25 year-old in-house lawyer and ILS Pune grad Pallavi Purkayastha found murdered in her Mumbai flat, stabbed and with her throat slit. Her body was discovered by her live-in boyfriend, an associate at JSA [PTI]
Litigation start-up: Former Luthra & Luthra Delhi indirect tax associate and NLU Jodhpur 2008 grad Sameer Jain starts up a litigation and tax advisory practice Pamasis Law with his brother, former Fox Mandal Bangalore litigation associate and Lucknow university 2006 grad Sidhharth Jain [Legally India]
Delhi HC approves Press Council of India’s mandate to regulate media-reporting of children, under guidelines framed by an ad-hoc committee appointed by the court in February. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting directive to all TV Channels to not disclose the identity of delinquents when reporting about them, and comply with Cable Television Networks Rules 1994 which prohibit airing of programmes denigrating children [PTI] [Press Information Bureau]
SC upholds Madhya Pradesh gov’t’s decision to compulsorily retire a judge for unsatisfactory performance. Judge RC Chandel had earlier sought help of a former MP in getting adverse remarks against him expunged from annual confidential reports of years 1993 and 1994. SC justice Lodha said that “like Caesar’s wife” judges’ conduct must be above all suspicion, adding that Chandel demonstrated a “most shocking and unbecoming conduct” in approaching the MP [PTI]
Comments
The only person who could have saved Pallavi's life in the true sense is the one who chose to take it. Why couldn't the murderer choose to spend quality time with his loved ones instead of running around killing people?
Ironical, innit?
I have seen and liaised with dozens of young-gen lawyers, both male and female - and at the risk of sounding horribly insensitive now, would like to list some of my observations here:
1. If you have a "cause" to flaunt, do it - but not at the risk of making yourself stand out in society like a flag-bearer for that.. At least not until you have created your own position impregnable (in terms of physical safety at least!)..
2. Your education as a lawyer gives you very powerful weaponry in terms of understanding of systems, procedures and institutions.. but at the risk of again sounding "old-school", i don't think most young professionals really understand the capacity for "lowness" amongst human beings..
3. The status you enjoy through your close/near one's privileged standing in society will count for nothing in the twisted head of someone who can't see beyond the most visible aspects of a personality. We can all strive for creating a society where it is acknowledged that what I am seen to be is really "Their" problem... but until that happens, what I make someone else think about me, is as much my own problem as theirs!!
4. A law-school campus, despite how "dog-eat-dog" it may seem when you are In there, is not really representative of what the "real world" is like.. It is significantly more ruthless and predatory.. Even well-cut suits and designer clothes do not take away the animal from within - a pathan watchman is, well, a pathan watchman!
5. This is not to say do not have a "cause" or do not "fight" for what you believe in.. just that your fight will live if (and only if) you live.
6. It is good to have "attitude" and audacity.. but in most situations, better to have common sense.
7. It is good to dress as you wish.. better to dress as your environment reasonably expects you to..
8. What seniors, judges and clients will remember you best and longest for, is the creativity and the laser-edge you bring in to your work.. not the dress, not the make-up, not the mannerisms. These are most noticeable to the people who you would rather Not notice you...
Written in anguish. And with a prayer for the soul who has passed on... May she rest in peace.
Sicko!!!!
Unfortunately, what this comment exemplifies is also a mirror of society and the profession, and it is regrettably not the first time I've heard such views either. And the comments on the latest TOI story are as bad/worse.
I do not know if rational discussion can make a difference to change such ingrained perceptions, which 'Old Lawyer' possibly sincerely holds.
What is Sicko and despicable is that a young person was identified and isolated and murdered(correct - by a psychopath, in a particular environment..).. this may not have been, if if if..
That is despicable.
Try and relive the young "couple"s life as perceived by their immediate society in the past 8/9 months in that place in Wadala, not "New Cuffe Parade" or whatever the name they want to sell it under (even today surrounded by all the "camps" that society is hemmed in - by truckers, bootleggers, squatters and criminals of all ilk).. not by those who have the benefit of a wonderful college education and a global outlook to life, people and relationships...
I agree that the extreme end of this argument is perhaps Talibanisation.. and no one can advocate that (at least not from what one sees and hears on a media largely owned by Western funds)!
But be sensitive to where you are, you cannot wish away the rest of the real world - is all I can say..
if- she had work full length clothes and covered her face
if- she had said ji and namaste everytime she met the security guard
if- she had stayed in a girl's hostel
these are the ifs you are talking about, isn't it-
Tell me Sir, what is your real name? Amar Jyoti Kalita???
Women Do Not Exist for the Purposes of Your Boner
A lot of heterosexual men get very angry when women don't look the way they think women "should" look. But guess what? "Should" is not a thing. Women's bodies are none of your business. Women's body hair is none of your business. What women weigh is none of your business. What women wear is none of your business. Whether or not women want to fuck you is none of your business, unless they do want to fuck you, in which case you should go for it (high-five!). [http://jezebel.com/5930663/what-no-one-else-will-tell-you-about-feminism]
Very politically correct-western-toomuchsoaps of you.
[/quote]
For heaven's sake Old Lawyer, at least talk like a lawyer! It could have happened any woman... A married woman whose husband was away, a woman living with another woman... it could have happened to ANY woman who was alone at home at that time... I doubt she was singled out because she had a lifestyle that she had...
Second... "a Pathan watchman is a Pathan watchman" (not going into how despicable and judgmental that comment is)... Did she hire him? Did she recommend his recruitment or facilitate a background check? Highly doubt it..
As regards your comment on attitude... So you do suggest that women in this country stop rebuking men? Or do you suggest that they stop talking to other unknown men altogether? Like a woman should stop talking to the even the milkman, electrician, plumber, watchman, paper boy, grocery store boy... lest any of them feel offended and try to attack her?
I agree that the extreme end of this argument is perhaps Talibanisation.. and no one can advocate that (at least not from what one sees and hears on a media largely owned by Western funds)!
But be sensitive to where you are, you cannot wish away the rest of the real world - is all I can say..[/quote]
Apart from the fairly despicable use of quotation marks around the word couple, I have a small problem with what you say. You're basically suggesting that people should do and say things only if they're going to be acceptable to the society that they're doing and saying these things in. Does your comment achieve this standard? It seems fairly unacceptable to the majority of people on this forum (the society, in this case). So if someone was to kill you (or hack your computer as we're talking about an online community), will your first thought be to say "well, I shouldn't have said that on LI"?
Probably not.
What you're saying isn't a mild form of talibanization, it is talibanization. And talibanization isn't just bad because the west wants you to believe its bad, its bad for the same reasons that sati is bad, widow remarriage bans are bad, and torture is bad. It's bad because people's rights are made subject to the whims and fancies of the society that surrounds them, and, as Kian pointed out, that society consists of people like you, who believe that by virtue of being successful or different and being proud of being successful or different, young people are committing some great crime, because they're not aspiring to be exactly like you.
We have redacted the boyfriend's name, since he must be going through a very hard time at the moment, although his name has been reported in pretty much all other newspapers and the PTI article we linked to.
We have also made a separate page for the Pamasis start-up, so comment threads can be kept separate.
http://www.legallyindia.com/201208103006/Law-firms/luthra-delhi-and-fox-bgl-associates-start-lit-practice
I am sorry for any upset caused by the juxtaposition, which was not intended.
Warm regards,
Kian
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Rebuked-watchman-kills-young-law-graduate/articleshow/15428182.cms
I am shocked that TOI is not even moderating the comments there - people have reached a fully new low that is very very worrying and telling of the pscyho-ness that exists right around us.
So out of sheer respect to the victim and her family - please just disable comments on this thread.
Exactly like, by waving one's own flag (of whatever one's 'modern' beliefs may be), it does not...
So please try to see that alternate worlds exist - and not the only ones that you are most comfortable in.
Once again, I am glad that you do get angry about "my ilk" (which here in India is a Massive number, hello hello) and hope you will take steps so that no other parent may suffer such utter grief and loss..
Also I heard that a young man of 26 died of a heart attack at a law firm at Nariman Point.
I know it might not have saved the poor kid, but food for thought - are such timings and work pressure doing anybody any good.
Do note that these kind of timelines and timings is something new to India as in it started in the later nineties.
I am afraid that there would be a lot of health issues to worry about in the years to come.
A humble request - do wake up before it's too late.
Your well wisher
Solicitor
Someone who doesn't worry about time-sheets and appraisals any more.
c'est le vie c'est la guerre n'est pas
As such this issue primarily relates to lack of deterrence in law on hand and on other the falling moral values that do not restrain a lust soaked maniac to deprive a youngster of her life. This could have been any other lady and a non-lawyer, as well, married or unmarried, as rightly pointed out by an earlier commentator.
Law firms/employers/parents and potential victims must seek to plan and be prepared for any such future incidents with the knowledge/understanding that we cannot change our policing and prosecution systems and that we will never be able to instill fear for criminal/illegal acts. Our legislative, bureaucratic, policing, judicial systems are to blame alongwith the mindset that afflicts employer-employee relationships. How long shall we wear of a Ruchika, Jessica or Pallavi?
Law firms and other employers do need to appreciate that they thrive because of their employees. Personal lives of people involved in the legal industry, whether be it in litigation, law firms or companies is invariably in mess. There is hardly any time for anything. Very few people have decent personal lives.
Secondly, as far as law firms are concerned, females are also required from time to time in the big firms to work late at night. Most firms do not have provision for a home drop. However, youngsters coming out of the new day law schools, throng to these law firms for the money on offer as well as for a role in the headline grabbing multimillion dollar deals. It is a system built on revenues, timesheets and has no concern for the safety and healthy lives of the associates that are the life blood of the system. Lets instill a few more human values in the system. This will immensely benefit the system.
Thirdly, parents of youngsters, especially females, must take a little more care in overseeing the worktimings of their wards and the safety systems in place of accomodation, especially where the ward lives alone in a big city.
Hope we develop holistic ways and means to avoid repetitions of such incidents in the future and an environment where females can live and work safely. This would be in national interest, else the country will be deprived of the productivity from almost half of its population.
Would this act of perversion against society at large fall within this. Just because Pallavi was a lawyer, u thought u could get “masala” value? Does thelawyer.com publish these kinda stories?
I am sorry, but this story did is not to be put up on LI. Kindly take this story out. Else, start a different page with links to all crime stories in India.
I will request to one who loved Pallavi and are hurt by this act of violence to stop the anger in them. Anger is violence which to took away this life. Please don't seek revenge. Lets pray for soul who did this. How weak is his mind and soul suffers.
Please forgive him he doesn't know what he did. He is a fellow and one of our kind. Lets give him chance to repent for what he did and say sorry to Pallavi.
However, we have usually covered lawyers who have passed away, and most lawyers in Mumbai had quickly heard about this story through the main stream press coverage.
If the law is a fraternity, then surely many lawyers want to be kept informed about what happens to sisters and brothers in the profession, even if the news is as tragic and as sad as in this case.
Warm regards
Kian