Tipu Jayanti not a state-sponsored event, but can be celebrated privately: K'taka HC

Court

The BJP government cancelled the celebrations in July this year barely days after coming to power.

Prajwal Bhat

There will be no government sponsored celebrations of Tipu Jayanthi but private celebrations of the occasion without the involvement of the state government will go ahead on November 10. This, after the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday declined to grant a stay against privately held celebrations of Tipu Jayanthi in the state. The High Court asked the Karnataka government to place on record all the government orders of decisions to celebrate various Jayantis in the state by January 20 2020.  The decision was made while hearing a petition filed by Bilal Ali Shah, a resident of Lucknow and who claims to be Tipu Sultan’s descendant, along with organisations working in favour of Tipu Sultan. The  BJP government in the state cancelled the celebrations in July this year barely days after coming to power. The state government cited protests, particularly in Kodagu district, as the reason for its decision. In 2016, protests against the occasion turned violent causing the death of two persons in Kodagu. The petitioners challenged the government order passed in July in the High Court. The Advocate General appearing for the state government clarified that the government order barred the state sponsored celebrations of Tipu Jayanthi. "We argued that the latest government order cited a letter from an MLA in Kodagu stating that there will be law-and order problem in the district. This has been used to extend to the entire state," Ashwini Obulesh, a lawyer appearing for the petitioners told TNM. She added that the previous government orders announcing Tipu Jayanti celebrations in the state were detailed orders. "The orders issued earlier by the previous government laid out who Tipu Sultan was and what he did in Mysore Kingdom. The latest order only mentioned the violence that affected Kodagu", Ashwini added. Tipu Jayanthi marks the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan, the former ruler of Mysore Kingdom. The celebration of Tipu's birth anniversary was held by the state government for the first time in 2015 during the tenure of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress.  BJP leaders in Karnataka had earlier celebrated Tipu Sultan and taken part in celebrations honouring his memory but after the state-sponsored celebrations were introduced in 2015, party leaders have steadfastly opposed the former ruler of the Mysore Kingdom. Every year, on the days leading up to the celebration, BJP and pro-Hindu groups have run a campaign to show Tipu Sultan allegedly persecuted Kodavas and Christians during his reign in Mysore. However, the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah had continued to celebrate the occasion every year. In October this year, Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan wrote to the Karnataka Education Department seeking the removal of references to Tipu Sultan from state syllabus school textbooks. The Education Department is currently preparing a report on the matter. In the letter, Appachu  argued that Tipu Sultan supported the French and persecuted Kodavas in Coorg (now Kodagu) and Christians in Mangalore (now Mangaluru).  

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Karnataka police arrest man for assaulting daughter with hammer

Crime

A video of the man in an inebriated condition holding a hammer and charging towards the girl was shared widely on social media.

Prajwal Bhat

Police officials in Hassan district arrested a man after a video of him assaulting his daughter with a hammer emerged on Tuesday. The video showed Prashanth, 47, charging towards his 12-year-old daughter with a hammer in-hand. Prashanth was in an inebriated condition and hit his daughter on her left hand. The video, which was shared widely on social media, was being filmed by the daughter.  The incident occurred around 10 pm on November 2 in the residence of Prashanth and his family in Champakanagar in Sakaleshpura of Hassan district.  In a complaint filed by Janaki, a Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) working in Hassan, it was stated that Prashanth, had come home in an inebriated condition. At the time, his wife and two daughters were at home.  Prashanth picked up a hammer and began to taunt the 12-year-old girl, who was shooting a video to show her grandfather. The complaint said that Prashanth assaulted the girl by hitting her left hand with the hammer while she was filming. An FIR was registered based on the complaint and Prashanth was charged under section 324 of the IPC and under sections of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. In the video, Prashanth, who appears to be visibly drunk, also refers to the popular Kannada film KGF before proceeding to hit his daughter. "Have you seen KGF?", Prashanth taunted with the hammer in-hand. He then says, "I will hit you all with this hammer. My father used to hit us as well." He then charges at the girl and swings the hammer, hitting her on her left arm. Even though a visible red bruise was seen on her arm, she was given medical treatment at home by her mother, child protection officials said. The girl was taken to a hospital for treatment by the CDPO before a complaint was filed in the Sakaleshpura Town Police Station.  Prashanth was arrested on Tuesday and produced before a local court. The child was counselled at the Hassan Child Protection Unit. "We decided to take a precaution and bring her in for counselling. She told us that this was the first incident like this and that her father did not have a habit of hitting her. We will be taking assurances from her father when he is out on bail that this will not occur again," an official at the unit told TNM. 

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37 Catholic priests and a woman accuse Mysuru Bishop of sexual misconduct, corruption

Controversy

Bishop KA William has however categorically denied all these allegations.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

Prajwal Bhat

37 catholic priests from different parishes in Mysuru district of Karnataka have levelled serious allegations against Bishop KA William, the seventh Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Mysore. The allegations include sexual misconduct, criminal activities and kidnapping. "We have come to know that there are as many as four women who have raised complaints against the Bishop in the last two-and-a-half years," Melwyn Fernandes, General Secretary of the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) told TNM. AOCC has also alleged that the Bishop has fathered two children. The main allegation is that the Bishop had a relationship with a woman, and had a child with him. According to AOCC, the child is studying in a school on the outskirts of the city. However, this woman, has not spoken out or corroborated the allegations. Another woman who has previously worked in the diocese,  put out a video statement accusing another priest Leslie Morris of making sexual advances. She has also alleged that Bishop William supported the priest. “I was called to the office after my field work at around 6 pm on the pretext of giving a report of what I had been doing. At that time, he [Leslie Morris] was grazing himself against me lustfully. Later, he directly approached me for sex, and said, ‘only if you compromise with me, you will have a job.’ I decided to quit my job thereafter, in May 2018.”  In the video, she also alleged that her life was in danger. “Some men came to my new workplace in July 2018 and made me accompany them after I got a threat call from the Bishop. The men took me to a car and wiped all the data on my phone. Then they offered to give me money,” she alleged. Bishop KA William has however denied all these allegations categorically. "The allegations are false and I feel sorry for the accusers, because without even contacting me or trying to know the truth they have published this in the media. We could have avoided this damage by having a discussion," he said. In a press meet on Wednesday, he said, “Everything said about me and priest Leslie Morris is a complete lie. If you examine this, you will understand it is a concocted story.” “If given to a producer, a film can be made of this, he added. The accusers however demand that the Bishop should take a paternity test. “If he is not the father of the child, why should he refuse the test? We demand that he take the test in Mumbai as he has too much influence here,” says Joseph Sodder, a lawyer who is part of the case.   A complaint was filed at the Lashkar police station in Mysuru on November 5 by AOCC member Robert Rosario against the Bishop on charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, intimidation, land grabbing, criminal conspiracy, and attempt to murder. The FIR is yet to be filed, and an investigation is ongoing. It is to be noted that Robert has had a case against him previously for spreading communal hatred during the assembly elections in May. AOCC members have also written to the Vatican urging the immediate removal of Bishop KA William. The letter states that Bishop William "…has strong connections with the politicians of criminal record, corrupt police officials and corrupt bureaucrats. It is highly worrisome that he has also connections with the underworld."

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Amrita college suicide: Two weeks on Bengaluru police make no arrests in the case

Crime

Sri Harsha’s father has accused the Dean of Engineering and nine other faculty members of mentally harassing his son.

Theja Ram

Its has been a fortnight since fourth-year engineering student Sri Harsha took his own life at the Amrita School of Engineering campus and the Bengaluru police have not made any arrests in the case. When TNM reached out to ACP of Electronic City S Vasu, who was the police officer in-charge of overseeing the probe and the Investigating officer Nandeesh, both refused to comment on the issue. Sri Harsha’s father has accused the Dean of Engineering and nine other faculty members of mentally harassing his son. Protests broke out in the college, which went on for four days and the students had demanded that the accused in the case be barred from entering the campus until the case reaches its logical end. However, the college management shut the college until further notice and allegedly forced the students to call off the protests. Read: ‘Amrita college is responsible for my son’s death’: Sri Harsha’s father speaks out Speaking to TNM, one of the students, whose statements was taken by the police, says that the college management has informed the students that classes would not begin on November 4 as mentioned earlier. The college has also decided to hold a “trust building” session for the parents of all students at the Choodasandra campus between November 7 and 12. “Management has informed us that college will be shut until further notice. The trust building session is because parents are also thinking about getting their children out of the college after the incident and the management does not want that. We should see what new things they will say now. The police have asked me to come and meet them after college reopens,” the student said. Sri Harsha was accused of vandalizing a CCTV camera on the night of September 23, when protests broke out in the campus. Students, who were angered by Director Dhanaraj Swamy’s alleged apathy towards their demands for their basic right to food and water, had vandalized seven buses, a window of a provision shop and one CCTV camera.  He and his father were called before the disciplinary committee. It was after a second appearance before the committee that Sri Harsha killed himself. On October 22, the Parappana Agrahara Police registered an FIR against the Dean of Engineering at Amrita School of Engineering, Choodasandra – Dhanaraj Swamy, Rakesh SG lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Bhaskar BL from the Chemistry Department, Ravi Kumar from the Mechanical Engineering Department, Ramesh TK from the ECE Department, Nipun Kumar and Amudha J from the CSE Department, Ventatesh B from the Math Department, Nagaraja SR the HOD of the Mechanical Engineering Department and Murty NS the HOD of ECE Department in connection with the case. Students began protesting soon after Harsha’s death and demanded that members of the disciplinary committee be removed immediately. On October 24, the Dean of Engineering, Amrita University – Dr Sasangan Ramanathan, and two other members of the college’s management arrived in Bengaluru to conduct talks with the students. Read: Amrita student suicide: 10 staff members booked for allegedly tampering with crime scene    

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Bengaluru Blasters’ batsman Nishant Shekhawat held in KPL match-fixing case

Sports

The Central Crime Branch have also issued lookout circulars against two bookies who were allegedly involved in betting and fixing Karnataka Premier League matches.

TNM Staff

Police in Bengaluru on Tuesday arrested Bengaluru Blasters’ batsman Nishant Singh Shekhawat for his alleged involvement in a match-fixing and betting case in connection with the 2018 edition of Karnataka Premier League, according to reports. He is the second cricketer to be arrested in this case following the arrest of M Vishwanathan on October 25.  Earlier, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) which is probing the case under Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil, had also arrested Ali Asfak Thara, the owner of KPL team Belagavi Panthers in September. In addition, Bengaluru Blasters bowling coach Vinu Prasad has also been arrested. The CCB have also issued lookout circulars against two bookies who were allegedly involved in betting and fixing Karnataka Premier League (KPL) cricket matches and are currently on the run. Police believe that the arrest of the duo could lead them to international links in the betting racket and also reveal the scope of the racket. In addition, police also arrested celebrity drummer Bhavesh Bafna for allegedly approaching a player and luring him to concede more than 10 runs in an over in October.  Deccan Chronicle reported Patil as saying that it was Shekhawat who had introduced Vishwanathan and Prasad to Monty aka Manoj Kumar, a Chandigarh-based bookie. Indian Express reported that Shekhawat had come under the police scanner following the arrest of coach Prasad and teammate Vihwanathan. Police said that they have so far established that Vishwanathan was paid Rs 5 lakh to bat slowly. The KPL was established by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in 2009. It pits franchises based in the state in an IPL-style Twenty20 cricket tournament. The crackdown on suspected betting and match-fixing in the KPL comes after the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) had come under the scanner of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

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Setback for Karnataka Congress as senior leader CH Vijayashankar returns to BJP

Politics

Vijayashankar contested from the Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general elections on a Congress ticket and lost to BJP's Pratap Simha.

IANS

In a setback to the opposition Congress in Karnataka ahead of 15 bypolls in Karnataka, its senior leader and former lawmaker C.H. Vijayashankar from Mysuru returned to the ruling BJP in Bengaluru, a party official said on Tuesday. "It was a home-coming for Vijayashankar who returned to the BJP two years after he quit in 2017 and joined the Congress in 2018 before the assembly elections," a party official told IANS. Vijayashankar contested from the Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general elections on a Congress ticket and lost to BJP's Pratap Simha. Party's state unit president Naleen Kumar Kateel and state chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa were among the leaders and cadres who welcomed Vijayashankar back into the party fold. "I have submitted my resignation from the Congress last week to its party high command and decided to rejoin the BJP for strengthening the party and its government in the state," Vijayashankar said on the occasion. Vijayashankar's return to the saffron party comes ahead of the bye-elections in the southern state on December 5, including two in the old Mysuru region from where two former JD(S) rebel legislators A.H. Vishwanath and K.C. Narayana Gowda resigned from Hunsuru and K.R. Pet assembly segments, resulting in their disqualification and expulsion from the regional party in July. "I was involved in party activities and held important positions when I was in the BJP until two years ago. In the Congress, however, no position or responsibilities were given to make best use of my services and political experiences. Hence, I have quit the party and came back to the BJP," Vijayashankar told reporters in Bengaluru. Vijayashankar was BJP's district president and state unit's vice-president and represented twice the Hunsur assembly seat and the Lok Sabha twice from Mysuru in the past. As the opposition leader in the assembly and former state chief minister Siddaramaiah, Vijayashankar is a popular Kurba leader in the state's southern region from the shepherd community.

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Bollards stolen from St Mark’s Road footpath in heart of Bengaluru

Crime

This is not the first such instance.

TNM Staff

In a shocking development, as many as 11 bollards placed on the pedestrian island on St Marks Road Circle near the State Bank of India in the heart of Bengaluru were stolen by miscreants on Monday night. This is the third such incident on the same stretch of road since the roads were renovated under the TenderSure model. According to police, the area is surveilled by CCTV cameras but even that did not deter the thieves. Noting the incident, BBMP Assistant Engineer B Nagaraju approached the police, said the TOI report. The bollards cost Rs 1.6 lakh. Earlier in March, 2018, a single bollard was stolen from the same road. Taking to Twitter, Managing Director of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw also expressed her shock. She said, “Shocking theft of bollards on St Marks TendsrSURE Road - thieves hv done this in full view of CCTVs. I guess police were not patrolling - such distasteful uncivic n uncouth behaviour,” tagging the police. In response, Bengaluru Police said Cubbon Park police have already registered a case under Section 379 (punishment for theft) of the Indian Penal Code. @CPBlr @AddlCPWest @DCPCentralBCP Already case has been registered in @cubbonparkps Crime No-196/2019. u/s 379 IPC. — BengaluruCityPolice (@BlrCityPolice) November 5, 2019 The Times of India reported BBMP officials as saying that it would take at least half an hour for the thieves to take out the bollards from the concrete foundations and it would attract the attention of those passing by or even the police. But it might be that the thieves were mistaken for BBMP officials who sometimes themselves work during the night. However, St Mark’s Road is not the only area in the city where bollards have been stolen. Four such bollards along with a chain were stolen in March, 2018, on Mission Road in the same Central Business District (CBD) area.

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