A day's revelry won't impact much; lighting firecrackers our culture, benefits workers: K Annamalai
Chennai, Oct 28: BJP leader K Annamalai on Monday exhorted people to buy and burst "a lot of firecrackers" on Deepavali, keeping in mind the welfare of the workers involved in fireworks industry.
Earlier, cracker sale hovered around Rs 6000 crore annually, but in the past few years, the usage of crackers has reduced.
"There is concern of environmental impact. At some places, it is an opinion that has been thrust upon," he said in a post on 'X.'
He posted a short video on Deepavali, with his voice-over explaining the need to burst crackers.
Deepavali is being celebrated on October 31 this year.
The BJP's state unit chief recalled he had last year said what will happen if firecrackers are burst on a single day.
India, at the 125th spot on annual CO2 emissions was way behind the US (16th place) and China (25th), he claimed.
"But we are discussing bursting crackers for just one day as a major issue. Only we are aware that bursting crackers ensures livelihood for many. About eight lakh people are directly and indirectly connected to the fireworks industry," which is mainly confined to Tamil Nadu's Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district, he said.
"They make firecrackers for our joy and they are made amid a lot of challenges. Shouldn't we buy and burst crackers for their joy. Only a flourishing firecracker trade will ensure ancillary units survive," he said.
Even the printing press business has its own issues.
During the Deepavali festive season, the dreams of lakhs of small traders who dream of repaying their debts with the sale of fireworks will also come true when people light these firecrackers in good numbers, he added.
"Bursting crackers is not just our culture, but also our people's livelihood, the overall economy of our Sivakasi people. Your dear younger brother Annamalai requests you, buy a lot of crackers and burst them. Nothing will happen by lighting crackers for one day in a year. Be careful while doing so, don't cause any harm to others. So many living beings including animals live along with us, we should burst crackers without causing any trouble to them."
"Let us celebrate Diwali in a way our brothers and sisters in Sivakasi benefit from that," the BJP leader said.
பட்டாசு வெடிப்பது நம்ம கலாச்சாரம். நம் மக்களின் வாழ்வாதாரம். நம் சிவகாசியின் ஒட்டுமொத்த பொருளாதாரம்.
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) October 28, 2024
நம் மகிழ்ச்சிக்காகப் பட்டாசு தயாரிக்கும் தொழிலாளர்களின் வாழ்வாதாரத்துக்காக, நாம் அனைவரும், நம்மால் முடிந்த அளவுக்குப் பட்டாசு வாங்கி வெடிக்க வேண்டுமென்று கேட்டுக் கொள்கிறேன்.… pic.twitter.com/t1i0LvFNFH
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
