Although unauthorized tower climber incidents are more frequent in India, the U.S. has its share of climbing events, such as a man who scaled a 320-foot guyed tower late last month in Thornton, CO, after he exited a stolen car after a police chase and thought he could disappear in the clouds.
However, over the years, communications towers are often climbed in India to bring attention to social unrest concerns or domestic disputes, an example occurring Sunday evening when Chettipalyam police and fire personnel brought down a man who climbed to the 100-foot level of a BSNL 300-foot tower with his three-year-old daughter strapped to him after he quarreled with his wife and wanted authorities to settle the dispute.
Rescuers said 35-year-old Selva alia Settu threatened to jump if they tried to reach him. After he ignored requests from his family, including his five-year-old son, police had the power supply in the entire neighborhood cut off. Selva was overcome by fear and started to come down, where he was caught and assisted at the 70-foot level.
Miraculously, his daughter had not fallen during the ordeal since she was only attached to him by a lungi, a tubular-shaped skirt worn by men and women that can quickly unravel.
Police booked Selva Monday under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act and the IPC section 309 (Attempt to commit suicide). It is unknown why he wasn’t charged with Section 75 of Penal Code 1860, for punishment for cruelty to a child.
Love is in the air in Hyderabad
In a past illegal climb, a Hyderabad man ascended a tower demanding that a woman marry him.
He said he liked the girl and was getting ready to marry her, but a few days before his climb, his parents received a communication from the girl’s family saying that she did not like him. He tried to convince them but could not succeed.
Depressed, he climbed the cell tower and threatened to commit suicide, but came down and continued in the ranks of single men looking for Ms. Goodbar.
Last year, a Maharashtra man climbed to the top of a cell tower and demanded that his wife returns to his home after she moved in with her parents after a domestic spat. Locals and police convinced him they would assist him in resolving the marital discord if he climbed down.
When a man loves a woman
In Managaluru last April, a young man desperate to win back his girlfriend’s love after a squabble scaled a cell tower on top of a building and refused to come down. Police summoned his lover to the site, and the drama ended when she said she would marry him.
No charges were lodged against the youth after the couple went to the local magistrate to register their marriage.
I just scaled to say I love you
A risky romance rescue occurred yesterday when a young girl climbed to the top of an 80-foot high-voltage tower in Chhattisgarh after she argued with her boyfriend after sparks no longer ignited their relationship.
He climbed up after her and persuaded her to come down as police viewed their descent as well as their concerned families.
You can view the video here.
End This L.O.V.E.
In Hailee Steinfield’s End This Love lyrics, she said L is for the way you lied to me.
That’s what a Moradabad man informed police that his wife was doing after he climbed a cell tower in 2020 and refused to come down.
He told authorities, “I am fed up with my wife. She is trying to frame me in false cases but police are not listening to me. I want to get rid of this relationship.”
However, he finally listened to the police and climbed down.
What’s love got to do with it?
A Chennai man in his 20s informed authorities in 2017 that he climbed a cell tower because he wanted to patch up relations with his estranged girlfriend. If she didn’t respond to his barely decipherable cloth banners, which read, “I am so very sorry baby” and “I miss you,” he would end his life, possibly by jumping or using a knife he was carrying.
However, at times, love had nothing to do with it, police said, when he started discussing other issues such as the death of a former chief minister.
After four hours, he climbed down and was transported to the Government Royapettah Hospital for treatment that didn’t include dispensing bottles with The Searchers’ 1964 Love Potion Number Nine in them.