Loss of marathoner
On July 14, Fauja Singh (114-year-old), the legendary marathon runner, was knocked down late noon by a speeding vehicle and at 8 pm he expired in a hospital (NT July 16). He was crossing the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway to reach the family-run dhaba. Nick-named the ‘Turbaned Tornado,’ he had moved to London in 1992 to stay with his son. Singh commenced running when he was 83 years, to cope with the grief of having lost his fifth son in August 1994. Since 2012, he had run in the London Olympics. In 2000, at 89 years, he took up running seriously and completed the London Marathon. On October 16, 2011, Singh was the first centenarian in the world to complete the marathon at the Ontario Masters Association Invitation Meet. After a meticulous investigation, the police traced and arrested a 26-year Punjabi man, who admitted to the accident. He had come from Canada on vacation and was driving an SUV and confessed to over-speeding. After the hit, he did not bother to stop nor help the victim. The question is: Would he have had the audacity to do the same in Canada where the laws are stringent? Apparently, having come to India he might have carried the attitude of “sab chalta hai” (everything goes here). Had he halted to help Singh, perhaps our global icon would have been alive to run a few more marathons.
Sridhar D Iyer, Caranzalem
Remembering Mandela
Human rights, universal brotherhood, world peace, democratic values, conflict resolution, poverty alleviation, woman emancipation and much more. All these were dear to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Fighting apartheid to fostering multiracial democracy, Nelson Mandela, the father of modern South Africa, was beyond comparison because he knew “it is easy to break, difficult to build”. The very fact that a person could spend 27 long years in prison for a singular and noble cause separated Nelson Mandela from others. Mandela’s qualities of heart and head made him stay put to achieve his goals for the sake of his countrymen. Mandela could have been the president of South Africa till he wished to, but the man’s dislike for power and pomp was so conspicuous. Remembering him, and the causes he stood for, are the objectives of Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Judicial appointments
I wish to highlight a pressing administrative concern that is disrupting the delivery of justice at the North Goa Criminal and Civil Court, Merces. I attended a criminal case, initially listed in D-Court, but due to absence of the presiding judge, it was placed in B-Court. This reshuffling points to a more critical systemic gap, the prolonged absence of appointed judges in Courts C, D and E. This judicial vacuum has overburdened the limited bench strength, impeding the pace of proceedings and resulting in frequent adjournments. It is deeply concerning to witness cases deferred not on merit but due to inadequate judicial capacity. Justice delayed, in effect, becomes justice denied, and these delays erode both, case outcomes and public confidence in our legal system. The path forward is clear: Filling these judicial vacancies must be treated as a matter of immediate administrative priority. Efficient case disposal depends not just on legal infrastructure but on sufficient human resources. Litigants, advocates and judicial personnel deserve a system that respects their time and facilitates timely justice. I urge the relevant authorities to act with urgency and restore equilibrium in our courtrooms.
Venan Dias, St Estevam
Don’t villianise the dead
Sumit Sabharwal’s (the lead pilot of the ill-fated AI flight that crashed in Ahmedabad) mother expired in 2022. He was nearing retirement after logging @ 15,700 hours in the skies. A bachelor, he was taking care of his aged and bedridden father as any dutiful son should; yet, the media wants to paint him as the villain on the basis of cherry-picked lines from a preliminary report released by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). As per details available from the document, one of the two pilots was heard on the cockpit voice recorder saying, “Why did you cut off the fuel?” and the other responding that he didn’t. Who said what, has not been confirmed in the report and neither has been the context, but what is more important is the timeline. Between this conversation of the pilots and the fuel switch being once again turned to ‘run’ position, there was a seven-second delay.
Seven seconds is a century in a Mayday situation. If the pilots had discovered that the switch had been turned off, it should not have taken even a second to turn it back on. There is every possibility of a mechanical or electronic malfunction and the pilots must have struggled to push the switch back into ‘run’ position. But this aspect has been buried by the media while the deceased are being demonised. Not one media report is asking for a thorough investigation of manufacturing practices at Boeing whose faulty fuel switches have been a bugbear for long.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
