Feed Widow OF Marine Suing Feds and D.A.

NEW YORK, New York – Cynthia Sommer, released from jail last year after a San Diego jury convicted her of first-degree murder, is suing the federal agencies that investigated her and the district attorney who prosecuted her more than two years ago.

On Thursday, Sommer filed a multimillion-dollar suit in federal district court in San Diego, California alleging fraud, false imprisonment, violation of her civil rights and other tortious conduct on the part of the federal and state agencies and individuals involved.
She is seeking $20,000,000 in damages and other relief including a court order that murder charges can never be refiled against her.
Sommer was arrested in November 2005 and charged with poisoning her husband, Todd, 23, an active duty Marine who died at their home on the Miramar base nearly four years earlier. Sommer was tried and convicted in San Diego in January 2007. The district attorney presented evidence at trial that tissues recovered from Todd Sommer at autopsy showed high levels of arsenic in his liver and kidneys.
The trial judge threw out the murder conviction and ordered a new trial in late 2007 after finding that her attorney, Robert Udell, committed tactical errors which deprived her of a fair trial.
Sommer continues to claim that the tissues tested were contaminated in the government lab. While awaiting a new trial, her new attorney, Allen Bloom, requested that the state search for more tissues that may have been recovered from Todd Sommer and never tested for the presence of arsenic. In early 2008, the government did, indeed, find some tissues preserved in paraffin and sent them to an independent lab for testing. When the results came back negative for the presence of arsenic, Sommer was immediately released from the San Diego County jail where she had spent about a two and a half years.
The district attorney dismissed the first-degree murder charge for the time being but wants the right to bring charges in the future should new incriminating evidence arise. The current dismissal is “without prejudice.” Sommer wants the district attorney to dismiss “with prejudice” which means she could never be charged again. Another hearing on that issue is scheduled for this Friday in San Diego state court.
Since April 2008, Sommer has been re-establishing herself. She is now enrolled in college, has custody of her four children, and plans to work with the Innocence Project. Her youngest child, Christian, is the son of Todd Sommer. Christian, now 9 years old, was not quite two when his father died.
Sommer is suing the United States of America, three NCIS Special Agents Rob Terwilliger, Rick Rendon, and Mark Ridley, the Naval Medical Center in San Diego County, the Medical Examiner’s Office of San Diego County, Glenn N. Wagner (chief medical examiner in San Diego), the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn who handled the trial in 2007.

Five Dead and Town Warned to Lock Its Doors

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Police issued a warning today in a small central Illinois town that whoever slaughtered a family of five was on the loose and extremely dangerous.

"I think people do need to lock their doors and take precautions," Logan County Sheriff Steve Nichols said today at a news conference according to the Bloomington Pantagraph. "Until we find this person, we consider them armed and dangerous."

Found dead in the family massacre were Raymond and Ruth Gee, approximately 46 and 39 years old, and their three children ages 11 to 16. Their youngest, 3-year-old Tabitha, survived the attack in the family's Beason, Ill., home and was taken to a hospital.

Police have called the Gee family murders a "brutal homicide."

Beason Postmaster Jodie Duncan, who knew the older children well, said no one in this tiny town of 300 knows what to think at this point.

"They're on edge," she said of the town's residents. "I think until the community gets more information as to what's going on, they're on edge." Rural mail carrier Harry David Edwards, who has delivered mail to the town's residents for more than 30 years, told ABCNews.com that he had heard it was one of the children's grandfathers who found the bodies Monday afternoon after not being able to reach the family.

"To take out kids and the whole family like that," he said, "I don't know."

Police said the bodies were found around 4:30 p.m. Monday after receiving a 911 call about a possible shooting at their 2150th Avenue home.

The children were identified as Justina Constant, 16, Dillon Constant, 14 and Austin Gee, 11.

"They were all good kids," Edwards said.

5 bikini baristas at Everett stand charged with prostitution

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EVERETT, Wash. -- Five baristas of a local bikini coffee stand are accused of engaging in prostitution while on the clock.

Police spokesman Robert Goetz said the five employees of Grab-N-Go Espresso were charged with prostitution and violating the city's adult entertainment ordinance following a two-month undercover investigation

Goetz said no sex was involved; however, the women, ages 18 to 24, engaged in groping and other sexual acts - including exposing their breasts and privates and licking whipped cream off of each other - in exchange for money.

Police launched the investigation after receiving dozens of complaints regarding bikini baristas' allegedly lewd behavior.

The women are expected to be arraigned in municipal court in the upcoming weeks.

On Thursday morning, the stand's owner said the charges are false.

Because the charges are misdemeanors, the women have not been taken into custody and the coffee stand remains open.

Meantime, the Everett City Council is considering a tougher lewd behavior ordinance. Talks began after the city received some 50 complaints in the past six months about some local bikini baristas
"They'll flash you for extra money or they'll let you stick money on their underpants," said resident Kay Gourley.

Mayor Ray Stephanson said the new ordinance will address such lewd behavior.

A Murderer on the Loose?

For two days, neighbors have been anxiously awaiting news of a suspect or arrest, but to no avail. Police blocked off the road leading up to the home, now turned crime scene, and investigators have been spotted searching for evidence as far away as the town of Chestnut, 6 miles away,according tolocal media reports.

The supervisor of the local township, Ken Hutchison, told a TV station that residents who are accustomed to the area's slow pace, are now frightened at the thought of a killer at large. "It's a tiny rural community, and everyone is wondering how it could happen here."

Betty Poston, 76, grew up in Beason and says she never thought she'd live to see something like this in her town. "Everybody always gets along," she told a reporter. "Neighbors helping neighbors. That's just the kind of town we are."

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Nichols said autopsy results had shown that none of the victims had been shot, contrary to previous speculation. But he wouldn't discuss exactly how the victims died.

On Edge After Family Murdered

Raymond and Ruth Gee and 3 Children Killed, Police Tell People to Lock Their Doors

The tiny farming town of Beason in central Illinois is ordinarily quiet. With its perfectly planted trees, sprawling miles of corn fields, and the patches of flowers around the small homes, this quaint town of 250 would seem like a perfect slice of Americana.

But by Tuesday, all the residents were digesting shocking news: A couple and three of their children were found murdered inside their home Monday afternoon.

Logan County Sheriff Steven Nichols called the killings the."brutal homicide of an entire family" . He declined to discuss how the victims were killed or a possible motive today.

But residents have been asked to be on the lookout for a gray pickup truck with chrome exhaust pipes that was seen in the area on Sunday night. , according to ABC affiliate WICS in Springfield,III.

Nichols issued a stern warning to the town.

"Since we don't have the suspect in custody, lock your doors; consider this person armed and dangerous."

Among the deceased family members are Raymond "Rick" Gee, 46; Ruth Gee, 39; Justina Constant, 16, Dillen Constant, 14; and Austin Gee, 11.

A sixth member of the family, 3-year-old Tabitha Gee, survived the attack and was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Peoria. She is listed in stable condition and being cared for by her grandmother.

Police discovered the bodies Monday afternoon after responding to a call about possible shots fired at the Gee's home.

Room with a dead good view

Few people would choose to spend their nights in a cemetery surrounded by gravestones, tombs and ivy.

But one Sheffield couple have - and they are not goths.

When Sally Rodgers and Martin Bullock saw a house advertised for rent in Sheffield General Cemetery, they jumped at the chance.

The Victorian cemetery which contains the graves of 87,000 people has two entrances - one on Cemetery Road and another near Ecclesall Road.

Sally and Martin live on the Ecclesall Road side, just through the Egyptian Gateway - a massive columned entrance with a big brass gate.

Just through the gateway is a door marked Private. This is Sally and Martin's house.

BBC Radio Sheffield's Howard Pressman visited the couple in their new home in August 2009. They had been looking for a house to rent in Sheffield for a while when they saw this one advertised in the Sheffield Star.

"It just popped up. We never would have thought we would live in a cemetery. We thought we'd just go and have a look out of interest but then we loved it!"

One of the stipulations of the rental agreement was that the tenants also had to take on the role of part-time cemetery warden, but that did not dissuade Martin:

"We had to have an interview to be a warden as part of the deal but it's only seven hours a week - checking the cemetery is ok and keeping it tidy.

"They probably conducted interviews because they didn't want goths or people who were into death. They wanted people who were interested in the cemetery and looking after it. I've done caretaking jobs before, and I'm interested in history and archaeology.

"The building is Grade II listed - it's a little castle. Being the warden is a small price to pay to live here."

As well as the two main rooms the strange little house has a shower and a small kitchen, plus of course gravestones outside the door. The couple were redecorating the small house when Howard Pressman visited. Between coats of sunny yellow paint Sally showed him a particularly interesting part of the house.

"I think the building used to be two different rooms with separate outdoor entrances but to make it habitable they added this little enclosed bridge between the two rooms - it's like a shed stuck out over the river.

"There's a port hole looking on to the River Porter and a lovely tree. That's my favourite bit."

Sally and Martin could have chosen any other house in Sheffield - so why did they choose one which had gravestones outside the door?

"It's Grade II listed, it's Egyptian-esque, it's set in 16 acres of Victorian cemetery," says Martin. "What other chance in life are you going to get to live like that?

"Sheffield cemetery is gorgeous - it's not active as a graveyard at the moment, it's a park. There are two chapels in back garden, all Sheffield's glitterati are buried here and it's off the busy shopping area of Ecclesall Road."

When asked if the idea of dead bodies outside the door puts them off, Martin laughs: "No, that's ok - there are dead people on the streets!"

Sheffield General Cemetery opened in 1836 as one of the first commercial cemeteries in Britain. It contains one of the deepest single grave plots in the UK, holding the bodies of 96 paupers.

In 1978 the Cemetery was closed for burial and half the site was demolished to create a green space. It is now a conservation area, listed on the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Five of family die in ‘haunted house

LAHORE: Five persons of a family have died under mysterious circumstances in Dayal village during the last two days in what is said to be a “haunted house”, according to Wagah Police. Sughara Bibi, Police Sub-Inspector Khushi Muhammad’s wife, his servant Saad, nephew Manzoor, Shaheen and Meena were killed during the last two days. Muhammad suffered a heart attack recently and is under treatment for paralysis. Muhammad said that his house was haunted and claimed that his family members heard mysterious voices before their death. A spiritual healer was trying to capture what they called a ‘jinn’. The police have started investigations.

Miri’s Hunger

Helen Oyeyemi’s eerie third novel features a young woman who has a strange eating disorder and lives with her twin brother and widowed father in a haunted house across the street from a cemetery full of unmarked graves. On the surface, this setup might appear best suited to the young adult fiction market, but Oyeyemi (who was born in Nigeria and educated in England) knows that ghost stories aren’t just for kids. And “White Is for Witching” turns out to be a delightfully unconventional coming-of-age story.

Miranda — or Miri, as she’s called — suffers from pica, a disorder that compels her to eat foreign objects. “She crammed chalk into her mouth,” her brother explains. “She hid the packaging at the bottom of her bag and threw it away when we got to school. But then there’d be cramps that twisted her body, pushed her off her seat and lay her on the floor, helplessly pedaling her legs.” The novel was published in Britain as “Pie-kah” (the pronunciation of Miri’s affliction), a less sensational title that grounds the narrative in the girl’s sad psychic state rather than in its supernatural elements.

After his wife, who works as a photo journalist, is killed on assignment in Haiti, Miri’s father takes sole control of the family’s ancestral home in the southeastern coastal town of Dover, which the couple have converted into a bed-and-breakfast. But the house — which has its own spirited personality — has other ideas. It frightens off the hired help and even insists on narrating some of the story. (“One evening she pattered around inside me . . . and she dragged all my windows open, putting her glass down to struggle with the stiffer latches. I cried and cried for an hour or so.”) Another spectral presence, known as Goodlady, may be a figment of Miri’s active imagination.

Everything changes when a new housekeeper, a Yoruba woman named Sade who has “tribal marks” scarred on her face and practices juju in the kitchen, isn’t scared off. In fact, she stays even when Miri goes away to college and her brother takes up an internship in South Africa. At Cambridge, Miri befriends an African adoptee named Ore, and at that point the novel begins to lose focus.

For a while, Ore’s story takes center stage. Subplots abound (including attacks against Kosovan refugees and violent happenings at an Immigration Removal Center), but they rarely advance the main plot or refer back to Miri’s life in any meaningful way. Throughout, however, the theme of displacement, both cultural and personal, recurs. Miri’s illness — the “pie-kah” of the British title — provides a clue as to how the apparently disparate story elements relate. Could it be that England, as a body, is systematically rejecting its foreign population? Perhaps a statement is being made about English xenophobia. What’s more likely is that Oyeyemi’s story is suffering ever so slightly under the weight of a political agenda.

As in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” or Chris Abani’s “Song for Night,” the super natural elements of “White Is for Witching” serve to remind the characters — and Oyeyemi’s readers — of horrifying historical circumstances. Although she may rely on some too familiar narrative ploys, Oyeyemi clearly appreciates that some crimes (like slavery or genocide or, in this case, institutional racism) are so heinous that the conventions of realist fiction seem woefully inadequate to describe them. She makes us glad to suspend disbelief.

Andrew Ervin’s first book, “Extraordinary Renditions: 3 Novellas,” will be published next year.

WIFE MURDER

Artist Abdul Mohammad Ismail, better known as Gulgee, wife Zareen Gulgee and a maidservant were found murdered in their Clifton residence on Wednesday afternoon.

The information regarding the triple murder was given to police by the couple’s only son, Amin Gulgee, who lives in an adjoining portion of the house.

“Maidservant Aasia’s son had been coming for the past five days, asking why his mother had not returned home, but was being given unsatisfactory answers by the security guards. On Wednesday, Amin came to know that the man had been asking about his mother,” Niaz Khosa, a senior police official, told Dawn.

Amin entered his parents’ house from his portion of the premises and saw that a television in the living room was switched on. Then he broke the glass pane and saw his father’s body, Niaz Khosa added.

Before that, Amin had called a DSP, a friend of his, who advised him that this being his parents’ house, he could break the lock and get inside.

After finding his father’s body, Amin informed the SHO of the Boat Basin police station.

Amin told police that he had been wondering for the past five days why the gate of his parents’ house was locked and their car was not parked inside. He said he then pacified himself with the thought that they were away from home.

However, another police official quoted Amin Gulgee as saying that he had not gone to the parents’ place because of a tiff with them.

The body of Gulgee was found in the living room, that of his wife in the kitchen and the body of their servant was found in a small room adjacent to the kitchen, DIG Investigation Manzoor Ahmed Mughal told Dawn.

He said not a single valuable was missing from the house. “All valuables, including cash, jewelry and all of his paintings, are inside the house.”

The DIG ruled out an armed break-in. Recalling the scene, Mr Mughal said brushes and paints were found scattered all over the place.

The DIG pointed out that instead of rope, the “murderer used a cloth to strangulate the victims”. He said the bodies had decomposed and were sending out an unbearable stench.

Standing on the street outside, this reporter also felt the stench.

Capital City Police Chief Azhar Ali Farooqui told journalists waiting outside the house that three servants were unaccounted for and a car belonging to the couple was missing.

In reply to a question whether the police were treating the couple’s son Amin Gulgee as a suspect, the CCPO replied that at this stage he could make no comment.

POST-MORTEM: The bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for post-mortem.

Dr Abdul Razzak Shaikh, a medico-legal officer, said he had seen signs of two wounds probably inflicted with a blunt weapon. However, he said, the wounds were not such as could have caused death. He said Gulgee’s tongue was sandwiched between the teeth, suggesting that he might have been strangulated.

However, instead of a rope, a cloth had been used, the doctor said. He estimated that the bodies were three to five days old.

The post-mortem of Zareen Gulgee and Aasia, the maidservant, were carried out by Dr Nasreen, another medico-legal officer.

Dr Nasreen said her conclusion was that the two women had been struck in the back of their head at least thrice in each case. However, she added, as the bodies were in a bad shape, the medico-legal report had been held back.

Fahmi, Gulgee’s sister, reached the house after learning about the incident. She said that three days ago, Gulgee had taken her out for a dinner. But since then he had not been attending phone calls.

The perturbed sister, in her 70s, was at a loss for words when asked as to who might have been behind the murder.

Yacoobali G. Zamindar, a close friend of Gulgee, told Dawn he had been with the artist and his wife last week at a fund-raising dinner.

“The couple also danced on the occasion,” recalled Mr Zamindar. He said his acquaintance with the Gulgees went back 30 years.

“The couple were very devoted to welfare work. Mrs Gulgee was a member of the SOS children’s village of Sindh.”

Apart from Amin, the couple had a daughter settled in London.

Relatives and friends visiting Gulgee’s Clifton residence had a difficult time in getting through the police guards posted at the entrance.

Among visitors to the house was a man cradling his little daughter in his arms. Tayyab, son of the slain servant Aasia, said that he had been coming to the place since Friday in search of his mother.

Their grief defies description, but will lessons be learnt?

FOR the parents of Syed Hamza, life will never be the same again.

The grief of losing a child to what is manifestly, a cruel twist of fate, is incomparable. The 11-year-old Hamza died on Tuesday afternoon after he was knocked down by a speeding wagon outside the Islamabad Convent School in Sector F-8.

He appeared in an exam at the school earlier in the day and left for home. But upon reaching there, the student recalled he had left his jacket behind on the premises and made a return trip to fetch it. It was the last time his parents would see him alive although it is unclear if they actually had even this fleeting glimpse.

For the rest of their lives, they will mourn how a small journey to retrieve a flippant piece of clothing would extinguish the flame that was supposed to have warmed their lives.

Hamza got down from his car and as soon as he rushed to cross the road, he was hit by a speeding wagon. The victim was rushed to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) but died of injuries. A pall of gloom descended over the school, where teachers and students broke down in despair.

Should the tragedy be put down to fate — a case perhaps, of Murphy’s Law — or a combination of mitigating factors?

It is important to delve into the accident of life that, no parent should have to cope with, dread as many of them will have come to — alas, only after the episode!

To begin with, the road leading up to the school gate and beyond is virtually in a state of logjam. There is simply no direction as parents or drivers make an often desperate attempt to first wade their way in, and then, out after picking up students when time is called.

While many a road in the capital — even residential lanes — are swarming with speed-breakers, amazingly there is none on the road outside the Convent, which could force motorists to mind their speed and draw some value for precious lives.

But what does one say of the failure to employ traffic police to man what is a very busy area, at least at school opening and closing times, with considerably unruly state of affairs on the road outside? At the time of the tragic accident that took Hamza’s life, there was no personnel from the Islamabad Traffic Police to regulate the flow.

If the city’s traffic management fails to assume responsibility even after this profound tragedy, it would be in the fitness of things for a prestigious and financially well- placed institute like the Islamabad Convent School to take charge, put in place some responsible personnel and see out the rush hour. That’s the least it can and should do.

But even before the school management contemplates any such move, there is no doubt in my mind that it should begin to emphasise road safety among the students with clearly spelt out steps that help achieve that end. In fact, it is something that all schools will do well to replicate. Perhaps, it can take the form of a mandatory school lesson just to inculcate its absolute need — for all times to come.

Our hearts go out to the parents of Hamza even if we can never really begin to comprehend the magnitude of the sheer grief and loss. May Allah Almighty rest their son’s soul in peace and give them the patience to cope with life’s wanton cruelty.

Earlier this year, a still more disturbing incident took place when an 8th grader at one of the city’s high profile schools committed suicide after poor handling of an episode involving misconduct on the part of the student.

Reportedly, after a teacher was tipped off about the student watching a graphic picture on the Internet in the school lab, he was sent by the concerned teacher to the headmistress, who immediately asked to see the student’s father.

Afraid of the reaction at home and probably, out of shame, the student tearfully sought forgiveness for the ‘offence’ but begged the headmistress not to inform his father. In desperation, he even threw himself at her feet. Unmoved, she insisted she would call his father. As a consequence, later that day, the student committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan. Nothing could have been more traumatic for the boy’s family.

Perhaps, the headmistress could have shown a little more sensitivity and if at all, she felt forgiveness was not enough and the ‘offence’ demanded greater punishment, she could have resorted to some other form of reprimand.

It does not require Einstein’s genius to understand that children at the age of the student-in-question can be quite sensitive. Failure to grasp that essential has left a lifetime of agony for the unfortunate parents and even the headmistress, who will be haunted by her mistake — let’s give her the benefit of the doubt (something she didn’t allow the student) and assume it was a mistake — that led the student into taking his own life.

Needless to say, both the teachers (and by extension, the school management) and parents need to be a little more alive to the wellbeing of students/children. In the latter case, had they been discharging their responsibilities with a little more understanding, there might have been just a little less pain in the world.

Witnesses to barbarism

This special issue includes a number of short stories and poems, each a moving elegy on the Gujarat tragedy. Along these poems and short stories we find an abridged version of a report compiled by a social worker, Pernika Kakodkar. It is a heart-rending account of those young boys and children who fleeing from their burning houses, escaped from the bloodthirsty rioters and somehow reached relief camps. In the camps at Ahmadabad alone, they number more than 30,000. They are terrorized little souls not yet able to forget what they had seen. They have harrowing tales to tell of their kith and kin burnt alive. So many of them were fated to witness their sisters raped and then thrown into the fire. A 14-year-old boy, Javaid Husain, narrated how the rioters ripped the belly of his pregnant cousin and threw the child in the fire. “This horrible scene,” he said, “is fixed in my memory. I can’t sleep.”

Yasmeen Sikander Khan is 12 years old. She said: “At times I feel that my mother is calling me. I see the burnt house and I am reminded that it is the house where my mother was burnt. They did not spare my mother. Along with others they burnt her, too. This camp has also been attacked several times by them. Almost every day there is a bomb blast outside the camp. Also, the police fire at the camp.”

Raishma Bano is an 11-year-old girl now living in the Shah Alam Relief Camp. She says that her mohalla was first raided by the police, who arrested all the male members of the locality. Next morning, the rioters, armed with swords and knives came on trucks. Then she narrated how a 16-year-old girl was raped by 10 rioters. “We saved ourselves by fleeing. Even now I feel terrified. I am afraid that they will attack this camp, too. I don’t talk to any man here. Perhaps they are here in the guise of guards. Who knows?”

Shahid Khan, who is 14 years old, is staying in the Darya Khan Relief Camp. He claims to be an eyewitness to the murder of distinguished Muslim leader, an ex-MLA, Ahsan Jafri. “We lived next to him. He was a well-known leader. A large number of people had taken refuge in his house, considering it as safe. I was peeping from a window of my house. “Kill me,” he was saying to the crowd, “but let these people go.” The crowd asked him to chant Jai Siya Ram. But he did not respond to it. Thereupon, they took a burning tyre and put it around his neck. One rioter drove his sword into his belly. I shuddered and dared not see more.” Then he added. “I just can’t sleep.” Then he felt angry. “They have looted our house. Now, I feel that I should go there and kill them all.”

The magazine includes an article by Majid Husain, who is the son-in-law of Mr Jafri. He tells us that the police commissioner, Mr Panday, had assured Jafri that a guard would be provided to him for safety. But he did not keep his promise. Even Sonia Gandhi’s phone call to him went unheeded. The police did reach there, but only after Jafri and 150 others, mostly women and children who had taken refuge in his house, had been killed.

Lalita Panikar has, in her article, expressed her concern and grief at the active participation of Hindu women in the Gujarat bloodshed. She has traced this female activity to the times of the Babri Masjid’s demolition when Uma Bharati had gone there in the guise of a man. Lalita says that on the basis of this action, the lady won for her a place in Sangh Parivar.

Lalita has expressed her horror on the assertion of a female Karya Sewak, Chandrawati, who declared on the occasion of her arrival in Ayodhya: “We have come her to shed blood. By erecting the temple, we mean that the mullahs will be hanged.”

Syed Mohammad Mehdi, writing on Wali Deccani, has referred to the declaration made by the standard-bearers of the Ram Mandir that there will be a final round between the Hindus and Muslims. He has quoted a doha from Tulsi Das, saying that every thug, thakur and thief chants Ram Ram. But the favour of Ram can only be won by those who believe in love. And Mehdi retorts: “Of course, there will be a final round, but not between Hindus and Muslims. It will be between two other forces. On the one side will be thugs, thakurs and thieves chanting Ram Ram. On the other side will be those believing in love and enjoying the favour of Ram. And that will be the day when the mazar of Wali will be rebuilt.

Shamim Hanafi has talked of a big gathering of writers in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and other languages, including Ashok Bajpai, Rajaendra Singh Yadav, Geetanjali and Sudhir Chandra, along with a number of journalists, intellectuals and social workers. They gathered in the Ghalib Academy to protest against Muslims’ killings in Gujarat. Nukkar Natak staged a protest play on the occasion. Then, with candles in their hands, they went to Ghalib’s mazar and paid homage to the poet.

It was all very good. But, asks Shamim Hanafi, which mazar is the next target of Sangh Pariwar? Ghalib’s or Amir Khusrau’s.

And then we see George Fernandes delivering his infamous speech in the parliament: “Why are they referring repeatedly to the ripping of the bellies of pregnant women? Is it something new?” he asks and says, “it has happened so many times in the past.” And Syed Shahnawaz Husain, a minister sitting by him, is smiling.

One more glimpse was presented by Shamim Gopal Menon’s documentary, Genocide in the Land of Gandhi, sub-titled, Hai Ram.

A correspondent from the BBC asks a viewer, “What is your reaction?”

“It was a free play of death. Who can give his reaction to his own death?”

The viewers with ashen faces stand up and get out silently one by one.

The honour girl

She came to my bank situated in a college premises at least several times in a month. She had an aura of simplicity, grace and dignity about her.

She was not very beautiful, but her mediocre beauty was refined by her fine facial features, wheatish complexion with a tinge of whiteness, big black eyes, long hair that she always covered with a white duppatta.

As she entered, she greeted everyone with Assalam-o-Alaikum in a soft low tone, placed the books in a corner, gracefully walked up to the counter, picked up a savings deposit slip, confidently filled in all the details, submitted it to the cashier, waited quietly and patiently for the return of the counter foil which she placed in her note-book folder and left, bowing her head and muttering Allah Hafiz almost inaudibly.

There was something unusual about her that we all noticed. Like other students, she was neither accompanied by a friend nor by any elderly lady. She never came in with a group of classmates. Though alone, she was not hesitant to approach any male staff if the three female officers were too busy with other clients. Her queries were simple and official. She would ask for the balance in her account or the profit paid by the bank; would the bank remain open if the college was closed? Could she deposit her money on bank holidays? Once, she quite innocently asked if the bank published examination results and, if so, could she get a copy? Though we were amused at what we considered a silly question, yet her serious innocence evoked a simple nod with a meek “No.”

It was for over a year now that she had been coming to the bank. As the conduct of her account was only deposit and withdrawal for payment of college fees, it was just a matter of ordinary book-keeping procedure. However, the cashier had one complaint: she never deposited the amount in round figures and though it was never more than four digits in rupees, yet it was always with some paisas, at times even in odd figures such as Rs1,246.50. As a commercial bank in the private sector dedicated to service, we could not ask her to round up the amount to an even figure for the convenience of our computation.

Everything, of course, was computerized,. Still, the possibility of an error in posting could not be ruled out, and this irked the cashier. Once, he requested her to round up the figure. All she did was add 50 paisas more to make it Rs1,247. The cashier accepted the amount but remained uneasy. After continuing for sometime, he approached me with the problem of this particular account. I asked him to send her to me the next time she came.

Though she came only twice a month, her timings were uncertain. I prayed that she came on a lean day and on one such day, the cashier brought her to me with the cash pay-in slip. She greeted me with Assalam-o-Alaikum. I replied with a nod. As I was busy on the phone, I asked her to take a seat with a wave of my hand. I looked at her while attending the phone and was simply disarmed by the animated but sober innocent look in her eyes, her confident yet humble appearance and her respectful posture with arms folded over her duppatta that she had wrapped around her. When I had finished with the call, I addressed her.

“Beti, for over a year, you have been depositing the amount in odd figures. Can’t you make it, say, like Rs1,250 or Rs1,200?”

She shook her head in negation without uttering a word.

“Can you explain?” I asked in a beseeching tone.

“Uncle,” she said, looking straight at me, “I cannot take out even a single rupee from the amount I put in the account. I can only add a few paisas I save.”

“You are like my daughter. If there is a problem I can help,” I said.

“Thank you, uncle. But we’ve vowed to do it on our own,” she said with a feeling of honour.

“It won’t be any obligation,” I insisted. “I’ll just add a few rupees and even paisas to make it even so that we avoid a posting error.”

“It’s very kind of you, uncle; but myself and no one of our family would like it because it will be charity. My father works hard day and night, and would be hurt and feel degraded. He works hard and saves one-fourth from his daily earnings and without taking a rupee out if it, gives me all of it. He says he wants me to be a doctor.”

“That’s quite noble of him. He is a great man. What does he do?” I asked.

Without hesitation or a second thought, and with an air of praise and pride, she instantly said, “He is a rickshaw driver.”

Stunned by her boldness, I stood up and bowed my head respectfully, without looking into her eyes as she said, “Allah Hafiz,” and confidently walked away.

MAN-EATERS OF INDIA

From as early as 1906 Corbett had started receiving requests to assist where tiger attacks took place.

Both the Indian villagers themselves and the British would petition for his assistance, with a typical villager request reading something like this:

"We, the public, venture to suggest that you very kindly take trouble to come to this place and shoot this tiger and save the public from this calamity. For this act of kindness the public will be highly obliged and will pray for your long life and prosperity."

Habitual killers:

But, no matter how much prayer went into it, Jim Corbett would never kill a tiger where he felt the animal was not a proven habitual killer. One or two attacks did not make it 'proven' and Corbett firmly believed that most tiger attacks were due to misfortune or a tigress protecting her cubs, rather than a true man-eater on the prowl.

Over a thirty-five year period Jim Corbett agreed to hunt and kill another eleven tigers on top of Champawat. Together these animals had killed approximately 1,300 people. He noted that, from his observations, tigers were responsible for daytime human kills only. Kills done at night were normally the result of a leopard attack. At the age of 63 Jim Corbett shot his last tigress. After tracking her for days he finally lured her within shooting range by imitating the call of a male.

The naming of Corbett National Park:

Jim Corbett was instrumental in creating the park which now carries his name. He did this with the help of Sir (later Lord) Malcolm Hailey, Governor of the United Provinces in the early '30s. When the park was ready to open to the public, Hailey had already left India, and the authorities named it 'The Hailey National Park', the first of its kind in India.

Many years after Jim Corbett's death the Indian government made the decision to change the name of its first park to Corbett National Park. In itself this created a source of debate.

Supporters believe the renaming was the best tribute to a great man and that there is no one better qualified to bear that name than Jim Corbett.

Others point out that though he was an ardent conservationist, Corbett was also involved with the Kenyan-based Safariland hunting company. During the period from 1948 to 1951 he was a director of the company in a land which offered some of the best hunting grounds in the world.

Outfitters like Safariland employed dozens of professional hunters and guides. These people looked after the game using rigid and strict standards, but there is some evidence which suggests their practices also helped ensure the future of much wildlife.

Cutting nose of Ex-wife

LAHORE, April 3: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sayed Zahid Husain on Friday sought a complete report on the action taken against the person who chopped off the nose of his former wife in Pakpattan.

The chief minister took a suo motu notice on a newspaper report stating that an elderly man, Muhammad Husain, had chopped off the nose of his former wife, Fatima, after failure to force her into prostitution.

The chief justice summoned Assistant Advocate-General Fawad Malik and directed him to submit the report on the action taken against the man and medical treatment given to the victim on April 10. The Pakpattan district police officer was also directed to appear in person on April 10.

Woman’s nose, ear chopped off over ‘honour’

LAHORE, Sept 8: Two people allegedly chopped off nose and an ear of a woman over ‘honour’ in Marghzar Colony of Hanjarwal on Tuesday.

The victim, (L), wife of Nazir Ahmed, complained to police that Kalay Khan, husband of her sister, along with his accomplice Allah Yar, chopped off her nose and an ear and escaped.

According to initial police investigations, the accused suspected that (L), mother of five, had developed relations with a man of the area.

The accused had a quarrel with (L) over the issue a couple of days back.

The injured was admitted to the Services Hospital.

Police have arrested Allah Yar and were looking for the main accused.

Wife, Daughter and Niece Killed By A Man In Karachi

September 14, 2009

KARACHI: A main slain his wife, daughter and niece in Abdur Rahim Goth of North Karachi on Sunday and escaped from the scene, police said.

Abdur Rasheed, a resident of Abdur Rahim Goth, this morning shot dead his wife Wazeeran 45, daughter Asma 16 and niece Aasia 18, Surjani Town police said.

The incident was result of a family dispute, police claimed.

The dead bodies sent to Civil and Abbasi Shaheed Hospitals of Karachi for autopsy.

Surjani Town police have registered murder case against accused Abdur Rasheed.

Child bride gets divorced after rape, beatings

(From CNN) Editor's note: CNN does not usually identify children of alleged abuse, but in this case the girl and her family gave CNN permission to tell her story and use her name.

SANAA, Yemen (CNN) -- Nujood Ali is 10 years old, but she already has been married and divorced. It was an arranged marriage in which she said a husband three times her age routinely beat and raped her.

"When I got married, I was afraid. I didn't want to leave home. I wanted to stay with my brothers and sisters and my mom and dad," she said, speaking to CNN with the permission of her parents.

"I didn't want to sleep with him, but he forced me to. He hit me, insulted me."

As she plays marbles with her brothers and sister, Nujood is a portrait of innocence, with a shy smile and a playful nature.

But what happened evokes anger and shame. Asked if what she went through was torture, she nods quietly. Watch Nujod describe what happened »

Nujood's parents married her off in February to a man in his 30s whom she describes as old and ugly.

Her parents said they thought they were putting her in the care of her husband's family, but Nujood said he would often beat her into submission.

Nujood then turned to her family for mercy.

"When I heard, my heart burned for her; he wasn't supposed to sleep with her," said Nujood's mother, who asked not to be identified.

But, initially, she also told her daughter she could not help her -- that she belonged to her husband now.

Nujood's father, Ali Mohammed Ahdal, said he is angry about what happened to his daughter. "He was a criminal, a criminal. He did hateful things to her," he said. "He didn't keep his promise to me that he wouldn't go near her until she was 20."

When contacted by CNN, the girl's former husband declined to comment.

Nujood's parents, like so many others in Yemen, struck a social bargain when they decided to have their daughter wed. More than half of all Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18, according to Oxfam International, a nonprofit group that fights global poverty and injustice.

Many times girls are forced to marry older men, including some who already have at least one wife, Oxfam said. According to tribal customs, the girls are no longer viewed as a financial or moral burden to their parents.

"There is always a fear that the girl will do something to dishonor the family: She will run away with a guy, she will have relations with a boy. So this is always the phobia that the families have," said Suha Bashren of Oxfam International.

Bashren calls the tradition of child brides in Yemen a national crisis. She works with young girls to protect them from early marriage, abuse and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

The Yemeni government is holding legal and religious workshops to try to deal with the issue of early marriage. But experts say marrying off a young daughter is generally still seen as the right thing to do.

"A lot of people in the public don't think that this is wrong or that what happened to her was abuse," Bashren said.

In Yemen, there is nothing new or extraordinary about Nujood's story because children have been married off for generations. The country's legal minimum age for marriage was 15 till a decade ago, when the law was changed to allow for children even younger to be wed.

But what is most unusual is that this young girl took such an intensely private dispute and went public with it.

Nujood said she made up her mind to escape from her husband, describing how on a visit to her parents' home she broke free and traveled to the central courthouse across town and demanded to speak to a judge.

"He asked me, 'What do you want?' And I said, 'I want a divorce.' And he said, 'You're married?' And I said, 'Yes,'" she recalled.

What unfolded in those few days in April gripped the country on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

Nujood got her divorce, but based on the principles of Islamic Sharia law, her husband was compensated, not prosecuted. Nujood was ordered to pay him more than $200. The human rights lawyer who represented her donated the money.

But for this determined spirit, it was still a sweet victory.

"I did this so that people would listen and think about not marrying their daughters off as young as I was," she said with a shy smile.

Now back at the family home, she said she won't go outside to play -- that all the attention bothers her. Some still condemn the young girl for speaking out, believing that she shouldn't have challenged convention.

SAD GIRL I was born into a very staunch Muslim family in the US. Learning to read the Quran the moment I could read. I was under the misconception that if I did not do as Allah told me to do, I would be punished severely. I was also told that if I didn't wear modest clothes I was being immoral. Right from a little girl I wore the head scarf. My friends would ask me why, and I would tell them "because God said so'.

Around the age of 14, I realized how much of life I was missing out on. How my father commanded that I do my prayers 5 times a day and never play any sports because they would only lead me to the devil. One night I was talking to my parents about college and my father said that I would never go to college because he had chosen a boy for me and I was about to get married to him as soon as I turned 18. I was shocked....my mother ran out of the room crying. I began to plead with my father to let me go to college. But he said no. When I asked him why, he told me that Muslim women are not supposed to be educated or go to work. They are supposed to be good wives, who never disagree with their husbands and be good honorable women. I couldn't belive my ears. This man was still living in the dark-ages.

The next day after school I went to the mosque to talk with our Maulvi Sahab. When I told him about my father's irrational behavior---he agreed with him. He told me that if all the Muslim men in our community thought like your father, we would be in a really good place right now.

I was stuck and didn't know what to do. I kept thinking about it till late that night. At around 2am my mom came to check up on me and found me crying. That night I came to know what a sick religion Islam was. She told me that she had been a well educated (Doctor) Hindu woman who had fallen in love with my father in India. During their courtship my father had told her that he was very broad-minded and did not want her to convert when they got married. Against my grand-parent's wishes she married him and did the Nikaah just so her mother-in-law would like her. Thats where her nightmare began. Her In-laws would not let her go out of the house. No one could come and visit her. She was confined in a home where everyone would spit on her for being a 'Kafir'. They made her read the Quran and do Namaz. If she didn't they would beat her. My father would come home and force himself on her. When she would ask him not to, he would tell her that it was written in the Quran, and she was nothing more than a slave to him. After about a year of their marriage, they left for the US. My mom was already pregnant with me.

When I was born he was not too happy with my Mom. He said that if he had married someone of his own faith he would have had a boy for sure. Giving him a girl was the way Allah was punishing him for marrying a Hindu.

When I heard all this I began to hate my father and Islam. I promised to get my mom out of this situation and also never ever end up like her. When I turned 18, along with the help of a lawyer, I managed to get my mom and dad divorced. My mom actually went back to school and has a flourishing practice now.

As for me, you mighwt say that I reverted. I am a practising and loving Hindu now. I have changed my name. I live a life full of love and adoration for a God who does not preach hate, who encourages me to think and gain knowledge, who shows me the way without fear and who loves everyone no matter who they are.

HORRID

I’ve never been a fan of flying. In fact, I’ve taken every opportunity to drive to a destination rather than save time and fly there.

I know a fear of flying is irrational. I know that flying is a far safer mode of travel than driving. I know I can save a lot of time by flying rather than driving.

Again, my fear is irrational.

I also don’t like flying, and not because I’m scared of it. I don’t like the recycled air. I’ve yet to get off a plane and not come down with some gross cold a few days later. I don’t like to hear the young children scream when the pressure gets to their ears. I certainly don’t like the little brat behind me that feels the need to kick the back of my seat every thirty seconds for three hours. I don’t like being crammed into a small seat (and I’m thin) like cattle and being unable to move around and stretch my legs.

However, interestingly enough, none of these reasons are behind my airline horror story.

No, my horror story takes us back to April 1987. I was on Spring Break during my freshman year of college. I had just spent the week in Aspen skiing up a storm. This trip was also the first time I broke my nose (landed wrong) skiing. It certainly wasn’t the last.

For those of you that don’t know about Aspen, it is famous for a few things. First of all, it is one of the nation’s premier ski areas. Second of all, it is one of the snootiest places on the planet. This is where money talks and everything else walks. I was lucky, I had cousins that invited me to spend the week skiing and were generous enough to pick up the tab.

Anyhow, it started snowing on my last day in Aspen. I had to get back to school, because the end of the quarter was approaching (the University of Denver is on a quarter system) and I had term papers and finals coming up very shortly. I got to Pitkin Airport, which is just outside of Aspen, and my cousins began their long trek home.

If you’ve never been to Pitkin Airport, think back to the NBC sitcom called “Wings.” Pitkin Airport consists of a small room and two gates. Why? There were only two airlines that flew out of Pitkin back then – Rocky Mountain Airways (Continental) and Aspen Airways (United). All the flights for Aspen Airways had left for the night, and I was waiting for my flight on Rocky Mountain Airways.

Suddenly, over the loudspeaker (why they have one in a terminal with two gates I’ll never understand) they announce my flight has been cancelled due to snow.

Due to snow?

I looked outside, and while it was snowing, the ground was just dusted. How could they be canceling my flight because of snow?

I went to the counter and inquired why the flight was being cancelled. I was told by the ticket agent/baggage clerk/security guard/floor sweeper that Rocky Mountain Airways’ planes are not equipped to fly in the snow, because they lack some sort of radar equipment to make that sort of flying safe.

And you are flying these planes, during snow skiing season, in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Utah? They’re not equipped to fly in the snow? Are they joking?

I went to the other counter and was met by the same ticket agent/baggage clerk/security guard/floor sweeper. All the sudden, what came out of this idiot’s mouth was straight out of a bad comedy flick.

“Yes sir, may I help you?”

I could feel my blood pressure rapidly approach the boiling point. I asked if there were any flights going out for Aspen Airways. This person said they would be going out tomorrow, but there were no other scheduled flight that evening.

OK fine. I decided I would just sleep in the terminal until morning and take the first flight out. I checked with the ticket agent/baggage clerk/security guard/floor sweeper and found there was indeed an opening on the 6:30am flight. I got myself booked on the flight. I found a corner and sat down and closed my eyes.

About thirty minutes later, the ticket agent/baggage clerk/security guard/floor sweeper woke me up and said I couldn’t sleep in the terminal. It is against county regulations for anyone to sleep in the terminal.

OK fine. I asked the ticket agent/baggage clerk/security guard/floor sweeper if Continental would be willing to put me up for the night, since it was due to their poor and outdated equipment that I was stuck in Aspen for the night. They said they would if they could, however, there were no openings at any of the local hotels due to it being Spring Break for most colleges.

You can imagine the little ditty I was in. I don’t live in the area. I can’t get to a hotel because they’re all booked. I can’t stay in the terminal because it violates county regulations. I have a suitcase, skis, and no one to call, and no place to go. On top of that, it was snowing outside. The only people I could call were probably still on the road.

I hired a cab back to town. My first attempt to find a warm place to sleep was fruitless. I met the single snootiest human being on the planet I have ever had the displeasure of meeting, I’m sure he was earning minimum wage as the night desk clerk in a hotel. However, walking down the road, I found a nice clerk at the next hotel down the street who took pity on me and allowed me to sleep on the couch in her lobby.

The clerk got off work at 5:00am and offered to drive me back to the airport. Naturally, I agreed and thanked her for her kindness.

I went back into the terminal and walked up to the ticket counter for Rocky Mountain Airways. I showed them my new ticket, handed them my luggage, and waiting for boarding on the plane. After all, I was an hour early, and figured the fiasco was coming to an end.

The flight back to Denver was uneventful. Actually, I didn’t run into any kids kicking the back of my seat. However, I attribute this to being one of about six passengers on the entire plane, and there was room for about 40 passengers.

I went to baggage claim at Stapleton Airport. I waited. I waited some more. Where’s my luggage?

I marched off for the ticket counter in what you could imagine was pure rage at this point. Just how on earth do you lose luggage on a 35 minute flight with six passengers on it that had no previous stops or further stops?

I get to the ticket counter, and have composed myself the best I can. I’m really ticked off, and cannot imagine being this stuck under Murphy’s Law.

I politely – as polite as one could be in my state at the time – asked where my luggage is. They check and see that it was never checked in from Pitkin Airport.

Well that was enough to set me off. I didn’t need any more buttons pushed, because there were no more buttons to push. I asked how on God’s green earth could my baggage not be on the flight? I reminded her that I checked in over an hour early, the flight had six people on it, and was a 35 minute flight.

Two days later, my skis and my luggage came. Apparently it had been sent to the wrong plane, and it took them that long to track down my missing bags.

I got the name and address of the president of Continental Airlines and wrote him a letter about a week later. I explained the situation, and how displeased I was with the whole experience. I was kind of hoping they would return the airfare for that leg of the trip.

Two weeks later, I received a letter from Continental thanking me for my comments and how they were looking forward to having me fly with them again