Premam actress Anupama Parameswaran is planning to go legal about a morphed picture of hers which has been doing the rounds on the net. The pic shows a girl wearing shorts standing on a boat's deck and has Anupama's face morphed on it. The actress, who has placed the original pic alongwise, has stated that she will be doing her best to get the one behind the morphing exposed.
Bollywood star Vidya Balan today said she will not give back her national award as it was an honour bestowed on her by the country and not the government.
The comment comes in the backdrop of some eminent film personalities returning their National Awards in solidarity with FTII students and against growing intolerance in the country. "This honour (the award) is by the nation and not the government. So I do not want to return it," Balan said at the 'India Today' Conclave. Vidya Balan had won the National award for the best actress for her performance in 'The Dirty Picture' in 2012.
Filmmakers Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan were among the 10 film personalities who have returned their National Awards in solidarity with FTII students and against growing intolerance in the country. Banerjee and other filmmakers said their decision to return the awards was taken in view of the apathy displayed by the government in addressing the issues raised by the FTII students and the general environment of intolerance against debate.
Yesterday, the FTII students ended their 139-day-old strike to return to the classes against the appointment of actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the prestigious institute, but said they will continue to seek his removal. Meanwhile, Vidya Balan said she was not interest in joining politics and would "fail miserably" at it.
She also said that working towards social causes should be an individual decision and no one should be compelled to work for a particular cause. The 37-year-old actress will be next seen in the Marathi film 'Ek Albela', a biopic on actor-director Bhagwan Dada. She will be portraying golden era actress Geeta Bali in the film. The film is scheduled for release in January next year.
His wife Hemalatha of Mettupalayam claimed that her husband mistreated, manhandled her. Meanwhile, the actor filed a petition before Madras high court, seeking anticipatory bail.
Hemalatha told in her complaint that she befriended the actor on Facebook. Later, they fell in love and got married. On February 6, 2014 the marriage was held at Sri Sai Mahal at Mettupalayam. His family members demanded 300 sovereigns ofGOLD ornaments as dowry. But her family members gave 118 sovereigns and told them that they would provide the rest of the sovereigns later.
The couple was living in an apartment at Ashoka avenue at Kodambakkam and later the couple was moved to T Nagar.
Hemalatha said that she pursued BE (computer science) and was working for a software firm in Chennai. Initially, Krishna bought her a car to commute to her office while later she was asked to travel in bus.
Krishna and his parents Sekar alias Kula Senate, film producer and Madhubala allegedly renewed the demand for 300 sovereigns of gold. But her family was unable to fulfill the demand.
Hemalatha reported in her complaint that Krishna has extramarital affairs with a few women. She came to know about them and questioned him. Immediately, she was beaten by Krishna, for which she was later admitted to Malar hospital. Meanwhile, Krishna filed a case for divorce in July 2015.
The police received the petition and forwarded it to Social welfare department as the petitioner mentioned that she was harassed in the pretext of dowry. Following the petition, Krishna was asked to appear before the officials of social welfare department and police. But he failed to appear and the police inspector Amudha registered a case against Krishna and his parents on Thursday under sections 498(A), 406, 506(i) of IPC and 4 of dowry prohibition act.
The National People's Congress Standing Committee, which is the highest law making body, repealed an existing law concerning the crime of sex with underage prostitutes because it resulted in lighter sentences, and reclassified the crime as rape.
Chinese officials have often been accused of hiring underage prostitutes. Many businessmen and officials are also known to travel to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar looking for underage prostitutes.
At present, sex with underage prostitutes attracts jail sentences from five to 15 years. After being regarded as rape, offenders will get much tougher sentences, officials said. Officials pointed out that some men hire underage girls because of a mistaken belief that sex with minors bring good luck resulting in health benefits and job promotions. This has given rise to a widespread industry filled with pimps who procure underage girls.
School teachers and principals have also been caught spending nights in hotels with underage school girls resulting in nationwide outcries.
In another move, the legislature amended a judicial procedure concerning corrupt officials, who receive suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve. Under the changed law, they will face life imprisonment after the two-year reprieve is over.
The purpose of the law amendment is to "safeguard judicial fairness" and prevent "the most corrupt criminals from serving shorter prison terms through commutation," according to the top legislature.
The amendment targets officials who seek commutation, parole or non-prison sentences in dubious ways, Ruan Qilin, a professor of the China University of Political Science and Law was quoted in the official media as saying.
Indecent or sexual assault on others, men or women, now carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison. In the former law, the clause "others" meant only "women". The amendment was passed by the top legislature in August, Xinhua news agency reported. Till Sunday, it was difficult to file cases involving male sexual assault as the law did not did not recognise it as a crime. In 2010, a security guard sexually abused his male colleague in the employee dormitory. Instead of being charged with sexual assault, the offender was convicted on the lesser charge of intentional injury and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
The revised law has also repealed sex with underage prostitutes as the crime and reclassified it as rape.
As under the previous law, people face a maximum of 15 years in prison for sex with prostitutes less than 14 years old, and those convicted of raping a child may be sentenced to death sentence.
The actress Sally Field spoke in favor of Houston's equal rights ordinance at a news conference on Thursday at the Alley Theater in Houston.CreditCody Duty/The Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON — Outside a polling station near this city’s wealthy River Oaks neighborhood, dozens of campaign signs plastered with the names of candidates line a busy section of West Gray Street. But a few stand out for their lack of names and their stark message in black and red letters: “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms.”
These are strange, divisive times in Houston.
An election battle over the city’s equal rights ordinance has turned into an expensive and bitterly fought culture war, pitting some of Houston’s most powerful pastors and social conservatives against its mayor, who is a lesbian, and her supporters. Opponents have zeroed in on the protections it would give for gender identity, particularly transgender Houstonians who were born male but identify as women.
Voters will decide on Tuesday whether to keep or repeal the ordinance, which bans discrimination in housing, private employment, city contracting and businesses such as restaurants and bars for 15 protected classes, including race, national origin, age and military status. The City Council approved it last year, but enforcement was put on hold pending the outcome this week.
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Opponents of Houston's equal rights ordinance have focused on transgender protections. Voters will decide Tuesday whether to keep or repeal the law.CreditPat Sullivan/Associated Press
Proponents said 200 other cities in 17 states had passed similar ordinances to give residents local tools, short of federal lawsuits, to fight discrimination. They worry that a defeat at the polls could generate enough controversy to jeopardize Houston’s status as the host city for the Super Bowl in 2017.
Supporters have called the opponents’ tactics and ads fear-mongering for equating being transgender with being a sexual predator. The arguments made by opponents have helped supporters turn a fight over a local measure into a nationally watched referendum on gay and transgender rights.
On Thursday, after the actress Sally Field expressed her support for the ordinance at a news conference downtown, Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. all took the unusual step of weighing in on a local ballot issue by endorsing the ordinance. A White House spokesman said in a statement that the president and vice president were “confident that the citizens of Houston will vote in favor of fairness and equality.”
The tone of the debate has been a shock to Houston and Mayor Annise D. Parker, a Democrat. The city has long cherished its role as a diverse, cosmopolitan place that retains its Southern civility and roots, proud both of its gay culture and night life and its megachurches, which are some of the biggest congregations in the country. Ms. Parker’s sexual orientation had largely been a footnote to her nearly six-year tenure.
That changed when Ms. Parker, who is in her third and final term, helped the ordinance win the Council’s approval in an 11-to-6 vote. A court fight ensued over the validity of the signatures that opponents had gathered to put the issue on the ballot, and city lawyers subpoenaed the sermons of five pastors, galvanizing Christian conservatives against Ms. Parker and the ordinance.
The subpoenas were later withdrawn, but the damage was done, as several religious leaders and Republican lawmakers accused the mayor of pushing a gay agenda on the city before leaving office. Hundreds have been involved in the opposition effort, the mayor’s critics said.
“It’s probably the most number of churches and the most active those churches and those pastors have been on any issue that I’ve seen in 30 years,” said Dave Welch, the executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council. Mr. Welch was one of those who were subpoenaed and has helped organize opposition to the ordinance.
Opponents argue that the ordinance would allow men who identify as women to enter women’s bathrooms and attack women and young girls, and that business owners who tried to prevent this from happening would be fined.
One of their TV ads shows a man walking into a restroom, hiding in a stall and then startling a girl. The ad — paid for by the Campaign for Houston, an opposition coalition whose spokesman, Jared Woodfill, is a former chairman of the Harris County Republican Party — ends with the man entering the girl’s stall and shutting the door. “Any man at any time could enter a woman’s bathroom simply by claiming to be a woman that day,” the narrator says of what the ad calls the bathroom ordinance.
The ordinance says nothing specifically about men entering women’s bathrooms. Before the ordinance passed, a draft had a section that would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom that reflected their gender identity. That section was removed.
Ms. Parker called the ad a “fear-mongering piece of trash” and disputed any claim that she was forcing a personal agenda on the city. “I am the mayor of Houston,” she said. “I am not the gay mayor of Houston. They are trying to whip up fear, and they are singling out one protected category out of the 15.”
She said that if voters repealed the ordinance, Houston’s reputation on the national stage would be damaged.
“It’s not an accident that the city of Houston was the first big city in America to elect an openly gay or lesbian mayor,” Ms. Parker said. “It’s because Houston really looks at what you can do rather than who you are. There’s plenty of evidence that if it were to be repealed, that there would be a direct and immediate economic consequence.”
The main coalition backing the measure, Houston Unites, which includes the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign and which has raised nearly $3 million for the fight, said attacks had not been an issue in other cities that passed similar ordinances. In Fort Worth, which voted in 2009 to expand an anti-discrimination ordinance to include transgender people, and in San Antonio, which passed its ordinance in 2013, officials said they had not received any reports of men dressing as women to enter restrooms to cause harm.
“It’s no longer socially acceptable to denigrate gays and lesbians, so they’re going to focus on this transgender issue, and this bathroom fear as really a mask and a charade for what’s really behind this: homophobia,” Ms. Burke said.
The opponents deny that they are motivated by anti-gay sentiment. Mr. Woodfill, a co-chairman of the group that paid for the bathroom ad and that has spent more than $1 million on the campaign, said the dangers were real. The ordinance would, among other things, make it unlawful to discriminate against someone based on their gender identity in “privately owned and operated public accommodations.” Violations are punishable by a fine of up to $500.
“It clearly allows biological males and even registered sex offenders to enter female showers, bathrooms or locker rooms,” Mr. Woodfill said. “We’re not willing to compromise the safety of our wives, our mothers and our daughters on the altar of political correctness.”
Rohan Prem has struck a purple patch with the bat for Kerala in this season’s Ranji Trophy. The 29-year-old left-hander from Thiruvananthapuram struck two centuries, including a maiden double hundred, and two fifties to carry the Kerala batting on his shoulders.
The early season flourish saw Rohan score 460 runs, which is second only to Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer, in the Ranji Trophy this season. Rohan also reached an important milestone in his career as he crossed 3000 runs in Ranji Trophy and there have only been three others from Kerala — Sunil Oasis, Sreekumar Nair and V.A.Jagadeesh — who have reached the milestone before him. The century against Services was his ninth and Rohan heads the list of century-makers from Kerala.
Hard work pays off
A veteran of 10 seasons in the Ranji Trophy after making his debut as an 18-year-old, Rohan is happy that the hard work he did during the off season has paid off. “I am enjoying my game and happy with my form. I had worked on a few things during off season with my coach like polishing my strokes and fine tuning my technique. I am happy that it has worked well for me during matches,” said Rohan who is in Thiruvananthapuram on a short break before the next match against Tripura in Perinthalmanna.
Rohan Prem’s under-rated off-spin bowling has turned out to be a potent weapon for Kerala this season. Rohan picked up his career best figures against Services (four for 44) but more importantly it enabled Kerala to squeeze out a narrow first innings lead. “I enjoyed the spell against Services. The match was tantalisingly poised when I came on and I took the crucial wicket of M. Khalid who had defied our attack for more than three hours. I was thrilled as I was able to contribute with the ball. I am now working more on my bowling hoping to bowl long spells.
“Earlier, I used to bowl mostly in the shorter formats. With the emphasis now on medium pacers, I give an extra option to my captain. I have only enjoyed the added responsibility,” said the former India under-19 player.
A former captain, Rohan said that Kerala despite the reverse against Jharkhand at home was still capable of qualifying for the elite group. “We have a good team under Sanju. The good thing is that we have done well in our away matches this season. Now it is important for us to score maximum points at home,” he said.
