Interim bail granted to woman booked for holding ‘Free Kashmir’ placard at Mysuru Uni

Controversy

Police have said that no arrest has been made in the case, only six protesters have been served notice.

TNM Staff

A Mysuru judge has granted interim bail to a young woman, an alumna of Mysuru University who was seen holding a ‘Free Kashmir’ placard during an anti-CAA gathering in the university campus on January 8. The bail order came as Nandini B had approached the Second Additional District and Sessions Court and the bail was granted after furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. She has been granted bail on the condition that she does not leave the court’s jurisdictional area until the matter is disposed of, reported The Times of India. Read: Sedition charges filed against protester at Mysuru University for ‘Free Kashmir’ poster TNM earlier reported how police had filed sedition charges against the young woman who held the poster along with others. The ‘Free Kashmir’ placard featured when the students were holding a protest march, holding lit torches and shouting slogans a.gainst the violence unleashed in JNU. Videos showed one person holding a small poster in black with the words “Free Kashmir” written in white, and the videos were shared widely on social media. To make her stand clear, Nalini had issued a public statement about the poster. “I want to clarify regarding the placard ‘Free Kashmir’ that I was holding at the protest organised at the University of Mysore on January 8. I was trying to bring notice to the Internet shutdown which has been imposed in the valley through the placard. From August 5th, 2019, about 156 days since the abrogation of article 370, there has been an internet blockade which has resulted in the silencing of Kashmir. We haven’t heard from them for 5 months and 2 days," she said. The statement added that it was a privilege to dissent and raise voices in protest, “I wanted to remember and remind people that coming out to the streets to protest against the unconstitutional CAA, NRC, NPR is a privilege we have. We have been able to amplify our voices against it, while the valley has been in darkness unable to voice out their dissent. This is all I meant by ‘Free Kashmir’. Nothing more, nothing less. None of the student bodies of the University of Mysore are responsible for the placard.” Speaking to TOI, Mysuru City Police Commissioner KT Balakrishna confirmed that no arrests have been made and said only notices have been served to six protesters

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Six cars damaged as BMTC Volvo bus triggers serial collision in Bengaluru

Accident

This is the second accident involving BMTC in this week.

TNM Staff

In a second accident in a week involving the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), six cars were damaged on Friday afternoon after a state-run corporation’s Volvo bus lost control. According to BMTC and traffic police officials, there were no major injuries due to the mishap which took place near Reddy Nursing Home in Jayanagar. A traffic police note said that a bus on the KIAS-12 route which was heading towards BTM Layout from the Airport hit one car and triggered a series of collisions involving six cars and another BMTC bus. Senior BMTC officials visited the accident spot. In a statement, BMTC said the involved vehicle with registration number KA57 F318 on Route number KIAS 12/1 belonged to depot number 25  while operating from Airport to BTM layout. The vehicle was being operated by driver Dharmendra and conductor Chandrashekhar.  BMTC further said, “During the incident, no persons were injured, however, 6 cars were damaged. The reason for the accident will be known after the inspection report from the technical team of BMTC.” Speaking to Times of India, Jurisdictional Traffic DCP Jagadeesh said that driver admitted that he had tried to jump the signal even though vehicles ahead of the bus had slowed down expecting the red light. As a result of the accident, there was chaos in the East End Road In Jayanagar and additional traffic policemen were deployed to clear the pile-up. The driver belonging to depot 25 has been booked for negligent driving and the bus has been seized. Police have started probing the case.  The incident on Friday comes after two people on Monday were killed and at least 11 were injured after a BMTC bus rammed into six bikes and an auto rickshaw at Kottigepalya junction in Bengaluru. That time, the driver stated that the brakes of the bus were not functioning properly. The BMTC is probing whether rash driving by the driver caused the accident. The Depot Manager at depot number 35, where the bus was stationed, has been suspended. BMTC staff said, several days prior to the accident, the driver had informed the depot manager that the brakes were not functioning.

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Karnataka recorded highest farmer suicides in the south in 2018, Telangana next: NCRB

Farmer suicide

With 2,405 (2232 male and 173 female) deaths, Karnataka recorded the highest number of farmer suicides in the south, and the second highest in India, in 2018.

Balakrishna Ganeshan

With 2,405 (2232 male and 173 female) deaths, Karnataka state recorded the highest number of farmer suicides in the south, and the second highest in India, in 2018 after Maharashtra, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released on Thursday. Maharashtra recorded 3,594 deaths (3360 male and 234 female) followed by Karnataka. Telangana recorded 908 suicides (801 male and 107 female), while Andhra Pradesh recorded 664 suicides (593 male and 71 female). Tamil Nadu witnessed 401 suicides (303 male and 98 female) while Kerala saw 211 suicides (197 male and 14 female). According to the Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2018 report, a total of 10,349 persons involved in farming sector (consisting of 5,763 farmers/cultivators and 4,586 agricultural labourers) had killed themselves during 2018, accounting for 7.7% of total suicide victims (1,34,516) in the country.  Suicides in the country in 2018 rose to 1,34,516 from 1,29,887 in 2017. The rate of suicides was up from 9.9% in 2017 to 10.2% in 2018.  Out of 5,763 farmer/cultivator suicides, a total of 5,457 were male and 306 were female in 2018. Out of 4,586 suicides committed by agricultural labourers during 2018, 4,071 were male and 515 were female. Meanwhile, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides of farmers/cultivators as well as agricultural labourers. "Maharashtra (17,972), Tamil Nadu (13,896), West Bengal (13,255), Madhya Pradesh (11,775) and Karnataka (11,561) together accounted for 50.9% of the total suicides reported in the country. The remaining 49.1% suicides were reported in the remaining 24 states and 7 UTs," the NCRB report said. Delhi, which is the most populous union territory, reported the highest number of suicides (2,526) among UTs, followed by Puducherry (500). PTI inputs  

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Menthol ban gains momentum among black lawmakers

Momentum for aggressive tobacco regulation has grown as teen vaping rates skyrocket.

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With videos, Kumaraswamy challenges Mangaluru cop's claim anti-CAA protesters 'organised stones'

CAA

In all, Kumaraswamy released a series of 35 videos taken during the anti-CAA protests in Mangaluru.

Prajwal Bhat

On December 23 2019, Mangaluru City Police released a CCTV video of a tempo filled with stones. The police said that this was proof to show that the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the city was planned in advance and protesters had arranged for stones. Two weeks on, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday, released CCTV videos showing that the same tempo highlighted by the police made four trips on the same day and was carrying cement bags and other construction debris. "The Mangaluru City Police appealed to the police to send videos and released a video of a small clip which showed a tempo with stones in it. It was projected to make it look like protesters were ready with stones before the protest. That is Amit Shah and his team, the BJP government. We are telling the public the truth," Kumaraswamy said while releasing the videos in Bengaluru. CCTV videos of the same tempo making at least four trips throughout the day - at 10:24 am, 12: 10 pm, 1:14 pm and 3:10 pm - carrying debris was shown in the videos released by Kumaraswamy. An interview of the tempo driver was also released in which he says that he parked the tempo on the side of a road when the commotion began at 4:45 pm. This, he says, is what is shown in the video shared by the Mangaluru police. The driver added that when he went back to the spot to check on the tempo, he found two gunny bags were on the ground but the rest of the load was intact. In all, Kumaraswamy released a series of 35 videos taken during the anti-CAA protests in Mangaluru. He said that the videos showed that police officials in Mangaluru harassed by-standers and students without provocation. He stated that the police's violent crackdown on protesters and bystanders was a factor in the stone-pelting incidents reported during the protests and the subsequent police firing that took the lives of two people. "There were protests held across the state on that day but only in Mangaluru, the protests turned violent. We want people to understand the truth of what happend," Kumaraswamy said. The videos released showed the police rounding up a journalist and detaining him, rounding up bystanders and students waiting for a bus and assaulting them. Other videos showed the police pelting stones at a mosque and pelting stones at protesters. The oft-replayed video of the police shooting at protesters at a distance was also included in the set of videos. In the aftermath of the protests and the subsequent police firing, Mangaluru City Police appealed to citizens in the city to send videos of the protests which took place. The city police's official Facebook page released videos showing violent protests and incidents of stone pelting in an attempt to justify its decision to open fire against the protesters. The police, however, was mum about the use of teargas near the ICU of Highland Hospital and about why the police opened fire at protesters standing at a distance.  Kumaraswamy called for a Legislature House committee be set up to probe the incident and also called for police officials including the Mangaluru police commissioner to be suspended.   

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Don’t cut trees without exhausting other options: Bengaluru activists remind BBMP

Environment

The BBMP has started a tender process for widening Ballari Road and Jayamahal Road which will require uprooting of more than 450 trees.

Soumya Chatterjee

Representational Image

A group of activists have submitted a petition to Bengaluru’s civic body the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) over several trees set to be uprooted to make way for infrastructure projects.  The petition reminds the BBMP about the interim orders passed in April 2019 by the Karnataka High Court related to the formation of a Tree Committee which can decide on the cutting trees. The same order in April had said that the committee should explore every other alternative before felling even a single tree.  In their petition, the ‘Heritage Beku’ collective said, “When the High Court of Karnataka has specifically mandated that no action should be taken without submission of the procedure and completion of tree census, how is it that the Tree Committee has gone ahead with the inspection? We request you to intimate us about the status of inspections and fieldwork by the Tree Committee in respect of these trees...As per the judgment of the High Court of Karnataka on this aspect, a tree should be cut down only after all other alternatives have been examined and exhausted, with no other options to save the tree.” The petition has been submitted separately with the BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar and BBMP Deputy Conservator of Forest Ranganath Swami.  Incidentally, the BBMP has started the tender process for widening Ballari Road and Jayamahal Road which will require uprooting of more than 450 trees.  While the committee is yet to come to a conclusion, the BBMP has already gone ahead with the tender process for road widening. Moreover, it has been reliably learnt that the legally mandated public consultation process is also yet to take place.  The petition further said, “We as responsible citizens of Bengaluru, do not want even a single tree to be cut. Other options should be considered. Whilst we are all for the metro and other public utility projects, these projects should be planned in such a way that the greenery of the city is not compromised in any manner.” The activists also asked the BBMP to proactively work and ensure that the Tree Committee has at least three representatives from the civil society and concerned citizenry of Bengaluru. Speaking to TNM, Priya Chetty Rajagopal founder of the collective said, “We do not want to go in combat with the BBMP or the tree cell of the BBMP. We want to collaborate to protect the city.” She added the Commissioner took cognisance of other suggestions mentioned in the petition including that of appointment of persons from the general public be appointed as Tree Marshals from each ward to safeguard trees. Other than these two road widenings, several other trees have been marked for cutting to make way for a metro depot among other infrastructural projects including others which fall outside the BBMP limits. 

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Bellandur lake deweeded, dewatered but Bengaluru agency behind schedule to desilt

Environment

The lake has been in the news since February 2017 after it caught fire for a second time.

Soumya Chatterjee

The de-weeding and dewatering process as part of the National Green Tribunal-monitored rejuvenation of the infamous Bellandur lake in Bengaluru has been completed. Now, lake activists and experts say, that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the custodian of the lake, has to hurry with the desilting process. It may be recalled that the second fire had prompted the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2016 to take suo motu cognisance and pull up the state government, BBMP and other civic agencies. Despite this, the state government was fined two years down the line for not complying with the NGT’s orders. Following this, a panel, headed by former Lokayukta and Supreme Court judge-Justice Santosh Hegde, was formed to oversee the restoration process. Speaking to TNM, Justice Hegde said, “I am chairing a meeting with the BDA and other officials concerned to maintain the deadline with regard to desilting. I am duty-bound to follow the court’s orders. If the officers don’t comply with the same, I will write to the NGT.” According to an analysis by the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre, the lake area was 906 acres 25 guntas in 1973, which has now been reduced to 322.85 acres. An Indian Institute of Science (IISc) monitored survey in 2017 said the lake currently has around 6.6 million cubic metres of sediment, which had reduced the water holding capacity of the lake to only 5 million cubic metres. “With effective sewage diversion, Bellandur lake has been dewatered and is dry now. We are two months behind schedule. The silt is till the surface,” Sonali Singh, a Bellandur resident and activist claimed. “We understand BDA has called for a tender for desilting. We hope that the process for desilting will be completed before the next monsoon. For that, the government top brass should also ensure that work continues on a war footing,” she added. “Desilting should start by the end of March. Before that, BDA needs to complete the process for calling of tenders, evaluation and selecting the best vendor. They have two months to complete the process.” BDA Superintendent Engineer Shivanand told TNM that they have already floated the tender.

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