Sohrab Khan Birthday

Act against hotels renting rooms to child molesters

Day after his 13-year-old daughter was forcibly taken to a Madh hotel room, Deepak Tijori calls for action against rent-a room-and-look-the-other-way establishments

Actor-turned-filmmaker Deepak Tijori’s 13-year-old daughter - allegedly abducted from Lokhandwala and released four hours later on Sunday – was taken to a hotel in Madh Island and allegedly sexually harassed by the 19-year-old kidnapper, according to Oshiwara police.

Livid at the way shady hotels function, Tijori took his daughter back to Madh Island with a police team to identify the hotel on Sunday night itself. The traumatised father now wants immediate action against all such joints in Madh Island, where rooms are let out without even registering guests’ names, and perverts are allowed to ruin innocent girls’ lives.

Based on Tijori’s daughter’s description, the police have prepared a sketch of the suspect. Oshiwara police officers, who did not wish to be named, said the cellphone number of the boy has been traced. The call log details suggest that he had called up the girl before the alleged kidnap. “The suspect has switched off his cellphone, but we are hopeful of closing in on him soon,” said an officer.

‘Don’t ruin lives for Rs 800’

“Such things always happen to others. Unless it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels,” a shocked Tijori told Mumbai Mirror. “It’s amazing that a stranger could just pick up my child in broad daylight, while Lokhandwala buzzes with activity. Luckily, she was returned to us physically unharmed, never mind the mental trauma. But what about those vulnerable girls out there who never return or return traumatised for life? I just want to say one thing… Shut these shady hotels where such things are allowed. The thought of such hotels functioning in Mumbai is nauseating. Do your business, but please don’t trade the lives of 13-year-olds for a mere Rs 800 room rent.”

Tijori’s wife Shivani had taken their daughter and her friend out for lunch, and left them at a shopping centre at 4.45 pm because they wanted to window-shop. “The kidnapper threatened the friend and told her to keep quiet.

Even she is traumatised and guilt-ridden about not raising an alarm immediately,” Tijori said.

The friend later informed the Tijori family about the incident, after which they approached the Oshiwara police and lodged a kidnapping complaint.

“The kidnapper took away my daughter’s phone, slapped her and forced her to get into an autorickshaw. He then took her to the Madh Island hotel, and later walked out of the back entrance that can only be known to regular visitors. The same night, I took my daughter back to the hotel with the cops. The hotel people are now threatening us. But I don’t care. We need to protect our children from such hotels.”

‘Raid all shady joints’

Tijori thinks the authorities are not taking the situation as seriously as they should. “Why haven’t the hotel staff been grilled, when my daughter has identified the hotel and the hotelier has admitted that she was brought to the place? Instead, the cop was protecting the hotel manager. I’m proud of my child for being so brave.

“The hotel where that rascal took my poor little child must be full of these goings-on. The hotel people could see that she was just a child. How could they let in a man dragging a crying child into their premises? They still gave that pervert a room. He let my daughter go because she was crying and pleading. But does anyone know what my wife and I went through in those four hours until our daughter came home? Do they know what my child went through? The monster actually had the guts to drop her home and threaten her with dire consequences. He was basically a jerk who thought he’d do things with my daughter. But because she was howling, he dropped her home…

“All these shady hotels in Madh Island must be raided. My blood boils to think how much perversion must be going on there. My wife and I were unable to sleep even after our child came home. What if he had harmed her physically? What about other innocent girls who are taken to these hotels? Rooms are let out without question and without even registering the names of guests. The man at the counter took extra money from my daughter’s kidnapper and gave him a room without registering his name. I’m grateful to God for sparing my daughter,” Tijori said.

Cops close in on suspect

On Monday afternoon, the Oshiwara police visited Tijori’s house and recorded his daughter’s statement, in which she alleged sexual harassment. She underwent a medical examination on the directions of the police.

“The boy had taken her to a hotel in Madh Island. However, after he saw the news of the kidnapping on TV, he got scared and dropped the girl home. We have recorded the statement of the girl, her friend and the hotel manager. We are circulating the suspect’s sketch to all police stations and hope to catch him soon,” said an officer at the Oshiwara police station.

According to the police, the suspect is a friend of the girl’s classmate.

But Tijori’s sister-in-law Kunika Lall, who on Sunday visited the Oshiwara police station, denied that the family or the girl knew the kidnapper. - from Mumbai Mirror Bureau

this is the present condition of our country

Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament (MP)

Monthly Salary : Rs. 12,000/-

Expense for Constitution per month : Rs. 10,000/-

Office expenditure per month : Rs. 14,000/-

Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km) : Rs. 48,000/-

(eg. For a visit from South India to Delhi & return : 6000 km)

Daily DA TA during parliament meets : Rs. 500/day

Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train : Free (For any number of times)
(All over India )

Charge for Business Class in flights : Free for 40 trips / year (With wife or P.A.)

Rent for MP hostel at Delhi : Free.

Electricity costs at home : Free up to 50,000 units.

Local phone call charge : Free up to 1, 70,000 calls....

TOTAL expense for a MP [having no qualification] per year : Rs.32, 00,000/-


[i.e. 2.66 lakh/month]
TOTAL expense for 5 years : Rs. 1, 60, 00,000/-

For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years :
Rs. 8,54,40,00,000/-

(Nearly 855 crores)
AND THE PRIME MINISTER IS ASKING THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED, OUT PERFORMING CEOs TO CUT DOWN THEIR SALARIES.....
This is how all our tax money is been swallowed and price hike on our regular commodities.........
And this is the present condition of our country

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan honoured Resul Pookutty

Resul Pookutty honoured by his peers in Mumbai

Mumbai, May 6: After string of felicitations across the globe after winning Oscar for sounding recording in Slumdog Millionaire, Resul Pookutty was felicitated by his own colleagues in the film industry on Tuesday night.

The Western India Motion Pictures & TV Sound Engineer’s Association honoured Resul Pookutty for creating history at the Academy Awards this year. At a glittering function held at the Country Club at Andheri, Resul was honoured by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan. Lauding his hard work and dedication towards his work for years, Bachchan recalled, “Resul created magic for his film Black. He had so much patience and the results showed it. Everyone in the industry knows how disciplined he is when it comes to work.”

An emotional Resul told the gathering, “I am very touched and honoured by this gesture. I have dedicated my Oscar to India and my city Mumbai because of its undying spirit. Mumbai is my karmabhoomi and it feels really special to be honoured in this city.”

Though hailing from Kerala, Resul has always been a true Mumbaikar. He studied from the Film Institute in Pune and never had to look back since. “Mumbai has given me so much. It’s truly a city of dreams.” Resul’s two kids are also born and brought up in the city and his family have made Mumbai their first home.

Apart from Bachchan, the function was well attended by other Bollywood and TV celebrities like singer Udit Narayan, actors Ronit Roy, Gul Panag and Dheeraj Kumar to name a few and the evening was hosted by the veteran actor Raza Murad.

Mumbai Voting 2009

Mumbai defies Jaago Re and all other voter awareness campaigns to record the lowest turnout in four General Elections. Evidently, the four-day weekend too good to resist

Rahul Bose went to people’s homes, the Jaago Re mascot caught people at malls and cinema halls to shame them into voting while newspapers dedicated reams to egg the electorate.

But couldn’t-care-less Mumbai preferred to enjoy the extended weekend, recording the lowest turnout in the last four General Elections at 44.16 per cent.

South Mumbai, the constituency where everyone expected spirited voting following the terror attacks of 26/11 and where people made the maximum noise about governance - recorded just 43.33 per cent; a turnout that is even less than 2004.

The last time the city saw a turnout of over 50 per cent was 11 years ago when the Atal Behari Vajpayee government lost the confidence motion by a single vote. It was believed that the decent turnout was due to sympathy for BJP’s poet Prime Minister.

The 26/11 tragedy, however, was an even bigger issue and, therefore, was expected to bring out angry voters.

In fact, various NGOs such as Praja Foundation, Jaago Re and Agni were appealing to this very outraged demographic to vote in big way.

But, what went wrong?

Some say it was because over eight lakh people from Mumbai and Thane were away, enjoying annual vacations at native places, or attending marriages of relatives, April-May being the season to wed.

Mumbai Congress president Kripashankar Singh said that a large number of migrant voters from Uttar Pradesh had left for summer vacations, which impacted the turnout figures.

"Youth did not come out, and the heat was a major factor. The opposition was gung-ho over 26/11, but my reading has been that it was not an election issue," he added.

Subhash Desai, spokesperson for the Sena echoed Kripashanker's views when he blamed the summer vacations.

The NGOs, however, have a different take on the issue.

Nitai Mehta of Praja Foundation said it could possibly be because of an uninspiring leadership.

"I just don't know why voters did not respond in the right manner. Perhaps, today, we do not have leaders who inspire people to vote. During the 1977 elections, the voter turnout in South Mumbai was 62 per cent. Or is it that people prefer to vote only after a major crisis? Maybe it's also general apathy," he said.

Nationalist Congress Party's Mumbai president Sachin Ahir, however, blamed poll officials who insisted on a photo identity card, even after citizens produced their ration card.

"The officers insisted on head of the family being present in the case of ration cards, so naturally many voters did not go back," he said.

By -Mumbai Mirror