11 arrested in Karnataka for circulating video of sexual assault on young woman

Crime

The police, which had set up two teams to investigate the incident, had earlier confirmed that all five men accused of raping the woman were arrested.

Prajwal Bhat

Dakshina Kannada police have arrested 11 people for circulating the video showing a 19-year-old college student being sexually assaulted by five men. The district police, which had set up two teams to investigate the incident, had earlier confirmed that all five men accused of raping the woman were arrested. Read: Sexual assault video of young woman circulated in K’taka, 5 college students held The second team formed by the police investigated the spread of the contentious video, which began circulating on Tuesday evening, bringing the incident into focus.  Muralitharan (29), Chandrashekhar Mayya (47), Shreyansh S (20), Poovappa (26) ,Pawan Kumar D (19) ,Mohit P G (18), Dhyan A N (18) and Adwit Kumar Naik N (19) were arrested in connection with circulating the video on Thursday while three others - Shoukat Ali, Nazeer and Jabeer - were arrested on Friday. The men are from different areas in and around Puttur and have been arrested for circulating the video. They were charged under section 66 E (violation of privacy) and 67 A (publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act) of the IT Act and Section 4 and 6 of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.  Video leaked amid student elections in college According to Dakshina Kannada SP BM Laxmi Prasad, the video was leaked by a student of the institute in which the woman and the men accused studied in. It was leaked in a bid to harm the chances of one of the accused in the college elections, said the SP. "There was college elections recently and there was a scuffle between two groups of students. The video was circulated on Tuesday evening and we have arrested the people who circulated the video initially," Dakshina Kannada SP BM Laxmi Prasad told TNM.  According to the investigating police, Mohith, who studied in the same institute as the woman and the five men accused of rape, downloaded the video on to his phone after it was uploaded by Prakyath as a status on GB Whatsapp (a modified version of WhatsApp) briefly. Prakyath is among the five people accused in the case.  The video was sent to Poovappa, a physical education teacher at the college, who later sent it to Shreyansh, another student in the same institute. Shreyansh posted the video in various WhatsApp groups after which it was widely shared.  Following this, Prakyath, along with Sunil, Gurunandan, Kishan and Prajwal, all 19-year-old students of the same college in Puttur, were arrested by the police on Wednesday. Viral video brings case to light The incident occurred sometime in late March or early April and only came to light when the video of the incident was shared widely on Tuesday. Dakshina Kannada police approached the woman to file a complaint. Investigating police stated that the accused men threatened the woman with the video due to which she did not reveal the incident to her family members.  Alongside the investigation into the perpetrators of the incident, the police decided to take suo motu action in the case to stop the circulation of the video. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Dakshina Kannada SP BM Laxmi Prasad urged residents in the district to not post the video on social media or save it on phones or computers. 

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Steeper fines for traffic violations in Bengaluru from July 20: Full details

Traffic Violations

The fine information boards have been fixed at major junctions in Bengaluru.

TNM Staff

Bengaluru residents will soon have to pay much steeper fines after the revised fines for traffic violations comes into effect from July 20 in the city. The new fines were announced at the end of June but they are yet to be implemented. Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) has begun installing several boards in areas with high traffic, displaying the new fines to alert passersby and commuters in the city. The fine chart information boards have been fixed at major junctions. These boards will also alert the commuters about fatal and non-fatal accidents and also display the statistics of accidents in the last three years. Here is the list of revised fines for traffic violations:  Using mobile phones while driving Old Fine: Rs 100 Revised fine: Rs 1,000 Parking in ‘no parking’ zone Old fine: Rs 100 Revised fine: Rs 1,000 (Excluding towing charges) Excessive speed Old fine: Rs 300 Revised fine: Rs 1,000 Driving without insurance Old fine: Rs 500 Revised fine: Rs 1,000 Driving without fitness certificate Court fine: Rs 2,000 (first offence) Rs 5,000 (second offence and subsequent offences) Driving without registration Court fine: Rs 5,000 (first offence) Rs 10,000 (second offence and subsequent offences) Revised traffic fine amount chart. Follow traffic rules. Avoid penalty. @blrcitytraffic @BlrCityPolice pic.twitter.com/G6LV5BAcRZ — V V PURAM TRAFFIC BTP (@vvpuramtrfps) July 4, 2019 The traffic police officials stated that they want Bengaluru residents to be aware of the new fines before they are imposed. “Before we start imposing violators with the new fines, citizens should get to know the revised fines imposed for various traffic violations and it is our duty to bring it to their attention,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic) P Harishekaran speaking to The New Indian Express. The department will also conduct awareness sessions among auto rickshaws, bus, taxis, school bus and van drivers, two-wheeler riders and Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) in the city. Public meetings will also be held regarding the increase in fines, reported Times of India. 

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Former MLA Gopal Bhandary passes away while travelling in bus from B’luru to Mangaluru

Death

The two-time MLA was found slumped and motionless in his seat in the bus when it reached the bus stop in Mangaluru.

TNM Staff

Former Karkala MLA Gopal Bhandary passed away while travelling alone in a multi-axle bus from Bengaluru to Mangaluru on Thursday. He passed away three days before his 67th birthday. Travelling alone in a KSRTC bus from Bengaluru to Mangaluru, the former Congress MLA alighted from the bus when it stopped for a coffee break near KB Cross around 4:30 pm.  However, the bus driver Sunil found the two-time MLA slumped on the seat of the bus when it reached the main KSRTC station in Bejai in Mangaluru at around 10:15 pm, reported the Times of India.  He had begun his journey at 2 pm from Benglauru. After he did not alight from the bus, he was rushed to Wenlock Hospital in the city. However, hospital authorities said he was brought dead.  Veerappa Moily and former Mangaluru MLA JR Lobo visited the hospital on Thursday night.  Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil confirmed the death in a statement issued to the media. Gopal Bhandary was born on July 7, 1952 and represented the Karkala constituency in Udupi district from 1999 to 2004 and 2008 to 2013. In 2008, he defeated V Sunil Kumar of the BJP by a margin of 1,537 votes. In 2018, he lost the Assembly elections in Karkala to V Sunil Kumar. Gopal was considered a protege of former Chief Minister Veerappa Moily, who also contested and won from the Karkala constituency in 1992. Following his death, condolences poured in from several Congress leaders including Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara. Deeply saddened by the unfortunate demise of Congress leader and Former Karkala MLA Gopal Bhandari. His commitment towards people shall always be remembered. My condolences to his family members, well-wishers & followers. pic.twitter.com/ZJ8jdVfrph — Dr. G Parameshwara (@DrParameshwara) July 5, 2019 My heartfelt shock and grief over the sad demise of Sri Gopal Bhandary ex mla . A very honest leader always thought of helping the downtrodden and a great orator. My condolences to his family and to all who know him. — Pramod Madhwaraj (@PMadhwaraj) July 5, 2019

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Karnataka Class 10 state board final exams to have new question paper format

Education

To discourage learning by rote, the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board has decided to make changes for 2019-2020.

TNM Staff

The Karnataka government has now decided to change the format of question papers for the class 10 state board. The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) has decided to make these changes to discourage learning by rote and improve quality of learning. The Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) Examination Question Paper will be changed for the 2019-20 academic year and the examination board is now notifying schools to take necessary measures to prepare the students for the final exams, which will be held in March 2020. Currently, the papers carry 40 subjective and objective questions. According to officials with the KSEEB the total number of questions will be reduced from 40 to 38. The question paper will have application questions, KSEEB officials say. The number of two-mark questions will be 16 to 8 and the three-mark questions will be increased from 6 to 9. In addition, new five-mark questions will be added. Earlier this year, the board had consulted with a team of experts from the Azim Premji Foundation, which recommended certain changes in framing questions and also the format of SSLC question papers. “The team studied several question papers that were set over the last few years. They found that the way the questions were framed encouraged learning by rote. This was a change they recommended. Children must learn how to apply what they have learned. The new questions will encourage logical thinking,” said V Sumangala, Director of KSEEB. The KSEEB has also notified schools to change learning methods and adopt innovative methods using technology. “See, generally, marks are allotted based on whether students have written down certain key words in the answers. The new format will judge the answers based on the quality of writing, the content, and how well the student has grasped the subject. This is to avoid learning by rote,” she added. The KSEEB also intends to discourage mass duplication of answers by bringing in the new format. “The key word format had resulted in duplication of answers. Teacher would encourage children to write specific answers and learn by rote so that they would not lose out on marks. The new format will emphasise on writing skills, application of topics and reasoning,” the official added.

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NLSIU hikes yearly fees by 25%, socio-economically disadvantaged students to be affected

Education

Students say that the administration had not informed them of the hike properly, and the sudden hike will put a heavy financial burden on them.

Jahnavi Reddy

Image for representation

Last week, the students of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru were alarmed on finding out that their yearly fees had been increased by more than 25% for the upcoming academic year. Undergraduate students in their second to fifth year currently enrolled in the five-year integrated BA LLB programme will now have to pay Rs 2,30,500 for the year. This is nearly Rs 50,000 higher than the annual fees of Rs 1,83,800 they paid last year. The fees for the LLM and MPP (Master of Public Policy) courses were also similarly hiked.  Although the latest fee notification is dated May 15, 2019, students say that the notice was put up on the university’s website discreetly, without giving students sufficient time to make financial arrangements for the hiked fees.  “We don’t know when the fee notification was put up. The usual practice is for the college to send it to students through email, and that is what we were expecting this time as well. Besides, the notification wasn’t on the homepage of the website or somewhere easily accessible. You have to go through multiple webpages to find it,” a senior BA LLB student said. Lack of transparency in announcing the hike  According to a statement released by the Student Bar Association (SBA), the elected student body of NLSIU, the 25% increase has been justified by the university citing the need for increased salaries to implement the 7th Pay Commission. The SBA has recently discovered that in a meeting held on August 7, 2017, the Executive Council (comprising of SC judges and representatives from the Bar Council of India and the university faculty) had suggested a hike of Rs 20,000 per annum as “the income of NLS from all sources has reached a flat graph.” The statement also mentions that the UG Council Chairperson had also written to the VC of NLSIU  recommending a 25% hike. “The decision was taken two years back, but students were kept in the dark till now,” a student said.  Students are also upset with the break-up of the fee hike. While the tuition fee has been increased only by Rs 20,000, the major portion of the hike is reflected in other heads like electricity, internet, hostel, mess and infrastructure charges.  “If the purpose is to increase teachers’ salaries, it makes sense to raise the tuition fee. But we are already paying too much for the poor quality of internet access. In spite of the student body paying lakhs of infrastructural fees in the past, there has hardly been any change in the gym or any sports infrastructure. Hostel rent has been increased along with electricity charges. These hikes are random and unjustified,” another student said.   Effect on socio-economically disadvantaged students Students say that in the past, the annual fee hikes were much lower, and were only annually adjusted for inflation. The yearly fees had increased from Rs 1,63,500 for the academic year 2015-16, to Rs 1,83,800 for 2018-19, a rise of Rs 20,300 or 12% over three years. The SBA is worried that the steep hike this year could result in excluding students from low-income families, especially students from SC and ST communities, “in the absence of social safety nets like a full fee waiver for SC/ST students available in comparable national higher educational institutions i.e. IITs and IIMs.”  The student body has raised concerns that the hike would result in current students from marginalised communities dropping out, and exclude them from future batches.  “Many students are currently paying fees through education loans or merit-cum-needs based scholarships. The hike will increase the financial liabilities of students who are socially and/or economically unprivileged. Students from lower-middle to middle-income families will also find it unaffordable. Only upper-class students will be able to afford such an education. The hike will hurt the diversity of the student body on campus,” a student said.  Students are worried that the disproportionate representation of women and oppressed castes in law and judiciary will worsen with this move. “Legal education is meant to empower the vulnerable and oppressed. The hike just makes it inaccessible to these same communities. Private law colleges are already very expensive, and now a public university is going the same way,” another student said. The SBA also feels that the financial burden on current students will only create anxieties about their future, affecting their career choices and compelling them to take up corporate jobs, rather than pursuing less lucrative careers in fields that they care about.   Demands of the student body  Classes at NLSIU have commenced from July 1, and the last date for fee payment without a fine is July 7. The Executive Council which has the final say on the matter is scheduled to meet on July 6, to decide on the appointment of a new VC and Registrar. The SBA plans to send a student delegation to present their concerns to the Council.  “We want them to withdraw the hike for all students. At the very minimum, we want the current students to be exempt so they can continue with their education and a reduced hike for the incoming batch of students,” said a student. Students are also looking to urge the administration to find alternate sources of income, such as nationalisation of the university or seeking the status of Institute of National Importance (INI), to raise funds from other avenues. The VC of the university declined to comment on the issue, and requested that the Registrar be contacted instead. The Registrar was not available for comment. 

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Grandson rise in DMK and JD(S): Udhayanidhi and Nikhil Kumaraswamy elevated on same day

Politics

Though both Udhayanidhi and Nikhil have been appointed as head of youth wing, many wonder how advantageous this move will be.

Priyanka Thirumurthy

Theja Ram

Dynasty politics is not new to politics in India and certainly not to the regional or sub-regional parties. On Thursday, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumarasway was appointed as the President of the Karnataka Yuva Janata Dal. Parallelly in Tamil Nadu, DMK Chief MK Stalin’s son Udayanidhi Stalin was appointed as the party’s Youth Wing President. Both Deve Gowda and Stalin have openly made statements in the past that their family members would not enter politics. Deve Gowda, had especially maintained that apart from his sons – Kumaraswamy and Revanna, no other family member would be given the chance to climb up party ranks. Ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2018, Deve Gowda had openly told the media that none of his extended family members, who were vying to enter the political sphere were going to be encouraged. He even declared that one of his grandsons Prajwal Revanna would not be given a ticket to contest polls. Three years ago, Stalin too had said something similar. In an interview with Vikatan, he had said, “Neither will my son, nor will my son-in-law join politics. For that matter, I can assure that no one from my family will be joining politics.” Deve Gowda’s volte face and his decision to field not one, but two grandsons in the Lok Sabha elections, alienated the party from the public and even its cadre to an extent. While Prajwal Revanna went on to become an MP, Nikhil Kumaraswamy lost to independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh. In Karnataka, the JD(S) has been infamously dubbed as ‘Just Deve Gowda and Sons’ by political opponents. Deve Gowda’s son is the Chief Minister of Karnataka. His eldest son HD Revanna is the MLA from Holenarasipura, the family’s home town. Revanna is also the PWD Minister. Chief Minister Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy is the JD(S) MLA from Ramanagara. HD Revanna’s wife Bhavani is a gram panchayat member, whilst her son Prajwal is the Hassan MP. In Tamil Nadu, the Youth wing secretary post is quite an important posting in DMK and according to senior journalist TN Gopalan, the post was created in 1985 with the sole purpose to make Stalin the Secretary and gradually bring him into the party's hierarchy. After holding the post for more than 30 years, Stalin had stepped down as Secretary of the Youth Wing, in 2017. Former Minister and three-time MLA Vellakkoil MP Saminathan replaced him until his son Udayanidhi was roped in to take up the task. Last month however, over 40 district secretaries wrote to Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters demanding that Udaynidhi be posted as the DMK Youth Wing secretary. But according to multiple sources in the party, this was merely a ploy often used by the top leaders to create an illusion of approval for their decisions. “The district secretaries are ordered to send letters and they cannot refuse the leadership,” says a source in the DMK. “Even those around the party President are failing to read the risks of promoting his son so quickly. But this has become the norm in the party, for the son or daughter to be given a post while those who have worked for years watch on,” he adds. In fact in the recent Lok Sabha elections, six of DMK’s 20 contestants were the wards of senior leaders in the party. Udayanidhi was not given a seat but was largely in the limelight as he campaigned for the party without an official post. A senior party leader opines that Udayanidhi’s promotion could have been done a little later. “We may have swept the Lok Sabha polls. But our performance was not satisfactory in the bye-elections. This shows that we have a lot of introspection to do and positive changes to make. The party can’t afford to face charges of nepotism in this juncture,” he says. “Once we win the Assembly polls and establish ourselves, such appointments will not be received negatively by the public,” he adds. Similarly, in Karnataka JD(S) insiders say that Nikhil’s appointment is only meant to further the family’s interest and not the party’s. “Nikhil Kumaraswamy is seen as the child who was offered everything on a platter. By appointing him as the Youth Wing President, Deve Gowda is giving him an opportunity to work with the cadre and become a face that would be well-known not only in Mandya but also the entire state. The publicity he received during the Lok Sabha polls has spiralled him into national fame. He is being groomed to step into Kumaraswamy’s shoes. By refusing to nurture any other leaders in the party, this move will hurt JD(S),” a JD(S) leader told TNM.    

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Teenagers accused in Dakshina Kannada rape case are not our members: ABVP

Crime

Following the arrests of five men on Wednesday, speculation was rife that the men belonged to the ABVP and were involved in the activities of the organisation.

Prajwal Bhat

The Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Puttur of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka issued a statement distancing the student organisation from the five men accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old student in the town. The incident came to light on Tuesday when a video of the sexual assault was circulated after which police officials approached the woman to file a complaint. Five men, Prajwal, Kishan, Prakyath, Gurunandan and Sunil, who are all 19 years old and studying in the same college as the victim, were arrested by Dakshina Kannada police later in the evening.  The five men have been charged under section 376 D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections under The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Read: Sexual assault video of young woman circulated in K’taka, 5 college students held Following the arrests, speculation was rife that the five arrested men belonged to the ABVP and were actively involved in the organisation. However, the organisation's secretary in Puttur has now issued a statement attempting to distance itself from the arrested men.  "Regarding this investigation, miscreants are alleging that they are ABVP workers and this misinformation has come to our notice. The accused in this case have no connection with the ABVP. They are not even members of our organisation. In spite of this, the names of the accused are being linked to the name of ABVP in a case of misinformation," read a statement by Shivaprasad KP, Secretary, ABVP, Puttur. The statement further asks the police to apprehend the miscreants spreading this information and to block their social media accounts.   "The police department should immediately apprehend those spreading this false news and misinformation and take action against them and we request that the social media accounts of such people should be blocked," the statement says.  Police officials in Dakshina Kannada said that they will investigate the political affiliations of the accused if it becomes relevant to the case. "It is being investigated at the moment. In case the police needs to look at their (accused men) affiliations, we will definitely look into it. We have not found any relevance of that in this case right now," BM Laxmi Prasad, Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police, told TNM. According to Muneer Katipalla, State President of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the social media accounts of the accused men suggested they were part of the ABVP.  "There are photos uploaded on social media in which they are seen taking part in activities of the Sangh Parivar. Regardless of their political affiliations, this is an incident that needs to be taken seriously. I request both the coalition government in the state and BJP leaders like Nalin Kumar Kateel and Shobha Karandlaje to focus on crime against women in Dakshina Kannada," Muneer said. 

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