Mumbai, Aug.22 (ANI): A local court here on Saturday granted bail to Mumbai-based TV actress Urvashi Dhanorkar, who has been booked under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Child Labour Act, for allegedly physically abusing her 10-year-old housemaid Rameshwari.
She was produced before the Bandra Holiday Court.
Dhanorkar’s lawyer, Nitin S. Satpute, contended the black marks and swelling on the child’s face were created by bee stings and the burn scars on her forearms were caused by boiling water fallen on her.
“Under the Juvenile Act, my client was arrested. She was produced in the court. Police asked for her remand but the court rejected the police plea and granted her judicial custody. Later, the court granted her bail,” said Satpute.
The actress was arrested on Saturday morning after medical reports confirmed that Rameshwari was physically abused.
Rameshwari was allegedly punched in her eye and was left with black and bruised marks, besides burns on her forearms.
The girl was rescued by her neighbours on Friday (Aug 21) night, when she was playing the children of her employer in the garden.
“When I saw this child her hands were burnt, eyes were red. She was scared. Residents gathered and took her to hospital. After examining, the doctor said it was marks of beating up. Secondly, according to the child labour (laws), hiring any child as a domestic help is a crime. We phoned police and it came for our help,” said Bindu Bhosle, Chairperson of Mahan Shakti a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) and neighbour of Rameshwari. (ANI)
Bollywood Trade News Network
Child star Rubina Ali may have gained an overnight stardom with Oscar winner SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, but 9 year-old slum kid isn’t having the best of the times as it should have been. Infact the girl is trapped in a new dilemma.
If the current reports are to be believed than it is being stated that British tabloids have accused the father of Rubina Ali of allegedly trying to sell her off for a whopping sum of Rs 20 million. The tabloids claim to have done a sting operation against the father. In a bid to escape poverty and life in the slum father Rafiq Qureshi and an uncle had put Rubina up for adoption to the tabloid’s undercover reporters posing as a wealthy family from Saudi Arabia. However Rafiq denied the claim and said that he had gone to meet an Arabian sheikh to discuss about an ad film and had no plans to sell off his daughter.
Reportedly Rubina’s real mother Khurshid, who separated from her husband eight years ago, claimed that Rubina’s future is in danger if she remains with Rafiq. She even approached the police for that matter. The other day Khurshid arrived at Bandra’s Gharib Nagar slums where Rubina lives, and abused everyone. She tried to attack Rubina’s stepmum Munni, but others intervened. Meanwhile, Rafiq’s relatives arrived and tried to convince the media how loving a father Rafiq was and why Rubina should live only with him. Later the police recorded the statements of Khurshid, Rafiq and Rubina.
It is being said that Rubina’s statement did not match with that of Rafiq’s. While on camera she maintained her father’s statement. But off camera she held that when her father asked if she would like to go to Saudi Arabia she was quite gung-ho about it. And all set to go to Saudi.
Well all we can say is that Rubina’s life is not as ordinary as that of slum kid anymore.
Mumbai, Mar 8 (ANI): Ailing Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray was discharged from the Lilavati Hospital here on Sunday. He was undergoing treatment for weakness and fever.
Party sources said Thackeray was discharged at around noon, and ent directly to his residence in suburban Bandra
The 82-year-old Sena Chief was admitted to the Lilavati hospital in Bandra on February 26 after he complained of fever and weakness.
The Sena chief has been meeting visitors since February 28. They include Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and his nephew Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray.
Raj Thackeray visited his uncle twice in hospital. (ANI)
Mumbai, Mar 4 (ANI): Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray is likely to be discharged from Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital on Friday, doctors attending on him said today.
“Thackeray is doing fine, but will be discharged after one or two days,” Dr Narendra Trivedi, Vice-President and hospital spokesperson said.
Thackeray, who is undergoing treatment for weakness and fever had to be kept in the ICU for complete rest.
However, according to Trivedi, now he is doing fine and meeting riends and relatives
Thackeray also interacted with several political leaders such as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal besides his own partymen during the last four days.
The 82-year-old Sena Chief was admitted to Lilavati hospital in Bandra on February 26 after he complained of fever and weakness. (ANI)
Amitabh Bachchan on Wednesday went to the suburban Bandra residence of Shah Rukh Khan’s residence in Bandra, Mumbai and wished him speedy recovery from his shoulder surgery.
SRK underwent the surgery to repair the tear in the main muscle of his left shoulder at the Breach Candy hospital on February 16 and was discharged on Tuesday.
Earlier, Bachchan had a telephonic conversation with Khan during which he told the actor not to take the post- surgery period lightly and avoid any kind of activity.
Two motorcycle-borne miscreants hurled a bottle of kerosene at actor Shah Rukh Khan’s Bandra residence, Mannat, at around 2.30 am on Friday. Nobody was injured.
Security personnel at Khan’s bungalow were unable to note the registration number of the bike in the darkness. A complaint was lodged at the Bandra police station.
According to reports, a fundamentalist group was upset with the use of certain words in the song, Marjaani, marjaani, featuring Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the film Billu.
On Friday morning a group of protesters gathered outside Bandra’s G-7 cinema complex, where Billu was being screened, and broke glass panes and tore away posters.
London, January 27 (ANI): Poor parents of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ stars have accused the film’s producers of exploiting their children.
They claim that the eight-year-olds were poorly paid for working in the film that has won four Golden Globes, and has been nominated for 10 Oscars.
According to them, Azhauddin Ismail and Rubina Ali were paid less than many domestic servants.
While Rubina is said to have been paid just 500 pounds for a year’s work, Azharuddin received 1,700 pounds.
Fox Searchlight, the film’s American distributors, disputed this by saying the fees were more than three times the average annual salary an adult in their neighbourhood would receive.
“The welfare of Azhar and Rubnia has always been a top priority for everyone involved with Slumdog Millionaire,” the Telegraph quoted a spokesman as saying.
He, however, would not disclose the actual sum paid to the children.
While British director Danny Boyle has spoken of how he set up trust funds for Rubina and Azharuddin and paid for their education, their families say that they have received no details of the trust funds set up in their names.
The parents say that they hoped the film would be their ticket out of the slums, but both kids continue to live in grinding poverty.
Their parents say that the film’s success made them realise how little their children had been paid.
Rubina and Azharuddin live a few hundreds yards from each other in a tangle of makeshift shacks alongside Mumbai’s railway tracks at Bandra.
The illegal hut Azharuddin’s family resided in has been demolished by the local authorities, and he currently sleeps under a sheet of plastic tarpaulin with his father, who suffers from tuberculosis.
“There is none of the money left. It was all spent on medicines to help me fight TB. We feel that the kids have been left behind by the film. They have told us there is a trust fund but we know nothing about it and have no guarantees,” Azharuddin’s father, Mohammed Ismail, said.
Rubina’s father, Rafiq Ali Kureshi, a carpenter by profession, broke his leg during filming and has been out of work since.
“I am very happy the movie is doing so well, but it is making so much money and so much fame and the money they paid us is nothing. They should pay more. I have no regrets. I just had no knowledge of what she should have been paid,” he said.
Boyle and the film’s producer Christian Colson defended their arrangements for the children.
“(We have) paid painstaking and considered attention to how Azhar and Rubina’s involvement in the film could be of lasting benefit to them over and above the payment they received for their work,” they said in a written statement.
The statement added: “The children had never attended school, and in consultation with their parents we agreed that this would be our priority.Since June 2008 and at our expense, both kids have been attending school and they are flourishing under the tutelage of their dedicated and committed teachers.
Financial resources have been made available for their education until they are 18. We were delighted to see them progressing well when we visited their school and met with their teachers last week.”
It further said that a “substantial lump sum” would be paid to the children on completion of their studies.(ANI)
Mumbai, Jan 19 (ANI/Business Wire India): UK’s leading serviced office provider Avanta which had started its India operations in September 2008 by launching its first centre in Connaught Place, Delhi, today announced its consolidation and expansion plans for Indian market with launching two more serviced office centres in Mumbai.
The company today launched two other serviced office centers, Oval House and Platina, simultaneously in Fort and Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai. Oval House which is located in main business district of Mumbai, next to Stock Exchange at Fort, has 20,000 sq ft of space spread over seven floors.
The other facility, Platina, is located at Bandra Kurla Complex, which is becoming one of Mumbai’s most prestigious business addresses. The Platina centre spread over 2 floors with 50,000 sq ft of office space offers the same high quality standards along with a panoramic view of the city.
Both the office spaces will offer its customers modern, high tech accommodation for businesses – large or small – from two people, furnished executive suites to entire floors that are configured to meet each customer’s needs. As with all Avanta serviced office centres, both Avanta centres in Fort and BKC feature cutting edge communications technology, including VoIP telephone systems, scaleable internet access and dedicated client server rooms.
“In the context of the current global economic slowdown, Avanta serviced offices provides companies with immediate occupation of top quality office space for minimal up-front cash requirements and total flexibility in terms of length of stay. Our Delhi centre launched in September last year, has received encouraging response from companies and we are sure our centres in Mumbai too will repeat the success we saw in Delhi”, said Sean Morgan, Managing Director, Avanta, India and Middle East.
The group plans to expand serviced office centres from 3 to 12 in key metros at an investment of $20 million in next three to four years. The initial focus will be to consolidate its existing business along with developing serviced office centres in Mumbai and New Delhi.
Avanta’s mission is to provide organizations of all sizes and types with what they really want: well-equipped, non-branded and high quality office accommodation in prime locations; flexible services and contracts; transparent pricing and exceptional value for money. (ANI)
