Anaarkali...loud and clear

last year’s Pink and pushes the envelope. Pink’s heroines were educated and somewhat resourceful. Anaarkali can’t even afford a lawyer. She is on her own and her fight is non-existent to most of her community.

In his handling of the subject, director Avinash Das displays his understanding of a delicate social structure where pretention is more important than moral righteousness.

He succeeds in turning the audience into the third party, and then makes it difficult for them to stay neutral.

There are moments of melodrama and farce, but that doesn’t keep Das from crafting an impactful film that lands a real punch in the climax. Bhaskar is marvellous, and gets apt support from Pankaj Tripathi and Mishra.

Where Anaarkali… succeeds best is in bringing forth a world that’s been out of focus for far too long. These are battles being fought every day, Anaarkali… screams, and the least we can do is acknowledge them.

ROHIT VATS

A mid-level BSF official posted in Assam’s Dhubri, considered the most vulnerable smuggling spot among 33 areas along the border identified by the government, said nearly 90% cattle seized in 2015 in areas under the jurisdiction of his outpost were males.

“It is difficult to say right away how many of the cattle seized are cows and how many are bulls or oxen. But almost 90% of the 28,702 cattle seized in 2015 were males,” the official told Hindustan Times.

“Smugglers we arrested said their clients across the Bangladesh border prefer bulls or oxen because they are meatier and tastier.” The seizure along the Indo-Bangladesh border also works as a good sample size since cattle from across north India is transported to the bordering states of India before being smuggled through the border.

“Dealing with transportation can solve much of the cattlesmuggling problem, particularly after trucks enter Assam at two highway points -- Boxirhat near Dhubri and Srirampur near Gossaigaon -- from West Bengal,” said Longnit Terang, the police chief of Dhubri.

“There have been cases of cattle transporters armed with challans saying the consignment is destined for states such as Meghalaya and Nagaland. But the cattle are offloaded at various points on the way after vehicles carrying them enter Assam.” These animals are then smuggled out to Bangladesh.

A bigger challenge in stopping illegal cattle trade is the number of stray cattle which are vulnerable to smuggling.

The last livestock census in 2012 estimated 5.28 million stray cattle in India, most of them in two states alone— Odisha (1.13 million) and UP (1 million). security personnel bay for blood. They wanted Somaru dead.

“Though a fugitive, he is an Indian citizen. He deserved treatment,” says Pallav. He reasoned with his men and they finally relented to let Somaru be taken to the hospital.

Pallav’s act has earned him fulsome praise from his higher-ups and yielded valuable intelligence on the Maoists from Somaru.

“What the officer has done is a brilliant example of how rules of engagement should be followed,” admits DM Awasthi, the special director general of Chhattisgarh police. Often accused of excesses during their anti-Maoist operations, Pallav’s act could be a potential PR masterstroke.

Saving Somaru was also a good idea since he is a treasure trove of information on the Maoists. Police say a grateful Somaru is now singing like a canary and divulging secrets.

In the gunfight, more than 2700 rounds were fired with Pallav firing no less than 23. The battle over, Somaru is receiving treatment under judicial custody. Pallav went to see him at the hospital the other day. Somaru was all smiles, signalling that the officer’s heroism had swept away the enmity between the two.

“No application has been received from the victim’s husband as yet. The FIR would be registered only after he files a complaint,” said Vinod Yadav, superintendent of police, GRP.

On Thursday, she returning to her workplace after spending a fortnight at home, sources said.

“She was gang raped in 2009, and a case was filed in Unchahar. However, no action was taken in the case and the culprits continued to move freely. In 2012, she was attacked with knife with a serious attempt on her life. In 2013, she was attacked with acid,” said Laxmi, an acid attack survivor.

Volunteers at her café said she constantly received threats, some even targeted at her daughter. “Every time the incident occurred, the accused were sent to jail but were let out on bail soon. There never came a chance when her statements could be recorded ,” said Ashish.

Laxmi has sought support for the woman on social network and requested people to press for the arrest of the suspects.

Every year, hundreds of simi- lar attacks are reported against women who spurn sexual advances, marriage proposals or caught in community crossfire.

The crime also puts a spotlight on UP’s dismal record of fighting crimes against women, something that the BJP has vowed to fight against.

He told reporters at Maharashtra Sadan this morning that he has no regrets.

“Kaahe ka pashchaataap (what is there to repent)? I will not apologise ... he (Sukumar) should come and apologise. Then we will see. A 60-year-old man should know how to behave,” he said.

He had bragged before television cameras that he hit the official 25 times with his footwear.

He said he went out to watch a Bollywood movie — Badrinath ki Dulhaniya — on Thursday night to “relax” himself. “Tension-free hona chahiye na ... you also watch the movie, it’s very good.”

Also, Gaikwad boasted that “police can arrest me ... my party, Uddhav saheb will take care of it”.

His remarks caused further embarrassment to the Shiv Sena, especially after he crowed that party chief Uddhav Thackeray would bail him out.

For his part, Gaikwad wrote to the Lok Sabha speaker and civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju for action against Air India and its official. Also, he filed a counter-complaint with police against the airline.

Air India official Sukumar alleged that the MP used foul language, pinned him to the ground and hit him with a slipper when he tried to persuade him to get off the plane. Gaikwad had refused to move out of the flight for almost an hour in protest against the airline for allegedly changing his seat from business to economy class. Before he took the train, the MP was blacklisted by Air India, Indigo, SpiceJet, GoAir, Jet Airways and Vistara.

But he insisted: “I have the tickets, they can’t blacklist me. I will board the Delhi-Pune Air India flight this evening. How can they not allow me?”

The airlines proposed a no-fly list to include names of unruly passengers and asked the government and security agencies to enforce such a measure.

IndiGo, which is often at loggerheads with Air India, also came out in support of such a list.