Photos: Flowers, berries

I took these photos last month in Kerala
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Sr. Abhaya case: Justice Vs. Justice?

There seems to be an impression that conflict exists between the orders passed by Justice R. Basant and Justice K. Hema in the Sr. Abhaya case. Justice Hema has clarified that her judgment granting bail to the three accused in the case can be interpreted only by her or the Supreme Court.

Skylark, in an emotionally charged comment on my post Sr. Abhaya case: Sex and the CBI, a detective story gone awry? has provided a link to Justice Hema’s order. While some of my views on it are expressed here, you can form your own opinion by reading it at http://judis.nic.in/kerala/qrydisp.asp?tfnm=85452 I have not seen Justice Basant’s orders.

The CBI’s present contention is that Sr. Abhaya found the nun and two priests who were arrested, in a compromising position. Fearing exposure the first accused strangulated her and the accused nun hit her on the head with a heavy axe. The three accused then threw Sr. Abhaya into a well in the compound while she was still conscious. All these happened 16 years ago.

At the outset of her judgment J. Hema has dealt with the well accepted guidelines for passing orders on bail applications. To decide whether there is a prima facie case she has relied on the case diary even though the CBI objected to it. She found that the arguments of the CBI were not really based on the entries in that document. There were also wild accusations by CBI against officers who conducted the enquiry earlier and about the convent and the church using undue influence to diffuse the case.

A moot point here, which could be of interest to legal experts, is whether the CBI overplayed its hand by bringing in too many grounds to fight the bail plea. That compelled the judge to look into all of them. Better tactics for the CBI could have been to rely on a few solid arguments instead of straying all over.

In the process, two major myths relating to the case have been blown. There was a claim that VV Augustine, the first police officer to investigate the incident manipulated the evidence to present a case of suicide. Well, it was this man who recently committed suicide leaving a note that CBI was responsible for his death, was the one who brought in the ‘homicide’ angle.

The argument that the convent and the Church were using influence to prejudice the case has also been exposed as baseless. It was on a petition by the convent to the Kerala Chief Minister claiming that Abhaya was a murdered that the case was passed on to the CBI. On the basis of the complaint by the convent, CBI took up the case in 1993 and registered an FIR.

Justice Hema, among other things points out CBI’s inability to define the place where the assault on Sr. Abhaya was supposed to have taken place, the absence of blood in the area, and the medical evidence against the possibility of a heavy axe having been used.

Is the CBI on the right track? Or will the real culprits go free if the case is handled in the present manner?

Incidentally, I have started getting hate mail on my earlier post on the subject

Photos: Fishes, motif on glass jar, real thing in acquarium

Photos by me. Copyright reserved.

Photos: November rains in Chennai

I took the three photos reproduced below during the near-cyclonic weather in Chennai last November, and promptly forgot about them.

The first two pictures show waterlogged street and different hues of green. Rather good ones, I feel. But last one is significant. It caught, not too clearly though, two men in blue raincoats working on the local transformer.

The power had failed at about 3’o clock in the afternoon and we had reconciled to the possibility of spending a blacked out night. No one expected a repair job to be done in the heavy rain and strong winds.

Then we noticed the two maintenance men of the Power Board, determined that supply must be restored come hell or high water. They completed their job in about two hours, packed up their tools and left quietly. Nobody knew their names, nobody thanked them. The unsung heroes probably moved to another area which needed their attention.

One rarely sees such commitment these days. I should have called up the Electricity Office and conveyed my appreciation, but sadly, never got around to it.

Though belatedly, let me salute these dedicated men.

Also see

Madras Matters

Nostalgia: Cinema, cinema

Bright, sunny morning in the village. Or a sleepy afternoon. You hear the beat of a single chenda (Kerala drum) in the distance. Faintly, at first, and then louder as the drummer gets closer. Everybody knows what it is – publicity for some cinema. Still, there is an element of excitement, particularly among children.

The drummer comes into view. Walking behind him, a man throws pieces of colored paper into the air – blue, yellow, pink, green. Those are cinema notices, mentioning names of the artistes and describing the story partly, always ending with the words ‘see the rest on the silver screen’.

If it was an important movie, the publicity would include a pushcart with color posters. In either case children scramble to collect the notices. Because of the social set up that prevailed those days, we couldn’t join the melee, but there were others to gather the notices for us.

We had an uncle, a cousin of Appan., who was considered to be mentally underdeveloped. He had two passions in life. One was music and the other, collecting cinema notices. He had bundles of them, almost always within his reach. There was a competition among us children to supply him with new cinema notices. Wonder what happened to his collection when he died in early 1960s.

As far back as I can remember we had a cinema about 3 kilometers from our house, at a place called Poochakkal. It is still there. As a child, it was my dream to go for a show there. Direct approach to the parents wouldn’t work. I told Chekkutty, one of our more resourceful kariyasthans (manager/supervisor) about it. This tall and impressive looking Muslim had joined our service at the age of 13 as ‘chellam’ (tamboolam box) boy of my great grandfather (see A judgment.).

Incidentally, Chekutty’s son, KC Mohamadu Kunju was the elected President of our Panchayath (Thycattussarry), a post comparable to Mayor, continuously for more than 40 years. That is a record.

Chekutty managed to obtain the permission and on the great day, escorted us to the show.

The theater, which Chekkutty eventually bought, was a thatched structure with white sand as the floor. It had four classes of seating, ‘thara’ (floor) right in front of the screen, behind that ‘bench’, then chairs, 2^nd class and 1^st class. In ‘thara’ people often used to lie back and watch the movie. Each reel had to be rewound before the next one was put on. There was a blue haze before the screen because of ‘beedi’ smoke that rose from everywhere.

I couldn’t understand much of the Tamil movie. The cast included NS Krishnan and his wife TA Mathuram and there was a lot of laughter from the audience. I was waiting for the part where Chekkutty had said I should keep my eyes closed.

And finally it came. On cue I shut my eyes but looked anyway. It was a ‘kuli’ (bathing) scene. A group of fully clothed women were singing and frolicking in a stream. There was nothing great about it. Those were the days when local women used to bathe in the village ponds wearing nothing except a loin cloth.

The truly exciting part was the days after the cinema, the way I boasted about it to my cousins and classmates.

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Photos: Grandchildren

These are file photos of Adithya and Archana, children of my daughter Rosemary and her husband KO Isaac. They were taken at various locations, years ago.

Me and the grandchildren after some function.

On the beach....

14 now, Archana is good at Bharathanatyam.

See Dances for the gods

But her forte seems to be Carnatic music. She has already done 20 odd kirtans.

Her Guru seems to be pleased with her.

Enter the Dragon... Adithya is now an engineering student.

What was the brother whispering in the sister's ear?



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Sr. Abhaya case: Sex and the CBI, a detective story gone awry?

The investigation into the death of Sr. Abhaya, a young Catholic nun has been going on for 16 years. She was found dead in the well of her convent. A nun who was in the same convent as Abhaya and two priests were arrested recently as prime suspects for murdering Abhaya. (See Kerala: The arrest of two Catholic priests and a nun for murder)

Granting the accused bail, the Kerala High Court came out with scathing criticism of the way the latest team of sleuths (there had been a few earlier) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is handling the case. The Court also expressed disapproval of the media role, and the accused nun being subjected to virginity test.

The virginity test in this case defies logic. It could have only two results – either the woman concerned had sexual intercourse or she was still inviolate. This is determined on the finding whether the hymen is still intact, though that need not lead to a precise conclusion.

The Catholic Church resorts to virginity test in instances were annulment of marriage is sought on the claim of non-consummation. But the examination is done discretely and total secrecy is maintained. In the Abhaya case the news was in the media in no time.

The CBI theory, as far as I can make out, is that Abhaya saw the accused in a compromising position and the threesome resorted to murder to silence her.

What was the CBI trying to prove with the virginity test? Assuming that the accused nun was found to be not a virgin in 2008, what bearing does it have to Abhaya’s death 16 years ago? She could have, if at all, lost her virginity before the alleged murder or some time after it.

If a lady is proved to be a virgin according to the test, does it confirm that she has not indulged in sexual activities with the opposite gender? Certainly not. What then was the relevance of the virginity test in the Abhaya case?

Then there was the unfortunate publicity to the event. Belonging to a religious order neither invests any one with special rights nor take away any existing rights. Every accused has to be treated decently and humanely.

Yesterday the doctor who conducted the post mortem on Abhaya’s body gave a secret statement before the concerned Magistrate that Abhaya drowned in her convent’s well and the death could amount to manslaughter. I do not know whether a doctor is legally competent to make such an observation. If this claim has deviated from his original report, he would have a tough time to survive cross examination.

What is incredible however is that the ‘secret’ deposition was all over the media within hours.

What is the CBI up to? Are they on the right track or messing up the investigation? The High Court has done well to instruct the CBI to bring the current investigation team under the direct supervision of an experienced and competent senior officer.

The CBI’s reaction? Reportedly the agency is contemplating appeal to the Supreme Court.

Ends.

Also see:

Sr. Abhaya case: Justice Vs. Justice?