The crime was horrific: a 7-year-old boy's throat slashed at school just minutes after his father dropped him off. But the investigations that followed have also highlighted the tendency of Indian police to use the poor as scapegoats when under pressure to solve cases.
The body of Pradyuman Thakur was found near a toilet at the Ryan International School in the town of Bhondsi, near Delhi, on the morning of September 8. Within hours, police had identified the killer as Ashok Kumar, a conductor on one of the school’s buses. He was arrested the same evening.
Police said Mr Kumar, 42, took a knife to the toilet to clean it and, seeing Pradyuman there, tried to sexually assault him before killing him.
“The CCTV footage clearly shows his presence inside the toilet and eyewitness accounts match the sequence of events,” Sumit Kuhar, the deputy commissioner of the local police, said on September 9. “We have strong circumstantial evidence to prove his guilt in court.”
Police also claimed that their investigations had uncovered a history of sexually predatory behaviour by Mr Kumar.
But Barun Thakur, the victim's father, insisted that the police had acted in haste and demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), a federal agency. State authorities agreed after Mr Thakur threatened to petition the supreme court for the CBI’s involvement.
The CBI began its investigation on September 22. On November 8, the agency detained a 16-year-old student of the school as its primary suspect, based on both “material evidence” and a confession. The teenager — who cannot be named because he is a juvenile — had anger management issues and had been struggling in his studies, the CBI said.
He “wanted to have an examination and a parent-teacher meeting postponed”, and Pradyuman was a random target killed just to disrupt the school’s schedules, a CBI spokesman said on Wednesday.
The police issued a response to the CBI's findings on Friday, arguing that the investigation had been taken away from them before they could complete it.
"I admit there were some loopholes in the probe," said Sandip Khirwar, police commissioner for Gurgaon district where the school is located.
On Thursday and Friday, in an attempt to re-enact the crime, the CBI took the teenager to knife shops in the town to establish where the murder weapon was purchased. At the school he was asked to demonstrate on a dummy how he had killed Pradyuman, in an attempt to corroborate his knowledge with forensic evidence.
The teenager’s father said his son was forced to make a confession. “My son was tortured, beaten, hung upside-down, and his head submerged into water by CBI investigators to obtain a confession,” he told reporters on Saturday at a hearing in a juvenile justice court. “My son is being framed by the agency.”
He did not however make this claim in court.
The CBI told the court that the student confessed to the murder in the presence of his father and other independent witnesses including a social worker.
The court ordered the student to be held at a correctional facility in Faridabad, another Delhi suburb, until the next hearing on November 22.
Despite the CBI's findings, Mr Kumar remains in prison, awaiting a hearing of his bail plea on November 16. His lawyer, Mohit Verma, said the bus conductor plans to sue the police as well as the school’s authorities for “large-scale defamation”.
Mr Verma said other members of the school’s staff, such as a gardener and the driver of Mr Kumar’s bus, were pressured by police to implicate him. He said the police took thumb impressions from his client, who is illiterate, on a blank sheet of paper, to append to a written confession. Mr Kumar was also beaten and drugged during the investigation, the lawyer said.
“The police planted everything. They framed an innocent man," Mr Verma said. “Who pressurised police to do that is a matter for investigation. But whatever happened to Ashok amounts to torture.”
The kind of mistreatment alleged by Mr Kumar has been noted in a Human Rights Watch report on India’s police, released in 2009.
“Individuals who are poor and socially or politically marginalised are especially vulnerable to prolonged detention and repeated ill-treatment,” the report said.
The police "use illegal detention, torture and ill-treatment to punish criminals against whom they lack the time or inclination to build cases, or to elicit confessions, even ones they know are false”.
No statistics are maintained for the number of wrongful arrests made by police.
M S Sharma, a Delhi lawyer who often represents poor defendants for free in criminal cases, said the police resort to such abuses because of pressure to produce quick results, particularly in high-profile cases.
One such case is the September 2006 bombings in Malegaon, not far from Mumbai, in which dozens of people were killed. Police arrested nine Muslim men in the following months, none of whom could afford a lawyer. But with legal assistance provided by a non-profit organisation, all nine were acquitted in April last year.
Police officers are also prejudiced against the poor, believing they are more likely to commit crimes, Mr Sharma said. And because they have no influence or money for legal representation, they can be tortured to confess without fear of repercussions.
The result, he said, is that “the lives of innocent men and women are destroyed for no reason”.
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Read more: India’s shocking rape cases highlight social inequality and lack of care for victims
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Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
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Company%20Profile
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Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
How do Sim card scams work?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards by claiming to be the victim, often pretending their phone has been lost or stolen in order to secure a new Sim.
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Scores:
Day 4
England 290 & 346
Sri Lanka 336 & 226-7 (target 301)
Sri Lanka require another 75 runs with three wickets remaining
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.