Latest news with #Priyadarshini
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Before hashtags and headlines: Students who fought for Mattoo
New Delhi: For many in this generation, the name Priyadarshini Mattoo barely rings a bell, but for those who know, it echoes with pain, injustice, and a haunting silence. Her case was not just about a brutal crime — it was about a nation's collective heartbreak. It was the sheer emotions of many that fuelled the long, relentless battle for justice. Priyadarshini was just 25 when she was found strangled in her home in 1996. A decade later, in 2006, a group of students — many still in school or college — came together to lead the 'Justice for Priyadarshini' campaign. They rallied together, knocked on doors, held vigils and demanded answers. They may not have known Priyadarshini personally, but her story felt personal. Their movement reignited public memory, and under growing pressure, Delhi High Court took up the case for day-to-day hearings. "The brutality of the case sparked national outrage. But over the years, that outrage faded — overshadowed by new headlines and collective forgetting," said Vivek Raina, who was part of the campaign. You Can Also Check: Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi Another member was Aditya Razdan, now working with an MNC, who still remembers the weight of the Mattoo family's pain. "They were Kashmiri Pandits, displaced migrants who built their lives back from scratch. They had no power, no influence. But they believed in the system. They got their daughter into law school, thinking education would empower her. And then this happened. In her own home. In the capital." For Dhruv Suri, then a law student and now a lawyer, the memory of Priyadarshini's father, Chaman Lal Mattoo, remains vivid. "His determination was the only reason the case stayed alive. Even when he was exhausted, he never gave up. He believed the judicial system existed for the common man. He used to say, 'It must deliver justice.' But when the trial court acquitted the accused, despite acknowledging his likely guilt, he was devastated. " Despite this, Mattoo never stepped away. "Even in his old age, he would show up for every hearing, speak to the media, and meet activists like us," said Suri. "The public support gave him hope. People came out on the streets, and journalists ensured his voice was heard." That year, HC overturned the trial court's acquittal and convicted Santosh Singh of rape and murder. A few months later, it handed down a death sentence. "That judgment mattered," said Raina. "It showed justice could be delayed but not denied. But then came the twist." In 2010, Supreme Court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. "We were heartbroken," said Suri. "We connected with the family… it felt like justice slipped again. Still, we took some comfort in the fact that a conviction was upheld." Raina remembers meeting Priyadarshini's father once toward the end. "He was frail. His pain was unmistakable. I wasn't married back then. Now I have a daughter. Now I understand his desperation, his helplessness… What justice did he really get?" Priyadarshini's family slowly withered away in the long, painful fight for justice. Her mother died first, then her father — without getting closure. Her siblings, perhaps worn down by grief, remained distant from the struggle. What remains of Priyadarshini today is not just a name in a legal file, but the memories her father clung to. Suri recalls how he always carried her photos, spoke of her smile, her dreams. "Her legacy was his only reason to live. And now he's gone too." Aditya Razdan also met Mattoo during those years. "He barely spoke. He was just… broken. The system failed him." As talk of the convict's potential release resurfaces, those who once led the charge are watching in disbelief. "Ask an 18-year-old today, and they probably haven't heard of Priyadarshini," said Raina. "What message are we sending if he walks free?" Suri added, "He wasn't some misguided youth. He was a law student, the son of an influential man. What are we telling society — that such a person gets another shot at life while the girl he killed gets forgotten?" Razdan said Priyadarshini's father feared this exact moment. "He knew once he was gone, the case would slowly be forgotten. And here we are."
India Gazette
16-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
VP Jagdeep Dhankhar arrives in Puducherry for 3-day visit
ANI 16 Jun 2025, 02:59 GMT+10 New Delhi [India], June 16 (ANI): Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar arrived in Puducherry on Sunday on a three-day official visit, according to the official statement. The Vice President, who is staying at the Judges' Guest House on the Puducherry Beach Road, will participate in a discussion with students at JIPMER Medical College tomorrow, Monday, June 16, at 4 pm. He said that traffic will be stopped on the road, and considering the traffic congestion, the Education Department has ordered that schools be closed by 2 pm on Monday, June 16. In this regard, the Director of School Education, Priyadarshini, has said in a press release that all government and private schools in the Puducherry region should release students by 2:00 pm on Monday, June 16. The press release also states that school principals and inspectors should make necessary arrangements in advance and inform parents and students. The transport monitoring team should take the necessary steps to pick up students using government-provided transport facilities according to the new times. (ANI)
The Hindu
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
The Strangers We Know art exhibition explores disconnect among kith and kin
The Strangers We Know art exhibition, currently on at Neighbour Gallery in Kesavadasapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, is divided into two by a monochrome partition filled with photographs from the exhibit titled Surge by Chennai-based photographer Priyadarshini Ravichandran. The black and white portraits are displayed in a grid, bordering the entrance to another room where the rest of photos from the series are showcased. On the opposite wall are art installations by Thiruvananthapuram-based artist Sanath Sugathan, faintly boasting shades of green, blue, brown and more. Unevenly spaced and unique in form, the works range from acrylic paintings to sketches by the artist wrapped around the gallery's pillar. However, despite the evident contrast, the artists and their art are tethered by their disconnect with the familiar and the familial, 'attempting to cope with the fragility of blood ties while also celebrating the connections they experienced with strangers.' Surge solely consists of pigment-printed photographs captured by Priyadarshini during a workshop in Cambodia. The rest of the exhibit includes an accordion photobook with pictures glued to it in a checkerboard pattern and two larger photos on each side, showcased on a wall. The photos stemmed from Priyadarshini's need to capture a 'loss of connection' with her sibling back home. Portraits of 'strangers, animals, trees, rocks and cityscapes became placeholders for articulating the complexity of my relationship,' she says. 'I made Surge from an insuppressible need to free myself from the guilt I felt due to an estrangement. My process and pace of taking photographs was rigorous, as if to express myself even when communication had ceased,' says Priyadarshini, a winner of the Parasol prize by V&A Museum, a prestigious international award for women photographers. Another exhibit by Priyadarshini is Paattu Class, a 15-minute documentary made with footage compiled over the last 10 years. It deals with the relationship between the photographer's mother and the mother's aunt. Priyadarshini studies music from the two, and these lessons form the crux of the documentary. Over the years, the aunt became a mother to Priyadarshini's mother. 'I never intended to make a film. I began to film our classes mostly to memorise the verses, and over time these recordings began to unravel the unspoken nature of their relationship to me,' she says. 'I began to edit the film after a friend based in Kathmandu nudged me to do it upon hearing that my grandmother had passed away last year,' says Priyadarshini, who shot the film on handycams, DSLRs and phones. Shades and glimmers On one corner of Sanath's side of the exhibits, a cactus plant is set up. On a closer look, there are scribbles on the tender stem of the desert plant that reads 'grandmother', 'mother', 'son', 'grandfather' ... one on each branch. A few feet away from the larger plant, a small plant is also placed on the soil. The Family Tree exhibit can be traced back to Sanath's childhood memories of his ancestral home in Paripally, Kollam. 'There was a cactus plant in one corner of the house; it was not very large but had a lot of branches. I remember finding my cousins' names being etched on its branches. I also did the same,' says Sanath. 'I felt the plant represented our family metaphorically. The cactus has a protective exterior due to the thorns, but the plant by itself is very soft,' says Sanath. Does It Still Hurt to Step on Broken Glass in The Sand?, is an acrylic painting of glass shards on sand with one end of a cassette tape attached to the portrait, while another one flutters in the air. The cassette is displayed too. This artwork is closely related to an idea called spacious togetherness, referring to the significance of space between individuals in different relationships. 'During a conversation, one of the initiators of the Neighbour gallery, Valentina Abenavoli, told me about how two porcupines cannot stand too close to each other or hug each other. They must find a comfortable space to stand without hurting each other,' says Sanath, pointing out that traversing through relationships requires a sense of tenderness, much like walking on sand with broken glass, inspired by a sight near his residence in Varkala. The shards of glass represent glimmer, a short-lived ray of light, explains Sanath, recalling his constant 'pursuit of possible tenderness or healing' through glimmers as a child. The tape from the audio cassettes fluttering represents a core memory for the artist who used to throw cassettes high up on tree branches and see the brown tapes hang there. This happened when cassettes were becoming obsolete with the arrival of the CD, Sanath recalls. Three Scenes of a Landscape consists of two relief sculptures (sculptures attached to the background) made from plaster of Paris and a five-minute video of a family getaway captured by Sanath. Also read |Sharp and succinct 'It was a difficult time for my family. We travelled to a place thinking it might help us heal, and I started recording,' says Sanath. As a child, Sanath's sister had developed a fear of water when she almost drowned in the sea. However, the video has her stepping into a stream with currents. In the backdrop, Sanath's mother, out of fear, asks her daughter to return. 'She is trying to control her child with her fear. That's when we see my sister break her hereditary patterns by stepping into the water.' His other works at the exhibition include drawings and excerpts of his writings, an archival book and Gouache (opaque watercolour) on Chinese paper. The Strangers We Know exhibition is on till May 31 at Neighbour Gallery in Kesavadasapuram, Thiruvananthapuram. Entry free.
The Hindu
08-05-2025
- The Hindu
Couple found dead in well in Erode
A couple was found dead in a well near Sathyamangalam on Thursday. According to the police, Sakthivel (23), a construction worker from Pudhukothukadu near Sathyamangalam, married Priyadarshini (19) of Chinnakaradu in Indiyampalayam seven months ago. The couple was living at his residence. On Wednesday night, they went to Priyadarshini's mother's house to attend the Mariamman temple festival in Arasur Kullampalayam. An argument reportedly broke out between them, after which they went to sleep. Around 8 a.m. on Thursday, local residents discovered their bodies floating in a well at Chinnakaradu and alerted Fire and Rescue Services. Firefighters retrieved the bodies and sent them to Government Hospital in Sathyamangalam for post-mortem examination. The Kadathur police have registered a case and are investigating the incident. Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available through the State's Health Helpline at 104 and Sneha's Suicide Prevention Helpline at 044-24640050.
Hindustan Times
07-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Operation Sindoor: ‘Grateful' says wife of Odisha accountant killed in Pahalgam
Bhubaneswar: Priyadarshini Satpathy, the wife of the Odisha accountant who was killed in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and who managed to escape with their nine-year-oldson, said she is grateful to the Indian government and the Army for Operation Sindoor. Prasanta Kumar Satpathy had travelled to Kashmir with his wife Priyadarshini and their 9-year-old son Tanuj 'They took my husband on a Tuesday. We hit back on a Tuesday. You killed us by asking about our religion, we attacked you by saying our religion. My husband is gone. He won't come back. I hope our actions will prevent similar incidents. Terrorism has no place in the world,' she said. Prasanta Kumar Satpathy (43), an accounts assistant at the Skill Development Centre of the Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in Balasore, had travelled to Kashmir with his wife Priyadarshini and their Tanuj on April 19. Pahalgam was their final stop before their scheduled return to Bhubaneswar on April 23. Also Read: Why was India's strikes on Pakistan, PoK named 'Operation Sindoor'? Expressing happiness over Indian armed force's strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the early hours of Wednesday, she said: 'I wondered when the government would act against the terrorists, but I was sure the government would do the right thing. I am very happy today.' Pryadarshini recounted saying they had arrived at Pahalgam by noon and kept the luggages in the vehicle before riding to Baisaran valley on horseback. The family vacation for the Satpathys turned into a tragedy on April 22, moments after they had completed a zipline ride in Pahalgam. Just hours before the terrorist attack, Prasanta had shared videos and photos of their holiday on social media. Also Read:Pahalgam terror attack: Odisha accountant shot dead; wife, son safe 'We were supposed to head back to our hotel and then travel to Delhi the next day. At 2.30 pm, I and my son had just finished a zipline ride and my husband was taking off his helmet after he finished his zipline ride. My son and I stood a little away, calling out to him to hurry because the pony handler was getting impatient. That's when everything changed. I heard loud bangs like balloons popping. Then I saw a man in fatigues standing behind my husband, a camera on his cap. My husband turned slightly to the left, and in that split second, the terrorist fired. The bullet tore through his temple. He collapsed instantly, blood pooling around him. Gunshots echoed all around, screams piercing the air. A little away, I saw something horrific—a man lying beheaded, his head splattered on the ground. It was a nightmare,' she said. Also Read: Pakistan airspace cleared after India's Operation Sindoor targets 9 terror sites Pryadarshini added, 'I rushed to my husband, my clothes soaking in his blood. 'Do you need water?' I asked, desperate to do something, anything. He gasped, 'Call for help.' I tried to lift him, but could not and I was shaking. My son ran, shouting for help, but no one came. Tourists were fleeing, while some were frozen in fear. A few feet away, I saw a woman with her husband dead at her feet, pleading a terrorist to kill her too. The gunmen mocked her, saying, 'Modi ko bolo'. They were asking people their names, demanding some recite the Kalma, others to undress and show their private parts before shooting them dead. I'll never forget the meadow, the gunshots, the blood, or the terrorists' cold eyes.'
