Latest news with #1963
Indian Express
03-06-2025
- General
- Indian Express
‘Convict acted in cold-blooded manner… betrayed trust of eight-year-old girl'
Stating that the convict has acted in the most 'conniving and treacherous manner' and betrayed 'the trust of a minor', a fast track court of District Court Chandigarh on Tuesday awarded death sentence to a 40-year-old man for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl. The special court presided by Additional Sessions Judge Yashika ordered the death sentence to convict Hira Lal, alias Guddu, under Section 6 of the POCSO Act, and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000. 'He shall be hanged by neck till he is dead, subject to the confirmation of the sentence by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana,' the court ordered. The convict can file an appeal before the Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh, within a period of 30 days, as per the Article 115 of The Limitation Act, 1963, according to the order. The court also ordered Rs 17 lakh compensation be granted to the dependents of the victim as a final compensation under the victim compensation scheme. 'In the present case, the convict has acted in a most conniving and treacherous manner. He has betrayed the trust of a minor girl child, aged eight years and 11 months. The convict took all care to commit the barbaric acts of rape and murder of the child, in extreme secrecy, and in a cold-blooded manner. Here, the convict is a mature man aged about 40 years,' Justice Yashika noted. Underscoring that the minor was 'incapable to protest against the convict', the judge observed that Hira Lal made the victim 'prey' of his 'lust'. 'The postmortem report shows various injuries on the body of the victim. These injuries shows the gruesome manner in which she was subjected to rape. The victim of crime is an innocent child who did not provide even an excuse, much less a provocation for murder. Such cruelty towards a young child is appalling. The convict had stooped so low as to unleash his monstrous self on the innocent, helpless and defenceless child. This act no doubt had invited extreme indignation of the community and shocked the collective conscience of the society,' the court held. Further, it observed that the convict is a 'menace to the society' and cannot be reformed, describing the case as 'rarest of the rare'. According to the police, Hira Lal has two wives and is the father of five children, the eldest being 13 years old. The police said he was cheating on both his wives, as neither knew about the other. According to the prosecution, the rape victim's body, with her throat slit and multiple stab wounds, was discovered near a dumping site in Ram Darbar in January 2024, three days after she went missing. An autopsy later confirmed rape. The girl was kidnapped from near her home by Hira Lal, who then took her to his house and committed the crime. After the girl's body was found, the police identified him on the basis of the CCTV footage. His house was found locked. The police broke into the house and found inside the victim's slippers, which then confirmed that the child had been brought there. Aftera seven-day manhunt, the police arrested Hira Lal, a native of Uttar Pradesh, from Bihar. During the trial, the defence counsel argued that Hira Lal had been falsely implicated in the FIR. The court, however, held him guilty.
Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Malcolm X's politics are still driving us apart
In the summer of 1963 hundreds of people began to gather in the streets on the approach to Harlem's Salem Church, and many more hung out of windows, keen to catch a glimpse of that Sunday's preacher. Dr Martin Luther King Jr was on his way. King had already become a symbol of the civil rights movement and within a few weeks would deliver one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century. And he had just a few days earlier been rehearsing some of its themes and rhetoric, telling audiences of his 'dream', one in which his children would be judged 'on the content of their character, not on the colour of their skin'. On this day in Harlem there were the usual cheers
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Desperately Seeking Susan
"In the past, right now, I live in a place called Totter's Lane. 1963, I park the TARDIS in a junkyard and live there with my granddaughter, Susan." The Doctor (2024) It's been over 60 years since The Doctor left Susan to live her own life without him, But just like The Doctor has never forgotten her, she has remained a constant presence in the BBC Archives all that time, just waiting to be revisited. So, as Susan helps the Doctor during the events of Interstellar Song Contest, here's an insight into her earlier life. Susan was the Doctor's original companion, already part of his life when he is first seen on screen in 1963. This extract from a document exploring the background to the series provides a little more detail about the character, but still leaves plenty of mystery as to Susan's background. As well as that intelligence and other-worldliness, original producer Verity Lambert was also looking for something else when she cast the part of Susan, as she explained in this unedited interview from 1999. "They had to be able to scream, because she spent a lot of time screaming." The ability to scream would be something that many future companions would be required to bring to their role in Doctor Who as 'the young person in jeopardy'. The role of Susan was given to Carole Ann Ford, who by 1963 had already established an acting career in film and television. She describes her excitement at getting the part in this unedited interview from 2003, and talks about her frustrations with the lack of character development. "But you were weird!" Despite being the prototype for later Doctor Who companions, Susan had a unique bond with the Doctor – she was his granddaughter, and she always referred to him as grandfather. The affection between the pair was obvious on screen, as can be seen in this photo of them with fellow companions Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) and other cast from the 1964 story Marco Polo. "We're much too far away from home, my granddaughter and I" The Doctor (1964) Although Carole Ann Ford disliked the lack of character development for Susan, there was an enduring mystery as to who she really was. In this unedited interview from 2003, she explores Susan's relationship with her grandfather and some of the discussions around whether or not she was a Time Lord like the Doctor. At the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) Susan had fallen in love and was left by the Doctor, to begin a new life without him. And so the mysteries surrounding Susan were never answered. However, there was a glimpse of Susan's origins in the 1983 anniversary story The Five Doctors. An older Susan was reunited with her grandfather (now played by Richard Hurndall) and recognised that they were on Gallifrey, the Time Lord's home planet, suggesting that maybe she'd been there before. "You're still my grandchild and always will be" The Doctor (1964) In 2013, then Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat was asked if there would ever be a story to find out what happened to Susan. "I don't know that we're ever going to do that as a storyline" was his response. Fourteen years later and Susan finally reappears back in the TARDIS. But the mysteries around her and what her life has been like without the Doctor remain questions still to be answered.
News24
07-05-2025
- Business
- News24
WeightWatchers files for bankruptcy as Ozempic bites
• For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page. The famed US diet company originally known as WeightWatchers said it has filed for bankruptcy but will continue operations while its $1.15-billion (R21 billion) debt is restructured. The company, now known as WW International, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that it said "will eliminate $1.15 billion in debt from the company's balance sheet, and position WeightWatchers for long-term growth and success." "Operations continue with no impact to... more than three million members worldwide for its members," it said in a statement on Tuesday. WeightWatchers has faced mounting debt as it struggled to keep pace with competition, including weight loss drugs such as Ozempic. The company said it "expects (the) reorganization plan to be confirmed in approximately 40 days and to emerge as a publicly traded company." WeightWatchers, founded in 1963, renamed itself "WW" in 2018 as it shifted to a broader marketing strategy promoting wellness beyond weight-loss programs.
