NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK
SEVERAL INDIANS, WHO LEFT THEIR MOTHERLAND, HAVE BECOME IMMENSELY SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ADOPTED COUNTRIES. PALBINDER KAUR IS ONE OF THE PERSONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN, WHO SCALED HEIGHTS IN THE FOREIGN LAND.
PALBINDER GILL
An Indian-origin Sikh woman human rights activist, Palbinder Kaur Shergill, has been appointed a judge of the Canadian Supreme Court of British Columbia in New Westminster, the first turbaned Sikh to be appointed to the judiciary of the country.
She has extensive trial and appellate experience and has appeared before courts and tribunals across Canada.
SALVADOR DALI
A Spanish court has ordered that the remains of worldfamous painter Salvador Dali be exhumed after a woman claiming to be his daughter of filed a paternity claim. The Madrid court said the exhumation aimed “to get samples of his remains to determine whether he is the biological father of the woman who filed a claim to be recognised as the daughter of the artist.” The woman claims her mother had an affair with Dali when she worked as a nanny.
LIU XIAOBO
China’s Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has been transferred on parole from prison to a hospital for terminal cancer treatment, but concerned supporters called for his unconditional release.
Liu, who has about three years of his 11-year sentence to serve for his democracy campaign, was diagnosed with latestage liver cancer on May 23 and granted medical parole days later.
INDRANI MUKERJEA
A senior medical officer has confirmed that Sheena Bora murder case accused Indrani Mukerjea had been beaten up in the Byculla prison. Indrani, who booked for rioting in the women’s prison in Mumbai along with other inmates, had alleged that she was beaten up by jail officials after the death of a convict sparked protest in the prison. The inmate had allegedly died after officials inserted a wooden stick in her vagina.
NAROTTAM MISHRA
Madhya Pradesh Cabinet minister Narottam Mishra has been disqualified by the Election Commission for alleged corrupt practices and paid news during the 2008 Assembly polls. Considered close to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, he is known in political circles as the CM’s “trouble shooter”.