Karnataka Minorities’ commission to aid those languishing in jail for petty offences

coastaldigest.com web desk
July 17, 2019

Mangaluru, Jul 17: The Karnataka State Minorities’ Commission has sought information on under-trial prisoners serving extended sentences at prisons across the state in a bid to prevent under-trial prisoners from being incarcerated for prolonged periods for minor offences.

Armed with the necessary information, the commission will, with the assistance of lawyers and NGOs committed to such causes, work towards getting them released from prisons.

In Mangaluru on Tuesday, GA Bawa, the newly appointed chairman for the commission, said that a visit to the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru had alerted him to the prevalence of the problem of overstaying under-trial inmates. “Many inmates are languishing in jail for periods that far exceed the maximum sentence for the crimes they have been charged with. This is because they do not have the money to pay the amount fixed as bond for bail,” said Bawa.

Expressing outrage with many people being arrested and held in jails exclusively on grounds of suspicion, Bawa said, “Many of them are in jail because police have booked them simply because police suspect them of some petty crime. I was a cop myself, and I am not of the opinion that crime must be accepted as part of our societal make-up, or forgiving criminals. But it is inhuman to turn a blind eye to people rotting in prisons for petty crimes, or in some cases based on suspicion, with hardened criminals for company. Those belonging to the latter group may successfully lull them into joining their criminal syndicates and make them part of their gangs.”

The mission that Bawa has set for the commission is to help reform prisoners arrested for minor offences, and integrate them in the mainstream. “I have approached the Karnataka State Bar Council, and informed them about the plight of many of these undertrials. We want to work towards getting them released as early as possible. We have asked officials at the prisons to submit details of inmates serving sentences longer than the maximum punishment stipulated by law every year. Some of the inmates, I was disturbed to learn, have spent up to five years confined within the walls of a prison,” he added.

Anguished by the number of inmates from minority communities serving sentences at the Bengaluru Central Prison, Bawa said, “Of the nearly 4,000 inmates at that prison, around 35 to 40% are members of minority communities, disproportionately larger compared to their population in the state, which is roughly 15%. However, I would like to make it clear that I will be fighting for the rights of all undertrials, regardless of the community they belong to.”

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 12,2020

Bengaluru, May 12: The South Western Railway on Tuesday informed that a 'Shramik special train' has left Karnataka for Bihar carrying 1,428 migrants onboard.

The special train carrying migrants to Motihari, Bihar departed from Kabaka Puttur in Karnataka.

Passengers were observing social distancing norms during boarding.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had recently granted permission for movement of stranded citizens including migrants labourers, workers, students, tourists to return to their native towns.

As per the list provided by the Karnataka government, South Western Railway is arranging special trains. These special trains are being run from point to point with no stoppages en-route.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 23,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 23: Karnataka on Thursday recorded a biggest single-day surge of over 5,000 cases and 97 related fatalities, taking the total number of people who tested positive for the virus to 80,863, the health department said. 

The day also saw a record 2,071 patients getting discharged after recovery.

Out of 5,030 fresh cases reported, a whopping 2,207 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.

As of July 23 evening, cumulatively 80,863 Covid-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 1,616 deaths and 29,310 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 49,931 active cases, 49,291 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 640 are in ICU. Out of the 97 deaths reported on Thursday 48 are from Bengaluru urban, followed by Mysuru 8, Dakshina Kannada 7 and others.

Most of the dead are either with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI).

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounts for 2,207, followed by Raichur 258, Kalaburagi 229, Dakshina Kannada 218, and others.

Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 39,200 infections, followed by Dakshina Kannada 4,209 and Kalaburagi 3,370. 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 26,2020

New Delhi, Apr 26: The Centre will bring back the Indian citizens stranded abroad due to the ban on arrival of international passenger aircraft, only if the respective states they belong to agree to allow them to come back home and make necessary arrangements to quarantine them after their return.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has started consultations with the State Governments on bringing back the Indians, who got stranded in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada and many other foreign countries due to the ban on arrival of international passenger aircraft to any airport in the country. The decision on facilitating their return to the country would be taken after getting feedback on preparedness of the States and the Union Territory to receive them following all required health precautions, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba said.

Gauba on Saturday had a video-conference with the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories to review the implementation of the restrictions on travel and transport as well as the lockdown imposed across the country to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the Government earlier either evacuated or facilitated the return of nearly 28000 Indians from a number of foreign countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it almost stopped doing so after the ban on arrival of international passenger aircraft was enforced on March 23 in the wake of the spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases in India.

Thousands of Indian students, tourists, professionals and others are stranded around the world, including in the countries, where respective governments had imposed lockdowns to contain the pandemic. They have been desperately requesting the government on social media to evacuate them.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.