Under the World

Virtual voices

Last week,if it was a difficult time for a don-turned-politician and his sidekicks awaiting the quantum of punishment after their conviction in a murder case,the special public prosecutor too shared similar sentiment. Having argued for the death penalty,the government pleader appeared to have had sleepless nights. At least,his profile on a social networking site would lead one to think so. “Oh God! Give me strength & wisdom,so that no injustice is done at my hands!” Read one of his status messages,a night before the D-day. However,when the court settled for a life sentence,this legal officer,evidently relaxed,changed his status message to: “Yes,Law is Supreme!”

Leader of the pack

The larger political parties may have more muscle power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation,but five independently elected corporators have decided to carve out some bargaining space for themselves by forming a group and electing from among themselves a group leader. While ten of the BMC’s 15 independent corporators were lured by the Shiv Sena to join their party after the February 2012 civic elections,the remaining kept their independent status. The independent corporator who will now be their leader and will represent them at meetings where leaders of various groups discuss policies is Manoj Sansare,corporator from Wadala east. A former RPI corporator,Sansare has been known more for his criminal record,including an alleged stabbing inside a police station in 2005.

Birds of a feather

Tradition suggests that corporators from one political stand by each other during discussion and debates in the BMC’s meetings,or at least keep up the appearance of doing so. So,when Congress corporator and leader of the opposition in the BMC’s general body Dnyanraj Nikam displayed irritation at comments made by party colleague Pravin Chheda at the civic body’s Standing Committee meeting last week,it invited a few laughs. After Chheda’s repeated requests to the committee chairman Rahul Shewale to be allowed to express his opinion,he threw the microphone in front of other committee members in a display of anger. Later,when he was allowed to speak,he chose to complain about the committee chairman’s behaviour and then went on to urge Nikam to support him. The latter,who appeared even more irritated by now,simply told Chheda to stop such behaviour.

Innovative chaos

Despite making tall claims about an improved examination department,Mumbai University (MU) has yet again managed to commit an ‘innovative’ goof-up. Avinash Gawas,a third year BCom student from Viva College in Virar,was in for a shock when he received his marksheet. The marksheet issued to Gawas on June 5 has a girl’s photograph instead of his. The system of printing photographs of students on marksheets was introduced this year citing security reasons. As if this was not enough,several students of postgraduate courses also pointed out that marksheets for post-graduate courses issued this month did not have the university logo,making them look like fakes. Varsity authorities,however,insisted,it was only a printing error and would be rectified.

Honourable honorarium

At a recent meeting of the BEST committee,Shiv Sena’s Suhas Samant suggested that the honorarium given to all committee members for every meeting be diverted to charitable trusts instead. Charity,it seems,was not the intended purpose. Samant said he comes from Panvel for every meeting and spends Rs 1,000 on petrol,while the honorarium he gets as per norms is just Rs 50. “If you want to give us an honorarium,it should at least be an amount fit to honour us. Otherwise we don’t want it. We are ready to work for free,” Samant said.

Bol ‘Bachan’

The Bollywood effect is so strong that even a special judge presiding over a gangster’s case could not escape it. While delivering a judgment,the court asked a lawyer citing a case law to pronounce a name clearly. It pertained to the case of Bachan Singh versus the State of Punjab in which Bachan Singh was given the death penalty in 1980. “It is Bachan,not Bachchan,” the judge said,apparently referring to the Bollywood megastar. After correcting the lawyer,the judge said,“Your wrong pronunciation will confuse people who may wonder if you are reading out a movie script.”