Karnataka's anti-superstition bill gets Governor's nod

Policy

The law came into effect on January 4, according to the government order.

TNM Staff

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala has given his assent to the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black magic Act 2017. Popularly known as the Anti-Superstition Act, the law was enacted in 2017 during the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s rule in Karnataka. According to the government order issued earlier this month, the Act came into force from January 4, 2020. The Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill 2016 was passed in the state Assembly on November 17, 2017 amid opposition from BJP MLA from Chikkamagaluru, CT Ravi, who had argued that the state government could not curb certain practices of the Hindu community. What is banned The act bans made snana, menstrual taboos, performing any black magic, inhumane act and evil practices in search of treasure or bounty, tantric acts which include physical and sexual assault. Practices such as parading people naked, ostracising a person in the name of a ritual and encouraging inhumane acts during said rituals are also banned. Rituals of exorcism, assaulting people under the pretext of exorcism, misinformation and creating a panic-like situation under the pretext of ghosts and black magic is also be banned. Other practices such as making claims of having healing power, propagating practices that involve self-mutilation and coercing people to perform fire-walking are banned.  The law also states that if any person is killed or injured due to superstitious practices, a case of murder or attempt to Murder can be registered by jurisdictional police. The law also mandates the appointment of one vigilance officer in every police station to keep tabs on such practices. What is not banned Any form of worship including pradakshine, yatra, parikrama at any religios shrine, harikatha, keerthana, pravachana, bhajans do not come under the purview of the act. Providing knowledge of ancient arts and practices, speaking about miracles performed by deceased saints and literature on them offering prayers, upasana, religious rituals at places of worship or at people’s homes, religious celebrations, festivals, processions, piercing of ears and nose, shaving of head, astrology and vaastu are considered acceptable under the act.   

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Bengaluru woman alleges group of men threatened to take her baby away, case filed

Crime

The victim’s mother alleged that the group is targeting the baby to threaten the victim.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

Image for representation

A 33-year-old woman in Bengaluru has complained that she has been left with no peace for months, as a group of men have threatened to beat her and take away her baby. According to her complaint registered at the Banaswadi police station, on several occasions, the men approached her, followed her around the area and used threatening gestures. On one occasion, her son’s cap was taken away by the goons, and on another day, a man beat her with her stick and left a bruise on her right thigh. Doctor’s reports confirm the injury. Based on her complaint on 15 January, the police booked a case under various sections under the IPC against three people, including two are partners who run a pub on Banaswadi 80 ft road. The FIR has been filed under various sections of the IPC including section 509 (insulting modesty of a woman), section 341 (wrongful restraint), section 354 (force used on a woman) and section 324 (using weapons). The police say they have not made any arrests in connection with the case. However, one of the accused told TNM that he was detained, kept in jail for 3 days and then let out on bail.  The policewoman on the case says, “The victim seems to have become very disturbed by events that have taken place. She kept on saying that people are taking away her baby, but when we went to their house the baby was with her. We have advised that she is taken to the hospital and consult with doctors. We are not able to catch the people involved as one person seems to be in Delhi.” The victim’s mother alleged that the group is targeting the baby to threaten the victim. “Why would a group of men want a baby? They want to use it as a pawn to threaten her into doing any kind of work that they want to, especially get her into sex work as she is a fair skinned, pretty woman who is very vulnerable.” The police arrived at the woman’s house on the night of January 21, and threatened to arrest her for issuing a false complaint and raising false alarms. The family is now being asked to vacate from the house they are staying in by the landlady, despite police requesting the landlady not to evict the family. Police have also asked the landlady to install a CCTV on the premises to ensure their safety.

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CM BSY woos global investors at Davos summit, aims to help Karnataka rural economy

WorldEconomicForum2020

A 10-member team from Karnataka is participating in the five-day WEF summit since Monday.

IANS

Twitter / @CMofKarnataka

Showcasing Karnataka at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in Switzerland, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa is eyeing global firms to create jobs through investment in the southern state, an official said on Wednesday. In one-on-one meetings with global enterprises on the margins of the event, Yeddiyurappa said he was looking for investments in sectors that would help the state farmers and its rural economy, as the manufacturing and services sectors were doing better than the agriculture sector. "We want investments in projects that will boost the state's economy, provide jobs to thousands of youths and raise incomes of lakhs of farmers and other rural folk," said Yediyurappa. "The Chief Minister has urged global investors and multinationals to invest in Karnataka in sectors that will create more jobs in the state's rural and semi-urban areas," state Additional Secretary P. Ravikumar told IANS in an email from Davos. A 10-member team from Karnataka is participating in the five-day WEF summit since Monday. It is part of the Indian delegation led by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. The Chief Minister invited 2000 Watt company to invest in the state's agro-food processing and products for value addition and better remuneration to growers and farmers. "The Swiss firm said it had technology and resources to invest in food clusters across rural areas where over 60 per cent of the state's 70-million population live," said the senior official. Scientist and academician Andreas Binkert told the Chief Minister that his company (2000 Watt) would provide farm techniques to grow healthy food in the southern state and then market them after value addition. 2000 Watt's founding partner Madhav Bhagwat explained to the state delegation the concept of smart cities for improving the quality of people living in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities across the state. As an expert in carbon-neutral smart township development projects, Watt signed a pact with the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) in western Maharashtra. Global auto major Volvo president Hanka Angwel also interacted with the Chief Minister and his delegation on the company's Indian subsidiary expansion at Hoskote near east Bengaluru. Haryana's Gurugram-based ReNew Power expressed interest to set up solar power plants in the state's arid lands, especially in the northern districts like Kalaburagi, Koppal, Raichur and Vijayapura. "We are planning to set up power storage batteries and gadgets to store power produced in excess of the state's demand," ReNew chief executive Samanth Sinha told Yediyurappa and sought speedy approvals for proposed businesses in the state. "Global firms and investors told the state delegation to make land acquisition hassle-free by amending relevant laws, which are archaic and lead to delays," noted the senior official. Assuring the investors of all help in ease-of-doing business, Yediyurappa told them that he was ready to go the extra mile to help them invest across the state sectors. State Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijayabhaskar, Additional Principal Secretary Industries Gourav Gupta and IT-BT Secretary V. Ramanareddy were present at the investors meet.

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Large mirrors installed in many public places in Bengaluru to prevent public urination

Civic issues

The mirrors have been installed in five public locations in Bengaluru.

Dharshana Kathiresan

The mirror on Church Street

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has put up long horizontal mirrors in five public places across the city to deter the public from urinating in the streets. This initiative was executed in places where higher incidence of public urination is reported. After trying out several techniques such as painting the walls with pictures of deities and writing warnings, the mirrors were put up. These mirrors were fixed in areas like Church Street, Jyoti Nivas College in Koramangala, KR Market, Indiranagar, and Indian Express circle, where the footfall is high. BBMP officials say that the idea behind this move is that it creates a ‘mirror effect’ – like holding a mirror up to the miscreants who urinate in public. “We want people to see public urination as a taboo, that is the main goal for this initiative. We are also in the process of building more toilets across the city, and necessary plans have been proposed to make urinals free for the people,” said Randeep, BBMP Special Commissioner, Solid Waste Management. These mirrors (8ft x 4ft) made using an unbreakable material has a QR code, scanning which, one can get the location of the nearest public toilet. Messages like, “Don’t spit in public”, “Say no to single use plastic”, “Stop littering” and “Avoid Public Urination” were written across the mirrors, to invoke a sense of responsibility and to create awareness among the passers-by. “Measures to installing QR Codes for locals and tourists to identify the closest public toilets have also been proposed,” Randeep added. In order to achieve and maintain the ‘Open Defecation Free’ tag for the city, the civic body plans to construct around 250 toilets, in a prefabricated structure. Treated water will also be provided by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for the toilets.    

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Mangaluru bomb hoax call case: Suspect surrenders before police

Crime

Holding a grudge over denial of job at the airport, Aditya allegedly made bomb hoax calls.

Soumya Chatterjee

The suspect who had allegedly made a bomb hoax call to the Mangaluru Airport on Monday has surrendered himself to the police in Bengaluru at the office of the state police chief Neelamani Raju. The suspect has been identified as one Aditya Rao who had previously been probed for making bomb threat hoax calls to airports and railway stations in the state. He is not part of any terror module, according to preliminary information. However, it is not clear if Aditya had any connection with the bag of explosives that was left just outside the airport on Monday. Following the safe detonation of the explosive, police had released a photo of the suspect along with the autorickshaw he came in to the airport premises. Subsequent investigation led the police to the auto driver who allegedly told the police about Rao. According to police sources, family members of Rao were detained prior to his surrender. In August 2018, Aditya was booked and questioned by police for allegedly issuing bomb threats directed at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) and KSR City railway station on telephone. He was arrested during that time by the Internal Security Division (ISD) personnel.  During the interrogation in 2018, he claimed that he applied for a job as a security guard at the airport, but was denied the job because he was overqualified. Holding a grudge over denial of job, he allegedly made bomb hoax calls. The FIR in the Airport Police Station was registered under IPC 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) and 507 (Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication). In a call on August 20, Aditya had allegedly called the tele-enquiry and warned the KIA terminal manager Vimara claiming, "There is a bomb in your airport may be at he parking/lobby area, it will exploding in about 11, before 11 o clock (sic.)” In the second call on August 27th to AirAsia, Aditya threatened that there were bombs on flights.  A similar call was also made to the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Railway Station in the city on August 29 after he had reportedly picked a quarrel with officials at the KSR railway station over payment for using the cloak room.   Read: B’luru airport bomb hoax caller an engineer with MBA, wanted to work as security guard According to the Bengaluru City police officials, Rao is a resident of Manipal in Udupi district and also has Engineering and a Master of Business Administration graduate. Prior to being apprehended by the Bengaluru city police, police said that Rao was a junior manager at the Bengaluru branch of an international bank, but in 2014 has quit after seven-years of service and then worked as a security guard at a school in Udupi. (With Inputs from StoryInfinity.com)

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Karnataka boy who guided ambulance across flooded bridge to get National Bravery Award

Award

Among the 22 children who will be presented with the Child Welfare National Bravery Awards on Republic Day, two are from Karnataka.

TNM Staff

Two children from Karnataka have been selected for the Indian Council of Child Welfare National Bravery Awards 2019. One of the recipients is Venkatesh, a 12-year-old from Raichur, who guided an ambulance through a submerged bridge during the devastating floods in parts of the state. The other recipient from the state is 9-year-old Aarti Kiran Shet, from Uttara Kannada district, who saved her two-year-old brother from a raging cow.  A total of 22 children will be presented with these awards on the occasion of Republic Day on January 26. On August 11, 2019, Venkatesh, a class VI student at Government Primary School at Hirerayanakumpe village of Raichur district, was playing with a group of friends when he saw an ambulance carrying six children and a woman's dead body was stuck on a bridge due to the rising water levels. The ambulance was heading to Machanoor village in Yadgir district.    When the driver, Manju (of Prasanna Ambulance services), called the group of boys to guide and help him cross the flooded area, Venkatesh volunteered. He guided the ambulance by wading through the flooded bridge. Venkatesh's act was broadcast by several news channels and was a topic of discussion on social media, where many lauded the boy for his brave effort. Even senior IAS officer P Manivannan, Secretary, Labour Department, took note of his act and recommended the Women and Child Development Department to give him a bravery award.  "I am of the opinion that the young student is entitled to be encouraged and honoured for his act of bravery and wish to recommend for considering and including his name in the list of bravery awards in this year. I hope my recommendation will be weighed favourably," Manivannan wrote. The Times of India reported that Aarti, a daughter of an LIC agent was playing with her younger sibling in Navilagon village in Honnavar, when the raging cow charged towards him. At the time, her brother was on a tricycle and she was pushing it. On seeing the cow charge towards them, she picked him up and ran towards safety. When the cow followed and attacked them, she screamed for help. This alerted her family members, who managed to chase the cow away.

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Bengaluru Police arrest three Bangladeshi persons for staying illegally in India

Crime

Previously, in October 2019, police had detained 60 such illegal immigrants.

TNM Staff

Police in Bengaluru on Tuesday arrested a family of three persons whom they found to be Bangladeshi citizens staying illegally in India. The arrests were made in Munnekolala near Whitefield, in the eastern fringe of the city. The accused have been identified as 55-year-old Mohammed Lokman, a resident of Boresel village of Pirojpur district in Bangladesh. His wife, 35-year-old Jasmin Begum and their 22-year-old son Raasel, were the other two arrested. Whitefield DCP Anuchet told The Hindu that the trio admitted to being Bangladeshis following the arrest and police have also recovered Bangladeshi identity cards from them including a national ID card and birth certificates. The three have been booked by Marathahalli police under the Foreigners Act. Incidentally, this arrest comes after Marathahalli police and some BBMP officials led a demolition drive recently on a private land near Sakra Hospital within the Whitefield subdivision over claims of illegal immigrants living there. However, following criticism from activists on ground and media scrutiny, the BBMP Commissioner said the demolitions were illegal and unauthorised. Narayan Swamy, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), Mahadevapura Zone has been transferred out of the BBMP and disciplinary action will be recommended against him.  All the residents there were found to be blue collar workers who had migrated from north Karnataka or other parts of the country like Assam, West Bengal. Previously, police had detained 60 such suspects in October 2019 and at a press conference led by City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, the police said that these suspected illegal immigrants were living in shanties in peripheral areas of the city falling under Ramamurthynagar, Bellandur and Marathahalli police station limits. Police had then said that the Foreigner’s Regional Registration Office was informed and the people will be handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF), who will deport them to Bangladesh instead of them facing arrest by the city police.  That time, the drive was led by the Central Crime Branch police who were probing the issue of illegal migrants after an intelligence report. Police had then said many of the detained were employed as daily wage labourers and worked either in the construction sector or collected scraps. Some of them were also employed by contractors of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

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