Smashed window of St George Park's press box awaits Rinku's autograph
Gqeberha (PTI): It's been over a year since a Rinku Singh maximum smashed the window glass of St George Park's press box and with a repair unlikely anytime soon, the ground management won't mind the Indian marauder's autograph on the damaged portion the next time he is here.
It was in December 2023 when Rinku, during the second T20 International against the Proteas, hit one of his trademark unbeaten 39-ball 68 in a losing cause. One of the two sixes during that knock ended up breaking the glass window of the press enclosure.
However, it didn't fully crumble to ground and has stood tall despite the harsh weather, including a storm that took away a part of the roof in the stands last August.
After he damaged the press box window, which is located in the Graeme Pollock Pavilion here, Rinku had offered a soft apology for his hit which was termed as a "great shot" by the legendary Dale Steyn.
The local management hasn't felt the need to change it due to other pressing matters, including periodic repair and management of the facilities here amid budgetary limitations.
Changing the cracked window glass won't be an easy task either.
"You see, it is located at a specific height here and it will be a tough job to get it changed. Someone would have to be hoisted on a crane and then the repair work will be carried out, but we have focused on the more serious matters which have kept coming up," a ground management official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"The ground is located near the (Indian) ocean, which means we have to constantly keep working to avoid corrosion in metallic pillars that support various stands and structures at the venue," he explained.
Also, the glass "hasn't harmed anyone so far and doesn't look like it will."
"Maybe we can get it autographed by Rinku whenever he comes over here next," the official quipped before adding, on a more serious note, that it will be changed in due course of time.
That would take a while as India is not expected to tour South Africa anytime soon. However, the ground staff missed a chance to get Rinku's autograph when India were here for a T20 engagement in November last year.
The 27-year-old is a regular in the shortest format.
The stadium official also mentioned budgetary constraints, which have forced them to keep their efforts and money focussed on more important issues.
"There was a storm on August 14 and it blew away a part of the roof for which we had to pay 400,000 rands and it was a big portion. It (repairing the glass) will cost a lot of money," he added.
The official said the stadium belongs to the local municipality and the ground management staff are mere "custodians".
The public must feel that those in charge are doing a good job, he stated.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
