Irish woman, found dead near Goa’s Palolem beach, laid to rest
Danielle McLaughlin, who was found dead near the Palolem beach in Goa on March 14, was laid to rest at a funeral in her hometown of Buncrana, County Donegal, in Ireland, on Thursday. Hundreds of locals and friends paid tributes to her at the funeral.
A post-mortem had concluded that McLaughlin, 28, died due to brain damage and constriction of the neck. Her body arrived in Ireland from Goa on Monday. A person named by the Goa police as Vikat Bhagat, 24, has reportedly been charged for murder.
Reports from Ireland said that at the funeral in the St Mary’s Church, family and friends presented four symbols of her life, including a guitar, a holy medallion from one of Mother Teresa's care homes in India, a family photo and a poem.
Father Francis Bradley said at the requiem mass that McLaughlin had made a huge impression on people's lives: “She was disarmingly kind and forgiving; her warm nature and open heart drew people into her ever-widening, extensive and international circle of friends".
"A brief glance at the vast array of tender messages for Danielle's mother Andrea, her family and friends, shows the immense esteem in which she was held. She had a gentle but powerful way with her -- for it seems that just one encounter with her was enough to change someone's life."
A former student of Liverpool John Moores University, McLaughlin was a dual citizen of Ireland and the United Kingdom. She travelled to India in February on a British passport. The funeral was attended by her friends from New Zealand, Australia, Scotland and England, the reports said.
The McLaughlin family has called for justice for their daughter and sister. A crowd-funding campaign to raise 10,000 Euros to meet the expenses for repatriation of the body from Goa and funeral expenses raised over 40,300 Euros.
A family spokesperson said: “We call for justice from the Indian legal system and appeal to the Indian authorities for a full, diligent, transparent and open investigation into all aspects of this crime and have real faith that with their help, full justice will be served and the truth known which will provide some small comfort to the family.”
“Words and thoughts can do little at a time like this to help us understand how such an awful tragedy can happen...” several sadhu-sants, has made amendments to the Gujarat Animal Protection (Amendment) Act, 2011. This is the harshest law in the country,” said Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja.
As the move comes months before the assembly election in the state, scheduled for November-December, opposition Congress Party termed it politically motivated.
“This is not out of concern for cows. The BJP has passed this bill to get votes. Through this bill, it has been proved that BJP is anti-Dalit,” said Congress MLA Shaktisinh Gohil. He was referring to the flogging of Dalits by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes in Una last year.
“In some cases, when memorials are installed near the family’s house, people light incense sticks and worship them daily,” Ram adds.
The memorials — called Joojhar, Thanak, Sthan or Devra in local parlance — are considered by many to be local deities and are installed either at the site of the mishap (on roads or at agricultural farms) or at frequentlyvisited spots in the village so that residents can offer salutations while passing by.
For instance, in Chotila village on the Jodhpur-Pali Highway, hundreds of people visit the statue of a man riding a Bullet and pray for his ‘safe journey’. The man, Om Singh Rathore, died an untimely death in a road accident on December 2, 1991.
A statue of Meena’s grandfather, Man Phool Meena, stands tall at Narayanpur village in Sawai Madhopur.
“He died at the age of 12. The family asked local sculptors to make his statue,” Meena says.
The researcher says southern Rajasthan’s tribals build statues in the shape of snakes because they believe that the reptiles surround the houses of people who die due to unnatural causes.
The warden, however, denied the allegations. “No one asked them to remove their clothes. All this is a conspiracy by the staff because they do not want me to stay here. I had been asked to check whether the staff members were performing their duties properly. I am strict, that is why they hate me,” she said.
“We have not received the SC order yet, but we will comply. We have already conducted a survey and submitted the report to the headquarters,” said Aruna Singh, deputy excise and taxation commissioner, Gurgaon.
The owners are in the panic as this will be a major loss.
“Restaurants are being targeted unjustifiably on a liquor vend act. A restaurant is the safest place for an individual to drink and more than three and a half lakh employees face the risk of losing jobs and earnings,” said Arvind Kumar, general manager, The Wine Company. the travel agent refused to book his ticket,” the official said.
Gaikwad abused and assaulted Air India’s duty manager R Sukumar with slippers after being denied business class seat on a Pune-New Delhi Air India flight last Thursday.