Dalits warned against misuse of atrocity law, false complaints

Bengaluru, Jul 28: Several state Congress leaders, including its President D K Shivakumar, among others, were detained by police as they tried to march towards Raj Bhavan here against the alleged attempts by BJP to topple the party's government in Rajasthan.

Shivakumar, along with Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, state Congress Working President Eshwar Khandre, Salim Ahmed among others were stopped by the police midway as they marched from KPCC office towards Raj Bhavan.

Congress leaders then staged a dharna at the place where they were stopped. Addressing the gathering, Shivakumar accused the BJP of trying to "murder" democracy by destabilizing and removing elected governments.

"We wanted to protest against it and submit a memorandum to the President through the Governor," but the Karnataka government by using police was not letting them proceed towards Raj Bhavan, he said. "Despite our being a peaceful protest, the police stopped us," he said.

Siddaramaiah, echoing similar views, said peaceful protests against injustice was the right of every citizen. Alleging that the BJP was attempting to destabilise and remove the elected government in Rajasthan as it did in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, he said the Governor's office there (Rajasthan) was being 'misused'.

The Governor was working like an agent of the central government, he charged. He said, despite repeated appeals by the Rajasthan cabinet, the Governor there had not convened the assembly session, for the floor test to take place and for Congress to prove its majority. Police subsequently detained Shivakumar and some other Congress leaders and took them to a nearby police station.

They were later released. Meanwhile, as the Congress' protest amid Covid19 pandemic did not follow social distancing norms, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar hit out at that party's leaders. In a tweet Sudhakar said, for Congress leaders getting publicity was more important than social concerns.

Bengaluru, Aug 8: Karnataka government on Friday issued revised guidelines for international returnees.

According to the guidelines, all the travelers shall submit self-declaration form on the Yatri Karnataka online portal at least 72 hours before the scheduled date of travel.

"All travelers shall submit Self-declaration forrn on the Yatri Karnataka online portal (http://www,covidwar.karnataka.gov.in or http://parihara.kaarnateka.gov.in/service38/) least 72 hours before the scheduled date of travel," it read.

It said that Before Boarding Do's and Don, about COV1D-19 quarantine, testing, etc. shall be provided along with ticket to the travellers by the travel agencies concerned.

All passengers shall download Arogya Setu app, Quarantine watch app end Apthamitra App on their mobile devices, (https://covid-19.karnataka.gov.in/new-page/softwares/en).

At the time of boarding the flight/ ship, only asymptomatic travellers shall be allowed in board after thermal screening.

"Deboarding should be done by ensuring physical distancing of two meters. 

Self-declaration form shall be obtained from each passenger in duplicate," the guidelines read.

Karnataka has 75,076 active cases of the virus with 80,281 recovered and 2,897 deaths so far.