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Bizarre India News

LONDON: More than 1,000 young people in India have been done to death every year owing to 'Honour Killings' linked to forced marriages and the country needs to introduce stringent legislation to deal firmly with the heinous crime, two legal experts have claimed.

Participating in International Child Abduction, Relocation and Forced Marriages Conference organised by the London Metropolitan University here, Chandigarh-based legal experts Anil Malhotra and his brother Ranjit Malhotra have said that in traditional societies, honour killings are basically 'justified' as a sanction for 'dishonourable' behaviour.

In a joint paper, they said: "Forced marriages and honour killings are often intertwined. Marriage can be forced to save honour, and women can be murdered for rejecting a forced marriage and marrying a partner of their own choice who is not acceptable for the family of the girl.

They said in India, honour killings happen with regularity in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

"They happen not only within the Muslim community but also among Sikhs and Hindus."

Though there was no nationwide data on the prevalent of honour killings in India, they quoted figures compiled by the India Democratic Women's Association, according to which Haryana, Punjab and U P account for about 900 honour killings and another 100 to 300 in the rest of the country.

"The total figure for India would be about the same as estimated for Pakistan, which researchers suggest has the highest per capita incidence of honour killings in the world."

They said the ministries of home affairs and the law and justice are preparing to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to define the act of "honour killing".

The demand for such a law was made repeatedly with the objective of stamping out this social evil.

"This aim is to provide for deterrent punishment for caste and community panchayats which should be booked for aiding and abetting such killings and as accomplices to the murder," they said.

They pointed out that the Supreme Court of India, concerned over the spate of recent 'Honour Killings' has asked the Centre and eight state governments to submit reports on the steps taken to prevent this barbaric practice. 

Bizarre World News

Cleopatra died from drinking a lethal drug cocktail that included opium and hemlock and not a snakebite, says a German scientist.

Christoph Schaefer, a historian and professor at the University of Trier, has presented evidence on a TV show that aims to prove drugs and not the reptile were the cause of the Egyptian beauty's death.

"Queen Cleopatra was famous for her beauty and was unlikely to have subjected herself to a long and disfiguring death," The Scotsman quoted Schaefer as saying

He is also the author of a best-selling book in Germany titled 'Cleopatra'.

"It was this aspect, her beauty which she cherished so much, which made me journey with other experts to Alexandria, Egypt, where we consulted ancient medical texts and snake experts. Cleopatra wanted to remain beautiful in her death to maintain her myth," Schaefer said.

"We consulted zoologists and toxicologists; a snake bite would have been too uncertain and taken too long," he added.

The Adventure Science programme, titled 'Cleopatra's Death', displays ancient texts that record the potion as being a popular method of suicide - and assassination - at the time she lived. (ANI)

Bizarre World News

AMSTERDAM — Archeologists have uncovered a mass grave with the complete skeletons of 51 horses buried side-by-side, probably the long-forgotten equine victims of a 17th century battle over a strategic Dutch river.

It was the largest known equine burial ground in Europe, although chief archaeologist Angela Simons said Wednesday that many such sites have probably existed and have been plowed up over the centuries by unwitting farmers.

The archaeological team had been looking for evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area when they came across the unexpected find.

"From the first shovel, it was horses, horses and more horses," said Angela Simons, of the Hazenberg company, which was employed by the Dutch government to survey the ground ahead of a construction project.

The horses showed signs of being buried quickly: their bodies were not carefully arranged, and the skeletons occasionally overlap.

"It's easy to imagine this is how cavalry men might dispose of dead mounts in war time," Simons said. Disease or a plague could not be ruled out.

It also was unclear whether the horses were buried out of respect, or because of the fear of contamination from so many decomposing corpses.

The skeletons were in a ditch in a field near the Maas River in Borgharen, around 2 miles (3 kilometers) north of the Dutch border city of Maastricht.

Initial carbon testing dated the bones to the 17th century, when the Netherlands was still struggling to emerge as a nation.

If the horses were killed in a battle, likely candidates include a fight in 1632 during the Eighty Years' War, when Dutch rebels quartered in Borgharen repelled a surprise charge by the Spanish cavalry.

Another possibility is the 1673 siege of Maastricht by soldiers of French "Sun King" Louis XIV. That battle is considered a milestone in siege warfare, because of how the attacking French used zigzagging ditches to give their soldiers cover from the city's battlements.

Both engagements were fought during the summer.

No traces of bridles or saddles were found in the shallow 130-foot (40-meter) -long grave, suggesting they were removed. The researchers discovered just one stirrup and several horseshoes.

One horse had a bullet in its skull just behind the eye-socket, probably an injured horse shot to prevent further suffering, Simons said.

Evidence suggests they were cavalry horses. Most appeared to be around 4 years old, and their size and bone structure suggests they were for riding, not draft horses.

Simons, who is German, said it was possible the animals had some connection with several French soldiers whose skeletons were uncovered on a riverbank in Borgharen in 2004. The human skeletons were identified as French from their coat buttons.

Bizarre Foods

Good news for exotic food lovers. Events caterer the London Kitchen is launching a pop-up canapé bar that will serve crunchy creepy crawlies to intrepid punters this month.

The Canapé Kitchen, which will pop up for one hour every Thursday in July, will serve Thai green crickets with coriander and coconut cream, and chocolate dipped scorpions with a white chocolate and chilli fondue.

It will pop up somewhere in the City on Thursday 8 July before heading to Covent Garden on 15 and Chelsea on 22 July.

And if eating insects isn't your bag, there'll also be a more conservative menu available for the less daring diners. This will include mini Yorkshire puddings with roast beef and horseradish alongside ham hock on a toasted croute with piccalilli.

The London Kitchen was launched last year by Damian Clarkson after his previous business Red Snapper Events entered into voluntary liquidation.