1. Four-Year-Old Sexually Assaulted in School, 2 Teachers Held
A four-year-old nursery student was allegedly sexually assaulted inside a prominent private school in the city where a similar incident had taken place three years ago, triggering angry protests by guardians following which two teachers were arrested.
Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Vishal Garg said that two physical training (PT) instructors of the school were arrested after interrogating them.
The parents of the girl child lodged a complaint at the Jadavpur Police station, a senior Kolkata Police officer said.
The child after returning home on 30 November from her school – GD Birla Centre for Education – kept on crying and complained of severe pain. Her mother spotted blood stains on her clothes, he said.
The girl told her mother that the physical training teacher had taken her to the washroom, but could not narrate what happened thereafter.
The girl was admitted to the state-run SSKM Hospital and tests were performed to confirm the alleged sexual assault on her, hospital sources said.
(Source: PTI)
2. HC Directs WB Govt to Make Dengue ‘Notified Disease’
The Calcutta High Court on Friday, 1 December, directed the West Bengal government to declare dengue a ‘notified disease’ and issue a gazette notification to this effect.
In an interim order, a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice J Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee ordered the state government to disclose the steps taken by it to control vector-borne diseases.
The bench said the PILs regarding the spread of dengue and deaths of people were maintainable, and it directed the West Bengal government to declare dengue a ‘notified disease’ and issue a gazette notification to that effect.
The bench also asked the government to ensure that mobile medical vans were dispatched to remote areas where proper healthcare facilities to treat the disease were not available.
(Source: PTI)
3. Kolkata Secnd Safest City, but Bengal Crime Stats Dismal
Kolkata is the second safest city in India in terms of crime per lakh population, the 2016 National Crime Records Bureau report has revealed. Bengal’s performance, however, has been worse; it is only the 18th safest among 36 states and Union territories in terms of crime per lakh people.
The NCRB has included urban conglomerates, with a population of at least 20 lakh, while calculating the crime rate of 19 cities across India. Kolkata, with a population of over 1.41 crore, has logged 159.2 incidents of crime per lakh people. Coimbatore has earned the safest-city tag with a crime rate of 149.5; it has a population of 21.5 lakh, about the same population that Behala has.
Chennai is the third safest city in India, Kanpur fourth and Mumbai the fifth safest in terms of crime rate.
(Source: Times of India)
4. CISCE May Set Papers for Classes IX, XI Annual Exams
Close on the heels of the CISCE deciding to reduce the pass marks for both ICSE and ISC examinations from 2019, another major change is on the anvil. The council has proposed to prepare the question papers for annual examinations of classes IX and XI from 2020.
The suggestion was mooted by chief executive and secretary of CISCE, Gerry Arathoon, at the annual conference of Association of Schools For the Indian School Certificate in Jaipur.
There are several school boards which prepare question papers for classes IX and XI before the students go on to appear in the board examinations. Even in Bengal, the question papers of Class XI are prepared by the WB Higher Secondary Council.
“This will bring uniformity in the council-affiliated schools and also maintain a certain standard. There have also been concerns over some schools teaching beyond curriculum to prepare students, which puts additional stress on pupils,” Arathoon said.
(Source: Times of India)
5. ‘S Durga’ Invited for Kolkata Screening
After ‘S Durga’ received a cold shoulder from the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Kolkata has warmed up to Sanal Kumar Sashidharan's film and extended an invitation to screen it in mid-December.
The offer from the Federation of Film Societies of India (Eastern Region) comes close on the heels of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wanting to host a premiere of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ‘Padmavati’ in Kolkata.
On 11 November, controversy broke out after the Information & Broadcasting ministry dropped ‘S Durga’ and ‘Nude’ from the Indian Panorama Section at IFFI. Three days later on 14 November, Sasidharan filed a petition in the Kerala High Court against the I& B ministry and IFFI officials.
On 21 November, Justice Vinod Chandran of the Kerala High Court ordered that the film's certified version be screened at IFFI. But on 28 November, the CBFC ordered a re-examination of ‘S Durga’, derailing its court-ordered screening at the IFFI. On 1 December, Sasidharan was given the offer to screen the film in Kolkata.
(Source: Times of India)
6. National Bronze for Bengal Rowing Teens
Two teenage rowers from Calcutta have ended a seven-year wait for Bengal by winning bronze in the junior national championships.
Sanglap Bose, 16, and Md Rahmat Ali, 15, finished third, missing out on silver by two seconds and gold by six.
The 38th edition of the event was held in Odisha's Jagatpur between 14 and 19 November.
The last time any male rower from Bengal made it to the podium in the junior nationals was in 2010 when Kapil Pincha won bronze in single sculls in Hyderabad in 2010.
“We finished first in the heats but couldn't hold on to our nerves in the finals,” Bose, a Class XI student of Julien Day School, Bhowanipore, said.
The team completed the race in 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
(Source: Telegraph)
7. Woman Dead, Husband Absconding
Police are on the lookout for the husband of a woman who was found bloodied in her house in Khardah on Thursday night.
Urmila Rajbhar, 35, was declared dead at a state hospital in the area.
Her screams around 11 pm alerted her neighbours who rushed to find her lying on the floor bleeding from the head, the police said.
A iron rod was lying beside her and her husband Jitendra wasn't to be found anywhere, an officer of Khardah police station said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Jitendra, a labourer, suspected Rajbhar of being in an illicit relationship with a youth in the neighbourhood, the officer said.
The two were married for 15 years and have three children, the police said.
(Source: Telegraph)
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