Indian elephant tramples UK bird-watcher to death

The News 21 Sept 2013 NEW DELHI: A British bird-watcher has been trampled to death by an elephant in a southern Indian nature reserve after he went out alone on foot, his guide and police told AFP on Friday. The 68-year-old tourist was fatally injured by the male animal in the Masinagudi forest of Tamil Nadu state on Thursday, area police chief T. Senthil Kumar told AFP by telephone. He identified the victim as Colin Manvell, from the town of Havant, in southern Britain, who had visited the sanctuary in Nilgiris district twice a year for the last five years. “After lunch on Thursday sir (Manvell) went out on foot for bird watching near a lake which is a watering hole of wild elephants,” his local guide, M. Kumar, told AFP from Masinagudi, which also boasts a state-protected tiger reserve. “When he did not return by 4:15 pm, we followed his trail and heard the sounds of a tusker trumpeting loudly.” A forest warden called Gnanadoss, who uses one name, said it appeared that the Briton did not notice the elephant creep up on him until it was too late. “It swiped him with its trunk and then trampled him on the ground,” Gnanadoss said, adding the attack occurred 100 metres (330 feet) from a site where a woman was killed by elephants in 2009. The profusely bleeding man was rushed to a local hospital but there was no doctor to treat him. He was then ferried to a medical facility in Cuddalore city, 23 kilometres (15 miles) away, but he died from his injuries on the way, local guide Kumar said. “He knew his way well around here, he was aware of the wild elephants and also the dangers that lurk in the local jungles. This is tragic.” Tamil Nadu’s forest authorities say tourists should pay heed to warnings to stay away from densely wooded areas which are home to tigers and elephants.

India Hindu Muslim Riots

Indian who killed daughter for ‘honour’ has no regrets

The News 21 Sept 2013 NEW DELHI: The Indian father who killed his daughter and beheaded her boyfriend after they eloped has declared he feels no remorse over the “honour killings”, media reports said Friday. The young couple from India’s northern state of Haryana were beaten to death Wednesday by the father and other relatives of the 20-year-old woman “to protect the family and village honour”, police said. After killing the man, 22, using sticks, the attackers beheaded him. They also tried to burn the woman’s body but were stopped by police. The woman’s family disapproved of the three-year relationship because the couple belonged to the same caste and were “considered brother and sister”, police said. The father, who has since been taken into custody, showed no signs of remorse over the brutal killings as he spoke to local reporters in Haryana’s Rohtak district. The woman’s mother and uncle have also been arrested and police said they were searching for a brother. “I have done nothing wrong. I have cleaned up a social wrong,” the father, Billu Pehlwan, a dog breeder by profession, was quoted as saying by the Times of India and other newspapers. The NDTV network showed him saying: “I would do it again. I have no regrets.” India has for centuries seen killings that often target young couples who have relationships which are disapproved of by their families, clans or communities, particularly in traditional rural areas. The killings are carried out by close relatives or village elders to protect what is seen as the family’s reputation and pride. The dead woman was studying to be an art teacher while her boyfriend was a student at a local college. They were on their way to the capital New Delhi, about 70 kilometres from Rohtak, when they were tracked down and hauled back to their village. The deaths were slammed by women’s groups who said political leaders must step in to stem the tide of honour killings. “We need a whole debate on tradition, on honour. This girl was lynched by her own family, the boy was beheaded,” Subhashini Ali, head of the All India Democratic Women’s Association and a communist politician, told NDTV network.

Manna Dey admitted to hospital

New Dhli, Humayon Tomb

Man beheaded, woman beaten to death in India 'honour killing'

The News NEW DELHI: A man was beheaded and his girlfriend beaten to death in an "honour killing" in northern India after they eloped, police said Thursday. The woman's mother, father and uncle were arrested after the gruesome murders carried out in a village in the state of Haryana on Wednesday, police said. The couple were tracked down and brought back to their village in Rohtak district after they fled to the capital New Delhi, local police chief Anil Kumar said. The woman, 20, was allegedly beaten to death and then relatives, angry about their decision to leave, turned on her 22-year-old boyfriend, attacking him with sticks, Inspector-General Kumar told AFP. "While murdering the boy they also beheaded him," Kumar said. The family had tried to burn the woman's body but were stopped by police, Kumar told AFP by telephone. The pair had been in a relationship for three years. The woman was studying to be an art teacher while her boyfriend was also a student at a local college, Kumar said. "We have arrested her father, mother and uncle and we are looking for her brother, a friend and driver of the car in which the couple were brought back to her home in Gharnavati village," the police chief said. "Both belonged to the same village and the same caste. "It is an honour killing but the murder was not approved by society." India has for centuries seen killings that often target young couples who have relationships of which their families, clans or communities, particularly in traditional rural areas, disapprove. Reasons for disapproval are numerous, but they sometimes include having relationships outside of their caste or religion. The killings are carried out by relatives to protect the family's reputation and pride. (AFP)