It’s Kalladka Bhat’s order: Churches, dargahs, madrasas must celebrate national festivals

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 9: Kerala has sanctioned the setting up of 28 fast track courts for speedy trial in rape cases and other cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

State Social Justice and Women and Child Development Minister KK Shailaja said the state government has decided to set up POCSO courts to ensure that the culprits get the punishment they deserve. She said the decision has been taken in the wake of rising violence against women and children.

"The Union Law Ministry has recently sanctioned the opening of 28 POCSO fast track special courts in Kerala at the request of the state government. The project will be implemented jointly by the High Court, Law and Home Departments under the leadership of the Department of Women and Child Development," the Minister said.

The four courts are alloted in Thiruvananthapuram district, three in Thrissur and Malappuram districts, two each in Kollam, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kannur districts.

The Minister informed that POCSO courts are jointly established by the central and state governments and according to the High Court data, 12,234 POCSO and rape cases are pending in the state.

Mangaluru, Jan 31: Four people, including a minor and a teen-aged boy, have been arrested on charges of spreading false messages on social media with in Bantwal taluk of Dakshnina Kannada District.

Police said on Friday that the arrested have been identified as Siddik (27), K Mohammed (19), Hanif (25) and a 16-year-old boy.

They are accused of spreading false news on social media using different mobile numbers in Bantwal Taluk for disturbing communal harmony, police said adding a case had been registered at the Vitla police station in this connection.

Bengaluru, Feb 6: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inducted 10 BJP MLAs to his Cabinet here on Thursday. They are among the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who defected last year.

The much-delayed expansion came almost two-months after the MLAs won the bypolls held in December. During the period, the defectors camp exerted pressure on Yediyurappa to expand the Cabinet and include all the MLAs who contested the bypolls.

The new ministers sworn in are S T Somashekar, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Byrati Basavaraj, K Gopalaiah, B C Patil, Dr K Sudhakar, Shivaram Hebbar, Anand Singh, Narayana Gowda and Shrimanth Patil.

One of the 11 MLAs from the defectors camp, Mahesh Kumathalli was not inducted as he hailed from the same constituency as Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi. Three others, MTB Nagaraj, H Vishwanath and R Shankar are likely to be inducted in June.

Governor Vajubhai Bala administered oaths to the new ministers at Raj Bhavan, where hundreds of supporters came to witness the event. Authorities had also beefed up security arrangements outside Raj Bhavan for the ceremony.

Earlier, Yediyurappa was to induct 10 newly-elected MLAs and three old-timer BJP MLAs. But on Wednesday evening, the BJP's central leadership stepped in to decide that only 10 newly-elected MLAs should be inducted after disgruntlement surfaced among BJP MLAs over former minister C P Yogeeshwar's induction.

Several MLAs led by chief minister's political secretary MP Renukacharya had raised a hue and cry over allotting berths to those who lost Assembly polls. A group of 13 to 15 MLAs had also demanded adequate representation to Kalyana Karnataka region, alleging that the new Cabinet had excess representation from few districts of Karnataka, such as Bengaluru Urban and Belagavi.