7 candidates set to be elected unopposed into Karnataka Legislative Council

Belagavi, 13: In a shocking development, Karnataka has reported its first COVID-19 relapse with a 50-year-old Tablighi Jamaat convention attendee in Belagavi testing positive days after being discharged.

The State health officials confirmed that P-298 from Kudachi, who had recovered and was discharged, has suffered a relapse. He has been re-admitted to a designated hospital in Belagavi.

The patient was initially admitted on April 15 and recovered, testing negative twice on April 30 and May 1. The tests were done at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Bengaluru, and the National Institute of Traditional Medicine (NITM), Belagavi.

Despite recovering, his treatment continued in the ICU for other comorbidities, especially cardiac issues. He was discharged on May 4 and quarantined at an institutional facility in Kudachi.

However, he developed symptoms again and was tested for COVID-19 again on May 5 at NITM, Belagavi. The result came back positive. He was re-admitted to a hospital, and on May 6 a second test was done at the Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences. Again, he tested positive.

Bengaluru, June 10: A court in Bengaluru has ejected the bail plea of Amulya Leona Noronha, a college student who has been accused of sedition for saying “Pakistan Zindabad” at the beginning of a speech during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the city on February 20.

The court claimed that if granted bail, the 19-year-old student of journalism and English at a Bengaluru college “may involve (herself) in similar offence which affects peace at large”.

Rejecting her bail plea, 60th additional city civil and sessions judge Vidyadhar Shirahatti said in his order, “If the petitioner is granted bail, she may abscond. Therefore, the bail petition of the petitioner is liable to be rejected.”

The police had booked Amulya under charges of sedition and promoting enmity between groups, although her friends claimed she was trying to convey a message of universal humanity by chanting zindabad in the name of all nations, including Pakistan and India.

Amulya, known for her oratory, and often invited at protests against the CAA, NRC and NPR, was arrested on the evening of February 20.

Video clips of the speech showed her chanting “Hindustan Zindabad” soon after saying “Pakistan Zindabad” and trying to tell the audience — her microphone had been taken away by then — that all nations are one in the end. She could not complete the speech; the protest was being held at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park.

Amulya’s bail plea was delayed on account of the lockdown, which came into force on March 25 — around the time hearings were due to begin in a lower court. Bengaluru police did not file a chargesheet against the student during the lockdown.

In the course of bail hearings, which began after lockdown restrictions were eased, the public prosecutor argued that Amulya was trying to incite people to create a law and order problem. The prosecutor also argued that she had earlier been accused of causing hatred and disaffection towards religion and the government established by law in India by holding a placard that stated “F##k Hindutva” during a student protest.

The prosecution argued that the student, if released, may commit similar offences since cases were already registered against her.

Defending Amulya, a friend who was part of the February 20 protest said, “Before she could complete what she wanted to say they surrounded her and grabbed the microphone. She was later placed under arrest on charges of sedition. What she was trying to say was, if we love one country it does not mean we should hate another.” Another friend said, “Please see her Facebook post of February 16, around 8 pm. Loving another country does not mean you are going against your own — this is exactly what she was trying to say (at the protest). She is promoting unity among nations…”

Mangaluru/Udupi, Jul 7: Coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi crossed 100 plus Covid19 positive cases mark again on Tuesday, after slipping to double digit cases for a day on Monday. While Dakshina Kannada accounted for 83 of these cases and one death, Udupi tallied 28 fresh cases taking the combined tally of new cases to 111.

DK stood second behind Bengaluru Urban that recorded 800 out of 1,498 new cases that the state recorded for the day.

In all, 48 primary contacts testing positive led DK district’s spurt of 83 cases, Sindhu B Rupesh, deputy commissioner, said. Influenza like illness (ILI) cases accounted for 20 of the 83 cases, one each were diagnosed with severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and from pre-surgery sample collected before delivery, two had history of inter-district travel, three each were cases of random, pre-surgery samples and source of infection being traced.

A 65-year-old male from Moodbidri who had co-morbid conditions including diabetes, pneumonia and heart ailment succumbed to the pandemic during the day. He was admitted for treatment at a private hospital on July 3. With this, the death toll due to coronavirus in DK district rose to 26 and two of them are due to non-Covid reasons including a case each of suicide and a person succumbing to liver cirrhosis and they tested positive post death.

G Jagadeesha, deputy commissioner, Udupi district said the 28 new cases took the total positive cases in Udupi to 1390. With 1182 patients discharged and three deaths, Udupi as on date has 205 active cases. Those who tested positive include KSRTC driver who travelled to Bengaluru, vegetable vendor at Adi Udupi market and people with travel history to Tumakuru, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Dubai and two even from DK and rest primary contacts, DC said.

Health authorities in DK district also discharged 99 patients during the day to keep their active cases tally at 650. The two districts combined have 855 active cases as on date. As per revised protocol issued by the department of health and family welfare, the district administration also permitted 28 patients with mild symptoms to undergo home isolation while the rest are being treated either at private hospitals or at the designated Covid19 hospital for DK.