India's "handgun for women" sparks fury

13/01/2014

NEW DELHI: An Indian handgun designed for women and named after the victim of a fatal gang-rape in Delhi was condemned by rights activists on Sunday as a disgrace to her memory.

The lightweight .32 calibre revolver was developed by the state-run Indian Ordnance Factory (IOF) and can fit inside a small purse or handbag, according to a newspaper report.

The factory in the northern city of Kanpur has received 20 orders since the titanium-alloy, six-shot gun — costing 122,360 rupees ($1,976) — was launched earlier this month, the Times of India said on Friday.

“At least 80 per cent of the bookings are from women,” IOF general manager Abdul Hameed told the newspaper, adding that more orders were expected soon.

“Expectedly, the weapon has received a very good response,” he said.

The gun is called “Nirbheek” meaning “fearless” in Hindi and was intended as a tribute to the 23-year-old student whose brutal attack in India’s capital in December 2012 sparked outrage about the levels of violence against women in India.

The student was given the nickname Nirbhaya (also meaning fearless) by the media and authorities after the attack because she could not be named under Indian law.

But activists said the gun showed Indian authorities “completely misunderstood” how they were supposed to protect women from high levels of violence across the country.

“It really is an insult to the memory of Nirbhaya,” said Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network on Sunday.

“Our research shows that a person is 12 times more likely to be shot dead if they are carrying a gun when attacked,” she told reporters.

“It also shows that the government of India has failed to protect women by resorting to this. Arming women is not a responsible way to secure their safety and security,” she said.

The Indian government was introduced tougher laws for rapists and other offenders and a range of other judicial and policing reforms in the wake of outrage over the student’s attack on a moving bus.—AFP

Afghan police hunt brother of 'suicide girl' aged 10

07/01/2014

Sphozmai, 10, who was about to be used by the Taliban as a suicide bomber, sits at a police office in Helmand province

KANDAHAR: Afghan police on Tuesday searched for a Taliban commander who allegedly forced his 10-year-old sister to wear an explosives-packed vest on an aborted suicide attack in the southern province of Helmand.

The interior ministry said the girl, named as Spozhmai, was detained before she detonated the vest near a police checkpoint in the district of Khanashin.

Speaking on Monday at a press conference, the girl said she had been ordered by her brother to undertake the suicide mission but had decided not to carry it through.

“We have appointed a team to investigate this,” Omar Zwak, the Helmand governor's spokesman, told AFP. “They will try to find the brother and father of the girl, and they will visit the police post and talk to the police who found and detained the girl.

We are trying to find out what exactly has happened.”

Amid several conflicting accounts of the incident, some officials said she had been wearing the vest when she was arrested, while others said no vest had been recovered.

The Tolo TV news channel said the girl was unable to operate the button to detonate the explosives.

She told reporters in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand, that her brother had coerced her to put on the vest and walk to the police post after an argument with her stepmother.

The girl said she had dumped the vest in a river before being arrested. She was in police custody on Tuesday.

Two Jordanian sentenced to death over 'honour killing'

30/12/2013

The two men, aged 23 and 20, strangled their divorced sister to death in June 2013.

AMMAN (AFP) - The criminal court in Amman on Sunday sentenced two Jordanian men to death for killing their sister in June "to cleanse the family s honour," a court official said.
"The two men, aged 23 and 20, took their divorced sister, also in her twenties, to the garden of their house and strangled her in June 2013," in Zarqa, a city northeast of Amman, the official told AFP.
"They confessed to killing their sister, who worked in a kindergarten after suspecting that she had behaved badly," the official said without elaborating.
"They said that they wanted to cleanse the family s honour," the official added.
Murder is punishable by death in Jordan, but in "honour killings" courts usually commute or reduce sentences if the victim s family requests leniency.
"For the first time in several years, the family of the victim refused to ask the court for leniency, demanding the maximum punishment," another court official told AFP without giving further details.
Between 15 and 20 women die in so-called "honour" murders each year in the kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.
A study by Cambridge University s Institute of Criminology in June said many Jordanian teenagers believe killing a daughter, sister or wife who has "dishonoured" or shamed the family is justified.

Kabaddi World Cup: England women's team demands gender test on Pakistan players

12/12/2013

England contingent alleges that some of the Pakistan women players played the game like male participants.

Controversy struck the ongoing fourth edition of the Kabaddi World Cup in India when England women's team officials demanded a gender test on three players from the Pakistan team on Wednesday. Pakistan women's team, who took part in the tournament for the first time, have been knocked out of the event by India.

England Kabaddi Federation alleged that Pakistan players have masculine physique and are playing the sport like male athletes. The English body also alleged that the entire issue was being swept under the carpet despite their raised grievances. The English federation voiced their complaints in a letter to Punjab's director of sports Shiv Dular Singh Dhillon.

"Prior to our match against Pakistan at Jalalabad on December 7, I submitted a letter raising serious doubts about three players who we suspect are of male gender. All the women teams are put up at the same hotel and we have had sufficient time to observe the behavior of these players," Kawal Das, England Kabaddi Federation general secretary, was quoted as saying in the Times of India.

Das says that a team of doctors were to look into the matter but the plan was cancelled after Pakistani officials made requests. England kabaddi coach Ashok Das, who is also the president of the England Kabaddi Federation, said they had made the complaint on December 7 and 8 however, no action was taken by the concerned authorities.

"How can they think of including kabaddi in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games if you ignore such a serious issue?," said one of the officials.

On the other hand, tournament direction Shiv Dev Singh admitted that complaints were made by the England team management but said the players under doubt may have male hormones being from an athletic background.

"There is no question of male or transgenders playing in the team. The players in question were professional throwers and might be having male hormones. This can be checked by dope tests," Dev Singh said.

Dev Singh said that only an expert can take a call on an issue of alleged doping as such issues do not fall under his domain.

India will take New Zealand in the final of the tournament in Jalandhar on Thursday after beating Pakistan 46-12 in the semis on Wednesday.

India win women's Kabaddi World Cup2013

12/12/2013
Jalandhar:  India clinched the women's Kabaddi World Cup championship for the third time in a row, defeating debutant New Zealand 49-21 in the summit clash played at Guru Gobind Singh sports complex here on Thursday.

The Indian eves led their New Zealand counterparts for most part of the match and held out a strong challenge by the visitors in the second half, on course to a resounding win.

The Indian team took home a first-place prize of Rs one crore.

Anu Rani was adjudged the best stopper while Ram Bateri was declared the best raider. Both received a Maruti Alto car each

Acid Attack Hoax: Why Did She Say Attacker Was Black?

Bethany Storro, the Portland woman who claimed that an unknown black woman threw acid in her face, yesterday admitted she'd made up the story. 

What she can't explain is why she - an attractive woman with a new job - would cause herself horrific pain by searing her face, irreparably, with a substance as caustic as hydrochloric or sulfuric acid.

There could be several answers, says Dr. Samuelle Klein-Von Reiche, a psychologist in private practice in Manhattan.

"One theory is that it could be for the same reasons that some people cut themselves - to take charge of negative emotions, to feeling something more than numbness, to grant release from psychic pain," says Klein-Von Reiche.

Yet permanent disfigurement is extreme for those in the cutting category, isn't it?

Another theory, says Klein-Von Reiche, is that Storro views herself "as a victim and is reenacting some physical or psychological trauma."

But why did she tell police her assailant was black?

Klein-Von Reiche says that the fact that she said it was a black woman is "fascinating."

"Of course it could imply racial issues," she says, "But, she says, it might also have been her unconscious way of saying that she did it herself - black could represent the dark side of herself over which she has little control."

And there's another theory. Paradoxically, Bethany Storro could be a big narcissist.

"We shouldn't minimize the fact that she got enormous notoriety from this," says Klein-Von Reiche, and any sort of attention, positive or negative, is gold for an extreme narcissist. 

"At its roots, narcissism is voracious."

Bangladesh Acid Victims Fight For Justice

`The corrosive liquid badly burned my face and part of my child`s head`, said 30-year-old Khodeza.

Khodeza Begum still shivers in fear when she remembers the winter night eight years ago when an unidentified attacker sprayed acid on her and her baby girl as they slept in their Bangladesh shantytown home.

"The corrosive liquid badly burned my face and part of my child's head," said 30-year-old Khodeza, her face partly covered to hide the scars.

"But I received no justice from police or court as I could not identify the offender," she told a conference marking the 10th anniversary of the foundation of the Bangladesh Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) in Dhaka on Tuesday.

ASF officials, police and victims said acid attacks mostly result from refusal of a sexual advance, demand for dowry or family disputes over land. Most of the victims were young women, they said.

As well as horrific scarring and the inevitable psychological trauma, organisers of the conference said that many victims are denied justice like Khodeza. Others face social isolation and ostracism by families.

"Lucky I am that my husband did not abandon us, unlike the fate that befall on many acid victims," said Khodeza, from Bangladesh's southern Satkhira district.

Police sometimes take the side of the offenders for a bribe and protect them from law, Nur Jahan, another acid victim, told the conference, which was attended by about 600 acid victims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Uganda and Nepal.

Samina Afzal Naz, an official of the Acid Survivors Foundation Pakistan, said acid attacks over spurned sexual advances or land disputes were also a problem in her country.

"We started working in Pakistan only two years ago and have already identified 149 acid victims in the Punjab region," said Samina.

ASF officials said the number of acid attacks in Bangladesh had decreased since the government enacted tough laws that set death as the maximum penalty for acid throwers.

"When we founded ASF in Bangladesh in 1999, the number of acid victims annually recorded was around 500 in the country. The number has now gone down well below 100," said John Morrison, the founder of the organisation.

Access to good medical care for victims remains a problem, however, ASF officials said.

Bangladesh, home to nearly 150 million people, has only one 50-bed burns unit in a public sector hospital, they said.

"It is only a drop in the ocean," said Monira Rahman, the Executive Director of ASF Bangladesh, adding that the foundation is running a 20-bed hospital to supplement government facilities.

India arrests 23 over murder of alleged witches

Indian police have arrested 23 people over the killing of 11 men and women for alleged witchcraft. The murder took place in Assam state in April, when seven women and four men were killed by fellow villagers after they were suspected of practicing sorcery and thus causing death and disease in the area. Police said Thursday they were keep searching for those behind the killing. Such crimes have taken place in Assam before, with those suspected of witchcraft frequently killed in cold blood by fellow villagers.

World's Ugliest Woman World Records by Anne Woods – Weird

A BRITISH world champion GURNER has finally had her feat officially recognised by Guinness World Records for World’s Ugliest Woman.

Anne Woods was accepted into the record books after winning the world title 27 times. The contesttakes place in her hometown of Egremont, Cumbria, at its regular Crab Fair.

And after her latest success in September, her daughter Brenda Hoey applied to have her included in the prestigious tome.

Judges have now confirmed Anne, 62 – who performs to the sound of Babybird’s hit You’re Gorgeous – will appear in the next edition of the book alongside fellow Cumbrian Tommy Mattinson, who has won the men’s title eleven times.

Anne said: “It feels so great to have been accepted. It’s not before time – I’ve won it 27 times.

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“I haven’t decided yet if I will carry on with gurning. It’s a possibility I might retire.

“I don’t think my record will be beaten though.”

Anne started gurning when she was 30 — but it was not her choice.

Daughter Brenda said: “My brothers Brian and Robert entered her for a laugh and she just went up on stage and did it – and she won.”

That was in 1977 and 33 years later Anne is still contorting her famous face.

Drama hit this year’s competition when Anne collapsed and was rushed to hospital after leaving the stage.

Brenda added: “I think this year gave her a bit of a shock, but she’s known for gurning and that’s what she’ll do.

“It’s a big part of her life.”

Anne has only missed the competition once and that was because she was heavily pregnant.

The following year she was back up on stage to reclaim her crown — just two weeks after giving birth to Brenda.

123 killed in temple stampede in north India

Over 120 people were killed and 40 injured in a panic at a famous temple in Indian north state Himachal Pradesh Sunday, the police said. The stampede occurred after a railing outside the temple collapsed, the Indo-Asian News Service reported. The crowd had gathered at the temple on the occasion of the 10-day religious fair that began Saturday. Most of the dead were women and children. A majority of the victims were from neighboring Punjab state. A state government statement Sunday evening said that 123 people were killed and 40 injured in the accident.People stand near bodies outside the Naina Devi temple at Bilaspur in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh August 3, 2008. The death toll in a stampede at the temple on Sunday rose to at least 123 people, police said.Rescue operations at the temple, located atop a hill, were hit by inclement weather, the report said. The police said the death toll could well mount further. He said most of the injured have been taken to the hospitals. Traffic on the road leading to the temple has been blocked, the police said. The temple is located 160 km from the state capital Shimla, the popular hill resort in northern India.

Indian Held Kashmir

Jammu Kashmir policewomen detain Kashmiri women during a demonstration in Srinagar, India, Friday, Sept. 29, 2006. Police on Friday swung bamboo sticks and fired tear gas at dozens of rock-throwing demonstrators as protests continued for the third straight day in the Indian portion of Kashmir against the upcoming execution of a Kashmiri man convicted of plotting a 2001 terror attack on India's Parliament.

The Woman of Rural India

The woman of rural India courteous and dutiful,

Victim of Patriarchy, but Oh! So beautiful.

When she is born, her mother is called a sinner,

But her gender is ignored when she becomes a bread winner.

She serves her parents to become an 'ideal' daughter,

But loses her childhood in the barter.

Then comes the most important phase of her life,

This is when she becomes a slave-wife.

Soon she is instructed to multiply,

And Oh! she has more beings to satisfy.

She endures her domestic and maternal drudgery,

As if she was born to bear this overdose of misery.

But, what else can she do?

Education cannot come to her rescue.

A symbol of strength and perseverance,
Few admire her power of endurance.
The woman of rural India, courteous and dutiful,
Victim of Patriarchy, but Oh! so beautiful.