First Case Registered in NRI Police Stations

Earlier this year, six police stations were set up in Punjab to deal with NRI crimes since NRIs have increasingly apparently begun to arrange for contract killings in India because laws are far less systematically applied in India than in the countries where they live.

The Hindustan Times, for example, says, "Kuldeep Singh of Mukerian was killed in October 2005 following a land dispute with Gurdev Singh, an Indian living in the US. The NRI is said to have paid Rs 1.2 million for the contract killing." [1]

In addition to this, NRIs often face situations where their property in india is grabbed by relatives or by tenants who refuse to leave. According to the Times of India, '327 criminal cases were registered by police department last year on complaints filed by NRIs'. [2]

However, the first case to be filed in these police stations has been one which involves domestic violence, dowry issues and an NRI husband who appears to have deserted his wife. The case was filed by Deesho of Natha Nangal who married Kulwinder Lal of Rotanda in April 2003. Soon after her marriage, she began being harassed for dowry. her husband left her in his parents home when he went to Dubai but she shifted to her own parents' home because of their abuse. He apparently didn't visit her when he last came to India. [3]

Links:
[1] http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=fe31b492-8459-40c3-96ef-3cb4f83f6e89&&Headline=Contract+killings+on+the+rise+among+NRIs
[2] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rise_in_NRI_complaints_in_Punjab/articleshow/2832201.cms
[3] http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/9914/38/

Lying

An Italian court, the Court of Cassation which is the highest appeal court in the country, primarily comprising elderly male judges said that it is acceptable for women to lie about having committed adultery to the police in some cases since ‘the fact of having an affair is a circumstance that could cause damage to her honour in the minds of her family and friends’.This is apparently the same court which said (in 1999) that women wearing tight jeans could not be raped because such jeans cannot be removed without their consent although that ruling was later rescinded. At the time, the court had 410 male judges and 10 female judges. [5]

Links:
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/3/08/witaly208.xml
[2] http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/News/Article.aspx?id=723004
[3] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7284134.stm
[4] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3503999.ece
[5] http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E0D7133AF935A25751C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=

Women’s Day

Today is the International Women’s Day, or so I’m told. Personally, I don’t really see the point of days like this. I don’t see the point of organising lectures which involve smug pseudo-activists promoting themselves. I don’t really know what marches are expected to achieve. And, like Debs, neither am I sure how doing things like making postcards helps much.
This, however, is an idea I love:
“Victims at risk of serious domestic violence are being given alarm pendants that summon police and can record conversations or attacks.”
[Victims can activate the alarm which automatically alerts the monitoring service which in turn informs police comms (communications centre) of the situation. Once the alarm is activated, all sound is recorded by the monitoring service thereby providing potential evidence.]
At least this has the potential difference to make a tangible difference in a woman’s life.
Link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4430221a10.html