Andhra Pradesh: A Hyderabad cop, when caught red-handed accepting a Rs 4,000 bribe by the state’s anti-corruption bureau, showed extraordinary presence of mind by swallowing all the eight Rs 500 notes. But his luck ran out when doctors at the Osmania General Hospital were able to make him disgorge the not fully swallowed notes.
Bihar: A stall at the Sonepur cattle fair in Bihar became the ultimate tourist trap, when its owner charged a pair of Dutch tourists Rs 10,000 for four samosas in November, claiming they had aphrodisiac qualities. Cops later made him return the change—Rs 9,990.
Maharashtra: The Bombay High Court delivered a measure of delayed justice to a young woman divorced by her husband for
having pimples on her face. While granting the divorce in 2002, a family court had observed that the "repulsive condition of the wife is undoubtedly tragic for the wife but this is traumatic for the spouse" and upheld the husband’s argument that the pimples prevented him from consummating the marriage. Six years later, ruling on the young woman’s petition, the court expunged the family court’s remarks.
Jharkhand: The Heavy Engineering Corporation in Jharkhand agreed in July to pay a compensation adding up to all of Rs 9,70,000 to 24 of its employees because it had paid them Re 1 less than the salary they were due for as long as 30 years. The matter snaked its way through courts and rounds of negotiation before finally being settled in the employees’ favour. Five of the 24 are dead, the other 19 have retired from service.
Haryana: For 50 years, this couple wanted a child. The husband, Bala Ram, a farmer in Haryana’s Jind district, even ‘married’ his wife Rajo Devi’s sister, hoping she would give him one. Finally, in December 2008, Rajo delivered him a golden wedding anniversary present, at the ripe old age of 70: a baby girl.IVF da jawab nahin!
Kerala: Acting on a complaint from employees who count donations at the Sabarimala hill shrine, the Kerala State Human RightsCommission intervened in May to ensure that they would no longer have to take off their underwear at work. Five years ago, after thefts were reported from the shrine’s strong room, employees (all men) were made to work in only a dhoti, with nothing underneath.
Gujarat: An unhappy Gujarati widow, 70-year-old Kanta-devi, taught her son a macabre lesson when she wrote in her will that he would get nothing but her thumb. When her son reached the medical college where her body was kept, he was duly handed over his unnerving legacy. It was her maid who got her property and money.
Uttar Pradesh: In a severe case of road rage, a young woman in Meerut bit off the ear of an army jawan during a traffic-related altercation in November. The man, Gulbeer Singh, had already lost an eye in the Kargil operation. While Singh was rushed off to hospital with his ear in a bottle, the young woman, a student at an air hostess training institute, said she had acted in self-defence. Last heard, the police had not bought her explanation.
