‘Conflict weapon’ against forcible toll fee collection, warns SATAC
NHAI decides for compulsory collection of toll fee from July 16
Mangaluru: "Local vehicles will not pay the toll fee at Surathkal tollgate. If the authorities try to collect toll fee keeping police force, the Committee will take it head on to close it. The Committee will not mind to take a conflict mode if needed," Surathkal Anti Tollgate Action Committee warned.
In an emergency meeting of the Committee chaired by its convener Muneer Katipalla on Saturday, this decision has been taken.
Instead of closing the Surathkal tollgate, the National Highway Authority of India has decided to collect toll fee from local private vehicles in police security from July 16. So, the Committee has decided to oppose this decision.
Problems of potholes, service road, dilapidated condition of Kulur bridge were also discussed in the meeting. The meeting also expressed its displeasure over MP Nalin Kumar Kateel who failed to handle the issue wisely.
Former MLA Vijay Kumar Shetty, Raghvendra Rao of Jaya Karnataka organisation, DYFI district president BK Imtiyaz and others were present at the meeting.
Resolutions
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Order seeking police security for collecting toll fee from local vehicles should be withdrawn
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Tollgate contactor should be directed not to collect toll fee from locals.
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Memorandum to be given to the DC to take decision on merger of Surathkal temporary tollgate with Hejamadi Tollgate.
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Protest against collecting toll fee.
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If the authorities tried to collect toll fee forcibly, holding protest along with like minded organisations to close the Tollgate.
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Malaysian Indian sentenced to jail and caning for raping Indonesian woman in Singapore
Singapore (PTI): An Indian-origin Malaysian man was sentenced in Singapore to 12 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for raping a domestic worker outside a train station after tricking her into thinking that he was a police officer.
Sharveen Chetty, 48, pleaded guilty on February 4 to one charge of raping the 35-year-old Indonesian woman in the bushes outside Exit F of a subway, Little India Mass Rapid Transit station, at about 8pm on July 11, 2022.
The victim was with her friends at the time, but Chetty lured her away before he sexually assaulted her, according to a report by The Straits Times on Thursday.
Two other charges – a second rape charge and a charge of impersonating a police officer – were taken into consideration during sentencing on Wednesday.
The witnesses who testified on the first day of the trial included a doctor from Women’s and Children’s Hospital who examined the victim a day after the rapes, and forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority.
Chetty had initially contested the charges in a High Court trial that began on February 3. But he changed his mind and pleaded guilty on what would have been the second day of the trial, according to the daily report.
In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill considered it aggravating that Chetty had targeted the victim because she was a foreigner who might be unfamiliar with the local authorities.
The judge rejected the defence's arguments that the rape was not premeditated.
The judge, however, noted that Chetty had pleaded guilty before the victim and key prosecution witnesses testified, thus sparing her and her friends from going through cross-examination.
The prosecution had sought a sentence of between 11 and 13 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane, noting Chetty’s extensive efforts to disguise himself, and his predatory act of leading the victim away from the rest of the group.
Chetty admitted that he became sexually attracted to the victim.
