Case of attempt to outrage modesty of woman filed against Arjun Sarja

Agencies
October 27, 2018

Bengaluru, Oct 27: A case of attempt to outrage the modesty of a woman has been slapped against popular South Indian film actor Arjun Sarja on a complaint by multi-lingual actress Sruthi Hariharan.

The actress, who has essayed roles in several Kannada films in a post on her Facebook page praising the '#Metoo" movement, had last week accused Sarja of "lewd and complete unprofessional behavior" with her during the shooting for a bilingual film in 2016.

Sruthi's complaint with the Cubbon Park police came a day after the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC)'s attempt to bring about a conciliation between the two actors failed.

"Based on a complaint from Sruthi Hariharan, we have registered a case under Sections 354 354A, 506 and 509 of theIPC.

The main content of it is that he misbehaved with her.We will investigate all the aspects mentioned in the complaint," DCP (Central Bengaluru) D Devaraj told reporters.

Section 354 relates to assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty, 506 to punishment for criminal intimidation and 509 to word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

The actress has also mentioned the manager and two others as the witnesses, Devaraj said, adding, "We will inquire with them too."

Sruthi has alleged that Sarja had sexually abused her since 2015.

The actress recalled one incident in December 2015 when she was travelling with her team to her house in her car and Sarja followed her in his vehicle.

When the vehicles stopped at a traffic signal, he passed a sexually explicit comment, she alleged.

The actress further stated that the #MeToo movement gave her strength to share her story with people.

After Sruthi's Facebook post last week,Sarja had told a TV channel that he has great respect for women right from his childhood and that he was never involved in any incident that disrespected women or embarrassed them.

He had also said he respects "#metoo" and values it, but cautioned against its misuse.

Sarja had also said that he has shared screen space with 60-70 actresses in the 150 movies he has acted in and has a good relationship with all of them.

Days after Sruthi's charge, Sarja on Thursday filed a Rs five defamation suit against her in a city court.

"There is no question of compromise because the pain is intense. Not only me, but my family, friends and above all, my fans in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are deeply hurt.

I don't want others to be sacrificed like this," Sarja had said after the KFCC's failed patch-up efforts.

"We have gone to court. You will come to know in the coming days who are behind this campaign against me," Sarja had said after the meeting.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 6: A 40-day old child with cardiac condition was shifted to Bengaluru’s Jayadev Hospital from Father Muller Hospital in Mangaluru through a green corridor traffic.

Hospital sources said the ambulance carrying the 40-day old patient was provided Green Corridor by police department throughout the way.

Saiful Azhman, who is just 40-days old has been diagnosed with heart-related ailment. Doctors at FMMC hospital provided basic treatment to Saiful and advised that he be taken to Jayadeva hospital for advanced treatment.

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News Network
February 22,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 22: Thanks to joint efforts by the Protector of Emigrants in Bengaluru and Indian Embassy in Qatar, a 26-year-old woman from Karnataka who had been kept in confinement in Qatar has been rescued and brought back to India.

Anupama (name changed) from Holenarasipura in Hassan district arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday night. She was allegedly locked up in a house for 14 days, restrained from using a mobile and wasn't fed. There were three other women with her. On the midnight of February 12, they broke the window panes and fled before contacting local police.

Anupama, a diploma graduate in computer science, was jobless and her friend working in Kuwait suggested she try for a job abroad. She contacted an agency based in Chikkamagaluru which offered her a nanny's job in Qatar. After document verification, the agency demanded she pay Rs 2 lakh but she said she didn't have that kind of money.

The agency sent Anupama on a visitor visa but told her if questioned by immigration officials, she must claim she was visiting her sister. They also gave her a return ticket.

As Anupama was travelling abroad for the first time, she said she was ignorant about several things.

On January 12, Anupama left Bengaluru. But as she reached Qatar, all her documents, including passport, were confiscated by the agency. Her return ticket was cancelled and she was sent to a house to work as babysitter-cum-cook for Rs 30,000. She lived with four other maids in the same house, where they were made to work for 16-18 hours a day.

"I used to wake up around 5.30am every day and had to prepare breakfast for the employers by 6.30am. My work would end around 11pm every day. We never even got time to eat," Anupama told media on Friday. Four days into work, Anupama's nose started bleeding. However, the employers cared little and insisted she continue to work. After 18 days, she requested her employers that she be relieved.

The agency sent her to a house where three women were already present and locked her up with them. "They used to give us a glass of raw rice, an onion, tomato and potato to cook for ourselves. While we got rice every day, we had to use the vegetables for three days. We were not supposed to use mobiles or go out. Two people were monitoring us," she recalled.

Anupama and the others decided to approach police but for that they needed to escape. Around 1.30am on February 12, the four women managed to break window panes and jumped out. They ran for more than a kilometre and managed to approach police, who summoned the agency and got the women to speak to their families.

Anupama called her brother-in-law, who approached the Protector of Emigrants office in Koramangala, Bengaluru. Shubham Singh, PoE in Bengaluru, said they took up the issue with the Indian Embassy in Qatar, which immediately got in touch with Qatar police. Anupama said, "We were kept in prison for a couple of days and were sent to the deportation centre later."

Meanwhile, the Indian embassy got the agency to return the women's documents. However, the agents did not pay their salaries. Two of the women were sent to Hyderabad and the third to Kerala. On Friday, Anupama met Singh at his office, where her statement was recorded. "We have started the process of initiating action against the agency in India," he said.

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News Network
April 8,2020

Washington, Apr 8: Choosing stethoscope over the crown, Miss England 2019, Bhasha Mukherjee, has returned to work as a doctor as the world battles with coronavirus pandemic.

According to CNN, she was a junior doctor with a specialisation in respiratory medicine, before being crowned as Miss England in August last year. The beauty queen, who has her roots in India's Kolkata city, had taken a career break from the medical field.

She had paused her medical career for some humanitarian work that she was offered by several charities and was on a tour to different countries including India.

"I was invited to Africa, to Turkey, then to India, Pakistan and several other Asian countries to be an ambassador for various charity work," CNN quoted her as saying.

She had been in India at the beginning of March for four weeks. During her stay as an ambassador of the Coventry Mercia Lions Club, the 24-year-old had visited several schools and had donated stationery and other items to the needy.

Mukherjee then returned back UK as the situation worsened there with the coronavirus spreading at a fast rate. She then contacted the hospital and asked them that she wanted to rejoin.

According to CNN, the Miss England beauty pageant winner said that she felt wrong to be wearing the crown while people around the world were dying from the virus.

"When you are doing all this humanitarian work abroad, you're still expected to put the crown on, get ready... look pretty. I wanted to come back home. I wanted to come and go straight to work," CNN quoted her as saying.

"I felt a sense of this is what I'd got this degree for and what better time to be part of this particular sector than now. It was incredible the way the whole world was celebrating all key workers, and I wanted to be one of those, and I knew I could help," she added.

As the beauty queen has a recent travel history, she is currently in self-isolation and will return to work once her quarantine period is over.
She was crowned as Miss England 2019 in August last year.

According to World Health Organisation, 13,53,361people have been affected by coronavirus and over 80,000 people have lost their lives to it.

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