

She reportedly denied having any memory of being at the school and biting Cox.

Magistrates handed Kociela a two-year community order and she was ordered to pay £100 compensation to Cox, £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

Kociela may only go to the school if invited but can collect her children from the school gates.

Show boobs, give boost!

Girl students in Kansas seem to have gone crazy en masse. Female students at schools across the country are showing off their cleavage their school pride, perhaps hoping that their athletic teams will win.

According to a report in Huffington Post, a University of Kansas Jayhawks fan identified as Tiffany took a shot of her breasts covered by her Jayhawks shirt and added #kuboobs to her tweet hoping to "give a little boost" to a struggling team.

KUboobs.com writes:

“On a Saturday afternoon in a sports cathedral known as Allen Fieldhouse our beloved Kansas Jayhawks were facing certain defeat from the evil Missouri Tigers in a final battle for supremacy. Thousands of Jayhawk faithful watched helplessly as the border ruffians from Missouri sought to pillage and disgrace our beautiful cathedral. Far above the Golden Valley glorious to view, one woman had enough. She channeled the power inherent in all true Jayhawk fans to resurrect the Jayhawks from a 19-point deficit to a stunning one-point victory! That power was KU Boobs.”

The report says that the online phenomenon swept across Jayhawk nation "like a Kansas gale and carried the Jayhawks to the Final Four in New Orleans." Interestingly, the @KUBoobs Twitter account has more than 19,000 followers. More than 11,528 people like KU Boobs on Facebook and 5,540 people are talking about it on the site (and still counting).

A Nashville-based author with over 66,000 Twitter followers even claimed @kuboobs as "genius.”

A probably creepy and entirely inappropriate-for-the-office Twitter search yielded over 30 similar @boobs accounts at schools across the country. Even the "border ruffians" at Mizzou created an account. It's attracted over 6,000 followers, says the report.

Teenage girl hits schoolboy hard

In a bizarre incident, a 14-year-old girl was found hitting a boy repeatedly and showering him with abuses in a YouTube video that has been removed by now for violating its terms and conditions.

The video shows a young schoolgirl repeatedly punching a male student and subjecting him to a stream of foul-mouthed abuses. According to the Daily Mail, the case is being investigated by police and education chiefs.

The footage shows the petite girl jeering at the boy to shouts of encouragement from a friend filming the encounter in Scotland. She is then seen hitting the schoolboy in the head six times in a vicious attack.

The report says that the incident is understood to involve two pupils from Catholic comprehensive St Aidan's High School in Wishaw.

In the video, which lasts almost two minutes, the girl attempts to provoke the school boy, who refuses to retaliate.

She can be heard to say: 'He can't even speak or anything', to which the victim responds by insisting: 'I don't hit lassies.'

After an inaudible exchange between the schoolgirl and the boy she is then heard to shout: 'You don't be f****** cheeky to me right?', before pushing him and calling him more abusive names.

She then punches the boy in the face five times prompting gasps from the person filming.

The girl is seen attempting to goad the schoolboy into retaliating, shouting: 'Go on, hit me!'

But the victim, who keeps his arms by his side throughout the encounter, repeats: 'I don't hit lassies, right.'

The bully feigns landing another blow on the schoolboy, before actually hitting him once more and shouting more abuse.

Sexual abuse at workplace

According to a recent survey, 17 percent of Indian working women still face sexual harassment at workplace

Despite all tall talks of women emerging as an equally powerful workforce as men in our country, the grim fact remains that they are often discriminated and harassed at workplaces. A new survey conducted in major cities in the country by Oxfam India and the Social and Rural Research Institute reveals that as many as 17 percent of working women in India have experienced sexual harassment at their workplace.

As per the survey, about 17 percent of working women in India feel that they have experienced acts of sexual harassment at workplace, indicating a high incidence of sexual harassment among working women from both the organised and unorganised sectors. However, majority of women said they had faced incidents that were non-physical.

The survey says that 66 of the 400 respondents faced a cumulative of 121 incidents of sexual harassment. A total of 102 out of 121 incidents were reported to be non-physical, whereas the remaining 19 incidents were physical in nature.

While 87 percent of the general population and 93 percent of working women respondents reported awareness of sexual harassment of women at work place, a majority of the victims did not resort to any formal action against the perpetrator.

According to the report, maximum number of sexual harassment cases was reported among labourers (29 percent), domestic helps (23 percent) and small-scale manufacturing units (16 percent).

A report in a national daily quoted Oxfam India CEO Nisha Agrawal as saying: “Violence against women is a human rights violation, whether it is domestic violence within homes or sexual harassment at the workplace. We believe in the right of every woman to a violence free workplace."

Women working in the unorganised sectors are more vulnerable to sexual harassment due to lack of awareness of legislation. Economic problems often add to the misery at workplace.  The report sites some of the reasons for not taking any such action were "fear of losing job", "absence of any complaints mechanism at the workplace", "fear of getting stigmatized", and "not aware of redressal mechanism".

Happy and ‘gay ’

India is fast turning into a hot spot for gay travellers as it offers safety and a discrimination-free trip to the LGBT community

The world is abuzz with Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gay’ Bill. World leaders including Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton and David Cameroon are knitting their brows in anger and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is up the creek about their entity and safety.

But the sexual minority across the world has reasons to cheer. India offers exciting tourist destination for the LGBT community members to have a hassle-free frolic. India is fast emerging as the ultimate ‘pink’ tourist destination, thanks to Indian gay-tour operators.

It may be remembered that since the high court decriminalized homosexuality in 2009, India has been getting more popular among gay travellers. According to gay travel operates, LGBT tourists want the same things as any traveller: to feel safe and welcome. Feeling welcome is not only a reference to local hospitality, but also to larger issues of governmental rights, they say.

Pink tourism agents are making a killing by catering exclusively to the LGBT community. They make gay travellers feel welcome in an unknown land and also bridge the gap between them and the locals.

Their tour packages often include gay nightlife or interactions with local gay business people. The biggest difference between normal and gay-friendly tour operators is; the latter can anticipate the requirements of gay travellers better, compared to the former.

The prime concerns of the travellers are safety and a discrimination-free trip, which the operators ensure through extensive networking. Gay-friendly tour operators say that they keep an eye on clients' movements, as they have offices all across the country and make sure all necessary information about what to wear and where to go is provided to the clients.

Some gay-friendly operators like Pink Escapes sends out advisories to their clients about the Indian scenario and also how to manage interactions with new acquaintances. They also use the services of gay or gay-friendly establishments to secure a discrimination- free trip.

The pink tourists can, during their trip to India, get a flavour of the country through multifaceted experiences tailored to meet their cultural curiosities and adventurous escapades, apart from the normal sightseeing.

They can enjoy puppet shows, music and dance based on folklore in a natural setting, cooking from scratch - from tours of spice and vegetable markets to the table - attend a dream Indian wedding ceremony or get an insight into being a gay royal, among other delights. According to experts, the lure of India as a tourist destination lies not only in its gay friendly environment but also as a golden chance to explore.

And they are not just limiting their tours to big metros, they throng smaller cities like Udaipur, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Khajuraho, Varanasi and locations like back waters of Kerala, Marari Beach and foothills of Himalayas.

And if you didn’t know, Udaipur has a number of gay friendly restaurants and cafes, Jaipur has gay-friendly neighbourhoods and people, whereas down south, Kerala provides good opportunities for travellers looking for a therapeutic getaway.

Birthday guest stabbed for eating burger!

                                                              (Ann Carr)

Who cares if it is someone’s birthday and you are one of the invitees? If you try to eat anything else other than what you are ordered, beware, you may be stabbed with a kitchen knife!

That is what exactly happened to an unsuspecting guest at the birthday party of Ann Carr, who turned 37 recently.

The guest was stabbed with a kitchen knife for eating Carr’s takeaway burger and chips after a night out to celebrate her birthday. According to Daily Mail, Ann Carr had bought the food as she made her way back to her home in Allenton, Derby, with a group of people at the end of the night.

Carr had gone into her bedroom to remove her make-up, and the group continued the celebrations back at the house. Everything was fine until Carr was back and joined the guests, but suddenly the atmosphere soured when she realised one of her guests had eaten 'a lot' of her chicken burger and chips.

Unable to control her anger, Carr pushed the remnants of the food into the face of one onlooker and then fetched a 'large kitchen knife and lunged' at the man who had eaten the burger, reports the Daily Mail.

The attack damaged muscles around the man's spine and left him with a 3cm wound. The victim has had trouble walking and suffered nightmares in the wake of the incident, it was reported.

It is said that Carr who has battled with alcoholism, had taken drugs on the night of her birthday.

The court was told she had a previous conviction for assault dating back to in 1996. Carr’s mother died when she was a teenager and she had also lost her father and a brother.  As a result, she consumed a great deal of alcohol to deal with these emotional problems and she became an alcoholic, it was reported.

And now a golden car!

Even as the Pune man who flaunted his all pure gold shirt, much to the amusement of many, remains in news headlines, a glittering car at an exhibition has become cynosure of all eyes. In what can be termed as highly spectacular, the white Chevrolet UVA has been decked in two kilograms of gold, 30 kilograms of silver and around 20,000 Swarovski crystals!

The wonder car is on display at the gems and jewellery exhibition in the Gujarat Global Trade show, as a clear symbol of the tremendous economic growth the state has achieved.  

According to media reports, arguably India's most expensive car has an estimated base price of Rs 2 crore.  Mumbai-based sculptor Rajesh Bajaj, who designed it in collaboration with Rajkot's Bhindi Jewellers is all smiles as congratulations are pouring in.

The car was the work of 50 craftsmen, who wanted to pay tribute to the recent development in the state of Gujarat, say reports.

Rajendra Jain of Swarovski Gems India said that Rajesh Bajaj came up with the idea which interested him and in turn got in touch with Bhindi Jewellers to get it done.

"This is our tribute to Vibrant Gujarat and the development brought about by chief minister Narendra Modi," Jain was quoted as saying.

It took around 20 days to complete the project. It will be put up for auction on February 13. The money generated from the auction will be deposited in the chief minister's relief fund after the manufacturers' basic expenses have been deducted, say the reports.