VOL 13 ISSUE 22 ursday, January 23, 2014

French rape accused breachedbail with Christmas Day visit

PAGE 2 PAGE 3

e French consul employeecharged with raping his owndaughter attempted to visit heron Christmas Day, in a clearbreach of his bail conditions.

Accompanied by a group ofpolice officers, Pascal Mazurier,the principal accused in the case,arrived at the home of his es-tranged wife and asked to meethis children.

A police officer from Yela-hanka Police Station pleadedwith Mazurier’s wife on thediplomat’s behalf, according toestranged wife Suja, citing “hu-manitarian grounds” as the rea-son she should allow thechildren to see their father andgrandmother, who was alsopresent.

e visit, in clear breach of bailconditions which state that heshould not approach any of hischildren while the case is on-going, angered estranged wifeSuja who has complained to thepolice commissioner.

Sources at the Public Prosecu-tor’s office confirmed he was for-bidden from seeing his children,under the terms of his bail.

Mazurier told e Weekly Ob-server that he had gone to Suja’shome but clarified that he didnot negotiate with his wife him-self.

Speaking about the incident,Mazurier said that he had al-lowed the officers to act on his

behalf and when the request wasrefused he le without incident.

Mazurier, accused by his wifeof raping his three-year-olddaughter, was seeking the dis-missal of all charges as he hadsaid that there was no evidenceto substantiate that he was guiltyof the offence.

However, a Sessions Courtpassed an order against him onJanuary 6. e order read: “Ac-cused is not entitled for dis-charge. ere are sufficientmaterials to go for trial.”

Suja Jones, Mazurier’s wife,speaking exclusively to eWeekly Observer, said that herhusband, along with about sevencops from Yelahanka Police Sta-tion, arrived at her house onChristmas Day to meet the chil-dren.

He was also accompanied byhis mother.

Jones refused to let them meetthe children though thecops argued onMazurier’s behalf say-ing that she shouldgive consent as itwas Christmas.

According to thePublic Prosecu-tor’s office, underthe bail condi-tions, Mazurieris not allowed tomeet any of thechildren, asone is the vic-tim and the

other two are witnesses. Also,anybody who wants to meet thechildren has to get prior permis-sion from the court, which wasnot sought before Christmas.

“I was really angry. I askedthem if they realize that he is ac-cused of raping my daughterand you have got him to meetthe children. ey kept at it forabout 45 minutes and I had tokeep ex-plain-i n gt o

themthat Ic o u l dnot allowthis”, said

Jones.“I had to lock my children in

the house and asked them not toopen the door while I went tothe complex gate to talk to thesecops. ey kept saying that itwas a request as it was Christ-mas. e children were scaredand the neighbors kept askingme about it. e police got theaccused right up to mydoorstep”, she added.

According to Mazurier, thereis nothing in the bail order to

prevent him from meetinghis children.

“My wife is in contempt ofcourt. at case is in theHigh Court right now. I amnot breaking the law, Suja

is. She is hiding the childrenfrom everybody. My parents areallowed to meet all the children.She does not care about what the

children want.”She later lodged

a com-

plaint with the Commissioner of

Police requesting action againstthe Yelahanka Police.

No action has been taken as ofyet.Jones said: “While the copswere at my complex gate, a sen-ior officer from the police sta-tion kept calling me to convinceme to allow Mazurier and hismother to meet the children andsaid that it was an informal re-quest.”

Jones added that the last timeMazurier’s parents had met thechildren in February, they hadsaid that the children looked,‘drugged, over-weight anddirty.’

Anannya Sarkar

Traders protest atFreedom Park de-manding increase indaily wage.

TimelineJune 19, 2012: Pascal Mazurier arrested

October 17, 2012: Granted bail

November 2012 : Pascal Mazurier filed acomplaint with the police seeking a probeinto his daughter’s rape, saying that hewants the actual culprit to be caught.

January 6, 2013 : Court affirms that he willbe tried

January 24 : Charges to be framed againsthim.

‘ “My wife is in contemptof court. at case is in theHigh Court right now. Iam not breaking the law,Suja is. She is hiding thechildren from everybody.My parents are allowed tomeet all the children. Shedoes not care about whatthe children want.”

-Pascal Mazurier

Sunita Maheshwaricriticises emergencyservices in the city.

contd to page 3

Students of a prominent school in the cityrisk their lives every day as dozens of themare made to travel in auto-rickshaws whichare legally permitted to transport only sixchildren at a time.

It is a common sight to see auto-rickshawsstuffed with more than 12 children during andaer hours at St. Teresa’s Girls High School.

e Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 andKarnataka Motor Vehicle Rules 1989, clearlystate that while three adults are permitted totravel in an auto, not more than six childrencan travel in an auto at any given time.

e principal of the school, Sister Paulinesaid, “is is not our responsibility, we had ameeting with the parents of these children. Weinsist that they stop sending their children insuch vehicles which break the law by carryingmore people than they should.”

According to her the parents of these chil-dren were unwilling to listen to her advice orfollow proper legal procedures as far as thetransportation of their children was con-cerned.

“e parents are aware that the children arebeing sent to school in such a dangerous way”,she adds.

Commenting on the issue, the Police Sub-In-spector, Traffic, Chamarajpet, said, “If we findautos which carry more than six students orMaruti vans which carry more than 10 chil-dren, we shall impose fines of Rs. 2000 and3000 respectively.”

“We have already told the St.Teresa school toprovide buses to the students in accordancewith Supreme Court guidelines but they areunwilling to take such measures. We are wellaware of the risk involved when so many chil-dren are made to travel in a single auto-rick-shaw. e parents of these children should takenote of this and arrange for better transport fortheir children”, he adds.

Dhanraj, 30, the father of a 9- year- old girlwho is studying in the school said,” Last year,like other parents, I also sent my daughter inan auto which carries more than 10 children.However, aer seeing the danger involved I de-cided to stop sending her to school in an auto.From the start of this academic year I began todrop her off and pick her up myself.

He added, “ese kinds of autos should bebanned and the school management must pro-vide buses for their students.”

Despite repeated attempts auto drivers re-fused to comment on the issue.

The Weekly

ursday, January 23,2014Observer 2

Chitharth Mathivanan

Students stuffed like sardines in autos

e government has been considering a proposal for an extensionof the night life in Bangalore. e Observer team found out whatthe citizens of Bangalore think about it.

T. W. Sudhakar, director

of India Tourism said,

“There should be an ex-

tension in night-life time.

What night life do we

have right now in Ban-

glore, it is all restricted.

there is a lot of world her-

itage in Karnataka and

Bangalore is the gateway

for tourist.”

He added, “Tourists who

come here might want to dine and enjoy outside at

night. The move will help tourism flourish. All rules

and regulations should me made tourism friendly.“

Viva Kermani, Socialite: For the

myriad of issues facing this city, Mo-

handas Pai wants Bangalore to ex-

tend its nightlife.

Jairaj P, Businessman:

Cheers! That dreaded ‘Last Order’ hour

to be pushed past midnight!

Ankur, Photographer: Glad banga-

lore's govt. is considering extending

night life deadline from 11.30 pm to

1.00 am!

Gautam John, Lawyer : The City Extended

Nightlife Deadline Coincides With Rise In Liquor

Prices.

Amit Malviya, Banker: In another world, @kiran-

shaw & @MDPai05 continue to push

Bangalore to become another Delhi,

unsafe for women & flys!

Sashi Sekhar, Chief

Digital Officer at Niti

Digital: How about securing DayLife

first? Increasing lawlessness and

drunk driving RT.

Ramesh, an Assistant Lawyer: Keeping open the

bars is not a decision which I admire, it will lead to

youngsters getting drunk and late night brawls.

Suman, Works in high court: It is not a good

thing; keeping the bars open won’t do any good to

the society.

Rajeev Gowda, Professor: Govt

wants to extend Bangalore nightlife

deadline! Progressive move by CM.

Chandan, App Developer: Govt

wants to extend Bangalore nightlife,

cops wary - Congress Election Plan :

Ashenai, resident: My response to

the yet another move to extend

nightlife in Bangalore: "I'll believe it

when I believe it" (channeling the

great Yogi Berra

Seno Aldinata, an Indonesian residing in Ban-

galore: Excise department eyes Rs 500cr spike in

daily revenue: BANGALORE: Extend nightlife by

two hours in the city.

Aurosmita Acharya

Washington 3 AM

Rome 2 AM

Paris 2 AM

Japan 24/7

Boston 2 AM

London 24/7

New York 1 AM

Austria 4 AM

Qubec 3 AM

Dominian 2 AMRepublic

Ireland 12:30 AM

Nightlife or lights out? Bangaloreans divided over late-night drinks extension

Closing time for nightlife in global party cities:

Students of St Teresa’s School cramming into one of many autos

City in dire need of proper emergencyservices says pioneering medical expert

Sunita Maheshwari, eminent pe-diatric cardiologist and founderof Teleradiology Solutions, a first-of-its kind medical outsourcingcompany in India, commented onthe poor state of emergency serv-ices in Bangalore at a conferenceon national health care.

Speaking at the ‘National Con-ference on Healthcare in the 21stCentury’ held at the Institute ofHealth Management Research,Maheshwari said: “Bangalore iswell developed as far as infra-structure is concerned but interm of emergency services it isvery poorly developed. Access tohospitals in emergency condi-tions is one area where Bangaloreneeds to develop.”

Maheshwari highlighted the im-portance of new innovations andtechnologies and how Indian so-ciety could benefit from it.

According to her the problemswhich plague the healthcare sce-nario in the country could be eas-ily solved if resources wereproperly used.

Commenting on recent innova-tions in the national healthframework Maheshwari says,“ere are a lot of solutions thatare available. For example, the12th Five-Year Plan allocated Rs15 crore to the field of telemedi-cine, but this sum was not usedproperly. Innovation is one as-pect, but it is also important thatit must be used properly to reap

benefits from it.”Presently Maheshwari is work-

ing on a module of telemedicinethat is applicable in the Indiancontext, particularly in ruralareas.

She says, “Innovations liketelemedicine can be really helpfulin rural area but if such a conceptis to work, a sustainable modelhas to be developed. is has nothappened. Most telemedicinecenters in India see four to fivepatients a day. It will never be-come sustainable in this way.”

She added: “is is where thegovernment also has a role toplay, especially in the policies itmakes and in the training ofyoung minds. As far as deliveringhealth care is concerned the gov-ernment has failed miserably, toput it lightly. e governmentneeds to understand that the en-tire medical scenario has changedand must adapt itself to thechanging trends by developingnewer policies.”

Rxdx and Teleradiology Solu-tions, which out-sources medicalservices in India,is the first com-pany of its kindin the country.

Maheshwari,who was alsothe Editor ofthe PediatricCardiacSociety,

was educated at the All India In-stitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) Delhi, and Yale Univer-sity, Connecticut.

She was also one of the few peo-ple selected to meet AmericanPresident Barack Obama duringhis visit in 2010 because of hercontribution in the field of telera-diology and medical outsourcing.

Applying teleradiology in Indiaand making it work in the coun-try wasn’t an easy job for her.

She says, “Initially it was quite achallenge. People were not opento such new versions of technol-ogy where a patient could betreated without the doctor exam-ining them personally.”

She added, that like telemedi-cine, teleradiology will also keepgrowing. But what must be keptin mind is developing skilled doc-tors and training them to operatethe new technologies successfully.

Speaking about her interactionswith Obama she said, “What weconsider routine, he found inno-vative. He always wanted to knowwhat India as a nation was doing

to develop new technologiesand what kind of innovative

practices India is execut-ing.”

She concluded the in-terview by saying that,“Despite the numerous

drawbacks India willwork its way out.

Technologies haveimproved.”

T.W. Sudhakar

Rahul Sadhu

The Weekly

Observer ursday, January 23,2014 3

A bar located near a Public Education SocietyCollege (PES) remains open aer 11:30 pm andpolice officers can be seen outside as late as11.40pm..e law states that in Bangalore it is illegal to keep

bars open aer 11 pm and if any owners do notfollow this rule, the bar’s license can be cancelled.

A man who works in the SLN Bar said, “Nothinghappens if we keep the bar open aer 11:30 in thenight. At times the police create problems but notalways.”

Preetam Mandal, a student of PES College,who lives very close to the bar said: “at barremains open almost throughout the night.Even if they close the shutters, one can enter thebar through the back door. ere is space in thefirst floor of the bar where people can sit and

drink comfortably late at night. “e police rarely tell them anything. ere

have been times when my friends have pur-chased alcohol from the SLN Bar at 11.40 in thenight.”

He added, “At times aer 11:30 they will par-tially close the shutter and keep their businessrunning.”

Devraj Acharya another student of PES Col-lege said, “Sometimes when the police arrive,the bar switches off its lights and keep the shopopen.”

Krishna, inspector Yeshwanthapura PoliceStation, said: “e wine shops should be closed

at 10:30 pm and the bars should be closed at 11pm and bar cum restaurant at 11:30 pm.

But if at all they are open aer the closing time,they will be booked under the Violation Act. I willinform the police station near the SLN Bar andactions will be taken against them.”

ISHAN BHATTACHARYA

Cops look on as s tudent bar f louts deadl ine

A man drinking at the SLN bar which remains open after 11.30 pm. (Right )Two policemen seen outside the bar, around 11.40pm

News Brief

e six-year-old son of an auto driver died aerthe vehicle crashed in a busy city road onWednesday.According to the K.R. Puram Traffic Police Sta-tion, the incident took place on Wednesday aer-noon at Kaveri Nagar main road.

Shiva, 32, the driver of the auto-rickshaw wasferrying his son and a relative to a nearby place.

Police sources say that the auto-rickshaw wasbeing driven at a high speed and that it crashedaer the driver suddenly applied the brakes uponapproaching a speed-breaker.

Police Inspector, Ajaykumar from K.R Purampolice station said, “When Shiva applied thebrakes soon aer approaching the speed-breaker,the auto toppled leaving his son with major inter-nal injuries. He succumbed to his injuries onWednesday night. e relative was le with in-juries.”

A case has been registered at K.R. Puram PoliceStation under IPC sections 279 (rash driving),337(Causing hurt by act endangering life or per-sonal safety of others) and 304 (A) Punishmentfor Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to Mur-der.

Six-year-old killed as auto rick-shaw overturns on city street

CITU workers throng Freedom Park, demand wage hikecontinued from page 1

Subsequently, a complaint waslodged by Mazurier with theKarnataka State Commission forthe Protection of Child Rights,the Child Welfare Commission,the French Embassy and theFrench Commission.Jones received a letter from theFrench ambassador on January16 ‘urging’ her to allow the chil-dren to meet the ambassador as

he is presently in Bangalore. She claimed that the letter statedthat the French consulate islegally bound to provide assis-tance to any French citizen andthat her children were Frenchcitizens.However, she refused any suchassistance as her previous pleasfor help regarding the extensionof her children’s visa and finan-cial help were ignored.Mazurier has been in the newsfor comparing his situation tothat of Devyani Khobragade, theIndian diplomat who was al-

legedly mistreated in the US.According to Jones, this is

ridiculous as Mazurier is not en-titled to diplomatic immunityand was subjected to routinemedical tests as part of the rapeinvestigation.Commenting on this, Mazuriersaid: “It is not about immunity. Iwas referring to the ViennaConvention on consular rela-tions. I was talking about thetreatment and the speedy trial.Arrest depends on the finalorder of the court.”Mazurier was convinced that thecourt would dismiss his charges.But aer the court order was notin his favor he said, “I am disap-pointed. It would have saved metime and for me that means thatI can see my children faster. ButI am not scared. I will go fortrial.”e charges against PascalMazurier are to be framed onJanuary 24.It is interesting to note that theYelahanka police, when askedabout the incident on ChristmasDay, denied sending any cops toSuja Jones’ house. Munikrishna,Inspector, Yelahanka Police Sta-tion said, “We did not send anycops on anybody’s request. Wewould not do it without a courtorder.”

Over 25,000 daily wage work-ers gathered in Freedom Parkto demand an increase in theirdaily wage.

Centre of Indian Trade Unionsworkers demanded that theminimum wage of workersshould be fixed at Rs 10,000 permonth. At present they earn Rs3000.

Varalaxmi, CITU spokesper-son, said: “e demands of thedaily wage workers are blownaway by the government like thesmoke of cigarettes. Workershere are getting paid less than Rs3000 per month.”

Varalaxmi said that Aangan-wadi workers should continuetheir strike even if police beatthem up.

A CITU worker said: “If thegovernment does not pay atten-tion to our demands then to-morrow we will stage a violentprotest in front of Vidhana

Soudha.” Shree Ram, a toll collector at

Bagepalli on NH 7, said: “I ampaid very less. e pollutioncaused by the vehicles movingon the highway is making mesick. Per day labor wages are noteven discussed in the parlia-ment. Jobs should be made per-manent for tollcollectors; weare all on con-tract now.”

Maruti Man-pade, an Aan-g a n w a d i ,worker said:“e new gov-ernment hasdone nothingfor us. ingshave notc h a n g e d .Salaries shouldbe transferredto the accountsof the workersand not paid bycash.”

Prakash, who is leading the po-lice team in Freedom Park, said:“e protest has resulted thetraffic in the city to slow down.It is taking almost an hour forbuses to leave Majestic BusDepot.”

S Krishnamurthy, an autodriver in the city said, “is

protest is causing so much oftraffic. We have to take longerroutes and the heavy trafficblockage is causing problems forus.”

A lady Asha worker said: “Weare paid only Rs 2000 permonth; the government shouldfix a minimum wage of Rs10,000 per month. It is very dif-ficult for us to survive in Banga-lore with what we get. egovernment should listen to ourdemands. We can show thepower of labor to those runningthe city”

Labor minister Bache Gowdasaid that the CITU workers willmeet Chief Minister Siddarama-iah on January 27.

e workers staged a sit-downprotest and refused to budgeuntil agreement was reached ona date for a meeting. Organizerssay they will organize furtherprotests if their terms are notmet.

CITU workers at a sit-down protest in Freedom Park over wage demands

SHWETA NAIR &

SOUMYA BASU

Pascal Mazurier ar-riving at court,flanked by a cop

A CITU leader speaks at the protest rally in Freedom Park.

It is not about immunity.I was referring to the Vi-enna Convention on con-sular relations. I wastalking about the treat-ment and the speedytrial. Arrest depends onthe final order of thecourt.

- Pascal Mazurier

‘

KPN News

ObserverThe Weekly 4ursday, January 23, 2014

Observer Team: Editor–Anagha Sawant Chief Sub Editor–Mayuri Ravi Sub Editors– Neha SIngh Apurva Venkat, Chittharth M, News Editors: Ishan Bhattacharya, Nikita Larvekar, Anannya SarkarProof Readers: Bhaskar Dutta Picture Editor & Infographics– Anand Jain Reporters– Sneha Mejari, Tanisha Das, Rahul Sadhu, Shweta Nair, Soumya Basu, Aurosmita Acharya, Sushmita Sen & Saikat GhoshEmergency Call Services- Karishma Ravindran Email- editor@iijnm.org An IIJNM Publication (For Private Circulation)

EventsMUSIC

ART

THEATRE

Altered States of RealityGallery ird Eye presents Altered States of Reality paint-ing by A.K Govindan & NivasKanhere.Date: January 31Time: 10 am to 6 pmVenue: ird Eye - Indian ArtGallery, F-2, Epsilon VillasYemlur Main Road , AirportRoad

White Sugar LiveWhite Sugar is a band fromKerala, with a strong sociopo-litical conscience.Date: February 1Time: 8:30 pm onwardsVenue: Bflat Bar and Dining,100 Feet Road Above INGBank , Indiranagar, HAL 2ndStage

e Corporate Politics OfMacbeth

Back-biting, dirty power plays,harassment in the office andcrushed ambitions are in thisnew adaptation of WilliamShakespeare`s Macbeth.Date: February 9Time: 3 pm and 6:30 pm Venue: Jagriti eatre, Ram-agondanahalli, Varthur Road ,Whitefield.

A 207ft high tricolor towers over India’s national war memo-

rial. The flag was erected today at the city’s memorial park.

Students from four different schools add the final touches to their displays at Parade Ground ahead of Republic Day party

An estimated Rs 20 lakhis scheduled to be spentfor Republic Day celebra-tions in various schoolsacross the city.

S. P. Kagle, Joint Directorof Physical Education,Commissioner’s Office,said, “e expense will be

around Rs 5 lakh for eachprogram. e Bruhat Ben-galuru Mahanagara Palikeand the Deputy Commis-sioner’s office will be pro-viding money to eachparticipating school.”

Each of the four partici-patory schools is to begiven Rs 5 lakh each.

e four schools areMaximillen High Schoollocated in KHB Colony,Shyam’s Education Societyin Govind Shetty Palya,NBN Weavers and Inter-national School in AnekalZone and GovernmentSchool Bangalore.Sinappa, an official at the

Deputy Commissioner’soffice said, “e rehearsalsbegan from January 22.No rehearsals will be heldon January 25 as the seat-ing arrangements will befinalized that day. On Re-public Day the governorwill host the flag at 8 a.m.Different schools from

Bangalore will be per-forming here that day.”

Girija, who works forSarvajanik ShikshanaElakhe, said,” Rehearsalsin the parade ground havebeen going on since yes-terday. Children are prac-ticing since the beginningof January.

ere will be four pro-grams. Sarvajanik Shik-shana Elakhe is in chargeof conducting all four ofthem.”

e programs which willinclude cultural depictionsof all 28 Indian states willbe conducted in English,Hindi and Kannada.

sushmita seN

Karnataka gearing up for Republic Day celebrations

e state government’s ‘Namma Wi-Fi’ project, which provides a free Wi-Fi scheme, a first of its kind in thecountry, has hardly any users. e project, announced in the lastbudget session, is also going to belaunched at three more places in thecity, Kormangala, Yeshwantpur andShantinagar.

Mehboob, a businessman said, “Idon’t think it will help much.” Headded “Everybody now –a- days hasWi-Fi in their phones and hence peo-ple won’t be dependent on the freeWi-Fi scheme by the government.”

Half of the people in the city are notaware of the state government’s move.Atul, who works at a private firm, wasamong them.

He said: “Yeah. the nearby coffeeshop has a Wi-Fi, however I have noidea about the MG Rd’s Wi-Fi project.

Vishnu, who works in omasCook, said, “It is not feasible to haveWi-Fi in a place like MG Rd. How canthey provide free Wi-Fi? When peopleget to know about this they will comehere every day only to access Wi-Fi.”

He added that in this case the band-width provided must be high. emove will benefit the residents whostay nearby and the number of indus-tries and banks which are set up on

MG Rd.Harsh, a student, said “e move

will help the hoteliers nearby to im-prove their business.

“ I come here on weekends so I won’tmind it. It will also help the teenagerswho chit-chat on social networkingsites.”

Rafiq, owner of a roadside Internetcafé, is sure that the free Wi-Fi schemewill not hit his customers. He said,“Free Wi-Fi is not new. It is there forsome time now. at hasn’t reducedmy income.”

D-VoiS, the company who acquiredthe contract from the state govern-ment to set up the Wi-Fi, refused togive any details.

However, the Director of the com-pany said that the work is going in fullswing. He added, “e Namma Wi-Fiwill benefit the IT professionals of thecity going on in full swing.”

saiKat ghosh

MG Road gives a mixed response to ‘Namma Wi-Fi’

‘Everybody nowadays

has Wi-Fi in their phones

and hence people won’t

be dependent on the free

Wi-Fi scheme by the gov-

ernment.

- Rafiq

Owner of a Cyber cafe

Photo Credit: KPN News