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BANGALORE: A 57-year-old man died after he took objection to two eve-teasers making snide remarks at his niece and was punched and pushed about by the duo at Ambedkarnagar, DJ Halli, off Tannery Road, late on Monday night.
 
The victim, Alagesh alias Alagaiah, an employee of BEML tools department, was a heart patient and had undergone bypass surgery four months ago. He was rushed to Mediscope hospital as he complained of severe chest pain after he was manhandled by the two youths. He died in hospital.
 
The accused have been identified as Karunakaran alias Karuna and Deepu alias Deepakraj, both residents of Ayodhya Das Nagar, a few hundred metres away from Ambedkarnagar. Both the accused are in their early 20s. They are school dropouts and work as mosaic tile polishers, police said. They have been arrested and booked under Section 304 of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
 
Alagesh’s 13-year-old niece, Hemamalini (name changed), went to a grocer’s shop near her home to buy some provisions at 6.30 pm. The grocer had to pay the girl 50 paise and he told her that he did not have the change. The girl insisted that she be given the change. The grocer in turn chided her. The two accused, who were smoking in front of the shop, asked the girl whether she would build a house with the 50 paise.
 
Insulted, Hema returned home and told her mother, Nalina, that the two youths had teased her. Around 8.30 pm, the accused were passing before Hema’s house and the girl told her mother that they were the ones who had teased her. The woman questioned the youths on why they had teased her daughter. "Yes. We did. So what?" the youths shot back. Alagesh, who stayed next door, came out and intervened.
 
"Deepu held Alagesh, while Karuna punched him and pushed him on to the ground," Hema’s mother said. Alagesh collapsed on the spot and was rushed to hospital. According to the girl, the accused had the habit of teasing girls. "They always stand near the shop and tease girls and women," she told police.
 
Alagesh is survived by two sons. Hailing from Vellore in Tamil Nadu, Alagesh was brother of Hema’s father Vijay Kumar. The brothers had moved to Bangalore 25 years ago."
 
What law says
 
Though the law in India doesn’t use the term ’eve-teasing’, victims usually seek recourse through Section 298 (A) and (B) of the IPC. It sentences a man found guilty of making a girl or woman the target of obscene gestures, remarks, songs or recitation to a maximum jail sentence of three months. Section 292 of the IPC says that showing pornographic or obscene pictures, books or slips to a woman or girl draws a fine of Rs 2,000 with two years of imprisonment of either description for first offenders. In the case of a repeated offence, the penalty will be a five-year jail term with a fine of Rs 5,000. Under Section 509 of IPC, obscene gestures, indecent body language or acidic comments directed at any woman or girl or exhibits any such object or intrudes upon the privacy of woman carries a penalty of simple imprisonment for one year or a fine or both.

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CHANDIGARH: The highest battlefield in the world, Siachen glacier, hides a warming truth, recently discovered. Geologists have discovered hot water from geothermal sources in the glacier which is nearly 15 degrees warm in plunging -40 degree Celsius weather. The hot source has come as a relief in the freezing conditions as it can now be used for growing vegetables, setting up green houses on the glacier besides cutting down heavy reliance on expensive fossil fuels.

The Indian army had outsourced the project of first discovering ground water in Siachen sector as soldiers were being compelled to melt ice from the frozen Siachen river to quench their thirst and for all other purposes. Ritesh Arya, the project director, known for establishing a record in the Guinness Book of World Records, for discovering water sources at highest altitude in Ladakh, told TOI from Leh,"We had drilled holes a decade ago for the army, in coordination with 4 Engineers Corps, to discover underground water sources in Siachen. Last year, we were assigned a task to explore and develop geothermal source in Siachen Base Camp by Indian Army. We explored the site for geothermal development by drilling borewell but it was a tough task especially as it was assigned on’ no water, no money’ basis."

It took several months before the source of geothermal site was discovered, in October, last year." We wanted to test the source in winters. We finally visited the site on 18 April, 2012 with engineers from 17 Eng Corps and the discovery of geothermal source at base camp was established,"said Dr Arya.

A PU alumnus, Dr Arya, said that the borewells for groundwater in Siachen has been giving 24 hours water even in winters when temperatures drop to minus 40 degrees. "Though the temperatures of the source are not very high but still the water can be put to good use for developing green houses for growing vegetables, bathing, washing etc. So far the army is relying only on fossil fuels for heating water which is a very expensive proposition at the altitude of 19000 feet," he said.

Raising concern about the shrinking of Siachen glacier the geologist said, "The glacier has receded sharply and we are investigating how much. The glacier should be demilitarized, as the Pakistan army is mooting, and instead it should be developed as a geothermal tourist destination for which it has vast unexplored potential."