Karnataka Legislative Council bye-election to be held on March 15

Politics

The bye-election was announced following the demise of SL Dharmegowda who had passed away last year.

TNM Staff

The Election Commission of India has announced that the bye-election to the Karnataka Legislative Council would be held on March 15 for one seat. The bye-election is being conducted to fill up the vacancy to the seat held by the former Deputy Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council, SL Dharmegowda, who had passed away last year. The Election Commission has also mentioned that the notification for the bye-election would be issued on February 25 and the last date for filing the nominations is March 4. The last date for the withdrawal of the nominations for the bye-election is March 8. The election would be held on March 15 from 9am to 4pm, with MLAs voting. Counting of the votes would be done by 5pm on March 15 and the bye-election to the Legislative Council would be completed by March 18. The Election Commission has also issued a few guidelines to be followed during the election process such as masks should be worn by everyone during any election related activity and also that thermal scanning of all the persons should be carried out. Sanitizers should be made available at all locations, at the entry of the hall or rooms which are being used for election purposes. SL Dharmegowda was a leader in the Janata Dal(Secular) party and had been a member of the Legislative Council since 2018. He was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Council on June 4, 2018. He was found dead near the railway track on December 29, 2020.. The Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said last month that a preliminary inquiry into the death of Dharmegowda was going on and that necessary action would be taken based on the report submitted. He had also added that the exact cause of his death could be determined after the completion of the investigation. 

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NIA chargesheets 11 in Bengaluru dacoity cases, links them to terror outfit JMB

Crime

The main accused, Jahidul Islam, was involved in promoting the activities of JMB in India and is one of the prime accused in serial blasts in Bangladesh 2005, the NIA said.

TNM Staff

Image for representation: PTI

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet on Wednesday against eleven persons who were accused in a series of four dacoities in Bengaluru reported in 2018. According to the NIA, the accused had hatched a conspiracy with an intention to raise funds for the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB), a terrorist outfit that operates in Bangladesh – on the pretext of “Maal-e-Ghanimat” meaning “Spoils of War''. Last year in April, the NIA had again registered four cases against the accused for dacoities committed: one each in KR Puram, one in Kothanur, and two in Attibele Police Station limits. The eleven accused are Najir Sheikh (25), Arif Hussain (23), Asif Ikbal (27), Jahidul Islam (40), Kador Kazi (33), Habibur Rahamansk (28), Mohammad Dilwar Hossain (28), Mustafizur Rahman (39), Adil Sheikh (27), Abdul Karim (21), Mosaraf Hossain (22). The charges were filed before the NIA special court in Bengaluru. The accused have been booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information), 395 (dacoity), 397 (robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), 399 (preparation to commit dacoity), 400 (belonging to gang of dacoits) and 458 (house-trespass or house-breaking) of the Indian Penal Code, and also sections 17 (raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy) and 20 (being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). In a press statement, the NIA said, “The main accused, Jahidul Islam, at Kausar disclosed and pointed out all the hideouts where he, along with his associates/JMB members, had taken shelter and identified shops from where they had procured instruments” used in “dacoities and also the houses where dacoities were committed.” “Jahidul Islam, a Bangladeshi national, who is the main conspirator and leader of JMB, was involved in promoting the activities of JMB in India and is one of the prime accused in serial blasts in Bangladesh 2005. He is also the main conspirator in Burdwan Bomb blast Case and Bodh Gaya Blast Case.” In further investigation, the NIA claimed that it established the broad network forged by JMB terrorists in India for committing terrorist and subversive activities by procuring arms and explosives, recruiting youth and conducting training camps. The NIA has also said that they are conducting further investigations against other accused who are absconding.

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'Aggrieved by media trial': Disha Ravi seeks action against 3 English channels

Law

Disha also sought action against TV channels to prevent them from publishing alleged private chats.

TNM Staff

Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old climate activist arrested by the Delhi police, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking that no investigation material related to the FIR (first information report) against her is leaked by the police or the state government. Disha was arrested by Delhi police on Saturday under controversial circumstances, after she was flown from Bengaluru to Delhi without a transit remand.  According to documents, she has further sought a direction from the High Court seeking action be taken against TV channels like News 18, India Today and Times Now so that they do not publish contents/ extracts of any alleged private chats including those made over WhatsApp. She has said that reports on TV channels have severely aggrieved her and the same amounts to media trial. Read: ‘Disha is a passionate environmentalist’: Friends, activists shocked at her arrest When the public prosecutor on February 14 alleged that Disha was part of a “larger conspiracy” against the Indian government, with links to Khalistani separatists, Disha made her own submissions. She denied being part of any conspiracy and that she doesn't know any such group.  Disha was booked for sedition by the Delhi police for editing a toolkit or a Google document sharing information about the farm laws protest, which was tweeted by international climate activist Greta Thunberg. Toolkits are documents that contain basic information on campaigns including tweet suggestions, hashtags, whom to tag on social media etc. They are routinely used in social media campaigns by various organisations including political parties. In connection with the same case, the Delhi police issued non-bailable warrants against Mumbai-based advocate Nikita Jacob and activist Shantanu Muluk, following which both have been given protection from arrest after they moved the Bombay High Court. The FIR by the Delhi police does not specifically mention Disha Ravi. It, however, mentions two other organisations — the Sikh Justice Front and the Poetic Justice Foundation — based outside India. The FIR stated that the toolkit “contains a detailed plan of a large conspiracy to wage an economic, social, cultural, and regional war against India.” Disha has received support from across the country following her arrest. A protest was held in Bengaluru and Chennai by citizen groups, condemning her arrest and calling for her release. Fake news had emerged on Wednesday distorting Disha Ravi’s name as Disha Ravi ‘Joseph’ and claiming that she is a Syrian Christian from Kerala. This information was reported to be false by her lawyers and friends.  Also read: ‘Conspiracy to wage war against India’: Details of FIR in Disha’s arrest 'Toolkit' case: Lawyer Nikita Jacob, activist Shantanu move HC for pre-arrest bail Comparing Disha Ravi to Ajmal Kasab is just another day in new India  Fridays for Future was on govt radar long before Disha Ravi's arrest: An inside view

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FIR against Unocoin for setting up bitcoin ATM in Bengaluru quashed by Karnataka HC

Cryptocurrency

The police booked Unocoin co-founders in 2018 stating that the company had not taken necessary permissions to install the ATM kiosk.

Prajwal Bhat

The Karnataka High Court quashed the criminal case registered against the founders of Unocoin, a virtual currency exchange company, for setting up a bitcoin ATM in Bengaluru in 2018. It was installed at the Kemp Fort Mall in October 2018 amid fanfare before it was seized a week later by Cyber Crime police officials, who stated that the company had not taken necessary permissions to install the ATM. A single-judge bench of Justice HP Sandesh quashed and set aside the case against Unocoin and its co-founders Sathvik Vishwanath and Harish BV. The duo were booked by Cyber Crime police in Bengaluru who cited a circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India regulating entities including banks from dealing with virtual currencies.  Following the arrest in 2018, Unocoin released a statement claiming that the ATM was not connected to a banking network and did not fit the RBI's definition of an ATM. "The kiosk’s primary motive was to only allow our customers to withdraw or deposit money (INR) to their Unocoin account subject to all rules governing cash transactions, which could then be used to sell or buy cryptocurrencies from our websites or mobile apps," Unocoin said in a statement. The company said that it was similar to kiosks set up by Airtel and Vodafone when people can pay bills using cash. The police on its part stuck to its accusation. "The ATM kiosk installed by Unocoin at Kemp Fort Mall has not taken any permission from the state government and is dealing in cryptocurrency outside the remit of the law.”  More than two years after the seizure, the High Court has quashed the FIR against Unocoin. The company's co-founder Sathvik Vishwanath released a statement saying that the FIR is quashed. "The co-founders had approached Honourable High Court of Karnataka appealing that the charges are baseless and invalid. The High Court after hearing the arguments have provided the verdict on 8th Feb 2021 saying that the FIR is quashed (declared invalid and the case is dismissed)," he said. 

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Law against 'love jihad' likely in next legislature session: BJP Karnataka chief

Politics

"There is love jihad going on in the state.I am confident that in the next session our government will bring a law to control love jihad in the state," Nalin Kumar Kateel claimed.

PTI

PTI Photograph

The BJP's Karnataka unit chief Nalin Kumar Kateel said on Wednesday the Yediyurappa government might introduce a law against 'love jihad' in the next assembly session. "There is love jihad going on in the state.I am confident that in the next session our government will bring a law to control love jihad in the state," Kateel claimed after inaugurating the BJP state unit meet at the Kittur Rani Chennamma community building in Vijayapura. In the recent past, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, both ruled by the BJP, have brought religious freedom laws to restrict conversion through marriage. The law in Uttar Pradesh now provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 50,000 under different categories. "Love Jihad" is a term used by right wing activists to refer to the bogey claim that men from the Muslim community are marrying women from other religious faiths, particularly Hindu women, and forcing them to convert to Islam. Nalin Kateel said the state government has already passed the ban on cow slaughter by bringing in a law in the previous legislature session. Speaking about the administration of the BJP government in Karnataka, Kateel said Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has been striving hard to increase revenue. "When the Congress government was ruling the state, they ran the administration using 'drug money', whereas the Yediyurappa government made Karnataka drug-free," Kateel alleged. In December 2020, the executive committee of the BJP urged the state government to bring in laws to restrict 'love jihad' and the slaughter of cows in Karnataka. The state government passed an anti-cow slaughter law in the Legislative Assembly and later in the Legislative Council amid opposition from the Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress.   

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Covid stimulus may leave aid for sick workers behind

Proponents of the economic aid measures are warning Congress not to abandon key tools for keeping sick working-class Americans isolated at home.

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Biden picks Brooks-LaSure to run Medicare, Medicaid agency

Brooks-LaSure, an Obama administration vet who helped craft the Affordable Care Act, has working ties with Biden's pick to lead the health department.

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