WFI chief must step down immediately
Wrestling Federation of India Chief Brij Mohan Singh is holding on to his post with a vice-like grip, even as the Delhi police have registered 2 FIRs against him.
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The first FIR which pertains to the allegations of a minor is registered under the POCSO Act.
As the charges against the WFI chief, involving alleged sexual harassment of seven star women wrestlers, are of a very serious nature, he should voluntarily resign, in the larger interest of the sport. He is not indispensable and can return after clearing his name. The federation must instil confidence in the sport; else parents will not permit their young daughters to take up the sport.
I think already much damage has been done to the sport. Mothers will start thinking that if national heroes have to come on the street to get justice, what will be the fate of their little daughters down the line?
Robert Castellino, Calangute/Mumbai
Gross negligence of rape cases
There have been allegations that the police were negligent despite complaints of rape being reported. The alleged inaction on part of police once again brings to fore the oft-raised query.
The very objective of registering FIR is to record information immediately upon receiving the same and start investigation promptly before the accused can flee or get an opportunity to tamper with the evidences.
An FIR is a very important document because it sets the criminal justice machinery upon motion. Law relating to FIR is contained in Section 154 of the CrPC, which is the procedural law relating to crimes in our country.
The Section was amended in 2013 where the informant is a woman who is the victim of crime of sexual nature, and then such information has to be recorded by a woman officer.
The police are duty bound to register the FIR without going into the merits of the case. Refusal to register an FIR has now been made a cognizable and boilable offence, specifically in cases where the information reveals the commission of acid attacks, eve-teasing/ molestation of women, trafficking, disrobing, or rape. Thus, any police officer refusing to register FIR in rape cases is liable to be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a minimum term of six months and which may extend up to two years in addition to fine under Section 166A (c), IPC.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Another nail in Goa’s coffin
The draft TCP rules permitting construction of sports complexes, religious structures, yoga centres and farmhouses in green zones and agricultural land is yet another nail in green Goa’s coffin.
They draft will without a doubt morph into law under pressure from the builders lobby, land sharks and gluttonous ministers themselves even though as a fig leaf the government has kept a 30 day window open
for stakeholders to voice their objections.
It is to be noted that TCP had notified a similar draft in September 2022 which had drawn strong criticism from environmentalists and activists who had highlighted that this will destroy fragile eco-sensitive zones
and biodiversity hotspots; the proposals were ultimately rescinded.
The present draft norms also provide for regularisation of unauthorized structures more than 500 sq mtrs in area if they were built before December 2020. It is to be noted that in 2016, the then Goa CM Parsekar had himself admitted that 90% of the constructions in Goa are unauthorized owing to complicated building byelaws and the tedious process involved in securing requisite permissions.
The proposed new laws will not only boost illegal construction but will also lay waste vast swathes of green areas with real estate entities laughing all the way to the bank. It is beyond a shadow of doubt that this legislation is being shoved through under coercion from the builder’s cartel with ministers of course enriching their coffers by way of lucrative ‘cuts’. Whatever is left of our beautiful state will be ground to dust by the rapacious sarkar. Cry my beloved Goa.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Reinstate India to all embracing ideology
A predominantly White English Christian country; yet United Kingdom goes out of the way to embrace migrants of all possible origins – – – Blacks, Asians Africans, Caribbeans. Hindus, Muslims , Sikhs, Jews – – – in its fold so as to make them part of the nation as a united whole. And this liberal mindset gets reflected through the Royal Mail stamp which is going to be issued to commemorate the coronation of King Charles III in May 6. Not only pictures of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh get prominently featured in the stamp, temples, mosques and Gurudwaras also grace the
background!
What a contrast to that much zealously claimed “liberal” land of ours where an extremely parochial closed-minded ideological force is hell-bent on reducing the meeting ground of all streams of humanity since centuries (irrespective of ethnicity, religion, caste and colour) into a narrow cesspool of Hindi and Hindutva as if others simply do not matter at all !
Will the dominant force of the country learn a bit of liberalism from United Kingdom and reinstate India to it’s former all-embracing ideals as envisaged by Rabindranath Tagore where none would get dejected from the shore of the sea of Bharat’s great humanity!
Kajal Chatterjee,
Kolkata
