*Jakarta Globe, 5 December 2008

We hear the sirens first and then see the flash of green as they zip past. The paramedics of Ambulance 118 are the heroes of the streets, working around the clock to save lives and lend a tender hand.

7:30 a.m.
Even in the early hours of the morning, the parking lot of Cipto Manungkusumo Hospital, or RSCM, in Central Jakarta is filling up fast.
Five ambulances are parked in front of the children’s wing. “Ambulans Darurat,” or Emergency Ambulance, has been stenciled boldly in red on the front of the forest-green vehicles.
A man with plump cheeks and a short, squared-off beard is inside one of them, checking an oxygen tank.
“We have to go to Manggarai [South Jakarta] to fill up our oxygen tanks,” Dany Widyanto says.
At 26, he’s been a paramedic for four years. An older man with a perpetual smile, dressed in the regulation blue Ambulans 118 uniform and scruffy sneakers, introduces himself as Habibi Dukhri.
“We always travel in teams of two. Dany and I take turns driving,” Habibi says.
Today the two have been paired up for their 12-hour shift, covering Central Jakarta.

8:00 a.m.
At the oxygen-filling station, Dany and Habibi run into Marlinawati Susana and Mutmainah. Known around RSCM as Marlina and Imut, the two women are also attending to their tanks before their shift begins.
“We have to check our equipment every morning because patients are more likely to die from lack of oxygen than delays in [getting to the hospital] caused by traffic jams,” Marlina says, referring to the maddening traffic conditions in the Indonesian capital.
Slender and long-limbed, she has pulled her hair back into a ponytail, accentuating her pale, heavily powdered skin.
Her partner, Imut, wears a jilbab, or headscarf, and no makeup. She lets Marlina do most of the talking.
They have both been with the ambulance unit for more than two years.
“Almost half of our crew are women. There is no difference between us [men and women],” Habibi says.
Marlina says, “People work here because they like a challenge.”
The four of them say their goodbyes and hop back into their ambulances.

8:20 a.m.
Habibi and Dany leave the oxygen station for the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, where they are expected to “stand by” from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
They are not worried about being late; it is likely they will just be sitting there, waiting.
“In the beginning, I liked the idea of going all around the city,” Habibi says. “And after doing it for a while, I began to really enjoy it. In the hospital, there is a senior-junior system. Here, [as paramedics] we are all equals.”
In the five years that Habibi has been a paramedic, not a single patient has died in his ambulance. “Victims sometimes die when we arrive late on the scene, but never in the ambulance because we always stabilize them before moving them,” Habibi says.
Even in heavy traffic jams?
“The response time for road accidents is often longer due to traffic. Sometimes when we get there, the victim has already been taken away in a bajaj [auto-rickshaw] or taxi,” Habibi says. “We often lose victims that way.”
Ambulance 118 is a national government ambulance service. The service is free for people with welfare cards, as well as road accident victims. For house calls and hospital-to-hospital transfers, there is a flat-rate charge of Rp 200,000 ($17), regardless of mileage. The cost includes all necessary services and supplies.
“People don’t know much about us,” Habibi says. “Sometimes, when there is a road accident, say someone on a bike, they often refuse our help because they think they have to pay.”
Dany is broody and seemingly fed up. But he concedes, with a roguish gleam in his eyes, that he is in his element when on the graveyard shift: from 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
“The most exciting are the nightclub victims,” he says. “You never know what is going to happen! Someone might be drunk and try to pick a fight with us.
“That is a cause of distress for paramedics because our safety is important. If it is not safe for us, it is better we refrain from treating the victims until backup from police or another unit arrives. Don’t try to be a hero.”

8:40 a.m.
At the traffic circle in Central Jakarta, Habibi relaxes in the back of a police pick-up truck fitted with benches and a canvas roof. He has found a friend: a policeman directing the rush-hour traffic.
“We like to call ourselves street children,” Habibi says with a laugh.

9:58 a.m.
Habibi takes a call and the men get into the ambulance.
“We’re off to the north now. They are out of ambulances in Kelapa Gading because most are them are being used to take welfare card holders to the hospital,” he says. RSCM has only five operational ambulances.
“Before, when we had 15 ambulances, our response time was excellent. At times, three ambulances would converge in one place,” he says. “We aim for good response time.”
Dany sounds the siren and the ambulance sails through a red light. Drivers honk their horns in protest. They still do not know the nature of the emergency.
“We often get crank calls, so our operator will take a call, write down the information, and call the person back at their number,” Habibi explains.
The ambulance veers into the busway lane, which is lawful in an emergency. “Ambulances have priority on the road but people still don’t realize it,” Habibi says.
He rings the operator for the exact location, then reports to Habibi: “We’re standing down. There is another ambulance closer.” They turn back to Menteng, Central Jakarta.

10:45 a.m.
Habibi pulls into a small police post at Suropati Park, Menteng, to use the bathroom. Dany perches himself on a steel bench. His partner returns with milky coffee. “I smoke sometimes. In the field, we can survive all day on just coffee and cigarettes,” Dany says.
“They call us ambulans gaul [cool ambulance drivers] because we are all so young,” he laughs.

11:00 a.m.
Habibi’s phone rings. “Here we go,” he says. “Standby for a protest? MPR/DPR? Inside or outside the building?” he asks the operator, referring to the People’s Consultative Assembly and the House of Representatives buildings.
“Two units have been called to be on standby for this protest,” he tells Dany. They get in the ambulance and Habibi starts reading his newspaper.

11:20 a.m.
Dany parks in the street outside the legislative complex and walks over to meet Suyitno and Eka, from the Ambulance 118 unit in from Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta.
“The protest has not even started,” Suyitno reports.

11:30 a.m.
A man in uniform approaches the ambulance. A young woman wearing a pink T-shirt is slumped in his arms, her long hair covering her face.
A crowd forms. Within seconds the woman is being given oxygen through a nasal cannula.
“Wake up, Mega,” Dany says, once he has discovered the victim’s name.
Habibi pops around the door with an oxygen mask. “Dany, use this instead.”
Habibi and his colleagues chat with the victim’s father, seemingly unperturbed by the situation. Her husband appears with a plastic cup of tea.
The woman stirs, managing to raise her head just enough to sip the sweet tea.
“How is she?” Suyitno inquires. “Stable,” comes the reply from inside the ambulance.
The woman had followed her father to Jakarta from Ngawi, East Java Province, to support him in his protest to increase the tenure of village administrative leaders.
Although Habibi advises the patient to rest, the husband calls a taxi and they leave.

12:05 p.m.
A man approaches Eka and asks her to check his blood pressure, which she does. It is not long before a Civilian Protection Service officer enters the ambulance. “What is your complaint, sir?” He too is worried about low-blood pressure. Then comes an elderly gentleman with a black cap.
“I have a headache,” he says to Eka, as she dutifully pumps the blood pressure meter.
Habibi makes small talk with the men about the protest.
“If one comes in, the rest follow. They are often looking for headache meds,” explains Habibi, as Suyitno informs the growing crowd of the same thing.
“We don’t supply oral meds,” he tells the people lining up. “We only carry them for emergencies and evacuations.”
Three more men ask Habibi to check their blood pressure. “They will all line up because they think we are offering freebies,” Suyitno says.
“My chest hurts,” one man says.

12:50 p.m.
Eka wants to pray at her post in Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta. Everyone heads there for lunch.

1:00 p.m.
Habibi heads to the upper level of the Tanjung Duren Fire Station with Dany. They meet up with Purwiyanto, the area coordinator for West Jakarta. “We don’t have a post of our own, so we are sharing with the fire department,” Purwiyanto says, as the two paramedics settle on the floor.
Habibi rings headquarters to report on his whereabouts. On TV, actor Gading Marten is trying to find lines on a show called “Missing Lyrics.” Looking on, the paramedics dig into their meals.

2:40 p.m.
“We are picking up a patient from Pelni hospital and bringing him home. We do not know the condition of the patient yet,” Habibi says as they leave the fire department.
Turning onto Jalan S. Parman, they are faced with a traffic jam. “This is Jakarta,” comments Habibi as Dany switches on the siren. Dany looks agitated. “I don’t like jams,” he says. Habibi falls asleep.

3:05 p.m.
“Don’t take a ticket,” Habibi tells Dany as they enter Pelni Hospital in Central Jakarta. Once stationed in front of the emergency doors, Habibi sets up the gurney. Dany rolls it in.
“Straight ahead,” instructs the hospital staff member. The patient’s family greets them. A relative helps Habibi and Dany with the best way to get back home. “Go past Pondok Kopi because it is not too far. The patient has sores on his back,” she says.
In a darkened room with three beds and green pleated curtains, the patient lies on his back: A frail elderly man, covered only with a blanket, he has had a stroke and been at the hospital a week. A nurse dresses him carefully.
Dany and Habibi have their latex gloves on. “Sir, we are going to lift you up slowly, OK?” Habibi says.
They wrap the patient in blankets and lift him onto the gurney. “Does it hurt?” Dany asks. The patient moans, almost inaudibly.

3:20 p.m.
Everyone piles into the ambulance. The patient’s daughter-in-law sits up front. Habibi is with the patient in back. The patient asks Habibi to pull off his Band-Aid saying it pains him. “It hurts from the injection, Pak. This is to prevent bleeding,” Habibi explains.
He starts making small talk. “How old are you, Pak?” he asks. “72.” He gently holds the old man’s hand and takes his blood pressure. “Slowly, Dany,” he says as the road gets bumpy. The patient’s feet peek out of the blue hospital blankets, crusted with sores and cracked skin.
“Sometimes we travel out of town, like to Solo in Central Java when patients want to spend their last days at home,” Habibi says. “Then we would have a mechanic with us, in case the vehicle breaks down.”
The patient asks Habibi to scratch an itch on his left arm. Up front, Dany is trying to find the exit. “There have been coma patients who go home to die. We have to be there when the families pull the plug,” Habibi says.

4:10 p.m.
The ambulance arrives at the patient’s home in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta. Three dogs roam around the patio; paw prints pepper the floor. Dany and Habibi roll the gurney into the house. With the help of the patient’s relatives, they lift him onto the bed. “Pak, get better soon,” Habibi says before walking back to the car.
He fills out a form with the patient’s details for the relatives to sign.

4:20 p.m.
Habibi fills out the daily log book and helps Dany with directions back to Central Jakarta. “A GPS system was set up for Jakarta but due to a lack of funds, it was never turned on,” Dany says. “We know our way around Central Jakarta but sometimes we get calls to unfamiliar places and have to ask for directions.”

5:25 p.m.
Back at RSCM, the parking lot is full. Dany manages to find a spot and turns off the engine. Habibi goes to find snacks. “Before we had a post at this hospital, but no more. So we chill in the ambulance,” Dany says.
When Habibi returns with fried snacks, they talk about the rise of new ambulances in Jakarta hospitals.
“What irks me is that some people still think of us as mere drivers. It is to be expected, I guess, with all the fancy new ambulances nowadays being driven by drivers who are not trained paramedics like us,” Habibi says.
“Yet, people only trust us when it comes to big emergencies,” Dany adds. “Because if you compare us with fresh medical grads, they lose out to our experience in the field.”

6:00 pm
Habibi has gone for evening prayers. Two women approach the car.
“Pak, can you take a patient to an old folks’ home on Radio Dalam?” they ask Dany. He asks about the patient’s condition. He is still in the intensive care unit.
Dany calls headquarters to find out if the night-shift paramedics are available.
“Can you not take him yourself?” the woman asks.
“I am sorry, it’s procedure to have two paramedics in the ambulance,” Dany says. “And we recommend moving the patient late at night, when there is less traffic. Tonight, all the patients that have to be transported from RSCM are ‘bad’ ones,” Dany says.
“A ‘bad’ patient does not have all his ABCs [airways, breathing, circulation] in working order. Usually it’s the airway that’s most problematic. Our patient today was a ‘good’ one because he was stable.
“Sometimes hospitals are funny. They call us to take patients away when they are critical or ‘bad’ because they consider it bad luck if they die in the hospital.
It begins to rain. Habibi returns and Asep, the Central Jakarta area coordinator, jumps into the ambulance. “Not going home?” Dany asks him. Asep snorts, “Ha! I am sleeping in the ambulance tonight!”

7:20 p.m.
The rain stops. Habibi and Dany spill out of the ambulance into the wet parking lot and head home.

On December 27, 2008, the Israel Defense Forces began their assault on the Gaza Strip in what they called Operation Cast Lead. 13 Israelis and as many as 1400 Palestinians were killed in the three weeks of fighting. The war enjoyed wide support among Israelis: according to the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, 94% of Jewish Israelis (76% of Israel’s population) supported the attack. Operation Cast Lead caused enormous suffering in Gaza and has been a thorn in the side of Israelis since its commencement. Numerous human rights organisations have issued reports on the conflict accusing both sides of war crimes, and the Israeli government has denied any but the noblest intentions. How did we get here?

This essay uses national role conception theory to explain how Israel’s political culture approved of Operation Cast Lead and permitted the latest brutal attack on the Palestinians. You can find it at the following link.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23348184/Paving-the-Road-to-Gaza-Israel-s-National-Role-Conception-and-Operation-Cast-Lead

"The Elephant in the Room"  

"TIME’S UP!"

TODAY’S TIME’S UP! WRITER

Susan Murphy Milano

SEARCHING OUT SOLUTIONS FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME

By Susan Murphy-Milano

Society provides wellness and support for those whom are survivors of various types of illiness, but what about crime survivors? Everyday, people are impacted by violent crimes such as rape, robbery, felony assault, hate crimes, domestic violence and child abuse. For victims of crimes they require healing that goes deeper than simply bringing the person responsible to justice. Crime survivors often find themselves grappling with difficult questions: How am I suppose to move on with my life? What will happen next? Will I ever feel safe again? Where can I get information? What are my rights? Who will simply listen to me and respect my feelings and decisions? Why is surviving a violent crime always the silent "elephant" in a room?

HOW TO SUPPORT A SURVIVOR OF CRIME

Ask them to talk about what happend to them. Listen and support what they are sharing with you. Do not offer opinions, judgements or advice about what you hear and read about in other cases or the news. Encourage the person to describe what they: Saw . . Heard . . . Thought . . . Smelled . . . Felt . . .

It is important to tell them they are valued and your caring for them has not changed. Tell them how much you appreciate them as a person and in your life.

Simply listen: Listen to his or her emotions as well as the story.

Understand that people communicate in other ways than with their words. Try to understand and take cues from your loved one’s expressions and body language. Maybe they are nervous and figiting with their hands embarrassed by the crime. or afraid you will judge them merely because they are disclosing something they feel is embarassing. Take your hands and hold theirs as they speak to you.

Encourage them to set priorities and problem-solve with input from family and close friends.

Allow time to heal. Don’t tell them to "get over it." Remember that every day they may be re-experiencing the event through dreams, memories, emotions or injuries that take time to heal.

No one expects a broken bone to heal over night, but often people expect loved ones to "get over" trauma after a day or two.

Think of healing as a group issue, not an individual one. As a caring person, you are impacted too. Take time for yourself, be gentle with yourself and with others.

Facilitate support from your church, family members and friends.

Laughter as Ward Foley author of "Thank My Lucky Scars" and Why God Did Not Make Me a Woman Because I have Enough Problems" will tell you humor is the best medicine. Use humor (preferably not about the event.) Try to lighten up if you can. And whatever you do if you cannot say something nice then zipper up your lip and keep it to yourself.

Give hugs daily.

After some time has passed, review what has happened. Concentrate on how each person has changed or grown.

Crime Survivors often lack an appetite. And they will not eat, especially if they are isolated or left alone for long periods of time. Make their favorite meal and eat with them.

Surviving a violent crime takes courage and inner strength.

Plan outside activities, even if it is a walk around the block. Fresh air and excercise are very important.

Look on the Internet and research support groups of crime or assualt. Talk to the person about joining a group or ongoing discussion.

Plants and flowers in a home of a crime victim survivor are also very important. Perhaps create a project and plant blubs and flowers in their yard.Create a garden of items that they might enjoy that you could create on a window sill. It does not always have to be in a yard. Consider asking the church for volunteers to help with things from their garden that a person might enjoy.

Crime Victims deal with the aftermath three hundred and sixty-five days a year, seven days a week. Providing friendship and hope for just one day is a day less of painful thought and memory in the mind of a crime victim survivor.

POSTED BY TIME’S UP AT 4:56 AM

LABELS: CHERRY SIMPSONS POSTS, CNN, CRIME SURVIVOR, KAREN RAE ELKINS POSTS, OPRAH, PEACE4 THE MISSING.NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION CENTER, SUSAN MURPHY MILANO POSTS

Technorati Tags: Elephant,Room,Susan,Murphy,Milano,TIME,WRITER,VICTIMS,CRIME,robbery,felony,violence,person,justice,life,Where,rights,feelings,SUPPORT,SURVIVOR,Listen,advice,cases,news,Encourage,Thought,Tell,Understand,words,expressions,language,Maybe,Take,friends,Remember,event,dreams,memories,trauma,Think,Facilitate,church,Laughter,Ward,Foley,author,Thank,Lucky,Make,Woman,Enough,Problems,medicine,zipper,Give,Concentrate,Survivors,appetite,meal,courage,strength,Plan,activities,Fresh,Look,Internet,Talk,discussion,Plants,flowers,victim,yard,Create,garden,items,sill,Consider,aftermath,friendship,memory,CHERRY,SIMPSONS,KAREN,ELKINS,OPRAH,NATIONAL,INFORMATION,CENTER,SOLUTIONS,crimes,decisions,opinions,emotions,injuries,members,periods

Sugar Coating Crime

Tommy was in second grade and his older brother Angelo was in the sixth grade and each were looking forward to a thanksgiving holiday feast with their family in their illinois suburban home.

Early Wednesday morning, the day before thanksgiving their father baseball coach and "your average good guy" Thomas Mangiantini killed his wife, Elizabeth, 46, she was shot once in the head. The boys killed first, shoting his son Thomas Jr., 8, once in the head, and his other son, Angelo, 12, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the head. Afterwards the man took his own life.

Thanksgiving morning the lawn was still covered in crime scene tape and according to news acccounts a few families nearby changed their plans for the holiday making other arrangments for the day elsewhere.

The front pages of the Chicago papers likely moved the story of "President Obama pardons "Courage" (the turkey) in holiday ritual" changing the headline to the tragedy in bold face type " Dad, mom, 2 children found dead."

The man left a note in which investigators are" hopeful" will bring closure to the case—but I am not certain anyone will really know for sure what happend in this home, other then the obvious. A person whom is distraught in the last hours or moments of their life often leaves handwritten notes behind with the reasons for their actions? I have a news flash-you cannot go by what a person writes who is in this frame of mind. All they are really doing is explaining their personal view point. It is not the truth. So while the police are trying to analyze something a psycho killer wrote, the facts in the case, died with the murdered family members. Anyway you want tosugar coat this, it is still domestic violence homicide. Okay, policehave never been called to the home. Neither parents sought legal services for divorce or separtion. I don’t want police or the public to dismiss this as "the man had problems", he was "mentally ill", or whatever other lable someone wants to use.

He carried out a plan to execute his family. Was it because he was sexually abusing one or both of the boys and someone was going to let out their secret? Was it because Elizabeth had finally decided the marriage was over and after the holidays she was going to file for divorce?

Prayers to the friends and family left to cope with such a devasting crime.

Technorati Tags: Sugar,Crime,SUSAN,MURPHY,MILANO,JOURNAL,Tommy,Angelo,father,Thomas,Mangiantini,wife,Elizabeth,gunshot,Afterwards,life,lawn,news,plans,Chicago,papers,President,Obama,Courage,turkey,tragedy,children,closure,person,notes,actions,truth,killer,Anyway,violence,homicide,Okay,Neither,services,problems,marriage,friends,moments,members,Prayers

One of the people that I had the pleasure to meet at the Expo in Florida a couple of weeks ago was Will Marling from NOVA, the National Organization for Victims Assistance. If you have not heard of NOVA the following video will give you a lot of great information on them.

Also, look for more information coming about the next NOVA conference

Victim to Victorious!…The Journey Continues

August 22-25, 2010

Hilton Salt Lake City Center

Salt Lake City, UT

http://www.trynova.org/conference/2010/

Any change, any loss, does not make us victims. Others can shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can’t prevent you from acting, from taking the situation you’re presented with and moving on. No matter where you are in life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something. You always have a choice and the choice can be power. -Blaine Lee

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.castillo25oct25,0,6676991,print.story

baltimoresun.com

Living with a mother’s nightmare

Amy Castillo copes with loss of her best friend and his killing their babies

By Tricia Bishop | tricia.bishop@baltsun.com

October 25, 2009

Just a few months after her husband drowned their three children, Amy Castillo found herself standing on top of a mountain during a Christian missionary trip to China, winds whipping, rain pouring down.
She asked herself a question: "Can I live with this?"
A long time passed before she could honestly answer.

The man she once playfully called "sexy thing," who swept her off her feet and quickly became her best friend, had gradually vanished over the past five years. In his place was a manic, suicidal stranger who spent entire nights at Baltimore strip clubs, blew thousands of dollars in wild shopping sprees and accused her of being self-righteous and manipulative.

A "wolf in sheep’s clothing" was how he described himself, a longtime family friend said.
On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Mark Castillo showed up at Amy’s modest Silver Spring house, which they once shared, to pick up their children for a scheduled visit. The couple had been separated for nearly two years by then and were going through a difficult divorce in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Mark was clean-shaven and wearing a nice shirt, looking better than he had in months, Amy thought. He loaded the two boys – Anthony, 6, and Austin, 4 – along with 2-year-old Athena into the family minivan and drove north, to Baltimore.
The dark-haired quartet spent the day at the Maryland Science Center before checking into the Camden Yards Marriott. They ate dinner – room service – then Mark set the boys up with a computer game and took Athena into the bathroom to draw a bath.

He held her tiny frame under the water for a full 10 minutes, timed with a stopwatch, until he was sure she was dead. He repeated the act with each of the boys, then tried to kill himself that night with an over-the-counter pain reliever and, on Sunday, with a knife.

When Mark and the children failed to return Saturday night by the court-required time, Amy called the police twice and once again Sunday morning. But she was told there was nothing they could do. Call back if the family didn’t show up by Monday.

Then, sometime Sunday afternoon, an officer came to her door. "Come with us, we found everyone," he said.
Amy felt relief first, then a sliver of "gotcha" as the officer drove her and her friend, Cheryl Wharton, to the Baltimore police station. She might be able to use this out-all-night stunt against Mark in custody proceedings, she thought.

It wasn’t until hours later that she learned her children were dead.
Standing on that mountain in China, beneath a callous monsoon sky, Amy didn’t know if she had the strength or will to survive her grief. If she died, she would be reunited with her children in heaven. If she lived, there would be more pain: Mark’s trial, the empty house, an unknown future.
She thought hard and opened her mind to God.

Good, bad dogs

In a two-hour interview six days after her former husband pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to three counts of first-degree murder, Amy Castillo, a 44-year-old pediatrician, recounted the details of their lives together. It was Oct. 20, which would have been Austin’s sixth birthday.
Mark used to say that there was a good dog and a bad dog "fighting" inside him, and he had to remember to feed the good dog, Amy said. But often, he forgot.

Even after he confessed to the killings, he led the courts in circles, claiming insanity, then clear-headed health. He fought the divorce he asked for, and argued with judges and his attorneys. His plea itself was a surprise, willingly accepted by the judge, who also recommended that Mark be allowed to serve his time – three life sentences – at a mental health correctional facility.

Amy’s friends say she still has trouble focusing. She’s on disability and sees counselors three times per week. And her nightmares are still strong, worse now after fresh details about the deaths appeared in the newspapers.
But she’s learning to cope and even forgive, she said, as God has forgiven her.
"I could always have one foot in the grave, and I sometimes want to," she said. But her faith, her friends and her family won’t let her. "I have a good base."

‘I flip 4 doc’

Amy grew up in Alexandria, Va., with good, solid parents. Her mother died a few years ago, but she still leans heavily on her dad, who gives her faith in men even now, she said.
At 15, she made up her mind to follow Jesus.

She graduated from the Medical College of Virginia in 1991 and went on to a pediatrics residency at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where she would soon meet her future husband, a traveling gymnast passing through town.

Mark Anthony Castillo was born the third of five children and raised in East Los Angeles by his mother, who disciplined him more than her other children, he once told a psychologist. That evaluation report is filed in a Montgomery County court. In it, he claims to have an IQ of 140.

After high school, Mark enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed in Missouri. He said he was discharged honorably in the third year of a four-year tour because of problems dealing with authority. He was diagnosed by a military counselor as having "narcissistic personality disorder."

Mark’s first marriage, which occurred while he was in the Air Force, lasted two years before his wife filed for divorce. (Their daughter, now 21, lives in Kansas City, Mo. Over the next decade, he would hold a series of jobs, according to the medical report, "working as a mailman, owning a flower shop, and dealing cards on a riverboat."
He dated a lot but had no substantive relationships until he met Amy in the summer of 1997 at a recreational volleyball game in Charleston. His smile got her.
He was doing trampoline shows around the country at the time, stopping in South Carolina on his way to a job in Minnesota, which he gave up to stay and woo Amy. "Iflip4doc@…" would become his e-mail address.
They were engaged within six months and married within eight, on Feb. 7, 1998.

‘He disconnected’

Amy got a job as a pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente and, in 1999, returned with Mark to the Washington suburbs. Mark supplemented gymnastics teaching with computer jobs.
They joined the Forcey Memorial Church in Silver Spring and made friends in the Bible study group, particularly the Rev. Zeke Wharton and his wife, Cheryl Wharton.
The athletic couple also kept up with volleyball until Amy became pregnant with Anthony in 2001 – a welcome surprise.

She was 36 and they’d always wanted three children, so it was time to get started, she said. They found out about the pregnancy as they were planning a scuba-diving trip to Papua, New Guinea, as a sort of belated honeymoon.
After Anthony, Amy had two other children, each two years apart in age, though she had miscarriages in between. She was on bed rest for five months at a time when she was pregnant – and working 11-hour days when she wasn’t – leaving Mark to take on more responsibility within the home.
"It was a big stressor for him," Amy said.

Mark would later say that he thought Amy was not supportive of his efforts.
His personality began to change when she was pregnant with Austin in 2003, Amy said. He started blowing money, quit going to church and talked about dying.
"He disconnected," Zeke Wharton said.
Amy thought maybe he was bipolar, shifting between manic highs and depressed lows. She remembers printing out an article on the disorder and giving it to Mark, who rejected the idea.

The Whartons and other friends tried to intervene, holding a formal meeting with Mark, a sort of living-room intervention, to help him see that his behavior was abnormal. It was a polite gathering that went nowhere.
"He had great respect for what we had to say," Zeke Wharton said, but Mark didn’t believe he had mental health problems. "There was no way he would go" to a counselor.

Disdain for sleep

Mark claimed he no longer needed sleep, and he would stay out all night at Baltimore strip clubs, coming home at 5 a.m. on days when he was supposed to watch the kids, Amy said. She began to fear he would harm the children through negligence – or purposely, when he wasn’t thinking right.
By mid-2006, when Athena was 8 months old, Amy said she asked Mark to leave, thinking that might be the wake-up call he needed to snap out of it, or at least get help.

He drove around the eastern half of the country for weeks, staying with various people, and then returned to Virginia, where they reunited briefly.
On June 23, Amy wrote him an e-mail saying she missed her best friend: "I wish that you would make Mr. Hyde give him back!"
Eventually, she took the kids to her brother’s house in North Carolina so that she could think and they would be safe. Then Mark called on June 29, 2006.

He said he was in Room 208 at the Days Inn in Ruther Glen, Va., and that he was going to kill himself with supplies, including ant poison, bought from a local Home Depot. Amy called police and the hotel front desk, put the baby in the car and headed north, toward home.

Mark was taken into custody and committed to a mental health center in Fredericksburg, Va. The Whartons and Amy testified before the doctors at the commitment hearing about Mark’s behavior, thinking this was their one shot to get him help. But he was released after six days.

‘He disowned us’

"They just put him out on the street," Amy said.
"And that’s when he disowned us," Cheryl Wharton added.
On July 19, Amy filed a complaint and emergency motion for sole custody of the children, but the courts would never see him as a danger. She worried. She would sometimes hide the children with family friends.
Mark became extremely bitter toward her, certain she was running a campaign to make others think he was crazy.

In e-mails, Mark told Amy that his "odd behavior" at the strip clubs was based on a death wish and implored her to stop harping about the money he spent because he "was worth a million dollars to [her] dead" through insurance.
"I will never forgive you for the length you went to, to try to have me committed … and have no desire to work out our relationship," he wrote.
He filed for divorce from Amy after she filed the custody motions, and their battle heated up. That court file is now six folders thick, full of family e-mails, financial documents, letters from friends and various motions.
They were both run ragged. Amy sometimes slept under her desk at work and worried that she, too, was losing it.

"I could tell he was really falling apart," Amy said. "I felt like we both were."
At Christmastime in 2006, the Castillos filed for protective orders against one another.
"He has never actually hurt [the children]," says Amy’s handwritten plea, "but did tell me that the worst thing he could do to me would be to kill the children, and not me, so I could live without them."

On that final March weekend in 2008, when Mark didn’t bring the kids back, Amy thought maybe he’d taken off with them to frustrate her. Cheryl Wharton came over to keep her company on Sunday, while they waited for word.

Knock on the door

When the officer knocked on the door, they were both thankful. The women got into a police car and were driven to Baltimore, where they were seated in a room that was under renovation. Amy thought to herself: "The boys are going to tear this place up" when they arrive.
She was asked about the van and who had the title. Then the officer told her this: "All of your children are dead, and your husband tried to kill himself; we’re not sure of his status."
Silence.
Screaming.

It seemed as if days passed until Amy’s cries slowed. She hung her head in her hands and asked aloud: "What am I supposed to do now?"
Cheryl Wharton, in shock, called everyone who needed to be called, and they went home, to a lawn full of reporters and a house full of friends and family, who cared for Amy and each other over the next year and a half.

Much of it was a blur of grief counseling, divorce court (the final decree was not given until late last year) and suicidal thoughts. There were extraordinary conversations with God when she was alone late at night and still the everyday routine of going to the gym, playing the violin, finding small joys.

And there were those drawn-out criminal trial dates, when she had to relive the details of her children’s deaths. They came to an abrupt end 11 days ago, when Mark Castillo offered a surprise guilty plea.
Amy talks about taking action against the courts for not listening to her, but she’s not certain she will. She wants mental health disorders better recognized and has sorted through her every action she took to make sure she did all she could to save Mark and herself.
"She fought with every fiber of her being," said cousin Holly Rowe.

In Amy’s entryway is a panel of cracked glass that’s still sealed with duct tape. She broke it by slamming the front door during an argument with Mark. Wooden masks from her belated honeymoon to Papua hang on the wall, alongside souvenirs from other trips abroad, some just for the adventure, some for missionary purposes.
And in Amy’s hallway, above the steps leading to the bedrooms, family photographs still hang, even the ones with Mark. Friends removed them after the deaths, but she put them back. He was part of her life.
"We had some great years, some really great years," she said, seated on her living room sofa.

Looking ahead

But she’s also looking toward the future. She’s taking a trip to Israel next month and trying to rebuild her career as a pediatrician, spending half days with patients when she’s able to.
She went to an AC/DC concert days after Mark pleaded guilty, followed by paint ball with a man she’s dating. She casually says she could move to a new house, leaving the children’s preserved rooms behind, if she were to "get married again."

Her friends see these as signs of hope.
"Her story’s not over," said Zeke Wharton. "It can still have a good ending."
Next to Amy on the couch rest two photos of Austin.

She won’t go to his grave to honor his birthday; it’s "too depressing." But she’ll spend time gazing at pictures. In November, she’ll do the same for Athena, and in December for Anthony, on their birthdays.
And though she still looks forward to being reunited with them when it’s her time, she’s no longer in a rush.
She has a commitment to keep, made to herself on a Chinese mountaintop more than a year ago, when she realize

Technorati Tags: Castillo,Case,Mother,Nightmare,Children,Father,news,friend,babies,Tricia,Bishop,October,Just,husband,mountain,Christian,missionary,China,stranger,self,sheep,March,Mark,Silver,Montgomery,Circuit,Court,shirt,Anthony,Austin,Athena,quartet,Maryland,Science,Center,Camden,Marriott,dinner,room,computer,bathroom,pain,Call,afternoon,officer,door,Come,relief,sliver,Cheryl,Wharton,custody,proceedings,monsoon,strength,grief,heaven,degree,courts,health,judges,plea,life,friends,times,newspapers,foot,faith,Alexandria,Jesus,Medical,College,Virginia,residency,South,Carolina,Charleston,gymnast,East,Angeles,evaluation,Force,Missouri,problems,counselor,disorder,marriage,wife,daughter,Kansas,Over,series,shop,relationships,Minnesota,Kaiser,Permanente,Washington,suburbs,gymnastics,Forcey,Memorial,Church,Bible,Zeke,Papua,Guinea,efforts,money,article,Whartons,intervention,behavior,Disdain,kids,negligence,June,Hyde,North,Ruther,Glen,Home,Depot,hotel,desk,Fredericksburg,doctors,commitment,street,complaint,emergency,danger,death,worth,insurance,length,relationship,documents,Christmastime,Castillos,orders,word,Knock,renovation,status,Silence,lawn,reporters,talks,action,fiber,Rowe,entryway,panel,glass,duct,argument,Wooden,adventure,hallway,steps,sofa,Israel,career,concert,ball,rooms,signs,pictures,November,December,Chinese,mountaintop,feet,sprees,Yards,counselors,deaths,conversations,disorders,souvenirs,purposes,photos,baltimoresun,months,three,herself,five,dollars,himself,didn,wasn,hour,pediatrician,third,volleyball,longer

I have noticed that chukka and desert boots have made a comeback into the forefront of men’s winter footwear. Victim have joined forces with U.K based footwear makers George Cox to create a pack of suede Chukka boots.

I think they all look great but I ‘m attracted to the beige pair in the centre

Press Release

For Immediate Release:

Kansas Special Committee for Children to ask victims of SRS/CPS and their private contractors some very hard questions

Topeka, Kansas November 30, 2009

When several public officials were bombarded with concerns regarding the removal of children from their homes and most often placed in abusive homes for financial gain, The Kansas Senate has formed a ‘special committee’ to listen to the stories at the state capital.

The meetings will be conducted on Monday, November 30, 2009, and Tuesday, December 1, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. in Topeka, Kansas at the capitol building room 545. All Kansans are encouraged to attend these public hearings.

The agenda for Monday and Tuesday follows;

Private Citizens Testimony Order: 

Deb

Kari

Cynthia

Marilyn

Clarence

Sadie

Claudine Dombrowski

Larry

Kathy

Bambi

Valerie

Undisclosed Speaker

Monday November 30^th

9:00    Statement by the committee chairman

9:15    Current Policies and Procedures

10:30  Private Citizen Testimony

12:00  Lunch

1:30   Continue private citizen testimony

4:30   Response from SRS representative TBA. Inquiries & documentation to final decision makers at SRS

5:00   Adjourn

Tuesday December 1^st

9:15    Current Contractor Policies and Procedures

10:30  Presentations – Katrina Osterhaus, post audit

           Foster care reviewing, CINC reviewing

12:00  Lunch

1:30    Contracting irregularities, Johnson County development

           Support, CDDO funding example

2:30    response SRS rep. TBA

3:30    Further Committee Discussion

5:00    Adjourn

.

Technorati Tags: Kansas,Special,Committee,Children,victims,Release,Immediate,Topeka,November,removal,Senate,capital,December,room,Kansans,agenda,Private,Citizens,Testimony,Order,Kari,Cynthia,Marilyn,Clarence,Sadie,Claudine,Dombrowski,Larry,Kathy,Bambi,Valerie,Speaker,Statement,Current,Procedures,Citizen,Lunch,Continue,Response,Inquiries,documentation,decision,Adjourn,Contractor,Katrina,Osterhaus,Foster,CINC,Johnson,development,Support,CDDO,example,Further,Discussion,contractors,Policies,makers,Presentations

“THE KIDNAPPER” Photographic print – Courtesy of the FANTOM FACTION

Investigators say murder victim lured by sex with teen prostitute

FAST FACTS:

* 17-year-old arrested for soliciting sex to victim before his death
* Investigators say teen prostitute part of murder plot
* Teen charged with prostitution typical of others

(Memphis 11/25/2009) The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office is contemplating additional charges against a teenage girl in a murder that took place last week in Northaven. On November 19th investigators arrested 19 year old Jeremy Stevenson for the murder of 48 year old Kerry Collins. Deputies say robbery was the motive for the killing and he was lured to Northaven by the promise of sex with a teenage prostitute.

“In 2008, we saw 29 cases here at juvenile court,” said Mamie Jones, chief probation officer, Shelby Co. Juvenile Court.

The 17 year old investigators say lured that victim to Northaven is now at the Shelby County Juvenile Court. She is just one of a growing number of teenagers being arrested for prostitution.

“Typically they’re females, transients, runaways. That’s the type of cases we see,” said Jones.

In 2008 News Channel 3 went along as police rounded up young prostitutes, finding one as young as 14 soliciting an undercover officer. Instead of being in class, she was in front of the school selling sex on the sidewalk. Most juveniles arrested for prostitution get treatment instead of jail time.

“They’re handled non-judiciously which means they do not go to court and we try to refer those kids out for services, some sort of treatment, counseling. Things of that nature,” said Jones.

News Channel 3 has learned the girl arrested for prostitution in Northaven fits the common mold. She is a runaway. Deputies say she negotiated her price by phone with the victim before his death.

The 17-year-old girl in this case will have to stay locked up until it’s decided if she’ll be tried as an adult on much stiffer charges of robbery and murder. She’s due back in court December 19th.

source://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/wreg-teen-prostitutes-story,0,7990058.story?obref=obinsite

Want to become the next victim of burglary? We certainly hope not. Taking preventive measures to minimize the chances of the next victim is paramount if you value your possessions and want to secure in your own four walls.

Imagine for a moment you accidentally locked himself out of the house. How will you use it? No doubt, it could perhaps one way in through an insecure window or door. If so, is not that good because a burglar may also enter your property through the same means.Check your weaknesses. Secure doors, windows and locks. If you pause – so can an intruder.

Ever wondered if it really worth the time and cost of installing an alarm system? You can leave it to chance that you will never be broken. Or you can take action and prevent the risk your home and possessions by installing an alarm system. If you are on a budget there are cheaper alternatives, and if you want to install a self little or no knowledge of DIYthen wireless alarm systems provide a simple and easy solution. Alarm systems usually consist of a panel, alarm sounder, and a variety of sensors such as PIR motion detectors, door / window shock sensors and magnetic door switches. These systems can be either hard wired or a wire installation.

If you are concerned that an acoustic deterrent enough, not only security for your needs then monitored security systems is given guarantees for peace of mind and added thatsomeone is monitoring at home 24 hours a day and should your alarm is triggered, will help on the road. Monitored systems can also function fire control and panic button monitoring.

Consider installing exterior lighting, such as PIR motion sensor triggered lighting. A simple but effective deterrence, an intruder twice before going out and a break in. If you leave your property unattended or abandoned deal interior lighting on timers think switched on the light switch onDusk.

CCTV systems offer peace of mind that your property is monitored 24 hours a day. It is a fantastic deterrent and will hopefully prevent that there will be a break in at all. However, if the unfortunate does not happen, you inspect the pleadings, if the intruder.

You can not 100% stop an intruder entering your property – but you can certainly make it damned difficult. The purpose of taking preventive measures for the dissuasion of would-be burglars, so that it covered. Strongto consider reviewing and improving the security on your home – before it's too late.

http://diyinteriordesign.wordpress.com/ http://diyhome.idatablog.com/ http://diy-tool.blogs.thaihealth.net/

DENVER – A Denver man has been charged with sex assault on a child after allegedly paying a 14-year-old girl’s mother to have sex with the teen.

The Denver District Attorney’s office formally charged a man in connection with repeated sexual assaults on a teenage girl, allegedly arranged by the girl’s mother for money.

Mark Mathias, 48, has been charged with soliciting for , sexual assault on a child, and sexual assault on a child pattern of abuse.

The charges allege that Mathias sexually assaulted a fourteen-year-old girl from June 2008 until March of 2009.

The charges allege that the defendant paid the victim’s mother, who allowed the sexual assaults to occur. The mother was charged earlier with pimping of a child and pandering of a child and remains in custody in the Denver County Jail; her bond is set at $200,000.

The child’s mother’s name was not released to protect her daughter’s identity.

Mathias is due in court Wednesday. He is being held on $100,000 bail.

source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/kdvr-sexassault-110909,0,5188761.story?obref=obinsite

US citizen Aditya abducted by his mother and mother absconding in India for more than 2 Years and ordered by Supreme Court to take him back to US and settle the custody dispute with Aditya’s Father Mr Rav Chandran in US

V. Ravi Chandran vs Union Of India &Amp; Ors on 28 August, 2009

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

               CRIMINAL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

                    CRL.M.P.NO. 3401 OF 2009

                              IN

               WRIT PETITION (CRL.) NO. 112/2007

V. Ravi Chandran …Petitioner

                         Versus

Union of India & Ors. …Respondents

                                  ORDER

R.M.LODHA, J

           Should Central Bureau of Investigation be requested to

trace the minor child Master Adithya Chandran in the Habeas Corpus

petition filed by the father is the question presently before us?

2. Dr. Ravi Chandran -petitioner and Vijayashree Voora -

respondent no. 6 got married on December 14, 2000 at Tirupathi,

Andhra Pradesh according to Hindu rites. On July 1, 2002, a son -

Adithya was born out of the wedlock in United States of America.

The matrimonial discord arose between the petitioner and respondent

no. 6 soon thereafter. Respondent no. 6 approached the State of

New York Supreme Court in the month of July, 2003 for divorce and

                                                                       1

dissolution of marriage. On April 18, 2005, the State of New York

Supreme Court passed a consent order governing the issues of the

custody and guardianship of the minor Adithya. The Court granted

joint custody to the petitioner and respondent no. 6 and it was also

stipulated in the order to keep the other party informed about the

whereabouts of the child. On July 28, 2005, a separation agreement

was entered into between the petitioner and respondent no. 6 relying

on various provisions of Domestic Relations Law for distribution of

marital property, spouse maintenance and child support. As regards

custody of the minor son Adithya and parenting time, the parties

consented to the order dated April 18, 2005. On September 8, 2005,

the marriage between the petitioner and respondent no. 6 was

dissolved by the State of New York Supreme Court. Child Custody

order dated April 18, 2005 was incorporated in the order. Later on a

consent order was passed by the Family Court, State of New York

on June 18, 2007 whereby the petitioner and respondent no. 6 were

to have legal and physical custody of the minor child jointly. The

consent order provided that parties shall have alternative physical

custody of the minor child on a weekly basis.

                                                                   2

3. On June 28, 2007, respondent no. 6 brought minor

Adithya to India informing the petitioner that she will be residing with

her parents in Chennai. The petitioner approached Family Court,

State of New York for violation of the order by respondent no. 6

pertaining to visitation and custody of minor child. He also filed a

petition for modification of the custody order. By an order dated

August 16, 2007, the Family Court, State of New York granted sole

legal and physical custody of the minor Adithya to the petitioner

temporarily and by a further order dated August 8, 2007 ordered

respondent no. 6 to hand over custody of Master Adithya to the

petitioner. It transpires that the Family Court, State of New York has

issued child abuse non-bailable warrants against respondent no. 6.

4. In the month of September, 2007, the petitioner filed a

writ petition before this Court praying for a writ of Hebeas Corpus for

the production of minor son Adithya and for handing over the custody

with his passport to the petitioner. The petitioner has alleged that

the child has been illegally and unlawfully detained beyond his

motherland, USA in blatant violation of orders of US Courts.

5. In the Hebeas Corpus petition, the petitioner has

impleaded Union of India, States of Tamil Nadu and Andhra

                                                                       3

Pradesh, Director General of Police of these two States, wife -

Vijayashree Voora and her parents as party respondents.

6. On September 17, 2007, notice was issued to the

respondents. Subsequently the petitioner informed the Court that on

March 15, 2008, the respondent no. 6 abandoned her residence in

Dehradun and traveled in a rented car towards New Delhi and on the

way redirected herself to Agra. The next day she was last seen at

the entrance of Agra Cantonment Railway Station. Based on that,

this Court issued directions on April 28, 2008 to Senior

Superintendent of Police, Agra and Senior Superintendent of Police,

Union Territory of Chandigarh to trace the child and produce him in

this Court.

7. In the affidavit filed by the Senior Superintendent of

Police, Agra on September 16, 2008, it is stated that for tracing the

minor child Adithya and respondent no. 6, a massive search

operation was carried through out Agra and all hotels, guest houses

and other similar areas were checked but they could not be found

residing anywhere in Agra. He also stated that through District Crime

Record Bureau and all SHOs and SOs of police stations of District

Agra efforts have been made to trace out minor child and her

                                                                          4

mother and their photographs have also been published along with

their description in newspapers having wide circulation all over the

country but no clue of their whereabouts could be found.

8. Shri S.S. Srivastava, Senior Superintendent of Police,

Union Territory, Chandigarh has filed his affidavit on August 13,

2008. He has stated:

           “…All Station House Officers of Police Stations in Chandigarh
have been issued instructions vide letter No. 1057-5A/Crime Branch, U.T.
Chandigarh dated 3.8.2008 in which the photographs and description of Smt.
Vijayasree Voora and her son Adithya have been mentioned and they have been
directed to make efforts to trace the whereabouts of the above mentioned persons
and see if they are residing in any residential area, hotel, guest house, sarai.
Though beat system all such places in Chandigarh have been got thoroughly
checked and no such persons has been found to be residing in Chandigarh.

                  A special look out notice alongwith the

           photographs Smt. Vijayasree Voora and her son Aditya has been issued
vide No. 17011-

           17030/MOB/UT/A-III/dated, Chandigarh the 5.8.2008 in which directions
were issued to all SDPO’s and Station House Officers to maintain a sharp look
out to trace out the whereabouts of the above mentioned woman and her son and to
send their report on weekly basis about the details of the efforts made to trace
the above mentioned persons. A copy of the lookout notice is annexed and marked
ANNEXURE R-1 . All SHO’s of Police Station in Chandigarh have submitted their
reports after having thoroughly checked the area under their jurisdiction and
the whereabouts of the above mentioned woman and her child could not be traced
out in Chandigarh.

                                                                     5

                   On 8.8.2008 the photographs of Smt. Vijaysree Voora and her
son Adithya alongwith their description has been got published in Times of
India, one of the leading newspapers having wide circulation all over India.

                  The photographs and description of Smt.

           Vijaysree Voora and her son Aditya have also been got displayed in
Bharat Sarkar Doordarshan Kendra, Chandigarh and Delhi, TV Channels having
coverage throughout the country.

                  A team of police officers have been especially deputed from
Crime Branch, Chandigarh Police for tracing the whereabouts of Smt. Vijayasree
Voora and her son Aditya, who are regularly checking all the hotels, schools and
other places where there could be possibility of finding the above mentioned
woman and her child.”

9. Parents of respondent no. 6 have filed counter affidavit.

They have totally denied any knowledge or idea about whereabouts

of respondent no. 6 and minor child. In the counter affidavit they

stated thus:

                  “11. I submit that in view of the information narrated by
her about the harassment and cruelty (mental torture) caused by the petitioner
she had left my house without disclosing her whereabouts and I sincerely state
that I am not aware of her whereabouts and I am not able to communicate with
her.

                  12. I state from the annexures filed

           particularly annexure P-10 Colly dated 11.8.2007 refers to that in
response to conversation with this respondent mentioned in E-mail in para `I’ or
after. I submit that in one of the E-mail at annexure P-10 Colly the petitioner
addressed to Respondent No. 7 that:-

                                                                    6

                   “I have been trying to reach Aditya for the past several
weeks and Viji has completely cut me off from the life of Aditya. Mrs. Voora
(Your wife) informs me that she does not know where Viji and Aditya are”

                  I submit that this respondent from September itself had no
knowledge or awareness of the whereabouts of respondent no. 6 and her minor
child and that from ever since she left, he has no information at all about her
whereabouts nor he had any contacts or connection with this respondent, and we
are not able to trace her out and her minor child. Inspite of knowing all these
facts that these respondents are completely oblivious and in complete darkness
about her whereabouts even on today….”

10. In the affidavit filed by the Director General of

Police, Tamilnadu, it is stated that the respondent no. 6 and the

minor chilld were not found residing at No. 47, B.N. Road (North

Boag Road), T. Nagar, Chennai, and on that address, the parents of

respondent no. 6 are only residing.

11. The petitioner has filed a Misc. Petition (Crl.

M.P.3401 of 2009) on February 23, 2009 stating therein that as per

the Deccan Herald newspaper report dated February 18, 2009,

respondent no. 6 and the child were last seen in Bangalore. They

stayed at KES Lodge in Rajajinagar, Bangalore. On February 23,

2009, accordingly, this Court directed the Director General of Police,

Karnataka and Commissioner of Police, Bangalore to trace the child

                                                                     7

and produce before him this Court on the next date. By a further

order dated May 8, 2009, this Court directed the State of Karnataka

and particularly, Director General of Police, Karnataka to take

appropriate steps to trace the child. A copy of this order was also

sent to the Chief Secretary, State of Karnataka.

12. Shri S.N.Bidari, Commissioner of Police, Bangalore

city has filed his affidavit stating therein that all necessary steps

required in order to trace the missing child Master Adithya Chandran

and his mother Mrs. Vijayashree Voora have been taken but without

any success. In the affidavit, the details of the efforts made by

Karnataka Police have been set out thus:

           “2) It is submitted that the Police Inspector and his team of
Rajajinagar Police Station of Banagalore City visited KES Residency, 50th Cross,
3rd Block, Rajajinagar on 5.3.2009 and the said lady and master Adithya were not
found. On enquiry with one Shri Prabhakar, Manager of the said Residency, it was
learnt that Smt. Vijayashree Voora, mother of the child had left the residency
alongwith the child on 17.2.2009 and had not returned. …..

           3) It is submitted that the enquiry revealed that she went to Shiva
Temple, Old Airport Road, Bangalore in a private Qualais Vehicle from KES
Residency on 17.2. 2009. The enquiry revealed that she requested the manager for
help and she was told to come after Shivarathri festival. She left her luggage
in the temple and took shelter in the Manager’s residence for the night. The
next day i.e. on 18.2.2009, she left the temple and after two days, she
collected her baggage. Thereafter, there is no information about her whereabouts
and the child. The

                                                                            8

staff continued search in several places in Banagalore City, but the child
could not be traced.

4) It is submitted that the Police Sub -Inspector, Subramanaya Nagara Police
station went to Chennai on 4.3.2009 alongwith his staff and enquired with Smt.
A. Poornima and her husband Shri A. Ramesh R/o No. 13, North Bhoug Road, G.N.
Shetty Road, Chennai- 600 017. Smt. A. Poornima sister of Vijayashree Voora said
that her sister Vijayashree Voora had married one Sathya Narayana 18 years back.
After 5 years of marriage, she divorced her husband and again married one Dr. V.
Ravichandra (Petitioner) in a love marriage and they have one male child name
Master Aditya Chandran. Five years back, both of them got mutual divorce in USA
(where they were staying together_ and Smt. Vijashree Voora returned from
America. At that time, she came to Poornima’s residence and she and her husband
advised herand even her father also advised her, but she refused to heed to
their advice to reconcile with her husband and left the house and till today she
had not returned to their residence. Thereafter, her whereabouts are not known.
The statement of Smt. A. Poornima and her husband were recorded by the Police
Sub-Inspector, Subramanyanagara Police Station. The report of the Police Sub-
Inspector, Subramanyanagara Police Station is produced and marked as
ANNEXURE-R-2 AND R-2a. As per the instructions of Police Inspector, Mahalakshmi
Police Station, the Police Sub-Inspector, Rajajinagar Police Station visited
Tumkur on 5.3.2009 and enquired at 1) VARIN International Residential School,
Doddahosur Gate, Kunigal Road, Gulur Post, Tumkur 0572 118, 2) Prudence
International School, Hirehalli, Next to TVS Electronics, Tumkur, 3) Maruthi
Vidya Kendra, Belagumba Road, Tumkur, 4) Sri. Sri. Ravishankar Vidya Mandir,
Belagumba Road, Near TUD Office, Tumkur, 5) Sri. Siddaganga Mutt, Tumkur and
also enquired with the concerned persons of Samuka Residency, Sai Residency,
Vigneshwara Comforts and showed the photo of the child, but no useful
information was obtained. …..

                                                           9

5) It is submitted that on 5.3.2009, Police Sub- Inspector, Srirampura Police
Station visited Veda Vignan Maha Vidya Peeta and met Mr. Narendra Lamba, the
Administrator, Art of Living International Centre and showed photo of Adithya
Chandran. However, it was found that no such persons was stayng in the

      Ashram. …..

6) It is submitted that on 6.3.2009, the Poilice Sub-Inspector, Mahalakshmi
Layout Police Station, Bangalore alongwith staff visited Shri Sathya Sai Gokulam
at Kadugodi, Bangalore District, in search of missing boy and enquired with Mr.
Srinivas, Custodian of Ashram. It was reported that no such persons was staying
in the Ashrama. The PSI also visited Sir.

      Sathya Sai Institute of Medical Sciences, Whitefield and met Mr.Mohan Das,
Sr. Personnel Officer and PRO who informed that no such persons, by name Smt.
Vijayashree Voora or Master Aditya was admitted in the Hospital. The report of
the Police Sub- Inspector, Mahalakshmi layout, Police Station, is produced and
marked as Annexure-R5.

      The Asstt. Commissioner of Police, City Crime Record Bureau, Office of the
Comissioner of Police, Infantry Road, Bangalore was instructed on 18.3.2009 to
get the photo of Aditya Chandra published in the Criminal Intelligence Gazette
requesting all the

      concerned to trace the missing child. The Addl. Director General of
Police, State Crime Record Bureau, Bangalore was also requested to publish the
photograph of Master Aditya Chandran in `Talash’ and to transmit the said
information to all the Police Stations in the State and to trace the said
missing boy as early as possible.

7) The Respondent further submits that City crime Record Bureau on 31.3.2009
sent letter to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, State Crime Record Bureau
to publish the details of the missing persons in criminal Intelligence Gazette.

                                                           10

The Respondent further submits that on 16.4.2009 the Police Inspector,
Rajajinagar Police Station, wrote a letter to the State Crime Record Bureau,
Bangalore to verify and compare the particulars of the missing child in the
Talash record and on comparison a nil report was sent to Rajajinagar Police
Station on 17.4.2009. On 16.4.2009 the Assistant Commissioner of Police,
Malleshwaram, Bangalore wrote letter to the Commissioner of Police, Bangalore
requesting for publication of the missing child Master Adithya Chandran in
Kannada and English “daily news papers”. Further he also requested the
Commissioner of Police to send the details to all the District superintendents
of Police and Commissioners of Police of Hubli – Dharwad, Mysore and Railway
Superintendent of Police. Further, the Asstt. Commissioner of Police.
Malleshwaram, Bangalore, wrote letter to Commissioner of Police with a request
to address a letter to Doordarshan to Broadcast the particulars of the missing
child in Doordarshan. Deputy Commissioner of Police North Divilsion, Bangalore
City had sent e-mails to all Commissioners of Police, all Range Inspectors
General of Police, all Superintendents of Police including Railways all over
Karnataka State requesting them to look out for the missing child. An e-mail is
also sent to the Director, National Crime Record Bureau, New Delhi requesting
for look out of the missing child. ….

9) The respondent further submits that the Assistant Commissioner of Police,
Malleshwaram wrote a letter to All India Radio, with a request to Broadcast the
particulars of the missing child on air. …..

10) The respondent further submits that on 18.4.2009 the Public Relation Officer
in the Cadre of Deputy Commissioner of Police in the office of Commissioner of
Police released press note to all the Electronic Media and Print media
requesting for publication of the particulars of the missing child Master
Adithya Chandran on Air. The report regarding the Broadcast of the particulars
of the missing child in Doordarshan is also received. ……

                                                            11

            11) It is also further submitted that on 16.4.2009 itself the
details of the missing child were uploaded on Internet on Karnataka State

                  Police web page. The copy of the Web page is herewith produced
and marked as ANNEXURE-R20. It is also relevant to submit that all relevant
steps are taken to carry out the upload of the particulars of the missing child
Master Adhitya Chandran on National Crime Record Bureau with a request to send

                  information to all the state and Union Territory and forward
the information if any obtained in this regard to the Commission of Police,
Bangalore.

           12) It is further submitted that the Police officials attached to
Rajajinagar Police Station sent look out notices to Bangalore International
Airport Authorities, Railway Station and KSRTC Bus Stand to keep a look out for
the missing child. ……”

13. From the narration of aforesaid facts, it is abundantly

clear that despite efforts made by police officers and officials of

different States such as Senior Superintendent of Police, Agra,

Senior Superintendent of Police, U.T. of Chandigarh, Director

General of Police, Tamilnadu, Director General of Police, Karnataka

and Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City, the minor child Adithya

and respondent no. 6 could not be traced and their whereabouts

could not be found. It is almost two years since the notice was issued

by this Court but the child could not be produced. Respondent no. 6

is said to be mentally unstable and running round with the child from

one State to another. In the peculiar and extraordinary circumstances

                                                                       12

such as the present one, we are of the view that Central Investigating

Agency i.e., Central Bureau of Investigation may be assigned the task

of tracing minor Adithya Chandran and his production before this

Court. This has become all the more necessary for the protection of

health and safety of minor and because the police authorities of

various States are clueless about the whereabouts of respondent

no. 6 who has been moving with the child from one State to another.

14. We, accordingly, direct the registry of this Court to write a

letter to the Director, Central Bureau of Investigation requesting him

to trace minor Adithya Chandran. For the said purpose, he and the

officer nominated by him will enjoy all the powers of Police Officer

carrying out search and issue non-bailable warrants, if necessary,

and pick up minor Adithya Chandran wherever he is found without

interference from any one and to produce him before this Court with

his report.

15. Let the matter come up before the Court after six weeks

or earlier if the minor child Adithya Chandran is traced by the Central

Bureau of Investigation and produced before this Court.

                                                      ……………………J

                                                      (Tarun Chatterjee)

                                                                            13

                    ……………………J

                          (R. M. Lodha)

New Delhi

August 28, 2009.

Link Here :

http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/312445/

Patrick Stewart: Repeated Domestic Violence Against His Mother and the Legacy of Witnessing It

Filed under: Activism, Best interest of the child, Child Abuse, Children and Domestic Violence, Children who witness abuse, Children’s rights, Civil rights, Domestic Abuse, Domestic Violence, Good dudes, Hate Crimes, Human Rights, Intimate Partner Assault, Patrick Stewart, Violence against women — justice4mothers @ 1:10 pm

Another classy guy, Patrick Stewart wrote this article about the childhood filled with domestic violence against his mother.  From The Guardian (UK):

Patrick Stewart: the legacy of domestic violence

As a child, the actor regularly saw his father hit his mother. Here he describes how the horrors of his childhood remained with him in his adult life

Patrick Stewart as a baby with his mother Gladys. Photograph: Collect

My father was, in many ways, a man of discipline, organisation and charisma – a regimental sergeant major no less. One of the very last men to be evacuated from Dunkirk, his third stripe was chalked on to his uniform by an officer when no more senior NCOs were left alive. Parachuted into Crete and Italy, both times under fire, he fought at Monte Casino and was twice mentioned in dispatches. A fellow soldier once told me, “When your father marches on to the parade ground, the birds in the trees stop singing.”

In civilian life it was a different story. He was an angry, unhappy and frustrated man who was not able to control his emotions or his hands. As a child I witnessed his repeated violence against my mother, and the terror and misery he caused was such that, if I felt I could have succeeded, I would have killed him. If my mother had attempted it, I would have held him down. For those who struggle to comprehend these feelings in a child, imagine living in an environment of emotional unpredictability, danger and humiliation week after week, year after year, from the age of seven. My childish instinct was to protect my mother, but the man hurting her was my father, whom I respected, admired and feared.

From Monday morning to Friday tea time he worked as a semi-skilled labourer, and was diligent and sober. Often funny and charming, he was always rich in the personal stories of warfare and adventure that thrilled me. But come Friday night, after the pubs closed, we awaited his return with trepidation. I would be in bed but not asleep. I could never sleep until he did; while he was awake we were all at risk. Instead, I would listen for his voice, singing, as he walked home. Certain songs were reassuring: I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen; I’ll Walk Beside You . . . But army songs were not a good sign. And worst of all was silence. When I could only hear footsteps it was the signal to be super-alert.

Our house was small, and when you grow up with domestic violence in a confined space you learn to gauge, very precisely, the temperature of situations. I knew exactly when the shouting was done and a hand was about to be raised – I also knew exactly when to insert a small body between the fist and her face, a skill no child should ever have to learn. Curiously, I never felt fear for myself and he never struck me, an odd moral imposition that would not allow him to strike a child. The situation was barely tolerable: I witnessed terrible things, which I knew were wrong, but there was nowhere to go for help. Worse, there were those who condoned the abuse. I heard police or ambulancemen, standing in our house, say, “She must have provoked him,” or, “Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.” They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.

No one came to help. No adult stepped in and took charge. I needed someone else to take over and tell me everything was going to be all right and that it wasn’t my fault. I wanted the anger to go away and, while it stayed, I felt responsible. The sense of guilt and loneliness provoked by domestic violence is tainting – and lasting. No one came, but everyone knew. Our small houses were close together. Every Monday morning I walked to school with my head down, praying that I would not encounter a neighbour or school friend who had heard the weekend’s rows. I felt ashamed.

Very occasionally one person would come to our aid – Mrs Dixon, our next-door neighbour, the only person who would stand up to my father. She would throw open the door and stand before him, bosom bursting and her mighty weaver’s forearm raised in his face. “Come on, Alf Stewart,” she would say, “have a go at me.” He never did. He calmed down and went to bed. Now I wish I could take Lizzie Dixon’s big hand in mine and thank her.

Such experiences are destructive. In my adult life I have struggled to overcome the bad lessons of my father’s behaviour, this corrosive example of male irresponsibility. But the most oppressive aspect of these experiences was the loneliness. Very recently, during a falling-out with my girlfriend, I felt again as though I were shut out and alone, not heard or understood. I was neither, but it was such a familiar isolation that it was almost a comfort and consolation.

I managed to find my own refuge in acting. The stage was a far safer place for me than anything I had to live through at home – it offered escape. I could be someone else, in another place, in another time. However, whenever the role called for anger, fury, or the expression of murderous impulses, I was always afraid of what I might unleash if I surrendered myself to those feelings. It was not until 1981, when the director Ronald Eyre asked me to play the psychotic Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, that the breakthrough came.

He quietly told me that the play would only work if I gave myself over, completely and totally, to the delusions, madness and murderousness of this man. “If you do that,” Ron said, “I will be at your side. I will be available to you 24 hours a day.” From that time forward I was never again afraid of my feelings on stage.

The truth is that domestic violence touches many of us. It is very possible that someone you know – a friend, sister, daughter or colleague – is experiencing abuse. One in four women will experience domestic violence at some point in her lifetime. And every week two women are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales, and 10 women take their own lives as the only way they know how to escape a violent partner. You are almost certainly paying for it. Domestic violence costs around £26bn a year in medical, legal and housing costs.

This violence is not a private matter. Behind closed doors it is shielded and hidden and it only intensifies. It is protected by silence – everyone’s silence. Which is why, in 2007, I became patron of Refuge, the national domestic violence charity. Every day the organisation supports more than 1,000 women and children through its national network of refuges and services. At Refuge, women and children are given psychological support to help them overcome the trauma of abuse. A team of independent legal advocates are on hand to protect women at high risk of violence through the legal process.

Thanks to Refuge’s tireless campaigning, attitudes have changed. Police tactics have improved and most men are no longer able to get away with beating women. Yet the statistics still make for grim reading. More than two thirds of the residents in Refuge’s network of refuges are children. I cannot express how sad – and angry – it makes me to think that we still cannot ensure the safety of women and children in their own homes.

Most people find the idea of violence against women – and sometimes, though rarely, against men – abhorrent, but do nothing to challenge it. More women and children, just like my mother and me, will continue to experience domestic violence unless we all speak out against it. You can do this by supporting Refuge’s latest campaign, Four Ways To Speak Out.

Let us know what you think about how domestic violence victims are supported and protected in this country. Email women@guardian.co.uk or write to Women, The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU

Technorati Tags: Patrick,Stewart,Domestic,Violence,Against,Mother,Legacy,Activism,Best,Child,Abuse,Children,rights,Civil,Hate,Human,Intimate,Partner,Assault,Another,article,From,Guardian,actor,father,Here,life,Gladys,Photograph,Collect,charisma,Dunkirk,stripe,officer,NCOs,Crete,times,Monte,Casino,soldier,birds,trees,civilian,terror,misery,feelings,environment,danger,humiliation,instinct,Often,warfare,adventure,trepidation,Instead,Certain,Take,Home,Again,Walk,Beside,army,footsteps,temperature,skill,imposition,situation,Worse,truth,guilt,friend,Very,person,Dixon,door,Come,Lizzie,lessons,example,male,aspect,isolation,consolation,refuge,role,fury,director,Ronald,Eyre,Leontes,Winter,Tale,daughter,colleague,lifetime,England,Wales,Behind,patron,supports,services,trauma,team,Thanks,Police,statistics,residents,Most,Four,Ways,Speak,victims,Email,Women,Kings,Place,York,London,dudes,Crimes,horrors,emotions,situations,impulses,delusions,doors,refuges,attitudes,organisation,week,songs,neighbour

Divorce abroad is Valid in India

Please read the Below judgement and see how unsrupulus members of the Family of the First Wife tried to Misuse the Laws to harass the innocent husband, they were almost successful in the evil intensions but for the good judgement and sensitivity of the Supreme court.

Members of the First Wife who were trying to falsely implicate the husband and his family members should be dealt with sternly and given an exemplary punishment so that nobody  else dare to misuse the laws to take revenge in Family disputes .

The Text of the Judgement is below .

Pashaura Singh vs State Of Punjab &Amp; Anr on 13 November, 2009

        IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

           CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

           CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.2122 OF 2009

           (Arising out of SLP(Crl.) No. 5910/2006)

Pashaura Singh …Appellant  Versus

State of Punjab & Anr. …Respondents   JUDGEMENT

R.M. Lodha, J.

Leave granted.

2. In this appeal by special leave, the appellant has  challenged the order
dated May 24, 2006 passed by the High  Court of Punjab and Haryana. By the said
order, the petition  filed by the appellant under Section 482 of Code of
Criminal  Procedure for quashing F.I.R. No. 9 dated January 21, 2002  registered
at Police Station Sehna under Sections 498-A, 494,  506/34, IPC has been
dismissed.

3. Kamaljeet Kaur is a landed immigrant of Canada.  On May 7, 1997, she married
Pashaura Singh Sidhu – appellant – at village Ghall Kalan, District Moga,
Punjab. She  left for Canada on May 15, 1997. She sponsored her husband  and,
accordingly, Pashaura Singh went to Canada in 1998.  They stayed together for
few months and then relations  between them became strained. Kamaljeet,
thereafter, started  living separately in Ontario. Pashaura Singh applied for
divorce and dissolution of marriage before the Supreme Court  of British
Columbia and a divorce judgment was passed in his  favour and their marriage
stood dissolved with effect from  February 8, 2001. After the dissolution of
marriage, Pashaura  Singh came to India and remarried on January 2, 2002.
Pashaura Singh went back to Canada with his newly wedded  wife and both of them
have been residing there.

4. On January 21, 2002, Kamaljeet’s brother Balwant  Singh lodged a first
information report being F.I.R. No. 9 at  Police Station Sehna against Pashaura
Singh, Hakam Singh  (father of Pashaura Singh), Randhir Singh (brother of
Pashaura  Singh), Charanjit Kaur (wife of Randhir Singh) and Harbans  Kaur
(mother of Pashaura Singh) alleging therein that on May  7, 1997 he performed
his sister Kamaljeet Kaur’s marriage with    2

Pashaura Singh; that at the time of marriage, according to his  status, he gave
rupees four lacs in cash, gold jewelry, utensils,  almirah, fifty-one suits,
five bags etc. but the accused started  harassing his sister Kamaljeet Kaur and
threatened to kill her if  she did not bring car, electronic items etc. and that
he has now  come to know that Pashaura Singh has entered into second  marriage
in the first week of January, 2002. A case under  Sections 498-A, 494, 506/34,
IPC was registered against the  accused persons and it appears that the police
submitted  challan against them in the court of Judicial Magistrate First
Class, Barnala.

5. Randhir Singh, Charanjit Kaur (Rajinder Kaur),  Hakam Singh and Harbans Kaur
filed a petition under Section  482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for
quashing the F.I.R.  No. 9 and criminal prosecution against them. Vide order
dated  April 29, 2004, the High Court allowed the petition and quashed  F.I.R.
No. 9 dated January 21, 2002 registered against them  and all subsequent
proceedings.

6. Pashaura Singh by a separate petition under  Section 482 of the Code prayed
for quashing F.I.R. No. 9/2002    3

and the subsequent criminal proceedings against him but, as  noticed above, the
High Court by its order dated May 24, 2006  dismissed his petition. The High
Court in its cryptic order, while  dismissing the petition, observed that
Pashaura Singh has  married second time on January 2, 2002 while he was already
married with Kamaljeet Kaur and the aforesaid marriage has  not been dissolved.

7. Having heard the learned Counsel for the parties  and upon careful perusal of
the materials placed before us, in  our judgment, the order of High Court cannot
be sustained for  more than one reason. In the first place, the High Court
gravely  erred in observing that Pashaura Singh married second time on  January
2, 2002 while he was already married with Kamaljeet  Kaur and the aforesaid
marriage has not been dissolved. The  certificate of divorce dated February 26,
2001 issued by the  New Westminster Registry, Supreme Court of British Columbia
shows that the marriage of Pashaura Singh and Kamaljeet Kaur  stood dissolved on
February 8, 2001. As a matter of fact, this  fact is noticed in the order dated
April 29, 2004 whereby the  High Court quashed F.I.R. No. 9 and the subsequent
criminal    4

proceedings against the family members of Pashaura Singh. In  the affidavit
filed by Gurmail Singh, Deputy Superintendent of  Police in response to the
petition filed by the appellant under  Section 482 before the High Court, it has
been admitted that  during investigation on March 14, 2002 Hakam Singh had
produced photocopy of divorce certificate purporting to have  been issued by the
Supreme Court of British Columbia. The  observation of the High Court, thus,
that Pashaura Singh  married second time, although his marriage has not been
dissolved, is ex-facie contrary to record.

8. Section 494, IPC, inter-alia, requires the following  ingredients to be
satisfied, namely, (i) the accused must have  contracted first marriage; (ii) he
must have married again; (iii)  the first marriage must be subsisting and (iv)
the spouse must  be living. Insofar as present case is concerned the appellant’s
marriage with Kamaljeet Kaur was not subsisting on January 2,  2002 when he is
said to have married second time. Pertinently  before the High Court, along with
reply, the complainant  Balwant Singh annexed copy of an affidavit filed by
Kamaljeet  Kaur which states that she was not aware of the divorce    5

proceedings filed by her husband Pashaura Singh. However,  from this affidavit,
it is apparent that her husband has obtained  a divorce judgment. There is
nothing in the affidavit that divorce  judgment has been stayed or set aside. On
the face of the  allegations made in the first information report, therefore,
ingredients of the offence under Section 494, IPC are not  satisfied.

9. Insofar as offence under Section 498-A is  concerned, the High Court in its
earlier order dated April 29,  2004 in the petition filed by the family members,
observed thus:   “I have perused the First Information Report registered
against the petitioners.

              The only allegation against the petitioner is that they started
harassing Kamaljeet Kaur Gill for not bringing more dowry. No demand of dowry
has been made by the petitioners, nor is there any specific entrustment, as
alleged in the First Information Report of dowry articles to the petitioners.
Parties have divorced each other, as per the order of the Supreme Court of
British Columbia (Annexure P-1). Order is dated February 25, 2001. It is after
this divorce that Pishora Singh got married in India on January 2, 2002.”

10. Moreover, in the affidavit of Kamaljeet Kaur referred  to hereinabove, there
is not a word about demand of dowry or  harassment on account of dowry by the
appellant.     6

11. We have no hesitation in holding that the first  information report lodged
by Balwant Singh is manifestly  attended with malafides and actuated with
ulterior motive. The  prosecution of the appellant is not at all legitimate,
rather it is  frivolous, vexatious, unwarranted and abuse of process. The
appellant has made out a case for quashing the first information  report and all
subsequent proceedings pursuant thereto.

12. For the reasons indicated above, appeal is allowed  and order dated May 24,
2006 passed by the High court of  Punjab and Haryana is set aside. Resultantly,
F.I.R. No. 9  dated January 21, 2002 registered at Police Station Sehna and  all
subsequent proceedings pursuant thereto stand quashed  and set aside.

13. The pending applications stand disposed of.    ……………………J

                                          (Tarun Chatterjee)

  ……………………J

                                                 (R. M. Lodha)

New Delhi,

November 13, 2009.

Link Here :

http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/174511/

ON ENQUIRY to dgm on 26082009

THE HINDUOnline edition of India’s National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 25, 2008
Opinion – Letters to the Editor
The merger of the subsidiary banks with the SBI will give pension as a third retirement benefit to the employees. Yet, the trade unions oppose the merger. The banking sector is moving away from office-based banking with the advent of technology. The trade unions’ allegation that the government’s initiatives will affect branch expansion is thus unconvincing. And bank employees by themselves cannot stop the flow of FDI into any sector.

The two-day strike, which will achieve nothing, will only help private banks increase their business.

R. Sajan,

Aluva

To,
The First Appellate Authority under RTI Act/
The Dy.General Manager,
State Bank of Travancore, Zonal Office,
Panampilly Nagar,
Ernakulam
_______________________

Sir,
As I am aggrieved by decision No. DGM/EKM/AS/304 of your Central Public Information Officer, I hereby file this appeal for your kind decision.

1. Details of appellant
1.1 Full Name : R.Sajan
1.2. Full Address :Ramuvinte Veed; Desam, Aluva 683103
1.3 Phone/Cell No. : 9447105579
1.4 Email ID :rsajannair@gmail.com

2. Details of CPIO:
2.1 Name/Designation: Chief Manager-Admn
2.2 Full Address : State Bank of Travancore, Zonal Office, Ernakulam
2.3 Name of Public Authority: State Bank of Travancore

2 First Appeal Under Right to Information Act 2005

3. Details of RTI application to CPIO:
Date of Application : 02/06/2009
Date of receipt by CPIO :

4. Particulars of payment of filing fee:
Paid Rs.30/- by SBT bank draft

5. Details of information sought:
Please give the following information in detail—

1. Furnish date on which SBT first housed any of its offices in premises at Mercy Estate, Perumanoor.
2. Furnish 1.date of such first occupation and 2.date of signing related Lease/Rent agreement
3. Furnish details of offices housed there from then till now, with dates of occupation and relief.
4. Furnish details of rent paid, area used, periods, dates of signing/renewing leases from then till now, with details of cases of occupation prior to signing/renewal of leases, arrears of rent thus paid in bulk, and details of rent/lease enhancements from time to time.
5. Furnish names and addresses of officials who proposed, recommended, inspected and sanctioned the leases/hiring from time to time from then to now.
6. Furnish whether the issue of close proximity of the Bar was considered at any time by any official of any time and if not, why.
7. Furnish whether security hazards and issues of decency due to such proximity was considered or pointed out any time.
8. Furnish details of Bank’s offices that are housed in Bar premises (e.g.; Kaduthurutty, Ettumanoor, Perumanoor, Edappilly Training Centre etc etc).
9. Furnish distances from Office door to Bar door in all cases.
10. Furnish details of all loans made available by the Bank for construction/repair/modification of premises at Mercy Estate, with amounts and conditions of sanction; and dates of closure.
11. Furnish names and addresses of officials, who proposed, recommended and sanctioned such loans.
12. Furnish details of KSEB power supply at Bank’s Mercy Estate offices, like permitted loads, monthly usage from 1996, charges paid therefore. Furnish KSEB sanctions/orders.
13. Furnish date from which electricity power was bought from Mercy Estate owners. Furnish usage per month in Units from then, agreed rates of cost, demanded rates and charges paid from the beginning till now, as well as details of bills with usage and charges therein.
14. Furnish total estimated power required monthly for running equipments and fixtures at Perumanoor branch with details of equipments and fixtures; power drawn from KSEB monthly for it; power drawn monthly from Mercy Estate for it with individual break up of usage from each agency.
15. Furnish name and address of officials who proposed, recommended and permitted buying power from Mercy Estate; dates and orders of sanctions. Give copies of sanctions/orders.
16. Furnish details of officials who are given such powers and authority of decision/sanction for it as per Bank’s delegation of powers.
17. If no such authorized procedure and sanction were done, furnish reasons therefor.
18. Furnish whether Mercy Estate has been authorized in Kerala Electricity Supply rules to re-sell KSEB power. Has Bank verified it? If not, why?
19. Has the Bank reported to or obtained sanction from the authorized KSEB/Government officials for such illegal obtaining of power from a private person/persons? If not, furnish why?
20. What is the total amount paid to Mercy Estate from beginning till now on account of electricity charges? Have Bills detailing units of power and rates been obtained for paying it? If not, why? Furnish Bills for the past 60 months.
21. Has the matter of un-metered payment of power charges illegally to Mercy Estate brought to the notice of the GM [V], MD, DGM [EKM] by anyone? If so, what action has been taken? Furnish details of action taken with dates and names of officials involved. If no action was taken, furnish why? Have complainants been advised of action taken? Has action been taken instead against persons who brought this issue to the Bank’s notice?
22. Furnish names and addresses of officials who negotiated, recommended, sanctioned, and signed the latest renewal of Lease with Mercy Estate. Furnish enhancements in rent allowed. Furnish date of signing the latest deed. How much bulk amount was paid as arrears, if lease was from prior date?
23. How much money does the Mercy group owe the Bank now? Furnish names and addresses of officials who proposed, recommended and sanctioned the loans to the new Mercy Business Hotel. Give the names of the officials who recently proposed and allowed release of securities of the loan.
24. Have any of the Bank’s officials been promoted after their banking/lease involvement with the Mercy group? Have any of them been promoted at the first chance itself? If so, give details of all the candidates that came for the promotion and the number of chances that they have so appeared. Is any official thus involved with Mercy Estate due for promotion to AGM or other post this year?
25. How many allegations of corruption related to taking of premises on lease have been noticed by the Bank during 1997-2009? What action has been taken on them?

6. Particulars of Decision of CPIO:
Letter reference No : DGM/EKM/AS/304
Date of CPIO’s Decision : 07/07/2009
Date of receipt of decision by the appellant: 13/07/2009

7. Brief facts of the case:
As available here.

8. Reasons/grounds for this appeal:
The Reply has deliberately omitted and suppressed easily available facts as if to hide lack of transparency of actions.
Item:
4. Dates of signing of lease and renewals are not given. Details of occupation prior to validity/revalidating of lease are not given. Arrears of rent of such instances paid in bulk are not given. Records of them are readily available.
5. The officials have done it all in their official capacity. As soon as an Officer takes charge, his name etc are published on the Office Notice Board for the information of the public. This procedure has been circularized by SBT and is government instruction. There is nothing private in the matter. The CPIO has not even given the job titles and job addresses of the officers involved at the time of the actions. There is no issue of commercial confidence etc. These are done under public tender.
6. to 9: Environment study is done before leasing premises. Review is done in every higher official’s visit and Audit. Records of them are available. If claimed not available at CPIO, the relevant portion of the Petition should have been sent to concerned office and information obtained.
10. There is no fiduciary relationship here. If such stand were correct, no activity of any financial institution can be revealed under RTI. The matters are subject to scrutiny by any government agency including the CBI or courts of law.
11. Please refer to 5 above.
12. The reply speaks of ‘arrangements’. Were there not documented agreements? How can a Bank owned by the public enter into secret ‘arrangements’? Does the Branch not have KSEB connection in its name? That records of payment of charges to KSEB and the landlord for the periods are not available anywhere is false.
13 to 21 excl 14, 18, 20. No reply/details are given. RTI Act is subverted. All details are ordinarily available if matters are transparent. There is wilful suppression.

18. as above.
20. as above.
22. as above.
23. See 13 to 21 excl 14, 18, 20. See 5 and 10.
24 to 25. See 13 to 21 excl 14, 18, 20.

9 Any other information in support of appeal:
1. Kindly call for and peruse Guidelines for Officers designated as First Appellate Authority under the RTI Act, 2005 – No.1/3/2008-IR issued by the Government of India Ministry of Personnel, P.G. and Pensions-Department of Personnel & Training at New Delhi, on 25th April, 2008.
Among other things, the guidelines insist that:
“5. The Act gives the citizens a right to information at par with the Members of Parliament and the Members of State Legislatures. According to the Act, the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. It also includes information relating to any private body which can be accessed by the public authority under any law for the time being in force.
The Act requires furnishing of information so available after the lapse of 20 years even if such information was exempt from disclosure under sub-section (l) of Section 8. It means that the information which, in normal course, is exempt from disclosure under sub-section (1) of Section 8 of the Act would cease to be exempted if 20 years have lapsed after occurrence of the incident to which the information relates.
Sub-section (1) of section 8 and section 9 of the Act enumerate the categories of information which is exempt from disclosure. Sub-section (2) of section 8, however, provides that information exempted under sub-section (1) or exempted under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 can be disclosed if public interest in disclosure overweighs the harm to the protected interest. Further, sub-section (3) of section 8 provides that information exempt from disclosure under sub-section (1), except as provided in clauses (a), (c) and (i) thereof, would cease to be exempted after 20 years from the date of occurrence of the related event etc The RTI Act has over-riding effect vis-à-vis other laws inasmuch as the provisions of the RTI Act would have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than the RTI Act.
If the subject matter of the application concerns any other public authority, it should be transferred to that public authority. If only a part of the application concerns the other public authority, a copy of the application may be sent to that public authority, clearly specifying the part which relates to that public authority.
Deciding appeals under the RTI Act is a quasi-judicial function. It is, therefore, necessary that the appellate authority should see to it that the justice is not only done but it should also appear to have been done. In order to do so, the order passed by the appellate authority should be a speaking order giving justification for the decision arrived at.”

2. Any fees that needs to be remitted for the information may please be informed and would be remitted on receipt of such demand.

10. Prayer/relief sought for: All information as sought in the original Petition may please be furnished.

11. Grounds for prayer/relief sought for:
Easily available ordinary information that is available in honest acts is seen refused to be furnished.

12. Personal Presence at hearing: YES

13. Enclosures:

14. Declaration:
I hereby state that the information and particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. I also declare that this matter is not previously filed with any information commission nor is pending with any Court or tribunal or authority.

Place: Desam [submitted electronically through Email]
Date: 05/08/2009

Signature of appellant

As I try to look past my troubles, I yearn for victory. At church tonight, the pastor gave the definition of victory. He said it’s made up of two parts: “victim” and “story”. So, victory is a victim with a story.