Mangalurean woman Joyce Rego crowned ‘Mrs India Dubai'

Udupi, Mar 25: Fearing Corona infection a 56-year-old man has committed suicide over in Udupi. 

The deceased has been identified as Gopalkrishna Madivala.

He was a KSRTC bus driver and was currently performing a duty to train new drivers.

He suspected his friend had contracted COVID-19 and as he had a close association with him, he feared he too will be infected and hence hanged himself on a tree.

Although symptoms of Corona infection do not appear to him, he left behind a death note which stated that he resorted to the extreme step over suspicion of having been infected by a corona trait of a friend. 

Recently, the first COVID-19 positive case in Udupi where a 34-year-old man has been tested positive.

A press release issued by the District Health and Family Welfare Officer on Wednesday said that the man had come from Dubai to Udupi district on March 18.

Since he showed symptoms of COVID-19, he was admitted to the District Government Hospital on March 23. His throat swab was sent for test and the preliminary report stated that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

Bengaluru, July 23: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the state government to formulate Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for child protection, particularly for cases of child pornography and child missing.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice M Nagaprasanna passed a detailed order and asked the state government to submit compliance within three months.

The division bench passed the order on two PILs, including a suo motu litigation registered in 2018. The PILs were registered to ensure effective implementation of the directions of the Supreme Court on the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act).

The bench observed that in normal courses, courts do not issue writ of mandamus to the legislature on rule-making aspects. However, when the failure of the state is demonstrated under exceptional circumstances, courts can issue directions. The bench directed the state government to expedite the rule-making process to ensure proper implementation of the JJ Act.

The bench expressed displeasure on the insensitive police investigation in cases of child pornography. “The police machinery did not show the sensitivity expected from it while dealing with cases of alleged child pornography. Therefore, it will be appropriate if the state issues SOP or guidelines for dealing with cases of child pornography so that proper investigation is carried out in such cases. As we are directing the formation of SOP for dealing with child pornography cases, the state is also directed to formulate guidelines on child missing cases,” the bench said.

The bench had been issuing several directions since 2018 and has also been monitoring police investigations. The court observed that while the state government has incorporated several directions, some issues still remain unaddressed.

The bench directed the government to have dedicated staff for the Directorate of Integrated Child Protection Scheme considering the sensitive nature of work.

On working of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB), the court asked the Registrar General of the Karnataka High Court to issue directions to the principal magistrates of all the JJBs in the state to sit on all working days for a minimum of six hours a day. 

The high court directed the state to exercise the rule-making powers for obtaining an annual report from the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

Bengaluru, May 13: 26 new covid-19 cases have been reported in Karnataka taking the total cases to 951. This includes 32 COVID deaths, one non-COVID death and 442 discharges.

The new cases include eleven cases from Bidar - all of whom are from the containment zone - , four from Hassan, two each from Davangere, Kalaburgi, Vijayapura and Uttara Kannada and one each from Bengaluru Urban, Ballari and Dakshina Kannada.

All the cases reported in Hassan and Vijayapura are with a travel history to Mumbai. In Bengaluru Urban, a nurse from a designated COVID hospital who was under quarantine has tested positive.

32nd death

The latest death reported was that of a 60-year-old man in Kalaburgi district. The deceased man from a containment zone was brought dead on May 11 to a designated hospital in Kalaburagi, and he has tested positive for COVID-19, it said.