Mumbai underground

This law is not ‘ryt’

A hoax message doing the rounds on social media is about a radical new law for protection of women from rapists. The law,stated to be “section 233 of the Indian Penal Code”,supposedly states that if a girl is raped,she has “supreme ryt (right)” to kill the man without being blamed for the murder,or she can harm that person and not get punished for it. For the record,no such law has been passed. Section 233 of the IPC deals with counterfeiting of coins. However,section 100 gives “right of private defence”,and includes cases wherein the assailant intends to commit rape. This right extends to causing death of the assailant in self defence.

BEST magic wand

In a recent BEST committee meeting,Shiv Sena’s Sunil Ganacharya lamented how the undertaking is grappling with several problems such as faulty air-conditioning in buses,lack of maintenance,poor working conditions for employees and so on. He said he understood that General Manager OP Gupta does not have a magic wand to make all these problems vanish. Before he could continue,the newly elected chairman of the committee,Sanjay Ambole,enthusiastically interrupted and said,“The GM does have a magic wand now,” and he pointed at himself.

Who’s the best?

Last week,a woman came to the court to argue her parent’s criminal case,without an advocate. As per norms,the court asked her if she would like to engage a lawyer. The lawyer arguing for the opposite side said the court should direct her to engage a lawyer to make matters simpler. The judge said,“Why? Let her argue. She is better than so many other lawyers.” Laughter broke out in courtroom,and lawyers were the loudest. The litigant,perhaps encouraged by the court’s remarks,went a step further. “I have worked in a lawyer’s office,your lordship,” and pointing at a group,said,“And he is a much better lawyer than all these people.” That did not go down well with the lawyers who had broken into laughter seconds back. They asked the court to tell the woman not to make “allegations” against lawyers.

Signs of a perk

A promotion might lead to perks but it also leads to additional ‘headache’,as a senior officer recently put it. One of the major irritatants that gets aggravated as one progresses up the ladder is the sheer volume of paperwork that one has to sign. An Additional Commissioner of Police says,“I sign at least 200 every day. The number could be more,but never less.” One can only guess how many times the Commissioner of Police must have to sign on papers every day.

Irksome queries

Senior police officers usually answer queries of mediapersons several times a day. At times giving details of the same case can be irksome and tiring. Recently,a senior IPS officer was asked a question about a case. Trying to not sound irritated,he smiled and said,“Call the officer concerned or the DCP of the area as even they receive salary. It’s not just me who withdraws salary from the police force.”