Receptionist who became Saradha director in 3 years

KOLKATA: The woman known as Sudipta Sen's shadow in the Saradha Group was at her appointed place during arrest too — right by the boss.

The story of 27-year-old Debjani Mukherjee, who joined as a receptionist and became the executive director of the group's flagship company within three years, can dwarf any tale of corporate rise. Nothing moved without the permission of 'madam' as she was known in the company's Sector V headquarters, and nothing escaped her eye. Such was her influence that she shared Sen's office chambers as the group's de facto number two and signed all cheques valued at over Rs 20 lakh as well as appointment letters. She was Sen's eyes and ears, the lady who the chairman seemed to trust even more than his family.

Her brisk climb up the corporate ladder started after she was moved to the Midland Park HQ, nine months after she joined Saradha Tours & Travels' office at 64, Shakespeare Sarani as a receptionist and telephone operator. In 2011, she became the director of Saradha Realty. Soon, she was also given charge of the banking and HR verticals.

What led to her meteoric rise? Debjani is the daughter of Timir Baran Mukherjee, a close family friend of Sen. It is believed Mukherjee helped Sen go from estate manager to the owner of the sprawling Saradha Gardens off Joka in the mid-2000s. Mukherjee's close proximity to local CPM leaders also helped Sen.

Mom, lawyer say Debjani wanted to surrender

Sources say when one of project's original promoters, Biswanath Adhikari, was shot dead in the complex on January 29, 1999, it was Mukherjee who kept the heat off Sen. Sen appears to have repaid that "debt" by making Debjani a full-time director of his group. Debjani was promoted as director with Saradha Realty on July 20, 2011. The other directors were Sen's wife Madhumita, son Subhojit and daughter Priyanka.

The cellphone Debjani used till her arrest on Tuesday was registered in the name of Saradha Tours & Travels. A mobile number Sen often used was also registered in Debjani's name. It was the "official" number given to Debjani as director in Saradha Realty.

Debjani, sources said, stopped attending office in March, several weeks before Sen disappeared, lending credence to a theory among Saradha employees that it was Debjani who had drafted the escape plan for the two before the companies were to be shut. Abhisekh Mukherjee, a lawyer claiming to represent Debjani, however, said, "Debjani was asked not to attend office. In fact, she hasn't been getting salary for several months. She was coerced into fleeing and called me up intending to surrender."

Debjani's mother Sarbari claims she has been framed. She said a tearful Debjani had called her up before she went missing saying she wanted to surrender. Sarbari didn't hear from Debjani after that.

A former editor in one of Sen's publications recollected, "Sen sat next to Debjani in his own chamber. Sen and she appeared co-owners. At meetings, they sat on one side and faced us across the table. She was an executive director and was Sen's eyes and ears. Debjani was also his constant companion on trips out of town."

The first change Debjani brought to Midland Park was the induction of young women. "After a while, only women were posted at the offices on the fourth and fifth floor of Midland Park. Except for Debjani, the others working in the newspapers, television or realty business were never attached to the same office for more than six months. They would be rotated constantly. And they all seemed afraid of Debjani," recounted an employee.

Sen had the gift of the gab and would manage to convince anyone. "But Debjani was always a reticent speaker and very matter-of-fact," the employee added. Another employee said visitors to Sen were always vetted by Debjani. Sen was called 'CMD sir' in Midland Park. However urgent the matter was, it was difficult for anyone to get a call though to Sen without being routed through Debjani. 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Receptionist-who-became-Saradha-director-in-3-years/articleshow/19704429.cms?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=toimain 

Amend dowry law to stop its misuse, SC tells govt

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has plainly told the government to take a relook at the anti-dowry law -- Section 498A of Indian Penal Code -- saying it has been misused by women to lodge false or exaggerated complaints against husbands and their relatives accusing them of cruel behaviour.

Such is the level of exaggeration of cruel behaviour on the part of husbands and their relatives that "to find out the truth is a Herculean task in a majority of these complaints", said a bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and K S Radhakrishnan.

Expressing concern at the rise in number of complaints under Section 498A, the Bench said, "We come across a large number of such complaints which are not even bona fide and are filed with oblique motives."

Advising extreme caution in dealing with such complaints, the bench said courts must take pragmatic realities into consideration while dealing with matrimonial cases.

It was high time that the legislature considered and made suitable changes in the law taking into account public opinion, the apex court said, sending a copy of the judgment to the Union law minister to initiate the process.

"At times, even after conclusion of criminal trial, it is difficult to ascertain the truth," it said and gave examples of cases where the woman in her complaint had roped in the husband's relatives, who lived in different cities and rarely visited them, of cruel behaviour towards her.

Such accusations invariably led to the husband and his relatives remaining in jail for a few days, breeding rancour, acrimony and bitterness and ruining all chances of an amicable settlement, said Justice Bhandari, writing the judgment for the bench.

The significance of the court's directive goes beyond what happens to Section 498A. It marks a conceptual shift, a turn away from the culture where women were seen only as victims who were incapable of levelling false allegations. The conception of women as the silent suffering sort who could do no wrong has influenced the administration of justice in both open and subtle ways. The assumption of women's innocence is apparent in laws devised to deal with rape and other crimes against women where the presumption of innocence is not available to the accused.

Section 498A and other laws were meant to level the field which has traditionally been tilted in favour of men, and were meant to help women get their due. But with instances of their misuse rising, the apex court has been impelled to draw the government's attention to revisit the issue.

"It is also a matter of common knowledge that exaggerated versions of incidents are reflected in a large number of complaints. The tendency of over implication is also reflected in a very large number of cases," he said.

"Criminal trials lead to immense suffering for all concerned. Even ultimate acquittal in the trial may not be able to wipe out the deep scars of ignominy," the bench said. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Amend-dowry-law-to-stop-its-misuse-SC-tells-govt/articleshow/6321987.cms

Men are the oppressed gender

Both historically and presently, women are painted as the more oppressed gender. Men supposedly were and are better off. This is an illusion, however, and the fact that men’s oppression has not been properly recognized only illustrates its severity. At least in the West, it is men who had it worse and continue to have it worse. Women were oppressed and continue to be oppressed, but not to the same degree.
Consider work. Yes, historically women were barred from working in many professions, with their labor being confined to the home. Homemaking, however, wasn’t such a bad way to spend your time compared to mining, soldiering or a host of other physically dangerous professions men exclusively had to do in the past. Homemaking also seems pretty nice compared to a lot of the dull white-collar professions men found themselves in. And in the modern day, it is far easier for women to enter traditionally male work than for men to enter traditionally female work. Women are actually commonplace in fields like business, law, medicine and academia, and there are more women than one might think in fields like technology or the military. How many men are in nursing or childcare, though? Today, it is certainly considered stranger for a man to be a nurse or a preschool teacher than it is for a woman to be a computer programmer. For that matter, it is still considered very odd for a man to be a full-time homemaker. And if a man expresses a desire to be a homemaker right out of school, without ever really working, the criticism of him would be unfathomable.

War is another potent example of men being oppressed. In almost all wars where conscription has taken place, it has been exclusively men who were conscripted. Think about all the ridiculous hardship that men have had to endure fighting in wars while women were able to stay at home. In World War I alone, the suffering and death inflicted on men in particular was extraordinary. The event could be considered a holocaust for the male gender, of which there exists no comparison for women in the West.
Women also sometimes complain about how society looks down on them when they are overt in seeking romantic partners. Many women dislike how they are forced to be reactive in this process — the courted as opposed to the courter, their best bet for finding someone being subtext that may not always get across their romantic message. These women don’t realize that the alternative — having to be proactive in courtship — is much worse. Though men should have more choice for partners in theory, in practice, they have less choice because the risk/reward proposition of asking out most women is negative. Also, a woman who asks out men risks only shame in the short-term. A man who waits to be asked out by women risks lifetime singleness.
Some will say that men cannot possibly be the more oppressed gender because they have held and continue to hold greater governmental, economic and social power than women. This is not a fair point, because oppression is fundamentally about the misery of the victims, not their power. I do not think gender oppression is caused by one gender oppressing the other. In history, men have oppressed men and women have oppressed women. It is cultures that perpetrate gender oppression.
I do think that women are more oppressed than men in certain cultures, particularly those where the mutilation and maiming of women is openly encouraged. For Western cultures, however, it’s men who have gotten screwed. Our generation can change society by changing how we think. In progressive communities, the recent phenomenon of the stay-at-home dad is a great start. Everyone, regardless of gender, should have the same expectations and opportunities.
Ed Reep is a Rutgers Business School senior majoring in supply chain and marketing science with minors in business and technical writing and economics. His column, “Philosophies of a Particular American,” runs on alternate Mondays.
 

 http://www.dailytargum.com/opinion/columnists/ed_reep/men-are-the-oppressed-gender/article_700d08d6-aaf1-11e2-994c-0019bb30f31a.html

Domestic violence a human rights issue

NAGPUR: The District Women and Child Development Department and the police commissionerate organized one-day workshop on 'Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005' in the city recently.
The workshop was inaugurated by Secretary of District Legal Services Authority in Nagpur Kishore Jaiswal. Police inspector of Social Security Department Kamal Jadhav presided over and district women and child development officer DH Kankal was the guest of honour.
Jaiswal said domestic violence is a human rights issue and a serious deterrent to development. He explained the object of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, saying that the law was enacted to provide for effective protection of the rights guaranteed under the Constitution for women, who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family.
He added that it was the duty of a police officer, protection officer, service provider and the magistrate to inform the aggrieved person of her right to make an application for one or more reliefs under the Act.
He also added that 'domestic violence' is any act of physical, mental or sexual violence and any attempted such violence, as well as the forcible restriction of individual freedom and of privacy, carried out against individuals who have or had family or kinship ties or cohabit or dwell in the same house.
He further informed that one special court was dealing with cases under PWDVA and the magistrate, staff members, and stenographers of that court are women.
Member of Juvenile Justice Board Surekha Borkute spoke on procedural aspect of the Act while Smita Singalkar enlightened upon filling up the domestic incident report. Sharmila Charalwar explained role of service providers.
Programme was attended by police officers, protection officers and service providers.
 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Domestic-violence-a-human-rights-issue/articleshow_dc/19684215.cms

Want parole? Pay for security: HC tells convict

NAGPUR: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high Court recently granted two days parole to a murder convict to let him attend his brother's wedding. The prisoner, however, was told to bear the expenses for his as well as the police escort's transportation to the marriage venue. He was asked to deposit the amount in advance. The convict then attended the wedding on April 16 and returned to prison.

"Subject to such a deposit (being made), we direct the respondents to carry the petitioner in custody for marriage function. All the arrangements will be made by the authorities to see that the petitioner is available for all ceremonies to be performed in the marriage," a division bench comprising justices Ravindra Chavan and Prasanna Varale ruled.

Superintendent of Central Jail Amravati and divisional commissioner were made respondents in the two cases filed by Siddharth Ingle. He was serving life sentence since October 5, 2010, awarded to him by Washim sessions court for murder. Ingle contended he had applied in February to respondents seeking parole to attend the marriage of his brother Sandip in Akola but it was ignored. He also made repeated requests to jail authorities but was told that as he had availed the parole in recent past and was not entitled for the same.

He pointed out that he was the eldest member in the family and his presence for the ceremony was necessary. The jail authorities opposed his prayer arguing that the petitioner was in the habit of surrendering late after availing parole, and on an earlier occasion, he had surrendered after 287 days.

Citing old judgments of the Nagpur bench, the judges said that looking at the grounds raised by the petitioner and the urgency involved in marriage, they see no reason to take any different view than those taken in old petitions. "The grounds for resistance raised by the jail authorities can be taken care of by putting certain conditions on the petitioner in the nature of his scheduled reporting/surrendering to jail authorities. Even the petitioner has displayed his readiness and is willing to abide by the conditions in respect of the expenses as ordered by this court," the judges said.

"We make it clear this order shall neither be treated as a precedent nor a departure from the settled procedure under the rules to move the appropriate authorities for seeking parole," the judges added while disposing of the plea.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Want-parole-Pay-for-security-HC-tells-convict/articleshow_dc/19705267.cms