Culturally in Danger: Girls and Kids: 4 Days, 4 Girls Killed for 'Honor' & No hope for 'unhealthy' Orphans

PGI would like to recognize the Times of India newspaper for its courage and commitment throughout 2011 re its publishing the near daily atrocity of 'honor killings' and 'dowry deaths'. Only through the repeated association and exposure of the shame of this culturally accepted practice can change come about. In the past, honor killings were either considered not newsworthy or suppressed as a social embarrassment.

TOI has also made a point of putting the plight of orphans and orphanages in greater focus. Again due to cultural biases, orphanages overflow and discarded girl infants go un-noticed while the thriving gender based abortions and AI industry thrives. Only through the media presenting these stories frequently will society demand that some changes (of the heart and policy) be made.

Since 2007, PGI India has come face to face with the striking risk that women and children face in their daily lives due to social norms that do not recognize these classes as equal and with inalienable rights. It should be a mandatory part of every business to assure that its CSR program protects the women and children who are impacted by their enterprise. This should include the workers are their communities. Many instances of suicide could be prevented if young women were provided with counselling. However, the system is completely absent other than in a few pocket metro areas. As such young women are caught in a social trap for which there is no escape and no other perceived option other than suicide. Companies should establish counselling centers for their workers and communities as their success is very much based on their workforce emotional health at the factory, in the field and in the home.

Part of PGI's 2012 delivery plan is an ambitious new platform called TreeBridge that will provide an additional layer to PGI's CSR model for the access to knowledge and education focused on woman and child empowerment. The platform will be a global network starting in India and the US. We can empower and enrich each others lives through knowing each other.

In a small testament to the gravity of the crisis, PGI has pulled 4 stories from the past four days of the Times of India Chennai Edition. Some unfamiliar with the disease of honor killings may think this is a rash or spree. It is not. It is just like any other four newspaper editions over a four day span...for a single city.

Woman burnt 2 days after seeking action against kin

A Selvaraj TNN 

Chennai: The Mylapore police are investigating the circumstances that led to the immolation of a 19-year-old woman at Dooming Kuppam near Santhome on Monday, two days after she came to the station to complain about dowry harassment. K Esther Mary had approached the all-women police station in Mylapore last Saturday, but the police did not register a case. Two days later, she was burnt alive, her mother V Selvi, said her complaint. 
    Mary had gone to the station with Selvi, who works as a maid, pleading for action since her husband and inlaws were harassing her for dowry. Two days later, her sister Pauline and neighbours saw her running out of her inlaws’ house, flames engulfing her body. She reached her parents’ house nearby and fell unconscious. 
    “The neighbours and Pauline threw sand on Mary to douse the flames and rushed her to the Kilpauk Medical College. She died early on Tuesday before she could give a statement to police,” Selvi told TOI. She said she again went to the Mylapore police to complain that Mary had been set on fire by her in-laws. “Even then no action was taken. A woman sub-inspector who investigated the case told us not to tell anyone that we had approached the station last Saturday,” Selvi said. 
    Police have filed a case of unnatural death. Police arrest husband, no action against in-laws yet 
    On Wednesday, they arrested Mary’s husband B Karthik (21), a painter. “Though I mentioned that Mary’s in-laws are responsible for her death, no action was initiated, saying the revenue divisional officer will have to conduct an inquiry,” Selvi said. 
    Karthik’s father Baskaran is an employee of Chennai Corporation. Baskaran and his family have moved out of their house after the case was filed, she said. 
    Police said Mary had fallen in love with Karthik. Their wedding was called off after Karthik’s family sought 30 sovereigns of gold as dowry. However, the couple eloped and married on September 4 this year against the wishes of Karthik’s family. 
    Problems started when they came back to live with Karthik’s parents, who kept demanding the dowry. Karthik too joined his parents in harassing Mary, police said. 
    Mylapore all-women police station inspector N Dharma confirmed that Mary and her mother had come to the station on Saturday. 
    “I was away on bandobust duty at Mattangkuppam when someone from the station called up to say a petitioner has come. They were asked to wait at the station, but they returned without lodging a complaint,” Dharma said.

Esther Mary

TOI: Dec 27, 2011

Teen killed by kin for eloping with cousin

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Tirunelveli: In a suspected case of honour killing, an 18-year-old girl was murdered by her brother and cousin in Tirunelveli. The two have been arrested and reportedly confessed to the police that they murdered her as she had eloped with another cousin four months ago. Though the girl was murdered a month ago, it came to light only on Saturday, a day after the girl’s father lodged a complaint that she was missing. 
    Police said Uchimahali (18), daughter of Arjunapandian of Kondanagaram near Pettai, had eloped with Murugesan (22), son of Vinayagamwho is the elder brother of Arjunapandian. After the families learnt about the affair, they opposed it.“However, about five months ago, the two eloped. Uchimahali’s brother Mariappan (24) and Murugesan’s brother Pechimuthu (25) learnt that the couple was living in Madurai. Murugesan, a driver, was not at home when they arrived. 
    “Mariappan and Pechimuthu convinced their sister that the families had accepted her marriage and invited her home,’’ said a police officer. 
    A happy Uchimahali telephoned her husband and said she was going to Tirunelveli. She left with the duo in a bus and reached Tirunelveli after dark. From there, they left on a motorcycle to Kondanagaram. 
    When the motorcycle reached an isolated spot, Mariappan and Pechimuthu strangled Uchimahali and buried her body in a pit, police said.

TOI Dec 27 2011

Who’ll take me home? Lack of even basic medicines and vaccines at orphanages is severely compromising the chances of already disadvantaged kids at adoption Saira Kurup | TNN      Three-month-old Raj has already been hospitalised thrice for pneumonia. Two-year-old Lakshmi, too, is yet to recover from repeated pneumonia attacks. Her breathing remains laboured. But both might have been dead had they not got the care they now receive at Palna, a home for abandoned children in north Delhi.      Raj and Lakshmi are lucky. They are among the few abandoned and orphaned children who find love and care in children’s homes. “Most are severely medically compromised by the time we get them,” says Tarini Bahadur, a member of the executive committee of the Delhi Council for Child Welfare, the organisation that runs Palna. “There are pre-term babies with very low weight, even as low as 1.8 kg. Many come with disabilities, pneumonia and diarrhoea.”      Dr Veronica Shah, a paediatrician associated with Palna, adds: “We get our kids off the street, from dustbins and parks. Some have deep gashes in the head; one came with pulmonary TB. They have septicaemia, abscesses, blood infections.”      As their lives start with abuse and neglect, these kids are susceptible to diseases which delay their growth and development, despite the best possible care. Pneumonia is a big worry, and so is diarrhoea.      Palna, which has 100 children in the 0-8 age group, has a semi-hospital setup, too. Yet, there were five to six cases of pneumonia every month on an average in Palna last year. Wendy Andrews, executive officer at Delhi’s Hope Foundation adoption home Ashran, says that Pneumonia is definitely a problem and bronchitis is common. “Luckily, we have a nurse and a tie-up with a hospital nearby. We had to hospitalise a baby for pneumonia. The costs are very high.”      The good news is that there’s a long waiting list for adoption of these children, with a majority of Indian couples preferring babies over older ones. Lorraine Campus, the adoption officer at Palna, says, “The wait could be three to four years. But people are willing to wait.”      The downside, Shah says, is that chances of an ill child being adopted decrease with each hospital visit, as a poor and long medical history is a negative point for adoptive parents. “We don’t present the child to couples till she is fully healthy,” says Bahadur. “It also takes time to detect disabilities. As a matter of policy, we place 80% of the children in India.”      Campus is happy that so far she has been able to place almost all the children in good homes. “Western families are more accepting of children who aren’t healthy,” she says.      Tight funds are another problem. Even getting vaccines are tough. “At Ashran, we live a hand-to-mouth existence but we ensure that the children are not denied anything,” says Andrews. Palna got a donation of Rs 1.5 lakh for the chicken pox vaccine and managed to get all its children immunised. The pneumonia vaccine is expensive and difficult to arrange at Rs 3,200 per child. But there’s a cheaper variant by Glaxo at Rs 1,400-1,500. Four shots are required, making it a minimum Rs 6,000 per child.      Is it surprising then that India has the highest number of child deaths due to pneumonia? A recent report released by the International Access Vaccine Centre and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that 3.71 lakh Indian children died of pneumonia in 2008. For children from poor families that don’t have easy access to doctors and drugs, the disease often proves fatal. And even for those that survive, it’s an uphill battle. Adoption homes often have to counsel parents not to expect the same development milestones from these children as from healthy kids who live with their birth parents.      “We inoculate the children against everything but have never been able to raise the funds we need,” says Bahadur. “We charge just Rs 40,000 from Indian families as adoption fee. But in the first few weeks after receiving a baby, we spend Rs 20,000 on advertising in newspapers with details about the child as per the rule. In Maharashtra, this amount has been waived, so we have requested the Central Adoption Resource Authority to waive it in Delhi, too.”      Private donations help but aren’t a steady source of funds. Raju George of New Life Mercy Home, an orphanage in north Delhi, says, “The JK Group provided medical insurance for children here last year. But this year, there have been no offers.”      The government’s recent decision to introduce the pentavalent vaccine – against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and Hib (which causes pneumonia and meningitis) -- in the universal immunisation programme has been controversial, but the move has implications for the poor who can’t afford it. “It is critical for big business and the government to work together and come up with a solution to the vaccine pricing obstacle,” says Shah. “For children on the fringes of society, access to vaccines goes beyond the immediate need of surviving the disease.”      saira.kurup@timesgroup.com  TOI DEC 28 2011 Girl’s mother arrested for ‘honour killing’ Mahalingam Ponnusamy TNN  Chennai: The Gummidipoondi ‘honour killing’ case has taken a new twist with the Tiruvallur police on Monday arresting the 16-year-old girl’s mother for her murder. The girl’s uncle has already been arrested in the case.      .      K Thilagavathi, a Class 11 student of agovernment school, was found dead in her house in Sethilpakkam village near Gummidipoondi on Wednesday last.Initially, it was thought she had committed suicide. But when the postmortem report revealed that the girl’s hyoid bone was fractured, unusual in a case of hanging, police suspected murder. On Saturday, police arrested the girl’s uncle K Hari (37).     Police said Hari confessed to killing Thilagavathi on the request of Padmavathy. “Ten days ago, Padmavathy told him about a video clip showing Thilagavathi getting intimate with some senior boys of her school doing the rounds. Hari promised to kill the girl to protect the family honour,” Gummidipoondi deputy superintendent of police K Kumar told TOI. Kin tried to pass off girl’s death as suicide      The Tiruvallur police on Monday arrested the mother of the 16-year-old girl who was a victim of honour killing. The girl’s uncle has already been arrested in the case. DSP K Kumar said Hari, the uncle, strangled Thilagavathi and made a knot around her neck using her dress to make it appear like a case of hanging. “Padmavathy purposely left Thilagavathi alone at home before Hari entered and killed her,” Kumar said.      A day after the girl was found dead, her family members and relatives, including Hari and Padmavathy, staged a road roko and refused to accept the body. After Hari’s arrest, the girl’s father had told TOI that he killed her because of a previous enmity. “Initially, all family members said it was suicide, then they said it was murder. Now, the truth is out,” the DSP said. Padmavathy was booked under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and sent to the women’s prison at Puzhal. Thilagavathi

TOI December 29 2011

Teen girl kills self after video blackmail

Man Wanted To Force Her Father Into Selling His Plot

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Chennai: A 15-year-old girl committed suicide in Madurantakam, about90km southwestof Chennai, allegedly after a neighbour blackmailed her father by showing the videoofher bathing. 
    Police, quoting the girl’s father, said R Vidhyasagar, a realtor whowaseyeing two centsof land belonging to the girl’s father,usedtwoof her relativesto plant a camera in the girl’sbathroom. All the three accused are on the run. 
    M Deepa, a class 10 student of a private school, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her house around 6pm on Tuesday by her sister. Police sent the body to the Kancheepuram government hospital for postmortem. 
    Deepa’s father K Mariadas told police in his complaint that the girl killed herself after Vidhyasagar threatened to make the video public. “The complainant has said the accused used Mariadas’s relatives S Munusamy (24) and T Mahesh (17) to hide a camera in thebathroom,” Madurantakam inspector R Sekar said. 
    Mariadas said Vidhyasagar wasforcing him toselltwocents of land. “When I refused, he showed methe video andtriedto blackmail me. Hearing about it, my daughter broke down several times and killed herself,” Mariadassaid. 
    Investigators said the two families had quarrels several times on the land issue in the last six months. “Vidhyasagar apparently wanted a bit of the land to extend his house, but he couldn’t get it,” the inspector said. 
    The Madurantakam police have registered a case under Section 304 (a) (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) andformedthree special teams to nab Vidhyasagar,Munusamy andMahesh. 
    “We are tracking their mobile phones and questioning their families,” a police officer said.




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