14 September, 2013

Delhi gang-rape case: Judge recounts extreme torture, says 'brutality showed their depravity’

Amid accusations that the verdict and sentencing in the Nirbhaya case was guided by public sentiment, the fast-track court - while handing down the death penalty to the four convicts - said on Friday that "perception of society" played an important role in deciding the punishment.

Relying on a precedent set by Supreme Court, additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna said, "the rarest-of-rare test largely depends on the perception of society as to if it approves the awarding of the death sentence for certain types of crimes. The court has to look into factors like society's abhorrence, extreme indignation and antipathy to certain types of cases, like the case in hand - of gang rape with brutal murder of a helpless girl by six men."

To explain how he arrived at his decision, the judge described the depravity and brutality with which injuries were inflicted on Nirbhaya's internal organs. "The facts show that the entire intestine of the victim was perforated, splayed and cut open due to repeated insertion of rods and hands. The convicts, in the most barbaric manner, pulled out her internal organs with their bare hands as well as with rods and caused her irreparable injuries, thus exhibiting extreme mental perversion not worthy of human condonation," the judge said.

Sreesanth — the showman who couldn't handle the spotlight

Flamboyant. Maverick. Abrasive. Attention-seeking. These are some of the expressions used to describe S Sreesanth during his seven-year international career.

But 'taint', the word that surfaced after he got implicated in the match-fixing scandal in IPL 6, is the one that is going to stick on him for life now.

The pacer got away with many off and on-the-field antics as a player. But his alleged links with bookies that even saw him land in jail will take him away from the game that, as he always claimed, has been so close to his heart.

The BCCI disciplinary committee on Friday evening called 'over' to the 30-year-old seamer's career, handing him a life ban after taking cognizance of its anti-corruption chief Ravi Sawani's report.

It pays to buy cover for luxury cars online

If you are looking to buy a premium or luxury car, it will be cheaper for you to go in for an online insurance package where discounts can be upwards of Rs 10,000. Chennai-based V Sidharth discovered that when he went insurance shopping for the Mahindra XUV he has just bought. Sidharth was surprised when the local dealer quoted Rs 52,000 in insurance premium for the new vehicle. "I went back and did a bit of research and found out that if I purchased the same policy online, I could get it for Rs 30,000," he said.

Sidharth's isn't an isolated case. According to insurance industry experts, the difference between online and offline purchase of a motor policy in the case of luxury and premium vehicles can range from 30% to 50% "as such cars normally have higher premia," according to G Srinivasan, CMD, New India Assurance.

Kalyani Narayanan, CEO, Easyinsuranceindia, said, "Insurance companies give us the best discount on tariff rates and we in turn pass it on to the customer." She added her company gives up to 50% discount from the tariff rate on insurance for Audi, Mercedes Benz and BMW cars.

BCCI bans Sreesanth, Chavan for life, Trivedi out for 1 year

Former Royals pacer Amit Singh was banned for five years for soliciting other cricketers for spot-fixing in the league and Siddharth Trivedi, a regular in the team, was barred from all cricketing events for a year. Trivedi was punished for failing to report that he was approached by bookmakers.

The fifth Royals cricketer, Mumbai spinner Harmeet Singh, 20, was exonerated due to "absence of evidence". Singh was part of India's Under-19 World Cup winning team in 2012. No decision was taken on Ajit Chandila, the alleged kingpin of the spot-fixing racket, as he is yet to be interrogated by BCCI's anti-corruption unit chief Ravi Sawani.

The banned players cannot play "any representative cricket" or in any way "be associated with the activities of BCCI or its affiliates".

Sreesanth tweeted after the ban was announced, "Been tracking the news channels...me getting a life ban??!! Very surprising..." The tweet was later deleted.

The disciplinary committee said it had decided the quantum of punishment "after considering the evidence on record and hearing each of the players in person."

BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan was surprisingly a party to the decision made by the committee, which also included Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah.

Jaitley said the committee's decision was binding. "The evidence was different against each of the accused. Since the decision is about the players, it need not be ratified by the annual general meeting or any other body," Jaitley said after the meeting.

Sources told TOI that when the cricketers were called in for the hearing, they "hardly showed any sign of remorse". Instead of being apologetic for their roles in spot-fixing, Sreesanth and others pleaded innocence and said police had framed them.

When the disciplinary committee members reminded them of the rules of the game, and asked them why they forgot to conduct themselves properly or why they did not report any suspicious activity or approach to the anti-corruption unit, the players simply said they were innocent.

Sources said when the board members showed them proof of their crime, the reply was the same. On being asked whether he was aware of what he had done, Sreesanth said: "I have done nothing wrong."

Asked how so much cash was found in his room, the mercurial pacer said: "That was endorsement money. I did not know Jiju (alleged to be Sreesanth's cousin) was a bookie and was involved with a betting syndicate."

Sources said the committee took a soft stand against Harmeet, considering his age and the fact that this was his first brush with big time cricket.

While leaving the hotel where the hearing was conducted, Sreesanth told reporters that he had complete faith in the board and hoped to play for India again. However, BCCI was convinced that it had enough proof to send out a strong message of zero tolerance to the cricketing fraternity. Sources said all banned cricketers are likely to appeal against the decision.

Former international Mahadik aspires to become coach

Dhananjay Mahadik is not an unknown personality in the Mumbai Hockey Association premises. He has played a lot of his hockey at this venue, before being successfully drafted into the senior national team.

Now though Mahadik has hung up his boots at the international level and plays for Maharashtra State Police only when required. He has a new role to play with the national team though.

Mahadik has become a video analyst for India's junior team and will shortly join them when they leave for the Junior Asia Cup. He has bigger goals though and aims to be a successful coach.

"One cannot become a national coach straight away," Mahadik explained. "Being a video analyst with the Indian team is a first step. A coach should know the positives and negatives of his players and the game.

These are vital ingredients to become a good coach," the player, who scored five goals in his team's 10-7 thrilling win against Sports Authority of India (SAI) in a Mumbai Magicians-MHAL-conducted Super League hockey match at Churchgate's Mahindra Stadium on Friday, added.

Mahadik, who got an opportunity to work with Hockey India's high performance manager Roelant Oltmans, felt that the Dutch coach has instilled a lot of positives in the boys and has also made them aggressive.

"Oltmans has brought some critical changes to the team. The unit looks very aggressive and they showed that during the Asia Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia. These things help a lot at the international level," Mahadik said but added that India need to play a lot of Test matches with top European teams like Germany and Australia.