Irate mobs and Arushi

Raj Kumar died of shock.

It seems "certain influential people of the area forced him to climb a tree on Saturday evening and cut a branch that was entangled in a high voltage wire."

Yet another 'accidental' death of a field laborer. He did not have insurance policies.

An English newspaper reports it : Cops beaten up by irate mob. Most probably the first and last newspaper report on this death. [Thanks to Anu and PSB for sharing this story. I would not have noticed it otherwise.]

Similar was the story of a maid who was apparently butchered by her employer to please the gods last year, in the luxurious Green Park residential area in South Delhi. Maids and servants sat in front of that house in protest. It seems that same person had done this with another maid about an year before that. Police pacified 'irate mob' and cleared the place. Don't know what happened after that.

I see Arushi's [see footnote] photograph on the front page of a newspaper today, once again after a few months.

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[Arushi Talwar : One girl from Noida whose face was on the front pages of newspapers for months together. Needless to say, she was from a well to do family. It was interesting : the first day newspapers carried the news of her death, and said a servant is the main suspect. Next day they figured out that the 'suspect' was also murdered. Police then said her father killed them both. Then it became big news. People came out on streat, demanding justice. TV channels made merry, ran stories one after the other, came with new theories every day. Finally, one day we heard that some 'Nepali' servants did it. Everyone was happy. There was no follow-up news in any newspapers. TV channels turned their camera away from Talwars finally. The only people to raise a meek voice of protest was some Nepali associations. End of story, for all practical purposes. There will be some reference once in a while, some nostalgia. After all, a lot of people -- both storymakers and followers -- lived on this one story for a very long time.]