Transcripts For BBCNEWS Witness 20170319

Now on bbc news, witness, and Yogita Limaye on five key moments in indian history. Welcome to this Special Edition of witness, from here in mumbai. In the year that marks 70 years since indian independence, i will bring you five witnesses who have experienced extraordinary moments in this countrys history. This month on the programme, indias first Track And Field Gold medallist, the woman ;;;; ; 2l. 2 |. ;. ;;;;;,,. W deities appearing to drink milk. First. We travel to delhi; in 1947, when india and pakistan split during partition, millions were forced to leave their homes because of the ensuing violence. Y. Ls}; 2. 22. 52. S. . 555 a; 2 9. Eeejeeeee two self governing dominions within the British Commonwealth of nations. But indias future welfare largely depends upon communal harmony. Im a hindu and i was living in pakistan. I wanted to live in pakistan, but i was not allowed to. And all the time the bloodshed goes on. Throughout this vast land, hindus and muslims geekegfefv in new surroundings. We had to leave pakistan, now a muslim state. Bis seneca11w an when things settle down we will come back. But we never realised there was no coming back. Newsreel fleeing from their looted, Bloodstained Towns comes a new exodus. Already 1. 5 million have been exchanged between the two dominions. Another 2 million are preparing for their trek. One colonel hindu colonel, who had been transferred to india, who met my father. My father was a medical practitioner. He said, now that he was going to india, could he do something for me . He said, take my three children to india. He said, i cant accommodate three, but i can accommodate one. So i was the one who had to go there. I was crying, because i did not know whether i would see them again. As soon as we reached that main road, i found thousands of people there, as if the whole of humanity had come on the street, the road. Women, with trailing children,. ;, s712 up bodies, stench. All these things i saw. But in this jeep, when we went further, this was now surrounded by the people. They stopped us. They said, you take us along. We said, theres no space. An old, sick gentleman, with a flowing beard, he had this small child and said, take this, my grandson. I said, but i am still a student. I couldnt do that. But i still remember his face helplessness. As soon as we reached no mans land, which was the border on the pakistan side, there was a convoy of muslims going into pakistan and we were entering india. We looked at each other. A kinship that both of us have left our homes, our friends and neighbourhoods and both had been broken on the rack of history. We only looked at each other. That thing i can neverforget. Kuldip nayar went on to become one of indias most celebrated journalists. And now to another man whose life has been shaped by the violence of partition. Milkha singh was a young boy when both his parents were killed in front of him. His fathers last words spurred him to do great things, as he told witness. Newsreel independence was proclaimed and celebrated, but it had been obtained at a terrible price, and the price was division of india partition. As hindus and muslims and sikhs grimly slaughtered one another. Men and women pass Prince Philip on the saluting base. Commenmon time hes going hard round that bend. And in 2013, Milkha Singhs extraordinary story was turned into the Bollywood Film bhaag milkha bhaag, run milkha run. Now to 1983 and the first case of Sexual Harassment brought to court in the country. Rupan deol bajaj took on punjabs top policeman and changed indian legal history in the process. She may be educated, uneducated, working class, she may be an officer, a high ranking officer like me, all women. Nobody is immune. And it happens every day. In 1988, i was serving as special secretary of finance. I had about 20,000 people under me. 90 were men. There was a dinner party, hosted by the home secretary, and mr kps gill, who was the Director General of police, was also there. He called out to me and he said, mrs bajaj, i want to talk to you about something. He got up and he came and stood in front of me, towering above me. He put a finger in my face, like that, and he said, up, come on, up. Come along with me. Come on, you come along with me. So i said. I said, mr gill, go away from here. Youre misbehaving. And i got out from the gap in between him and me and when i was going that is the time when he. Well, he slapped me on the bottom. Thats what he did. Always people have considered it to be a very trivial thing, but i could not get over the enormity of it. Letting it go meant living with a lowered self esteem, gulping down my humiliation, facing that person every day, facing all the other people. The consequences of complaining i had not really estimated at that time. Nobody was willing to take up the case for me because they were so frightened of the dgp he was the highest Ranking Police officer, with all the powers of life and death. No one wanted to do anything against him. And ifound that no one had ever filed in section 509 and 354, which were the lesser offences against the modesty of women. 17 years, long years, of my life, all of it was taken up by this one case. The lower courts had quashed the case, they had thrown it out. The case reached the Supreme Court and they called for all the records, reinstated the matter and also gave their definition of modesty. They reprimanded the High Court Judge and said, this cant be treated as something trivial. All the people in every household, this was the talk between husband and wife. The limelight was not on kps gill. The entire focus was on me. Why have i registered a case . There must be something wrong with me along with my husband, but on the day the verdict came, i specially requested i said, i didnt want to go there. Kps gill was expecting to win, so they had the police band there. Then my husbands driver rang up and said, madam, he had been convicted on both counts. Its the mindset i fought against. Of society. People started saying now offences against women are increasing. They are increasing. No, now more women are speaking up. Remember, you can watch witness every wednesday on the bbc news channel, or you can catch up on all our films and more than 100 Radio Programs on our online archive. Just go to next, after the trauma of partition, prime Ministerjawaharlal Nehru persuaded modernist architect le corbusier to reinvent india, by building a new capital city for the province of punjab. Our next witness, sumit kaur, is the former Chief Architect of chandigarh. Le corbusier got his first opportunity to design a whole new city in india, where nehru commissioned him to lay out the capital city of the punjab chandigarh. He wanted the etuzens of the state to regain their confidence, which could have been shattered due to this traumatic partition of the country into india and pakistan. And to bring back the faith in the future. He wanted revolutionary ideas. Buildings have to become santuaries from the climate. The Sunbreakers Break The Summer Sun when it is high in the sky, and admit the winter sun when it is low. Corbusier was very concerned about the harsh climate of this particular city and the region and he wanted to provide comfortable conditions, Living Conditions for all the residents. The city is cut up into 30 residential sectors by the road system. Each residential sector has its own shops, post office, school, health centre, playground, gardens. The road system is designed in such e sires; tfiet fie annr e . Afiwhnuze ~ or building opens onto a thoroughfare of fast traffic. My grandparents were migrants from pakistan and i do remember them very clearly telling us that we were lucky to have taken lot, which we had, which had an abundance of green, both on the front and the rear. We used cycle and i rememberfeeling like a lord because the roads were so wide and we used to have just fun going up and down. The indians are also proud of the city centre, the business area with its banks and administrative buildings, which to a westerner look monotonous, grey and empty. The indians regard it as dignified and clean. A mark of maturity. Le corbusier was given a mandate, that you have this limited budget and the city cannot afford beyond that. Because of his creative genius, he was able to use local material, locally available materials. They were very good bricks, the soil was very good, you know. What is architecturally one of the most modern cities in the world is being built by Men And Women who have to cut each brick, each measure of earth and concrete as they would 4,000 years ago. The Open Hand Monument signifies the very concept of the city. The Open Palm Signifies open to give and open to receive and a lot of people from pakistan had to migrate to india and they had to be suitably housedandit. ,. , stands majestically, beautifully positioned against the backdrop of the shivalik hill. As so often, le corbusier has put his work on a grandiose scale, using the mountains as a background. Today we are fighting to preserve the backdrop of the shivalik hills. It is marred by urbanization and the intent of keeping it green as corbusier envisioned is lost, i think the city would lose quite a bit. It is our duty as citizens now our final film this month. In the mid 1990s, millions of indians were gripped by reports of Sacred Statues drinking milk. We look at a tale of what some believe was a miracle. Crowds flocked to see ganesh, The Elephant God credited for bringing prosperity is seen drinking milk. Some declared it a miracle others cashed in, charging five times the normal price for milk. Department of science and energy was asked to investigate. They were sceptical and said the molecules of milk were being drawn by the texture of the statue. He still worships at the same temple. You another round up of witness but for now thank you for watching. Hello. It has been a mild weekend. Make the most of that because things are set to turn much colder into next week with winter biting back for a while. For this evening it looks like it will continue to be mild and windy in places. There will be some showers around. We saw some sunshine this afternoon and some sunny spells degelegig into the sunny spells developing into the East Midlands and the south east which helped Lift Temperatures up. This Weather Front has brought a lot of rain to the central slice of the uk. We have more rain piling into the south west. Things are set to turn wetter into this evening. For scotla nd turn wetter into this evening. For scotland and Northern Ireland we will continue to see some blustery winds and some showers. Northern and Western Scotland in particular. A fine end to the day for you. Some rain and showers across north west into eastern england. Some england into eastern england. Some low cloud, mist and murk hugging the £552; 45. A. . e 2. 5. 4. 2. El l1. . . ;. . Eke. Welsh hills. £525 5 5. 4 . 22 254 5, 5l 5. 55v55 2555 welsh hills. Still £525 5 5. 4 522 254 5. 5l 5. 55v55 255 welsh hills. Still a £525 55. 4 522 254 5. 2l2 5. 5555 255 welsh hills. Still a mild £525 55. 4 522 254 52. 2l2 5. 5555 255 welsh hills. Still a mild end to £52. 22 552 4 522 254 52 2l 52 5555 255 welsh hills. Still a mild end to the day. Into the overnight period it turns wetter across wales and central and southern england. To the north and west of scotland, the winds really picking up during the night. Gale force winds developing and also showers and longer spells of rain. Snow starting to fall over. e higher ground. Another mild one the higher ground. Another mild one for the bulk of england wales. For the bulk of england and wales. To start the new working week it is a bit ofa to start the new working week it is a bit of a messy picture. Western scotla nd a bit of a messy picture. Western scotland and Northern Scotland through the day, plenty of showers. This Weather Front will continue to bring some wet weather to england and wales. It become confined to the eastern will become confined to the eastern quadrant of england in the afternoon. Some brightness to the north and west. Some snow over higher ground. Single figure values in this area. A cold showery feel to the weather, certainly cold on tuesday. There will be wintry showers in the north and west. 0vernight Frosts will make a return as well. Keep tuned to the weather forecast. This is bbc news. Im ben brown. The headlines at 5pm police are hunting a man over the murder of a one year old boy in north london. The toddlers twin sister has been critically injured. I would like to urge the help of the general public in the search for the following man. He is bidhya sagar das, a 33 year old male of asian heritage. Another warning over Health Service funding a leading Nhs Executive says many trusts will struggle Us Intelligence chiefs reject claims that Donald Trumps president ial Campaign Team colluded with russia. To the Rock And Roll legend chuck berry. Former president barack 0bama leads the tributes to the star,