Without the snazzy graphics and collagen-filled lips of the real C.S.I. the totally fabulous C.S.Aye team consisted of internationally acclaimed crime writer, Val McDermid and forensics expert extraordinaire, Niamh Nic Daeid who often appears on BBC Radio 4 to explain forensic science to the general public with ease and she was interviewed for the wonderful Life Scientific programme.
The hour in their company at the Edinburgh International Book Festival event flew by and it was full of fascinating information about a world that most of us are rarely touched by but nonetheless find
It was just an ordinary evening one day in Delhi way back in 1997 when people went to their local cinema to catch the latest blockbuster. But ordinary soon turned into tragedy as a fire that started in the parking lot engulfed the cinema building itself.
Fire exits had been blocked and building safety norms were not followed by the owners of the cinema. As the fire struck, in the ensuing panic 59 men, women and children (some as young as 4 and 6 years old) lost their lives.
Eighteen years later and following an epic battle through the Indian legal system a verdict was passed by the Supreme Court that the
Well, I hardly need to explain the title and the background news story. Shocking on so many levels for so many people. 24 hour rolling news, debates across current affairs programmes had almost every angle covered.
In homes and offices over the world the general public debated the meaning of freedom of speech. What does freedom of speech mean to you? The freedom to offend? Standing up for the rights of other people you disagree with to offend? Why should all Muslims apologise for the crimes of crazy people or reassure others that we are not terrorists?
I’m part of a Muslim family in Britain so what was our reaction?
Sexual assault against women in India, particularly Uttar Pradesh, seems to be taking turn for the worst as rapists become emboldened by the lack of police investigation and political sympathy in favour of the criminal. In the last fortnight four women have been raped and hung from trees by their own dupatta (scarf) or sari.
These crimes are outrageous enough but even more so are the continuous foot-in-mouth statements from the chief minister of the state, his father and a growing chorus of male chief ministers from other states. I watched a TV discussion on NDTV (channel 511 on Sky) where a representative of the UP government repeatedly stated ‘what about men who are wrongly accused?’
It will come as no surprise to you to hear that “Sex Law & Crimes” was the most popular module during my law degree. I love studying the subject, the academic analysis and historical analysis of sex law in England.
There was a case heard this month by the Canadian Supreme Court that literally sent shivers down my body. It is so shocking that it deserves analysis, and for once, don’t panic reading ahead because the court made the right decision.
When I first heard the story of the two British women caught with 11kg of cocaine in their luggage in Peru I felt so sorry for them. They had been forced to, innocent victims, could it happen to any of us? Then my cousin who is about their age walked in and was certain they did it. She said girls get duped on holiday resorts as they think it’s glamorous and that they can get rich quick.
Michaella McCollum Connolly, who lives in Northern Ireland, and Melissa Reid, from Scotland have made guilty pleas in order to
Mumbai used to be one of the safest cities for women… in Mumbai women can stay out late without worries. These are a couple of comments I have heard repeatedly on the near blanket coverage of the recent Mumbai gangrape story. A 22 year old photojournalist out on an assignment with a colleague was violently sexually assaulted by five men in the early evening of a central Mumbai area, albeit an abandoned mill.
A wake up call or is there a collective selected memory loss?
This week”s nomination is for Nick Ross, a mister nobody that used to present Crimewatch on BBC1. He has written a book on crime since a career presenting must be the same as clocking up degree hours in criminology. The book is being serialised in the Sunday Mail, who reads that??
The Philpott case sends shivers up us all. There were several programmes on yesterday that went over the case (the couple and their friend having been found guilty of manslaughter) and I was moved to tears watching one of them. I guess it was worse because I was with my baby nephew and we were curled up on the sofa together.
You’ll know the case facts but at the risk of going all Daily Mail, how on earth were 11 children allowed to live in a 3 bedroom house?
Princess Diana’s ‘Mr Wonderful’ also known as Pakistani heart surgeon, Dr Khan is reported to be pursuing maximum damages from News International after Scotland Yard informed him it was possible his phone had been hacked.
Dr Khan is of course one of the 600 potential new phone hacking victims
Delhi Meri Hai… ‘Delhi is mine’ ad campaign currently running on the radio.
The awful Delhi gang rape at the end of last year cast a thick cloud over city and its residents. Regular Chatterboxes will remember I spend half the year in this crazy/amazing city. When I arrived back in the first week of January the media and locals were soul searching and digesting the gravity of what happened.
It’s now the end of February and I have listened to various radio stations every morning whilst doing my yoga moves
I’ve never seen a bullet and I’ve never held a gun. I am of course British where guns are not the norm. After the awful shooting incident at the school in the USA the gun debate is back in the front pages over there.
The Mayor of Newark, USA, appeared on a talk show recently showing his Calibre Collection: a collection of bracelets made from melted down guns and bullets seized
Last night’s BBC Panorama on Jimmy Saville has left me slightly shaken. I cannot quite figure out what the agenda was behind this programme but the outcome was to clear the BBC of any wrong doing’s in not airing the BBC Newsnight report in November 2011.
Are the BBC along with other institutions not to be held accountable for 5 decades of abuse by one of its employees under its guardianship and roof?
A story broke today about an Italian local government officer who slashed the tyres of a disabled man’s car as he complained that the minister was using the disabled parking spot. Yesterday news broke out from the Great Stiletto that the head of the tax collection agency had been arrested
The outbreak of Jimmy Saville allegedly molesting several young girls and rape has caused great concern amongst the British public. The issue raised for me in this whole tragedy is why, when people such as the former colleagues and staff including the former BBC chief Lord Michael Grade had heard rumours, they did not take it any further.
His family are outraged at the allegations and ask for his reputation not to be tarnished as he is not alive to defend himself. However, the number of women are growing on a daily basis and if he did do this then his victims need to be heard and full inquiry needs to take place at the BBC who housed Mr Saville for his career.
A new rising crime spreading across the country is stealing plants from front gardens.
I couldn’t believe that people were going around like little garden gnomes in the middle of the night walking off with peoples pansies and hyacinths, until I visited my aunt on Sunday and asked where her two extremely large terracotta pots were. They were stolen one night from outside her front door.
Thieves target particular areas, of course the more affluent for their more expensive flowers and pots, and resell the items.
Six Sikh worshippers were killed in the USA today by a ‘domestic terrorist’ and this is only days after the gunman broke loose on Batman fans in Aurora, Colorado.
After awful atrocities like these there often appears to be much hand-wringing and squirming amongst politicians who at once want to show sympathy whilst distancing themselves from the gun law debate.
Last year while I was driving I listened to a Radio 4 programme about new-born babies that were stolen from mothers and families in Spain deemed unfit to be parents while Spain was under the dictatorship of General Franco. This story has come into the media spotlight once more as an 80 year old Spanish nun attended court on 12 April accused of being involved in alleged baby stealing.
A man who won backing from Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis on the BBC Dragons’ Den was charged with fraud and jailed for two years and eight months.
Jean-Claude Baumgartner duped the dragons claiming he had the sole rights to a ‘satnav for skiers’ and when he received the investment he blew it on himself instead of investing it in the business.
Can you imagine being watched, followed and terrorised? Can you imagine feeling frightened, unsafe and reclusive? Can you imagine wondering what you have done to make you a victim? How can he/she be everywhere but nowhere?
They know you but you don’t know them. They can see you but you can’t see them. They are watching you and you don’t even know it.
It’s not an advert for blockbuster horror movie but real life for many stalked victims.
British celebrity chef, Antony Worall Thompson was caught shoplifting cheese and wine from his local Tesco and has been given a police caution. Shame, shame we know your name. In his released statement he talks of getting treatment. Is shoplifting an illness? I am not aware of this.
No, I am not talking about the riots, but unpaid internships.
Once the culture of the arts, unpaid internships are now quite common in many industries but these companies could face legal action as they are breaking employment laws.
Forced marriages were on the agenda in British politics today under a new guise. To protect British borders.
Prime Minister, David Cameron, would like to see forced marriages criminalised despite the Home Secretary rejecting requests from pressure groups only a month ago.
Following on from Bubbly’s theme of gold accessories in your wardrobe, did you know that Asian neighbourhoods are being targeted by burglars for their gold? The months of July and August are particularly bad as they are notorious for Asian weddings.
I remain shocked at the unfolding events in London and other major cities. This morning I couldn’t persuade a taxi to take me to a photoshoot and had to lug my bags and props around the tube! What I am unable to understand is the level of destruction that appears to be without thought, cause or even with at least a loose motive of stealing something valuable or useful.
Friends from around the world have been contacting me to ask if I’m okay as images of London’s riotous weekend fire across their screens (fortunately I’m not near the action at all). I found it very interesting that our political leaders did not express their concern about the safety of Londoners
There was an interesting debate on TV discussing whether being witness to a crime is worth it or if as citizens we are better off not getting involved. According to some members of the panel witnesses are let down by the police and the legal system
I can imagine there have been many women who have thought about chopping their man’s penis off but how many actually do it. I read this story on BBC news on Catherine Kieu Becker and was totally aghast. I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like for any man to wake up to his wife castrating him.
Don’t you feel sick at recent developments in the phone hacking scandal? It is truly scandalous that it is now alleged that News of the World hacked into Milly Dowler’s voicemail. Apparently the hacker deleted messages to make space for new messages to come through. What on earth qualifies a hacker to determine what is a relevant message? What if the police concluded that Milly had simply run away? Milly’s poor parents would have been given false hope that she was still alive.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released on bail and freed from house arrest as the case against him collapses thanks to his victim’s past and our prejudices.
The victim has a shady past and so now, according to an article in the New York Times, although the police privately believe DSK probably is guilty it will be a difficult case to win. The police compared it to cases such as when prostitutes are raped where the perpetrator can often get away.
It’s a story that would confirm my mum’s long-held belief that my generation of British Asians are not very bright when it comes to dealing with real South Asians as they are far too chalaak (clever). An Indian man, his wife and his brother have been arrested in Delhi for befriending people of Indian origin in the UK to find out what property they owned in India
At the beginning of this week, MPs were calling to criminalise forced marriages. The Government has a “forced marriage unit” which handles around 300 cases a year but The Telegraph has reported that the figure could be as high as 8,000 a year.
What a difficult issue to deal with – if you are a young person and your family is able to bully you into a forced marriage, then you are also less likely to be a person confident enough to report it to anyone.
After reading one of today’s newspapers, I had a chilling thought. What happens if someone falls in love with you and it’s not reciprocated? Two unfortunate women in India found out: one was beheaded and the other was doused in kerosene and died in hospital, her mother also murdered by the same vengeful man.
I tell others of stories like this not as a side-show spectacle
There is a story in one of today’s newspapers detailing a number of gruesome murders of women in Assam accused of being witches. Yes, it is still 2011 and you haven’t woken up after being in a 300 year long coma.
Forced marriages were on the agenda in British politics today under a new guise. To protect British borders.
The Chatterjis Blog 
Knobhead of The Week
This week”s nomination is for Nick Ross, a mister nobody that used to present Crimewatch on BBC1. He has written a book on crime since a career presenting must be the same as clocking up degree hours in criminology. The book is being serialised in the Sunday Mail, who reads that??
He has likened women
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