1. The Last 10% of Red Hills’ Water to Be Drawn
As the city’s reservoirs have hit rock-bottom, the dead storage is now being pumped out to sustain Chennai’s drinking water supply, indicating the intensity of the water crisis. Chennai Metrowater has started to draw dead storage from Red Hills reservoir through giant pipelines from Thursday.
Sand is now visible in the vast expanse of Red Hills lake even near the deepest point of the waterbody as the storage has dipped for want of rains for three years in a row. As drawal through gravity was not a possibility any more and running short of resources, the water agency has started tapping the minimal storage of 328 million cubic feet (mcft), which is only 10% of its capacity of 3,300 mcft.
(Source: The Hindu)
2. Madras Christian College Initiates Probe Into Sexual Harassment Allegations
Following The New Indian Express’ report on the alleged sexual harassment of girl students of Madras Christian College by their professor during a department trip, the institution has initiated an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) probe. This move has been welcomed by students, who are happy the management has finally woken up to the situation.
“We have passed on the matter to the ICC and met with representatives of the Zoology department on Thursday morning to inform them about this development,” said A Duraisamy, principal-in-charge. It is learnt that the ICC will conform to UGC norms and will be headed by a senior female faculty member and will begin its hearings soon.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
3. Man Kills Boy in Front of His Mother, Jailed Till Death
Shocked to come across a case of a person having hacked to death a four-year-old boy right in front of the eyes of the child’s mother due to a trivial dispute between the adults, the Madras High Court on Thursday ordered that the convict be imprisoned till his death without any remission of the life sentence.
In a judgement reserved in the Madurai Bench and delivered at the principal seat, a Division Bench of Justices R Subbiah and B Pugalendhi set aside the capital punishment imposed by a Sessions Court on the convict Arumugam of Tirunelveli last year, and instead ordered that he be imprisoned till death. Stating that the convict had indulged in a “brutal, inhuman and barbaric” crime by causing as many as 24 cut injuries all over the body of a hapless child and had attempted to murder his mother too when she ran to save her child, the judges ordered that he must not be released from prison till the end of his life.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. DMDK Functionary Murdered in Broad Daylight
A 45-year-old DMDK member was murdered in broad daylight near Thirumangalam TASMAC on Thursday when he was returning home after dropping his son at school. Police said, S Pandian, of Kumaran Nagar at Padi, was the deputy secretary of the state engineering wing of DMDK. Pandian, a realtor, lived with his wife and three sons.
“Around 9 am, he dropped his son at a private school at Anna Nagar West extension and was returning home. When he was near the Srinivasa Nagar wine shop around three kilometres away from the Korattur police station, a four-member gang intercepted him and picked up an argument. Later, the gang removed the weapons that they had hidden and attacked Pandian,” said a police officer.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
5. Govt Doctors to Be Sensitised to Handle POCSO Cases
Government doctors across the state will soon be sensitised on the guidelines for examining survivors and victims of sexual offences, and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
In a bid to create awareness on how to identify and manage victims/survivors of sexual offences, the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) has planned to organise a two-day conference for doctors during June. “This is mainly for government doctors from the level of primary health centres to government medical colleges. The focus will be on crimes against women and children, and will particularly look at child sexual abuse. We will be elaborating on the provisions of POCSO Act, and telling the doctors how to identify victims of sexual abuse, how to report cases, how to certify such cases and also what the limitations are of medical practitioners,” said A Edwin Joe, Director of Medical Education.
(Source: The Hindu)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)