Woman raped, paraded naked in Dhar

A married woman was raped and later paraded naked in Manawar in Dhar district. Manawar is the constituency of Minister for Woman and Child Welfare Ranjana Baghel.


This incident occurred in Bhagyapura on Thursday evening. The victim is a woman belonging to Bhil tribe. Her former husband Sitaram and nearly two dozen other persons stormed into her house. She was raped and later taken around the village, naked.

Due to marital discord, panchayat had got her divorce from her first husband Sitaram and asked her not to marry in Bhagyapura again. But she married Mansharam of the same village. This had angered Sitaram and other villagers who decided to exact revenge.

When the culprits reached her home, Mansharam was not in house as he had taken his father to Singhana for treatment. In their absence, the lone woman was an easy prey. She was raped. Later the accused stripped her, beat her and made her walk naked in Mujaldapura, Solyapura, Semalyapura villages.
 
Senior officials reached and heavy force deployed. The victim has been given police protection. The local police have registered a case against the two dozen persons involved in the abominable act.

MP police kill Kargil warrior in fake encounter, term him 'dacoit'

One of the four persons who were killed in an alleged fake encounter in Bhind in Madhya Pradesh was an ex-army personnel who had fought in the Kargil war.

Amjad Khan, who was killed in an encounter in Bhind, was a Kargil warrior who had returned home after spending ten years with army.

State Congress has demanded that Bhind police led by Superintendent of Police (SP) Chanchal Shekar killed Khan in a fake encounter by terming him a 'dacoit'.

Deputy leader of Opposition Rakesh Singh alleged that Khan was killed by police to get gallantry medal and other accolades for officiails. Congress leader Govind Singh demanded a CBI probe into the fake encounter and action against culprits.

Singh said that murder case should be registered against SP and TI. Amjad's wife was present at the press conference in Bhopal on Friday, with her infant son. Amjad, Raju, Udal and Ravindra were killed in the encounter.

Amjad Khan, an ex-armyman had returned back home and was an active social worker. He had joined Congress and was president of block Congress of Lahar in Bhind. "He had no criminal record but a conspiracy was hatched and he was killed by police", said Rakesh Singh.

Scindia wins MPCA election, overcomes Kailash Vijayvargiya's challenge

Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia finally won the first ever election that was contested for the post of president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA).

In the past, the president was elected unanimously. But the decision of BJP leader Kailash Vijayvergiya to stand against Scindia and fight the election, turned it into an interesting contest. But Scindia won comfortably. 

Scindia, who is scion of erstwhile ruling family of Gwalior princely state and represents Guna in the Parliament, got 142 votes while Kailash could get the support of 72 members. All the contestants of Scindia panel easily won.

Kailash had sensed it when he said that he had won when 'Maharaj' had to come on the street and seek votes like a commoner. This is a loss for Vijayvargiya who is a strong leader and astute politician. Ironically, he lost in his bastion, Indore.

Action on Dr Anand Rai: Vendetta against Whistleblowers!

When Centre is formulating a policy to protect the whistleblowers, the Madhya Pradesh government has done the opposite and taken action against the doctor who has exposed the unholy practices in the name of clinical drug trials in the state.

The government took action against the doctor for JDA's strike. But except him and a doctor who has already resigned, none of the 60-odd junior doctors were sacked. All others were suspended. However, citing indiscipline, the services of Rai were terminated.

The steps once again shows the lack of interest on part of the state government in taking action against the real culprits. Ebhopal had earlier published a post on the clinical drug trials. This post can be read at the following LINK.

Dalits stopped from hoisting flag on Independence Day

Dalit women were not allowed to unfurl the national flag at a number of places in Madhya Pradesh.

Sarpanch, Meera Ahirwar, reached Bhabukakari panchayat in Rahatgarh (Sagar) on August 15 but was forced to leave without hoisting the flag. Her husband was beaten.

In Rahli, another Sarpanch Kusum Rani was not allowed to enter Chandrapura village for the independence day programme, just because of her belonging to 'lower' caste.

In Malthaun, Dalit janpad president was refrained from hoisting the tricolour at Rajshahi fort. The tradition was broken because of his caste. In Syavan village panchayat in this block, Sarpanch Mihilal was also humiliated and made to stay out of the function by the local strongmen belonging to upper castes.

Discrimination with Dalits is nothing new. But the existence of caste prejudices that prevent a Dalit from hoisting flag in 21st century, 63 years after we achieved freedom, is really shocking. However, there is no strong action from the state government as yet.

DB City Mall: First shopping mall opens in Bhopal

The Dainik Bhaskar group's DB City Mall has finally opened after facing numerouscontroversies.

No doubt, the grand structure and the imposing building adds to the skyline of the capital of Madhya Pradesh.

Till now, an important town like Bhopal that has a population of around 20 lakh or 2 million, had no major shopping mall.

Its one of the biggest malls, spread over vast area on Arera Hills near MP Nagar, in the heart of Bhopal.

Controversies and Corruption

But the construction of mall has been mired in controversies. Hundreds of shanties in the Sanjay Nagar slum were shifted to outskirts of Bhopal, to clear the land for this project. The poor residents had to leave their homes and were evicted to a faraway place.

There were also irregularities in transfer and allocation of land to DB corp. Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar certainly has clout and helpful politicians & bureaucrats came to the group's help. It was alleged that land was allotted by violating norms and the state government suffered loss of Rs 14 crore in stamp duty alone.

Accidents and Deaths

Many accidents had also taken place during the construction. Labourers died and got
years and got injured in mishaps in the last 2-3 years. There were other several other controversies also.
Bhaskar's rival newspaper, Patrika, published a series of stories exposing the corruption and large-scale irregulatiries in the land deal and construction of the mall. But a new entrant in Bhopal, Patrika, still has less clout in the state.

Food joints, Leadings brands, Cineplex, McDonald burger!

For shoppers of Bhopal, it is certainly good news. The city, at last, has a mall. So what if hundreds of poor had to abandon their homes! The rich, upwardly mobile class and the middle-class citizens would have fun.

Good brands will be available. Food chains including McDonald have already opened shop in this mall. So have your burget, watch movies at the separate screens in the upcoming cineplex in the mall and forget the rest. After all, we are immune to land grabbings and corruption.

Perhaps, on this note, Bhopalis can welcome DB Mall and its Shopper's Stop.

High Court halt on CBD, Minto Hall projects

Just a week ago, State minister Kailash Vijayvargiya had made the statement that he salivates whenever he spot a piece of open land, though he latter tried to pass it off as a statement in lighter vein.

But the truth is that 'khaali zameen dekh kar munh mein paani aana' is the feeling most politicians in Madhya Pradesh are getting these days. With connivance of builders and land mafia, politicians are seizing and selling off precious properties across state.

In this background, the High Court's verdict against state government's plan to sell Minto Hall and land near TT Nagar, acquires even greater importance.

The post on BJP government's land grabbing in Madhya Pradesh was published on this blog two years ago (See photo on the left). Read Butchers of Bhopal: Cutting 1,000 trees for CBD. Link.

The state government had decided to give away vast chunk of land in the heart of Bhopal to Gammon India for Central Business District (CBD) and later another prime property--Minto Hall-- was given at throwaway price to the land sharks.

But the Bhopal Citizen Forum and another NGO took the case to court and the Jabalpur Hight Court quashed the notification of changing land use for the projects & asking government to have a re-look into both the plans.

At the site of proposed CBD, hundreds of trees were felled and killed by giving them poisonous injections. Bhopal residents should have taken to streets but they didn't show much the much needed outrage against these ridiculous projects.

However, the court finally saw the absurdity of the two projects and has rightly scolded the government for the manner in which land was transferred. The court also said that if these projects are okayed, it will make the life of citizens hell in a city where trees are constantly felled and every available property is up for commercial activity.

Prabhat Jha terms BSF, CRPF as 'dacoits'

In a surprising statement, BJP state chief Prabhat Jha said that the Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were nothing less than dacoits. Jha also blamed army personnel during his outburst in Indore.

He said that the guns used by Naxalites in killing the law-enforcers had been bought from army jawans in Allahabad and Kanpur. He said that there are evidences that army jawans are engaged in arms' smuggling also.

The Madhya Pradesh BJP head said that army personnel are given the task to guard the borders of the country but they are involved in trafficking of firearms and other weapons at Nepal border. Jhas' attack on BSF and CRPF surprised the party workers also.

Jha seems less careful in his choice of words. Recently he was in the news when he made a comment that whether the society will run as per the High Court's directive or vice versa, when a BJP rally was taken out on a street where such political gatherings were banned by court.

He had even gone ahead by saying that whether Article 370 is imposed in Indore. Later a petition was filed against him, accusing Jha of contempt of court. Earlier also Jha's statements had caused controversy. Shouldn't he be more careful with his words.