The Weekly
Observer Volume 14 | Issue 8
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
‘Our food was safe’ claim mid-day meals NGO managers Shruti Suresh Soumya Chatterjee Samreen Tungekar The operations director of a foundation at the centre of the Bangalore mid-day meals scare claims his company followed all safety rules. Fifty children ate contaminated food and 300 pupils in total were rushed to hospital last Friday after a lizard was found in school food served under the national scheme. Prashanth Kumar, Manager of Operations, Akshay Patra Foundation, claimed that the same batch of food was sent to many schools yet there were no reports of ill health at any other school. He said: “We have delivered the same food to 21 government schools in the
vicinity. We haven’t received any complaints from them.” Vinay Kumar, General Manager of Operations at the NGO, said that there was almost zero chance of the lizard slipping in during transport because the school is 12 kilometers away and the lids are sealed tight. “We are delivering since 12 years. This has never happened before. The lizard must have fallen from the wall while
Zareena Khanam
serving food,” he said. Zareena Khanam, principal of Gorvernment Urdu Model Primary School, said that they found the dead lizard after serving about three quarters of the rice. “The lizard probably got in during packing of the food,” she added. Shahnaz Unnisa, a teacher at the school for three years, said, “Around 10 children stopped coming after this incident as the parents are scared of sending them. Most of these children come to school for these meals because this is the only proper meal they get. They loved this food.” Vinay said, “We have not sent food to the primary school after Friday because many children are not staying back for lunch, but are going home as their parents are
Pupils at Government Urdu Model Primary School scared.” He said that the higher secondary students are still eating food from their kitchen. There were seven vessels of food, and the rice with the lizard was served to around 50 children. 300 children were hospitalized as a precaution. Syeda Asiya Jeelani, 40, and Syeda Tabassum Khatoon, 33, were serving the food. BBMP High School, in
Pillana Garden, has the food from the same kitchen. Chandra Naik, principal of the school said that they have not faced any problems with the food. Zeenat Parbeen, mother of four, all of whom were hospitalized, said that this has never happened before. “All my children were admitted, but they got discharged in a day.”
Abused women cannot have their day in Karnataka's courts Raya Ghosh Just four per cent of the 3276 cases of domestic violence filed in Karnataka last year resulted in convictions, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Statistics from the bureau also show that of the 118,866 cases of domestic violence filed last year in India, only 16% resulted in convictions. Helpline co-ordinators in Bangalore have also stated that thirty percent of do-
mestic violence cases registered with them are also found to be false. Between April 2013 and March 2014, 1010 cases of violence against women have been reported with Vanitha Sahaya Vani, a womens’ helpline in Bangalore. As of July 2014, just 82 cases of violence against women had been prosecuted. Of the 21,669 dowry harassment cases filed from January 2011 to August 2013 in Bangalore, 7,220 cases were proved to be false. Of
Dr.Sujata, Counselor of Vanitha Sahaya Vani, the remaining 14,449 cases, some are still being investigated and charge sheets are yet to be filed in others. “We receive several do-
mestic violence related calls every day, most of which pertain to dowry harassment. Out of the 92 dowry harassment cases in November 2013, only 20 were found to be true,” said Dipa, a Woman Police Constable in Bangalore. The IPC 498A is a criminal law, whereby the offence is 'cognizable, non-compoundable and non-bailable'. The perpetrator can be punished for a term which may extend to three years. Moreover he shall be liable to pay a fine.
Rathi (name changed), a private counselor, said: “Section 498A is a very important weapon for women. Ego clashes in working couples often lead to false complaints being filed under the section.” She added, “At times, women are not in favor of living in joint families. They also want their husbands to contribute money towards her family. If the husband refuses, the wife often files a 498A case against him. (Continued on Page 3)