Mumbai: The IIT-Bombay on Monday condoled the death by suicide of B.Tech. First Year Dalit student, Darshan Solanki, terming it as “a great loss to the family and to the IITB community.
In its first reaction, the IIT-B said: “It is unfortunate that such a loss could not be prevented despite the efforts of the Institute and Student Mentors to support our students. A committee has been constituted to investigate the incident.”
The IIT-B held a condolence meeting and observed two minutes of silence in memory of the departed soul, said a spokesperson.
In a shocking incident, Solanki, 18, jumped to his death from the 7th floor of his hostel building in the Powai Campus on Sunday afternoon, after his first semester exams for the Chemical Engineering course a day earlier.
According to certain reports, Solanki reportedly did not heed warning shouts from other co-students who noticed him just before he took the plunge to death.
“While we cannot change what has already happened, we will further increase our efforts to prevent such events in future. We pray that his family gets the strength to bear this loss. The Institute is with his family at this difficult time. We deeply mourn the tragic loss of Darshan’s life,” said the IIT-B.
Earlier on Monday, a student group, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle-IITB had pointed fingers at the IIT-B for alleged discrimination prevalent on the Powai Campus against students from reserved categories, various lapses on the part of the management to address their distress, etc., and sought redressal.
A new film has thrown a spotlight on France’s elite military school, Saint-Cyr, more than a decade after a “testosterone fuelled” hazing ritual ended with the death of a brilliant army officer recruit.
Pour la Francerecounts the tragedy of Jallal Hami, 24, who drowned after officers ordered him and other new recruits to swim an icy lake in heavy gear during a midnight “exercise”.
The recruits entered the water to the sound of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries – a nod to Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now – playing from a speaker. Several had to be dragged out of the water, but the organisers insisted a second group, including Hami, attempt the 50-metre crossing.
The film was selected for last September’s Venice film festival. Photograph: Gophoto/Mizar Films
The film, selected for last September’s Venice film festival and released to positive reviews on Wednesday, was made by the dead man’s brother, the film director Rachid Hami, who said it was not a settling of scores.
“Everybody covered the story of my brother’s death as a news event, but nobody told the real story of the young man who was my brother,” Rachid said. “This is a cinematic project inspired by Jallal’s story, it’s not a documentary, which would have been a cliche.”
Student officer Jallal Hami drowned at the elite Saint-Cyr military academy.
He added: “I had great difficult going back over what happened and had to let time pass to clear my head because you cannot make a film in anger and I wanted this to be a great film, not one about rage or fury.”
Jallal, born in Algeria, was four when his mother, Hadjira, brought him and Rachid, then aged seven, to France in 1992 to escape the north African country’s civil war.
The family settled in the Paris suburb Seine-Saint-Denis, where Jallal excelled at school and went on to elite university Sciences Po, spending a year in Taiwan learning Mandarin. After graduating, he joined the Saint-Cyr military school in Brittany, founded in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, which is the equivalent of the UK’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Hami was described as an “excellent” recruit and put on a fast track for a high-ranking army career. The risk of dying on a battlefield – Mort pour la France – was one he accepted, he told his family.
Rachid Hami directing Pour la France. Photograph: Arnaud Borrel
Hazing and similar initiation rites are banned in France, but on the night of 29 October 2012, Hami and other recruits were woken, ordered to dress and don helmets and were taken out to cross a lake where the water was 9C. It was an exercise in the “transmission of traditions”, they were told. When a first group got into difficulty they were thrown lifebelts but as a second group, including Hami, were halfway across, the spotlight illuminating the lake inexplicably went out and he disappeared. His body was found by firefighters several hours later.
Seven serving and former Saint-Cyr officers – including a general – went on trial for manslaughter in 2020. The state prosecutor said the hazing ritual, fuelled by “uncontrolled testosterone”, had descended into “madness”. Four officers were acquitted and three others given suspended sentences of between six and eight months.
Pour la France tells the story of what happens when ordinary people confront an institution such as the military. Photograph: Gophoto/Mizar Films
The Hami family was doubly enraged to learn the convictions would not be registered on the men’s criminal records. “You have betrayed my brother again,” Rachid Hami said afterwards. “All he wanted was to serve France, the country that had welcomed him.”
French critics have praised Pour la France, selected for last September’s Venice film festival, as a thoughtful and moving treatment of a personal tragedy and what happens when ordinary people confront a closed, conservative and traditional institution such as the French military, nicknamed la grande muette (the great mute) for its silent closing of ranks.
Hami’s family felt he deserved the honour of an official funeral. The army at first refused, arguing he had not fallen in combat, but then relented and gave him a military send off. The young officer’s tricolor-draped coffin was then taken to Père-Lachaise cemetery, in Paris.
Rachid Hami in court opposite the men accused of manslaughter in November 2020. Photograph: Loïc Venance/AFP/Getty Images
“Pour la France reenacts this confrontation, without going overboard, but by describing a complex field of forces and tensions, linked to the history of immigration, as well as to the wounds linked to identity,” wrote Le Monde.
Rachid said he is still angry with the individuals he holds responsible for his brother’s death, but not the military as a whole.
“I wanted to avoid the cliche of the immigrant, north African, Muslim family from the banlieue battling the army. There are already dozens of films like that,” he said. “Instead, this is the story of a young man and his adventures in life. It’s a family odyssey; a contemporary version of the Greek tragedy of Antigone.”
[ad_2]
#wanted #serve #France #brother #film #elite #recruits #initiation #death
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Amaravati: In a shocking incident, a visually impaired 17-year-old girl was brutally stabbed to death by a rowdy sheeter in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district on Monday.
The incident occurred at Tadepalli, in a locality near the official residence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The accused, identified as Raju, had misbehaved with the girl on Sunday and when the girl complained about this to her parents, they along with some locals pulled him up.
Angry over this, Raju hatched a plan to take revenge.
On Monday, when the girl was alone in her house, the accused barged in and attacked her with a knife. Hearing the victim’s cries, neighbours rushed to her house. The girl, who was bleeding profusely, was taken to the Vijayawada government hospital but succumbed on the way.
Raju, who escaped after killing the girl, has reportedly surrendered before police. The accused has a criminal record and was suspected to be high on ganja at the time of attack.
The victim’s family demanded that the police take strong action against Raju. Some locals alleged that the police failed to check the illegal activities of the criminal elements in the area.
SRINAGAR: A man was charred to death after his vehicle caught fire in Panzgam area of Kokarnag in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Monday, officials said here.
Quoting an official the news agency KNO reported that the vehicle suddenly caught fire and the man who was driving it was charred to death.
The man was identified as Shabir Ahmad Rather son of Mohammad Ashan Rather of Panzgam. He was a baker by profession.
“Body has taken by the police for medico-legal formalities,” he said.
Anantnag: A man was charred to death after his vehicle caught fire in Panzgam area of Kokarnag in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Monday, officials said here.
Officials told that the vehicle suddenly caught fire and the man who was driving it was charred to death.
The man was identified as Shabir Ahmad Rather son of Mohammad Ashan Rather of Panzgam. He was a baker by profession.
“Body has taken by the police for medico-legal formalities,” he said—
The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquake stands at 34,878 on the seventh day.
The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority announced on Sunday, that the death toll was 29,605 and 1, 47,934 had been evacuated.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the death toll was 5,273, adding the numbers are expected to reach 7,000.
Meanwhile, 2,400 aftershocks have occurred since the first quake hit the country early Monday morning.
On Sunday, rescue teams managed to pull out many people trapped under the rubble in several Turkish cities. However, hopes for survivors is dwindling.
On the other hand, the Civil Defense in northern Syria announced the end of rescue operations.
The Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center announced that 70 earthquakes were recorded in Turkey on Saturday, ranging between 3 and 4.7 degrees on the Richter scale.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to finish removing the rubble as soon as possible, and to start the process of rebuilding the cities damaged.
In northern Syria, millions of people face more complex conditions in light of the almost complete lack of international aid, despite the announcement of the entry of the first aid convoys provided by the United Nations and Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa border.
In parallel, international warnings rose about the possibility of the spread of some epidemics, especially cholera.
World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Saturday, that the number of people affected by the devastating earthquake reached about 26 million, distributed among 15 million in Turkey and 11 million in Syria.
Mumbai: An 18-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, located in Powai area, allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building located on the campus on Sunday, police said.
The deceased, who hailed from Ahmedabad, was a first-year student of the B.Tech (Chemical) course.
The incident came to light after security guards on the campus spotted the youth lying in a pool of blood, a police official said.
He said the deceased had not left any suicide note and prima facie he jumped from the refuge areas of the hostel building.
“Based on the primary information, we have registered a case of accidental death. Further investigation is underway,” said senior police inspector Budhan Sawant.
Ankara, February 12: The death toll across Turkey and Syria following Monday’s earthquake reached 28,192 on Saturday (local time), reported CNN.
Turkey’s death toll climbed to 24,617, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said in a news conference.
In Syria, the total number of confirmed deaths stands at 3,575, including 2,167 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defence group.
An additional 1,408 deaths have been recorded in government-controlled territories, according to Syrian state media, which cited the country’s health ministry.
Meanwhile, An Indian national missing since the earthquake in Turkey on February 6 was found dead under the debris of a hotel in Malatya, the Indian Embassy in Turkey informed in a tweet on Saturday. The deceased, identified as Vijay Kumar, was on a business trip to Turkey.
“We received a report yesterday that his luggage and passport were found but there wasn’t a body. We were hoping for his well-being, that he would have escaped. His father had passed away around a month back and now this has happened,” said Gaurav Kala, a relative of Vijay Kumar.
Kumar’s family members were in deep shock as they learned of the tragic news. They cried inconsolably. He is survived by his mother, wife, and six-year-old child. He had lost his father about one and a half months back.
“We received a call from Embassy in the afternoon. They wanted confirmation for identification, so we told them about a mark on the left hand. He worked in a company in Bengaluru & left from here on 22nd Jan. He was scheduled to return on 20th Feb, said Kala.
The Indian Embassy in Turkey informed on Saturday that the mortal remains of Kumar have been found.
“We inform you with sorrow that the mortal remains of Shri Vijay Kumar, an Indian national missing in Turkiye since the February 6 earthquake, have been found and identified among the debris of a hotel in Malatya, where he was on a business trip,” the Embassy said in a tweet.
“Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. We are making arrangements for the earliest possible transportation of his mortal remains to his family,” it added.
Ministry of External Affairs had said earlier this month that ten Indians were struck in remote parts of Turkey after the country was hit by two “biggest natural disaster” earthquakes. Still, they are safe while one citizen is missing.
“There are 10 individuals who are stuck in some remote parts of the affected area but they are safe. We have one Indian national missing, on a business visit to Turkey’s Malatya. And he has not been traced for the last two days. We are in touch with his family and the company in Bengaluru,” Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) in Ministry of External Affairs, had said at a media briefing on ‘Operation Dost.’–(ANI)
Dehradun: The family of Vijay Kumar, who died in the earthquake in Turkey, is in shock.
A resident of Kotdwar in Uttarakhand, Vijay Kumar was on a business trip to Turkey when the earthquake struck. His mortal remains were found and identified among the debris of a hotel in Malatya. He left Kotdwar on January 23.
Kumar’s family members were in deep shock as they came to know of the tragic news. They cried inconsolably. Neighbours and relatives came to Kumar’s residence to express their condolences.
Vijay Kumar is survived by his mother, wife, and six-year-old child. He had lost his father about one-and a half months back.
The Indian Embassy in Turkey informed on Saturday that mortal remains of Kumar have been found.
“We inform with sorrow that the mortal remains of Shri Vijay Kumar, an Indian national missing in Turkiye since February 6 earthquake, have been found and identified among the debris of a hotel in Malatya, where he was on a business trip,” the Embassy said in a tweet.
“Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. We are making arrangements for the earliest possible transportation of his mortal remains to his family,” it added.
Ministry of External Affairs had said earlier this month that ten Indians were struck in remote parts of Turkey after the country was hit by two “biggest natural disaster” earthquakes, but they are safe while one citizen is missing.
“There are 10 individuals who are stuck in some remote parts of the affected area but they are safe. We have one Indian national missing, who was on a business visit to Turkey’s Malatya. And he has not been traced for the last two days. We are in touch with his family and the company in Bengaluru,” Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) in Ministry of External Affairs, had said at a media briefing on ‘Operation Dost.’
The death toll from the earthquakes stood at more than 25,000 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria, reports said.
Turkey-Syria earthquake: Death toll tops 25000; 5.3 million people in Syria homeless, says UN
The death toll after devastating multiple earthquakes stands at more than 25,000 in Turkey and northwestern Syria as rescue efforts continue, AlJazeera reported.
Never Miss An Update After Joining This Channel
Join Telegram Group
Click Here
The number of deaths in Turkey rose to 21,848 on Saturday while more than 3,553 were killed in Syria.
United Nations says up to 5.3 million people in Syria may be homeless after the earthquakes, while nearly 900,000 people are in urgent need of hot food in Turkey and Syria.
The Syrian government has approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to quake-hit areas outside its control, according to state media.
Turkey says it is working to open two new routes into rebel-held parts of Syria.
