Harassment of men- Need for gender neutral laws

India is now going through a very bad patch with ever increasing attacks against women and children. The same ever increased over the last year. From the infamous Sowmya murder case to the Delhi gang rape case to the present case of a little 5 year old being gang raped, there is ever increasing reports of women and children being subjected to harassment. Now it is absolute certainty that perpetrators of such heinous crimes need to be punished with such severity that will deter others from repeating such crime. Recently our parliament has passed stringent laws to make such acts punishable with even death in certain crimes. But there are certain grey areas in such laws that need to be corrected.

As a legal professional, I am apprehensive about certain sections of these acts by which just the statement of the women is enough to convict the man involved. Such a notion can pave way for abuse as any women having some grudge against any man can file a false complaint and that man will be left high and dry and has to defend and  redeem himself and his name. Branding every man as a criminal until he proves himself innocent is against the natural justice and equality before law. Now many would say that no women would advance such a false allegation. But like any other lawyer, we come across many cases where in the women has advanced false case even of rape to settle score with a man against whom she may have some grudge. This should not mean that I am justifying the atrocities that innocent girls and women had to undergo in the hands of criminals. Such anti social elements need to be booked and given the maximum possible punishment .But yet there are many cases where in the women hoists false cases against the men to meet their sinister ends.

The case in point is the draconian section of IPC namely Sec-498 (A). By this section, any wife can file a criminal case against her husband, in-laws and his relatives. Being a non bailable offence, the husband and his family run the risk of being arrested and has also face the arduous task of getting bail and interrogation etc. This forever brings bad blood between the husband and wife and reconciliation seems becomes impossible . Sec-498 (A) was made for a just cause, to protect innocent wife against the harassment for dowry by her husband and his relatives. But the way this section was drafted has left open room for abuse by wives having vendetta against her husband. Now it has become almost a fashion for wives to file such false and frivolous cases against her husband. In many cases, the matter get settled by the time of evidence with the wife getting terrified to depose the lies that she had made up against the husband before the court and in many cases the husband being acquitted, facing the legal onslaught  by the husband against the wife under Sec-193, IPC and other relevant provisions of IPC for telling lies and for perjury including filing false and factitious case . The other act is "The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act". By this act, the wife can file a petition for residence by which she can stay put in her husband's house and the husband and his male relatives in certain cases has to leave the house. This act was created as a shortsighted one without clear socio- economic studies and it's impact in the society. This act is also invoked by the wives against her husband and his family and to harass him to no end.

What now is required is a change of direction to where we are going. What India requires now  are laws that does not discriminate against men and women but treat everybody as equal. Criminals need to be punished but branding every male as a criminal even before trial is against the fundamental rights of every man and a rapprochement is required. The time is now. Otherwise we run a serious risk of crumbling of the society and along with it the institutions that make every man and women live and go about their daily business. What is required now is a gender neutral laws that treat every human irrespective of his  being a male or a female as equal and equal protection of free trail given. Then only can we call ourselves a just society.

Aliens- Myth or Reality

As we enter the new decade, it is time to ask the eternal; question, "are we alone in this world"?

For me, my interest in aliens were kindled in the childhood. It began with a program by Dooradarshan called"UFO-The Extra Terrestrial" broadcast back in the mid 1980's. Largely based on the USAF investigation on the sighting's of UFO's under the project "Blue Book", it records the sighting of UFO's  and records the experience of the onlookers. Then there was the X-Files in the late 1990's. 

When we talk about aliens, the first picture that comes to our mind is the small humanoid form with big eyes. They are the most common of the aliens and are referred to as gray. They were also depicted in ET-The Extra Terrestrial movie and also in several episodes of The X-Files. The sightings of UFO's are quite rampant through out the world. The government dismisses them either as natural phenomena  or some times balloons  How ever such explanations refuse to cut ice as the sightings of UFO's keeps on increasing through out the world. The biggest covered story is the infamous Roswell incident where a space craft with aliens were supposed to have crashed and later on the craft and the alien body was subjected to extensive study by the American government in a top secret military facility called "Area-51" or so say the UFO enthusiasts.

India is also not immune to UFO sightings. UFO's has been spotted all over India. The most important sightings is that off in Himalayas along the Indo-Chinese border where in UFO has been sighted many number of times and it has been speculated that there may a UFO base there. Now all these are just whims of fancy unless backed by solid evidence. Now convincing evidence could be brought out to prove the existence of ET's by the proponents of UFO's. Hence the question that need to be asked is " who or what are they? Where do they come from? What are their mission here on earth? For that we may have to look to our past. All cultures that include The Maya, Inca, Egyptian to Mesopotamian to the Indus valley to our own ancient Hindu epics talk about mysterious beings who fly in crafts which are capable of inter stellar travel. These civilizations have made advanced buildings like the Pyramids of Egypt to the lost cities of the Maya. What technological marvels helped these Ancient's to make such wonders and also develop advanced civilization that is in many ways centuries ahead of their times. Can we explain the technologies of the Vimanas in ancient Indian mythology or the serpentine dragons of the Chinese? An underlying fact is that if you take all the ancient civilizations, they have some foot notes common to all of them. But we are in early days to satisfactorily explain these things. It will take many years to painstaking study to correctly explain all the ancient phenomena if at all they can be explained at all.

One thing is certain. The universe is so vast that it will be foolish or arrogant for us humans to assume that we are all alone in this universe. There are billions of worlds capable of supporting life and many may also contain advanced civilizations. As humans grow and start to explore the space, the last frontier, who knows what all we will encounter. We are so nascent in our growth technologically that it might take us centuries to even comprehend such advanced civilizations.

In the end, it is every man's yearning to explore the unexplored. That is what drives us forward and makes humans discover new things and conquer new horizons. Until such times, let us make our own world a heaven, where poverty and hunger will be a thing of the past where everybody shall be protected and loved (Sounds too Utopian). Let's hope we have such a world to live in.

THE TRIANGULAR DIPLOMACY IN ASIA THAT WILL CEMENT THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD AT LARGE BUT ASIA IN PARTICULAR

The Triangular deplomacy in high seas, an India-China-United States tango

An Analysis of the Chinese military

http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/ChinasDefenseWhitePaper2012_rgupta_220413

LAW JOKES-2

Just some more court jokes that I wanted to share:

 IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN CALLED FOR JURY DUTY.....THEN YOU HAVE TO KNOW THIS IS

 PRICELESS! Enjoy a good laugh! These are from a book called: "Disorder in the American Courts",

 and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court

 reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place. 


___________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?

 WITNESS: Yes.

 ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?

 WITNESS: I forget.

 ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot? 
___________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?

 WITNESS: We both do.

 ATTORNEY: Voodoo?

 WITNESS: We do.

 ATTORNEY: You do?

 WITNESS: Yes, voodoo. 
____________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: Now doctor, "isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about

 it until the next morning?"

 WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam? 
 ____________________________________
; ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year- old, how old is he?

 WITNESS: He's twenty, much like your IQ. 
 ___________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?

 WITNESS: Are you kidding me? 
 _________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?

 WITNESS: Yes.

 ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?

 WITNESS: Getting laid 
____________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?

 WITNESS: Yes.

; ATTORNEY: How many were boys?

 WITNESS: None. 
 ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?

 WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney? 
 ____________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?

 WITNESS: By death.

 ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?

 WITNESS: Take a guess. 
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual? 
WITNESS: He was about 20, medium height, and had a beard. 
 ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female? 
 WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male. 
______________________________ _______
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people? 
 WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight. 
_________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to? 
WITNESS: Oral. 
 _________________________________________
 ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body? 
 WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.

 ATTORNEY: And, Mr. Denton was dead at the time?

; WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished. 
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?

 WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question? 
______________________________________
 And the best for last:

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?

 WITNESS: No.

 ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?

 WITNESS: No.
;
 ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?

 WITNESS: No.

ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?

 WITNESS: No .

 ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?

 WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.

 ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?

WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law. 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scrap Rafale, Viva Tejas! | The Asian Age

Scrap Rafale, Viva Tejas! | The Asian Age

VISHU-CELEBRATIONS FROM MY CHILHOOD

                         
                          (Picture Courtesy-Dr T.M.Sarvothaman Nedungadi)

    Vishu, the celebration of lights and celebration for the Keralites. It is the beginning of the Malayalam New Year. A time when the schools close for the long summer vacation after the end of an academic year. The children unshackled from the burden of education celebrate to their hearts fill.

For me, Vishu has special place in my heart from my child hood. It was the time when after the annual exams and closing of the school, we used to travel to my father's native place at Trichur. There all my cousins would come for the vacation. There used to be my brother Anu ettan. with whom  I always had a special bond. We used to play many games including cricket. Then there was also the festivities in Trichur associated with Vishu, the cultural capital of Kerala. There used to visit  the Trichur Excibition at the Thekinkaddu Maidan. We along with our parents used to visit there. There was all types of toys including motor boats. These things used to have special fascination in my heart. Those were the times when such toys were not available off the shelf and we had to wait the exhibitions. Then ether was the Giant Wheel. Even though I was the timid one afraid of such adventurism, my cousins including my sisters would have a bash out there even taking a ride in the Giant Wheel. Now consider that time when there was no theme parks like today. Hence these melas had a special attraction for the common man and there always used be a lot of crowd in such occasions.

Now the day of Vishu would begin with the Vishukanni. My grand mother and my aunt would decorate the Kanni in such a beautiful way that the beauty still lingers in my mind even now. The beauty of the Vishukanni used to radiate with the light from the Vilakku or just the oil lamp. After the Vishukanni, there was the Vishukainittam, the highlight for us youngsters when the elders would give us the money. The only earning of us youngsters, we would spend the money on buying crackers or some fasinating toys. Then would start the time of fire crackers. The Chakram, Malapadakkam, Pookutti, rocket, Kambithirri all stocked up my aunt will find their glettering best in our hands. My father was the boldest one who had the duty of lighting the malapadakkam. My brother Anu would do his bit. I used to confine my self to small crackers. We had the bash of the time. Then after bath, we used to addorn in new cloths and visit the temples of Trichur which include Kottapuram, Shankaran Kulangara, Parmekavvu and Thiruvempady. The highlight of the day was of course the Sadya or the feast. After a grand feast typical in Kerala fashion, it was time to return to the daily life and return to Palakkad.

Now as I describe it, I really miss those times  from the bottom of my heart. The times narrated above was from my child hood. As we grow older and all my sisters and brother get settled into their lives in different parts of the world and I get busy with my own legal  carrier, we deeply miss all those times we were together. In the deepest corner of our hearts, we have a special place for the times long gone by and the good times we had together. It is such pleasant memories of the past lingering in our thoughts and minds that gives us the strength to move ahead in life with strength and resolve knowing fully well that there is always my sisters, brother and other relatives whom you can always trust for emotional support at times of need. That gives us the strength to move forward in life.

WISHING ONE AND ALL A VERY HAPPY AND A PROPEROUS VISHU AND A SUCCESSFUL YEAR AHEAD                                         

A deep analysis of Indian Navy expansion program

A deep analysis of Indian Navy expansion program (Courtesy Indrus.in), must read

http://indrus.in/economics/2013/04/08/indian_aircraft_carrier_programme_the_makings_of_a_global_naval_pow_23649.html