Blogs
Australian couple threatened to be skinned by men, then harassed by police for tattooing Hindu goddess on shin
Law student Matthew and Emily, both from Melbourne, were planning to stay in the city till February. The two had come to the city nearly four weeks ago as a part of their India tour. Now, fear has made the Australian couple consider leaving the city and even the country.
A group of people harassed an Australian couple at a restaurant in Bengluru on Saturday, even threatening to skin the young man’s leg, for sporting the tattoo of Hindu goddess Yellamma on his shin.
Their ordeal did not end there as the city police not only detained them but also forced the man to apologise to the group for ‘hurting their religious sentiments.’
The incident happened around 2 p.m. when Matthew Gordon (21) and his girl friend Emily Kassianou (20) from Melbourne were spotted by the group.
One of them came to me and confronted me about my tattoo. Soon, they surrounded us and threatened to skin my leg and remove the tattoo,
a shaken Gordon, a law student, told The Hindu on Sunday.
The group soon called in more people and over 25 men gathered outside the eatery, not allowing the couple to leave.
A policeman arrived and said this is India and one couldn’t sport such a tattoo on the leg,
Mr. Gordon recalled. They were taken to the Ashok Nagar police station.
The Australian couple were allegedly given a “dressing-down” and a “lesson on Hindu values” by the police personnel in front of the protesting group.
Policemen forced Matthew to write an apology and we were made to wait for three hours till he did so,
said Ms. Kassianou.
The policemen advised me on Hindu religion and insisted I give a written apology for not covering my goddess tattoo, even as the group just watched. I tried taking law points, but had to finally give in as my girlfriend was in tears as the cops wouldn’t let us go,
Mr. Gordon said.
The letter, addressed to the sub-inspector of Ashok Nagar police station, read:
My name is Matthew visiting from Melbourne, Australia. I am very sorry for offending Hindu religious beliefs by my tattoo. I didn’t know of this auspicious custom in regard to tattoo placement. I will make sure to cover it up until I am in India. Thanking you for educating me on what is appropriate. I am also extremely sorry for using inappropriate language.
Both the sub-inspector and inspector of Ashoknagar police station denied the incident.
On Sunday, Keith’s post read:
Tolerance, understanding and equality is what we live by. I respect India and Hinduism completely. That’s why I spent 35 hours getting a massive Ganesha put on my back and four hours getting the goddess of the lowest rung of Indian society (Yellamma) on the only bit of space I had left on my body. Because my spiritual journey is my decision, as are the markings on my body. I do not deserve to be victimised and have to physically defend myself and my girlfriend every day. She does not deserve sexual abuse, both physical and verbal. We support equality for all, tolerance of everyone and especially for the women in this country. Please support us as we try to bring awareness to crimes of injustice.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Sandeep Patil, termed the matter “trivial.”
Both parties have reached a compromise and there is nothing serious about it,
he said.
What the tattoo artists think about it?
Tattoo artists are divided in their opinion on whether one should exercise caution when s/he wants to get a religious symbol inked.
While some said it was a violation of personal choice, others said it was only fair to refrain from hurting religious sentiments.
Pradeep Menon, a tattoo artist from Koramangala, said he had gone to conventions and seen a lot of people who sported tattoos with pictures of gods and goddesses.
I find it ridiculous. This is a personal preference. Nobody can ask anybody to remove something that is on her/his body. Whenever people say they want a religious symbol as a tattoo, I warn them of consequences, among which would be dealing with activist groups,
Rajgopal, a tattoo artist from Indiranagar, felt that the Australian national had attracted attention probably because he is a foreigner.
Condemning the incident, he said, Your body is a temple and tattooing is a form of art. It shouldn’t matter where you are getting it inked.
Critics condemned the incident and expressed fear that India’s fundamentalist/revivalists are on the same path as Islamist terrorists: defending images of a goddess in the manner in which Islamists went crazy over depictions of their prophet Muhammad.
Shimla-In yet another instance, two private bus operators in Shimla city were seen creating a nuisance for the public by jamming the traffic. A reader clicked some pictures at the BCS bust stop in Shimla city on February 19, 2022, at about 8 PM and shared them with us. The reader alleged that two private bus operators, namely ‘Komal’ and ‘Chadda’, indulged in a verbal spat, most probably over their schedule. While the drivers argued, one of the buses remained parked in the middle of the road, choking the traffic. The staff of these two buses indulged in a verbal spat for about 5-10 minutes during which the general public faced a huge inconvenience. The reader has requested the Traffic Police Shimla to take action against such operators and discourage them from adopting such a bullying attitude that they don’t even hesitate to block the entire road.
Write and Publish Blog on HW
If you have relevant issues/complains that you want the people and the government to see and read about, you can publish blogs on Himachal Watcher. Send us your blogs with pictures/videos at editor [at] himachalwatcher [dot]com
Language: Hindi and English
Note For Multimedia Files: If you have high resolution images/videos (taken with smartphone/camera), then send us the originals through Google Drive or We Transfer or any other file sharing applications that suits you.
Sundernagar-Many people visit the Sundernagar lake in Mandi district and litter along the road. Winds carry all those packets and plastic bottles into the lake. This practice of littering is unlawful because it costs millions in clean-up projects. It portrays a bad picture of an area. Littering is a huge threat to the aquatic life too. In my view, the solution is awareness, responsibility, sensibility and concern for nature. We as a society need to play a big role. At least, dustbins should be installed along the lake. Otherwise, the negligence in the present will affect us in near future.
-Blog and Picture By Divya Acharya, Sundernagar
Write and Publish Blog on HW
If you have relevant issues/complains that you want the people and the government to see and read about, you can publish blogs on Himachal Watcher. Send us your blogs with pictures/videos at editor [at] himachalwatcher [dot]com
Language: Hindi and English
Note For Multimedia Files: If you have high resolution images/videos (taken with smartphone/camera), then send us the originals through Google Drive or We Transfer or any other file sharing applications that suits you.
Shimla-A youth from a small town of the Mandi district – Sarkaghat- started as a freelancer and went on to launch his own start-up in 2014. By 2021, the start-up grew into a company that has garnered international clients and also designed and developed websites and web apps for several Departments of the Himachal Pradesh Government.
Netgen IT Solutions Pvt Ltd- a young agile company- has, so far, developed websites for the Department of Information Technology, Women & Child Development, Rope & Rapid Transport Development Corporation, HP Milk Federation Cooperation, and the HP AIDS Control Society.
Besides, it also developed HimSuraksha Abhiyan App (National Health Mission) and the website of the Department of Tourism & Civil Aviation along with a Services Portal.
Further, the website of the Department of Information & Public Relations and the single window system was also developed by NetGen.
Having developed over 2500 websites, Netgen IT Solutions has an imprint of having worked for clients spread over 25 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia.
Bootstrapped as a Start-Up on 7th July 2014, the company has evolved to offer a diverse set of services for web, e-commerce and mobile solutions that have enabled Global and Indian business to adapt to a Digital First environment. In seven years, this Shimla-based company has carved out a niche for itself.
The company started with a small team of just four people, and today it employs strong-heeled 25 IT professionals. The skillset of web developers, designers, networking specialists, social media marketers and others is expanding with the growth of the company.
To mark the NetGen Foundation Day, the company hosted a live inter-action of the team members with some clients to understand the need for future technologies and solutions for a fast-changing business environment in the shadow COVID pandemic.
Mr Rajneesh Rana, Founder and Managing Director of the company, is a computer science graduate. Speaking about the company’s journey, Rana’s says, “Stepping out from working as a freelancer at the small township of Sarkhaghat, in Himachal Pradesh, to launching a start-up company, was my first step in entrepreneurship. The company was founded on a shoe-string budget with a small capital outlay. After overcoming the initial hesitancy, we’re on the firmer ground today.”
With the growth in demand for IT Services, the company in the initial year faced manpower shortages. The management took to train and equip freshers in a mentorship program to meet its needs for IT Professionals and also to equip others to find gainful employment elsewhere. Netgen till date has trained over 50 freshers with essential and advanced IT skills. Most of them for the first time in their careers got exposure to the IT Industry.
The company’s IT Technical Team today is professionally equipped to work in 20+ technologies that can be deployed across a vast network of industries.
The Netgen team of IT professionals has expanded the services that the company now provides. A multitude of projects employing creative website design-development; customised software products; e-Commerce solutions; server administration – web security – networking services; mobile application design – development; social media marketing; stand completed.
“There is a growing demand for many other IT and IT-enabled services that the company has successfully delivered for Global and Indian clients,” said Rajneesh.
“Since the breakout of the COVID pandemic, the demand for online services has increased. It created an environment that demands moving things onto digital platform, bringing more opportunities for the IT sector ,” added Rajneesh.
“Take the case of the Government of Himachal Pradesh, India. To secure baseline health data of the over 70 lakh residents in the state and to prepare effective strategies for countering the spread of the pandemic in challenging hilly terrain, the state government needed a simple but effective IT-enabled solution to capture the data as fast as possible,” he said.
“The ‘Him Suraksha Abhiyan’ application designed and developed by NetGen IT Solutions was used by thousands of teams spread under 2300+ sub-centres. In just over a month, the software solution created successfully captured the data of over 68 lakh residents of Himachal Pradesh,” he added.
The 70:30 Percent (%) Global – Domestic revenue stream of Netgen has prepared the company to expand both its export and domestic service portfolios, said Rajneesh.
Mr Ravinder Makhaik, Director of the company says, “growing steadily, Netgen is a debt-free, profit-making company. A healthy mix of domestic and international businesses, with sound financials, gives the company strength to take up more challenging projects. Our portfolio of government projects is making good progress.”
Founded as a 1 lakh authorized capital company and with annual revenues rising at a 25 % compounded annual growth rate, the Netgen Board of Directors has decided to expand the authorized capital of the company to Rs 10 lakh to meet future growth needs.
A young leader’s activism combined with the concept of ‘Himachaliyat’ and ‘Virbhadra Singh Vikas Model’ may be a gamechanger for the Congress in Himachal
Paradox in Hatti Community’s Demand for Tribal Status
HP Govt Employees to Get Higher Pay Scale on Completion of Two Years of Service: CM Jairam
Most Covid Restrictions to be Lifted From March 31, Mask and Hand Hygiene to Continue
Home Decor Ideas 2020
