My life has become living hell: Pooja Naik
Preetu Nair, TNN
PANAJI: Pooja Naik's world collapsed when her husband was arrested in the last week of April for raping her friend. Since then she has learnt that her husband, Mahanand, has confessed to killing 9 women.
As if that weren't enough, Pooja claims she and her 18 month old daughter have been "socially ostracized" by the villagers of Shiroda for no fault of theirs.
"Some people have said they would kill me and my daughter with a dupatta, in the same way my husband killed other women. I am scared. Why am I and my daughter being punished for my husband's sins? No one can ever understand my pain and suffering. Our lives have become a living hell," said Pooja.
An angry mob recently set alight their home in Shiroda, and marched to Ponda police station demanding Pooja's arrest. From then on, Pooja has been seeking refuge at a friend's place or at her parent's home in Sanvordem, as some homes for women, fearing a public blacklash, have refused to shelter her.
On Monday afternoon, Pooja was at the Panaji police station seeking rehabilitation and was sent to a safe destination with the help of the NGO Bailancho Ekvott. "I'm scared of being recognized. The pressure is killing me and I feel suicidal at times," she said.
"I never thought that my husband could kill women. Which wife will suspect her loving and kind husband of murder? In the last 11 years of marriage, I had no reason to suspect him," said Pooja. She now believes otherwise.
"I met him (Mahanand) in jail recently and asked him if he had committed the murders or if he was being framed. For the first time in our relationship, he didn't reply and sat for minutes together with his head bent, even as I repeated the question," said Pooja, who works as a clerk in a central government organization.
"It was then that my world collapsed. I wondered whether he was the same person who had never even lifted his hand against me and would pack my lunch tiffin daily," she said.
Pooja and Mahanand were married in 1998. Theirs was an arranged marriage. "A cousin had married Mahanand's relative and she was happy. When Mahanand proposed, everyone agreed. I was happy because he worked as an autorickshaw driver and didn't drink," recollects Pooja, who comes from a lower middle income family from Sanvordem. The couple had a daughter 10 years later.
Mahanand's first alleged murder was in 1994 and he has confessed to killing eight other women during the last 15 years. Police believe there could be a dozen more. However, they maintain there is no evidence to suspect Pooja's involvement in any of the alleged murders.
Incidentally, the Ponda police on Monday recorded Pooja's statement with regard to the killing of nine women by her husband. She has revealed that Mahanand was well-off despite being unemployed, the police said. Pooja has neither been detained nor arrested.
"As the case stands today, there is no evidence of his wife's involvement in the murders," said deputy superintendent of police (Ponda) Serafin Dias.
But people are not willing to listen. "People look at me with suspicion. They feel that I supported my husband in his crimes. My fault is that I didn't distrust him. He was jobless. Occasionally he brought home money. When I questioned him he would say that he had taken up painting work or borrowed money from his mother. I had no reason to doubt him," she added.
Another woman reported missing
PONDA: Another case of a missing woman has been registered with the Ponda police on Monday against Mahanand Naik, the alleged 40-year-old dupatta killer' from Shiroda.
Ponda police inspector C L said that Nirmal Satarkar has registered a complaint that her sister, Bhagi Fondu Satarkar, 30, has been missing from Bhootkhamb Keri in Ponda since the year 2004.
As per the complaint, the 30-year-old woman had left her home in 2004 with jewellery which included golden bangles, a necklace, two earrings and a chain.
19 May 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Goa election officers called 'morally inept'
Goa election officers called 'morally inept'
TNN
PANAJI: Goa Legislative Assembly's ad hoc committee on home issued an "admonition" against chief electoral officer and assistant electoral officer for writing to the Goa legislature secretariat questioning the committee's powers, functions and duties.
The admonition was issued on Wednesday during the ad hoc committee meeting on home in response to a letter send by AEO Arvind Bugde on May 14, which stated that officers of the Goa government require clearance from the Election Commission of India for appearance before the Committee and also sought a copy of the Rules of Procedure that constituted the Committee. The letter was approved by CEO Ajit Srivastava and home minister Ravi Naik.
The admonition notes that Bugde and Srivastava have displayed utter ignorance of the working of the Constitution of India and the fragile balance of power between various organs of the state. "The Committee comes to the conclusion that both the officers are professionally delinquent and morally inept to hold public office in such senior capacities in the government," it states. Srivastava requested the committee that a show cause notice should be issued to them before issuing the "admonition", but the committee declined. Later, Srivastava said that his objection should be recorded, but that plea was also not entertained by the committee which said "any act in the nature of repetition of the present misdemeanor will warrant a stronger action against each one of them".
The ad hoc committee meeting on home was called to hear the views of the public on issues coming under the jurisdiction of the Committee. The Committee heard the chairman of ad hoc committee Manohar Parrikar and the CEO at its meeting on May 20, and after hearing them, the Committee said that they have "come to the conclusion that both the officers have grossly breached the privileges of the Committee by stating that government officers have to take clearance from the Election Commission of India to appear before the Committee since model Code of Conduct is in force and by seeking a copy of the Rules of Procedure of the House that constituted the Committee".
Parrikar observed, "The Goa Legislative Assembly and its committees are sovereign bodies which function within the Constitutionally laid out perimeter. No law which has not been made either by Parliament or the state legislature can encumber such powers, privileges and immunities".
"The Committee's attention is also drawn to the principle of accountability of the executive to the Legislature as enshrined in article 164 (2) of the Constitution of India which cannot be extinguished even for a second for any reason whatsoever. Committees of the Legislature are the nodal apparatus through which the said article is machinated", he noted.
Further, emphasizing that the Legislature and its Committees do not require anyone's clearance for performing their functions, he said, "No one can be as audacious as the said officers of the government of Goa, to call for the Rules of Procedure of the House with an intention to question the Legislature and its Committees which is a brazen assault on the people's rights and liberties to have their representatives function through the House and its Committees and is the most pernicious attempt to stifle the voice of the people as represented in these institutions". The Chief Secretary also has been asked to make a mention in their personal confidential dossiers about the fact of having received this admonition at the hands of this Committee.
May 21,2009, The Times of India, Goa edition
TNN
PANAJI: Goa Legislative Assembly's ad hoc committee on home issued an "admonition" against chief electoral officer and assistant electoral officer for writing to the Goa legislature secretariat questioning the committee's powers, functions and duties.
The admonition was issued on Wednesday during the ad hoc committee meeting on home in response to a letter send by AEO Arvind Bugde on May 14, which stated that officers of the Goa government require clearance from the Election Commission of India for appearance before the Committee and also sought a copy of the Rules of Procedure that constituted the Committee. The letter was approved by CEO Ajit Srivastava and home minister Ravi Naik.
The admonition notes that Bugde and Srivastava have displayed utter ignorance of the working of the Constitution of India and the fragile balance of power between various organs of the state. "The Committee comes to the conclusion that both the officers are professionally delinquent and morally inept to hold public office in such senior capacities in the government," it states. Srivastava requested the committee that a show cause notice should be issued to them before issuing the "admonition", but the committee declined. Later, Srivastava said that his objection should be recorded, but that plea was also not entertained by the committee which said "any act in the nature of repetition of the present misdemeanor will warrant a stronger action against each one of them".
The ad hoc committee meeting on home was called to hear the views of the public on issues coming under the jurisdiction of the Committee. The Committee heard the chairman of ad hoc committee Manohar Parrikar and the CEO at its meeting on May 20, and after hearing them, the Committee said that they have "come to the conclusion that both the officers have grossly breached the privileges of the Committee by stating that government officers have to take clearance from the Election Commission of India to appear before the Committee since model Code of Conduct is in force and by seeking a copy of the Rules of Procedure of the House that constituted the Committee".
Parrikar observed, "The Goa Legislative Assembly and its committees are sovereign bodies which function within the Constitutionally laid out perimeter. No law which has not been made either by Parliament or the state legislature can encumber such powers, privileges and immunities".
"The Committee's attention is also drawn to the principle of accountability of the executive to the Legislature as enshrined in article 164 (2) of the Constitution of India which cannot be extinguished even for a second for any reason whatsoever. Committees of the Legislature are the nodal apparatus through which the said article is machinated", he noted.
Further, emphasizing that the Legislature and its Committees do not require anyone's clearance for performing their functions, he said, "No one can be as audacious as the said officers of the government of Goa, to call for the Rules of Procedure of the House with an intention to question the Legislature and its Committees which is a brazen assault on the people's rights and liberties to have their representatives function through the House and its Committees and is the most pernicious attempt to stifle the voice of the people as represented in these institutions". The Chief Secretary also has been asked to make a mention in their personal confidential dossiers about the fact of having received this admonition at the hands of this Committee.
May 21,2009, The Times of India, Goa edition
Panandiker snubs govt, declines office
Panandiker snubs govt, declines office
Preetu Nair
PANAJI: V A Pai Panandiker, academician and founder president of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, has declined an invitation to be a member of the Goa State Planning Board.
Citing his reasons, in a letter to the chief minister dated May 14, Panandiker noted that “the priorities and performance of planning have declined precipitously, especially in the 21st century” in Goa and that there is an “increasing dissonance between the priorities of the people and of the government”.
Panandiker also stated that “except for Goa’s real estate, there is no political constituency for the next phase of Goa’s evolution” and refused to sit on the Planning Board as it “does not serve any useful purpose and I certainly do not wish to impose my costs on the people of Goa”.
The planning board is the state’s highest policy advisory body, making recommendations on macro-economic policies and the implementation of development plans, and has the CM as its chairperson.
Chief minister Digambar Kamat, however, denied knowledge of the letter. “I am in Delhi at the moment and I don’t know about it,” Kamat told TOI.
In his letter Panandiker also states, “I do feel deeply concerned about the people of Goa, especially the young children who constitute our future. The political priorities being so different from what the people need or desire, there is an increasing dissonance between the priorities of the people and those of the government. This bodes ill for our future.”
20 May 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition
Preetu Nair
PANAJI: V A Pai Panandiker, academician and founder president of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, has declined an invitation to be a member of the Goa State Planning Board.
Citing his reasons, in a letter to the chief minister dated May 14, Panandiker noted that “the priorities and performance of planning have declined precipitously, especially in the 21st century” in Goa and that there is an “increasing dissonance between the priorities of the people and of the government”.
Panandiker also stated that “except for Goa’s real estate, there is no political constituency for the next phase of Goa’s evolution” and refused to sit on the Planning Board as it “does not serve any useful purpose and I certainly do not wish to impose my costs on the people of Goa”.
The planning board is the state’s highest policy advisory body, making recommendations on macro-economic policies and the implementation of development plans, and has the CM as its chairperson.
Chief minister Digambar Kamat, however, denied knowledge of the letter. “I am in Delhi at the moment and I don’t know about it,” Kamat told TOI.
In his letter Panandiker also states, “I do feel deeply concerned about the people of Goa, especially the young children who constitute our future. The political priorities being so different from what the people need or desire, there is an increasing dissonance between the priorities of the people and those of the government. This bodes ill for our future.”
20 May 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition
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