Poovarani case: More than 100 girls may be trapped

Kottayam: The Crime Branch has come to understand that more than 100 girls in the state had fallen victims to the interstate sex racket that had used the Poovarani girl too. They include minor girls and even housewives. Those who fall victims first are further pushed into the trade by blackmailing them with the porn movie that is created when they fall for the time. The victims are mostly those girls and women who stay away from their homes for studies and work. Girls who act in serials are also made use by them.
http://insidekerala.com/n/index.php?mod=article&cat=MainNews&article=19578

Hartal peaceful in city - News @ July 3rd 2008

KOCHI: The country-wide hartal called by the VHP-BJP combine was near-total and peaceful in the city. With public transportation out of gear, people reached their workplace sharing two-wheelers and cars. The usual bustle of the city was missing.

Only 40 per cent of the staff reported for work at the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation’s bus stand here. However, officials said that long-distance buses to Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and other places were run. Services within the district like Muvattupuzha and to nearby places like Vaikom were less than usual.

With only a couple of shops around hospitals open, the hartal had affected the business activities in the city and its suburbs.

Hospitals had a thin trickle of patients. There were 365 patients registered in the Out Patient Department at the District General Hospital on Thursday, compared to the daily flow of over 1,000 patients. Five emergency surgeries were also held.

Dr. D. Radhakrishnan, the hospital superintendent said that there was adequate staff as the hospital makes arrangements for bringing in the staff and dropping them off in ambulances.

However, the District Medical Office had low attendance with about 40-45 per cent of staff turning up.

Among the public sectors that employ the largest groups of people, the FACT spokesman said that the functioning of the office was not affected.

In Cochin Shipyard Limited, 72 per cent of the staff had reported for work. It is mostly women who were not able to reach office due to lack of transport, said the public relations officer of the Shipyard.

The Cochin Port Trust had an attendance of 65 per cent of its employees.

Activities inside the port area were not affected, said the public relations officer. Loading and unloading work for ships that berthed here went about as usual, he added. The Collectorate had about 50-55 per cent staff attendance and the BSNL had about 50 per cent staff working on Thursday.

The IT industry had 90 per cent attendance in the companies at Info-Park.

The Wipro General Manager said that the usual attendance is about 95-96 per cent while on Thursday it was about 90 per cent.

 

Auto fare for the day: Rs. 50 per kilometre

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Passengers relying on Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses and those forced to depend on autorickshaws for transportation had a harrowing time on Thursday. Most of the buses chose to keep off the road enabling some autorickshaw drivers to rake in some quick buck.

Though the hartal called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad evoked only partial response in the city with a number of private vehicles, mostly two-wheelers taking the road, office-goers who depended solely on public transport services, were affected.

Jayaraj M., a mechanist at the KSTRC workshop in Pappanamcode, had a taste of his organisation’s own medicine when he was stranded at the Thampanoor bus stand for more than an hour unable to catch a bus to his office.

A resident of Nedumangad, Mr. Jayaraj had reached Thampanoor by hitch-hiking on a two-wheeler. However, devoid of a similar luck with two-wheeler riders here, he finally decided to engage an autorickshaw. “They wanted me pay Rs.50 even for a distance of one kilometre. I did not have an option,” said Mr. Jayaraj.

The autorickshaw drivers on their part exploited the innate fear of passengers by hinting at possible violence by the hartal supporters on the way as means to extract some extra moolah. “Will you pay if someone breaks the windshield of the vehicle?” fumed a driver who refused to give his name.

With the KSRTC suspending most of its long distance services till the hartal deadline in the evening, a few who reached the Thampanoor bus stand in the morning had to return disappointed.

 

Violence in Kodungalloor

Kodungalloor: Hartal called separately by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday turned violent in Kodungalloor. Many incidents of violence were reported from various parts.

Protesters damaged a statue of Sri Narayana Guru on the Sri Kumara Samajam campus at East Nada. Some media offices were also attacked.

The SNDP has called for hartal in Kodungalloor on Friday.

While the VHP’s hartal was part of the Bharat bandh, the LDF observed the hartal to mourn the death of DYFI Kodungalloor block committee vice-president and Municipal committee secretary K.U. Biju (28).

Suspected BJP activists had assaulted Biju, an employee of the Kodungalloor Vividodhesa Cooperative Society, on Monday. He succumbed to severe head injuries in the hospital on Wednesday.

 

Police personnel injured during BJP march

Kozhikode: Two personnel attached to the Armed Reserve Police Camp were injured during a march taken out by BJP activists on Tuesday.

They were protesting against the alleged apathy of the district administration in resuming the government land housing the sales and service outlet of Indus Motors owned by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader and Rajya Sabha MP P.V. Abdul Wahab at Cheruvannur on the outskirts of the city. Head constable Manoj and constable Jabeer were admitted to the Government Beach Hospital. Two buses of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), security cabin and windowpanes of the Indus Motors building were damaged in stone-throwing. The incident took place when a mob threw stones at the police party and the buildings after the march dispersed at 12.15 p.m.