Over 35 lakh women form 620 km long human wall across Kerala
Uphold gender equality
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 1: In a first, over 35 lakh women stood shoulder-to-shoulder across the national highways in Kerala, creating a 620 km-long human 'wall' from the northern end of Kasaragod to the southern tip here Tuesday as part of a state-sponsored initiative to uphold gender equality.
The event comes days after thousands of devotees lit 'Ayyappa Jyothis' (lighting of sacred lamps) and lined up from Hosangadi in Kasaragod to Kanyakumari, vowing to protect the age-old customs and traditions of Sabarimala.
On Tuesday, women from various walks of life -- writers, athletes, actors, politicians and techies, government officials and homemakers -- stood across the highways crisscrossing through the 14 districts in the state as the event commenced at 4 pm.
Expressing solidarity, thousands of men also lined up parallel forming a second human 'wall'.
The 'Women's wall' was conceived in the backdrop of frenzied protests witnessed in the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala after the CPI(M)-led LDF government decided to implement the Supreme Court verdict, allowing all women to pray at the Ayyappa shrine.
Representatives of Universal Record Forum (URF) which records amazing feats across the globe declared the human wall as the "longest women's wall in the world" with participation of over 35 lakh women.
However, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan claimed 55 lakh women lined up for the 'wall'.
CPI(M) polit bureau member Brinda Karat, who was the last member of the human wall at Thiruvananthapuram, said women in Kerala have scripted history by erecting a "human wall of resistance" against the dark forces.
She also lashed out at the saffron party, saying it was using women for its "toxic, divisive, anti-women political goal" and asked women not to be the pawns in the hands of those who have no thoughts about the future of women.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues and Communist veteran V S Achuthanandan were among those who were present at the public meeting here after the formation of the wall.
Vijayan garlanded the statue of Ayyankali, a social reformer, before the start of the event.
The wall has become a movement against gender discrimination faced by women and to protect their Constitutional rights, he said.
The initiative also witnessed a group of the Jacobite faction of the Christian community lining up in support of the wall along with members of the Muslim community.
Former firebrand communist leader and Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithy supremo, 100-year-old K R Gowri Amma also took part in the event near her home at Alappuzha.
Johnson V Idikula, chairman of the monitoring panel of the URF Adjudication Committee, told PTI they had over 600 volunteers across the state to monitor the event.
"We have recorded the event, clicked pictures and captured videos to prepare a comprehensive report," Idikula said.
However, the main Opposition Congress, which all through had expressed their ire against the wall, said "Kerala society has dismissed the government's much-hyped event."
The BJP state leadership dubbed the wall a "total failure" and waste of government funds and machinery.
G Sukumaran Nair, heading the Nair Service Society (NSS), which kept away from the event, said 'God's Own Country' will turn into 'Devil's Own Country' after formation of such walls.
Violence also marred the initiative as participants of the women's 'wall' at Chettukund in Kasaragod district were attacked, allegedly by some BJP-RSS workers, as they lined up at the National Highway there to form the human chain.
The workers hurled stones at the women and policemen, injuring three personnel, police said, adding that they had to fire in the air and burst teargas shells to disperse the attackers.
Media personnel of two television channels were also attacked by the activists, who reportedly forced them to delete the visuals of the incident.
According to K Sreekanth, BJP Kasaragod district president, the violence was allegedly a handiwork of CPI(M) as the 'Women's wall" was a failure in the northernmost district.
CPI(M) district secretary, M V Balakrishnan, slamming the BJP, alleged that BJP workers had burnt grass and shrubs after sprinkling chilly powder and 13 women were hospitalised inhaling the fumes.
A group of women in New Delhi Tuesday also expressed solidarity with their counterparts in Kerala by holding a demonstration outside Kerala House at the national capital's Jantar Mantar road where members of National Federation of Indian Women held placards saying, "Equality and Justice is Women's Constitutional Right".
The 'Women's wall' was suggested at a meeting called by the Kerala government, following massive protests by right-wing parties and a section of devotees over the government's decision to implement the September 28 apex court order, allowing women of all ages to offer prayers at Sabarimala.
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Kerala court sentences man to life imprisonment for doc's murder in hospital
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Kollam (PTI): A teacher convicted in the sensational murder of Dr Vandana Das inside a hospital here was sentenced to life term on Saturday, and the prosecution said it will move an appeal seeking death penalty for the accused. The victim's family also batted for "maximum punishment".
Dr Das was brutally killed inside a taluk hospital in May 2023 by G Sandeep.
Kollam Additional District and Sessions judge P N Vinod sentenced Sandeep to a total of 30 years for various offences under the then Indian Penal Code (IPC) and said that after he serves that period, his life imprisonment for Das' murder will commence.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.35 lakh on the convict.
Though the prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused during the arguments on sentence, the court was of the view that the case does not fall under the rarest-of-rare category to warrant the maximum punishment.
It was also of the view that there was a chance of the convict getting reformed as he told the court that the rest of his life would be one of repentance, the order on sentence said.
"At the same time, I agree with the stand of the prosecution to the effect that the sentence should commensurate with the gravity of the crime and the sentence should not only be reformative, but should also have a deterrent effect."
"In my view, the said objective can be achieved by directing that the term sentences that will be imposed will run consecutively and life sentence that has to be imposed will commence only after the expiration of terms sentences," the judge said.
After the verdict, special public prosecutor (SPP) Prathap G Padickal told reporters outside the court that he will recommend to the prosecution to file an appeal seeking enhancement of the life imprisonment to death penalty.
The victim's father said that the verdict has come as a relief for the family, but that he cannot authoritatively say whether his late daughter has got justice. He indicated his dissatisfaction with the punishment, saying that steps will be taken to seek its enhancement after discussions with the public prosecutor.
Dr Das' mother said that the family can only wish for the maximum punishment and it was up to the court to decide what sentence should be given. She said that the family will go in appeal, but declined to comment on whether her daughter got justice.
She tearfully said that she wants the convict to suffer the same pain that her daughter underwent "as he stabbed her 27 times".
The court on March 17 had convicted Sandeep for various offences under the IPC, including murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful restraint.
It had also held him guilty under the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of violence and damage to property) Act 2012.
Sandeep was brought to the taluk hospital by the police for medical treatment during the small hours of May 10, 2023 and he went on a sudden attacking spree using a pair of surgical scissors kept in the room where his leg injury was being dressed.
A school teacher by profession, he had initially attacked the police officers and another person who had accompanied him to the hospital and then turned on the young Dr Das, who could not escape to safety.
She was stabbed several times and later succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she was rushed following the attack.
Dr Das was a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents.
She was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital and was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
Sandeep had called the emergency number 112, claiming that his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing close by his home, surrounded by local residents and his relatives, and had a wound on his leg following an alleged quarrel.
He was then taken to the hospital for dressing the wound.
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