TNN 3 September 2009, 03:27am IST

PANAJI: The children’s court on Wednesday directed one Vishant Korgaonkar to pay a fine of Rs 1lakh for molesting a 15-year-old girl in a bus at Curtorim in 2007.

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Priyanka Sahay, TNN 3 September 2009, 01:30am IST

CHANDIGARH: From inhaling fluid of typewriter’s ink by pouring it on a piece of cloth to smelling solution of the whitener to go on a high, this eight-year-old did it all. A resident of Colony 5, Manish (name changed) would indulge in consuming self-made drugs and would be all fire and brimstone when this was objected to. The small kid would often get into petty crimes like pick-pocketing and stealing and use foul language.

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TNN 2 September 2009, 10:07pm IST

KENDRAPADA: A 16-year-old dalit girl of Kapaleswar village in Kendrapada district succumbed to her burn injuries on Tuesday evening. She was set on fire because she protested against her offender.

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NEW DELHI: Even as inter-country adoption is gaining popularity in developed countries like the US where more couples are adopting children from outside, the Delhi High Court on Monday rejected the plea of an American couple wanting to adopt a minor Indian boy.

Coming to the rescue of 10-year-old Aman (name changed), who had caught the fancy of Craig Allen Coates and his wife Cynthia Ann Coates, the HC dismissed the appeal stating that the couple already had three adult children and intended to exploit Aman as a domestic help.

Taking note of the fact that Craig was disabled and there was possibility of Aman being exploited as domestic help once he reaches “foreign land”, Justice V B Gupta upheld the district judge’s December 2008 judgment dismissing the couple’s plea for adoption.

The court also raised doubts about the fact that the couple had opted to adopt an Indian child instead of an American child, who would have been quicker in adapting to their family.

Justice Gupta also imposed a cost of Rs 20,000 on the couple, residents of Winnebago, USA, for abusing the process of law and directed them to deposit the amount with the registrar general within four weeks.

“The real intention of the appellants (Coates) in adopting the child, who is suffering from mental delays (mental growth has not kept pace with age), appears to exploit him as domestic help for the husband who has been suffering from cerebral palsy since birth,” the court noted.

The court said the wife was working as a supervisor nurse and getting a huge salary in the US and the couple wanted to adopt the boy and employ him to look after her husband.

The trial court rejected the couple’s argument that in January 2006 they had obtained a no-objection certificate from the government of India to adopt Aman as he was staying in an observation home run by the government but the court wrongly dismissed their application for permission.

While rejecting the couple’s plea, the district judge had said the boy was abandoned because he was suffering from “mental delay” and needed special care.

Smriti Singh , TNN 1 September 2009, 05:20am IST

Teenagers who suffer from minor depression are at a higher risk of suffering from mental health problems in their adult life, says a new study.

Psychiatrists at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute surveyed 750 fourteen to 16-year-old teenagers and then interviewed them as adults, to come up with the findings.

Researchers found anxiety, severe depression and eating disorders were much more common in those 20 to 30-year-olds who had suffered from minor depression as adolescents, reports The BBC.

The report published in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that 8 percent of participants had minor depression as teenagers.

By the age of 20 and 30, these people were four times more prone to developing major depression than those who did not face bouts of depression as teens.

According to the research, teens with minor depression had a two-and-a-half times increased risk of agoraphobia, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder and a threefold risk of anorexia or bulimia as adults.

The researchers defined minor depression as one which lasted for at least two weeks and had symptoms like feeling low, losing interest in activities, sleeping problems and poor concentration.

Study leader Dr Jeffrey Johnson said more research was needed to see if depression problems in teenagers were an early phase of major depressive disorder or if minor depression earlier in life contributed to the development of more serious problems later on.

Lucie Russell, director of campaigns at Young Minds, said: “Ensuring teachers, social workers and the rest of the children”s workforce have the appropriate skills and knowledge to identify when a child is showing signs of depression will enable young people to get help early before problems escalate to crisis point.”

ANI1 September 2009, 12:01pm IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two HIV-infected children who are under treatment at Sree Avittom Thirunal hospital here will be discharged for a few days to enable them celebrate Onam with their grandmother at their home in Kollam, Kerala State AIDS Control Society (KSACS) sources said.

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