Police torture victims still wait for compensation

June 8, 2012
Mangalore, June 8: Engineering student Joel Vaz said on Thursday that he and his father are still waiting for the compensation ordered by the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) from two policemen found guilty of treating them in an inhuman manner.

The Mangalore Police Commissionerate is yet to realise the compensation amount from the two policemen and take disciplinary action as directed by the Commission. The case is related to the incident involving engineering student Joel Vaz, his father Justine Vaz and Gangadhara Shetty. The then police sub-inspector of Mangalore Rural Police station K. Prakash and constable David D'Souza were accused of making the three stand naked in the police station and then making one of them remove the pubic hair of the other in June 2010.

The KSHRC took sou motu notice of the incident and had directed the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Ramesh to submit a report. Mr. Ramesh found the allegations to be true. In his report, Mr. Ramesh termed the act of the two policemen as “unfortunate, inhuman, and undesirable”.

Accepting his report, the SHRC on August 6, 2011 directed the two policemen to pay compensation of Rs. 25,000 to each of the three victims. The Commission directed the Police Commissioner to recover the compensation amount in three months and also take disciplinary action against the two policemen.

Mr. Joel Vaz told presspersons on Thursday that they had not yet received compensation amount announced by the SHRC.

The Mangalore Police Commissioner was yet to initiate any disciplinary action as recommended by the SHRC. “I have submitted a representation in this regard to the Police Commissioner few days ago. I have not received any reply so far,” Mr. Joel said. Just a few days ago, he received intimation from the High Court about appeal filed by Mr. Prakash against the SHRC order, he added.

Mr. Joel and two others said in the statement that the disciplinary inquiry, which started in 2010, had not concluded yet. They accused Police Commissioner of instituting the inquiry in order to favour Mr. Prakash.

P.B. D'Sa from Peoples Union for Civic Liberties, who spoke on behalf of the three victims, said directions of SHRC holds good as the High Court had not stayed the SHRC order.

Reaction

Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said following the SHRC order he did issue orders for recovery of the compensation. The process stopped following objection raised by Mr. Prakash.

“As the officer no longer works under me, the file has been moved to the unit officer under whom Prakash is now working,” he said.

Mr. Singh said the inquiry was still going on. When pointed out to the long time taken for concluding the inquiry, Mr. Singh said “there cannot be a long or short inquiry”.

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News Network
June 1,2020

New Delhi, Jun 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday sought a discussion on advances in telemedicine, the use of "Make in India" products in the healthcare, and the use of IT tools in the medical sector for a healthier society.

Addressing an event at the Rajiv Gandhi Health University in Bengaluru via video conference, he sought a discussion on whether new models can be conceived that make telemedicine popular on a larger scale.

Referring to the "Make in India" program, he said the initial gains made in this field make him optimistic. "Our domestic manufacturers have started production of personal protective equipment and have supplied about one crore PPEs to those in the frontline of fighting COVID-19.

Modi said IT-related tools for healthier societies can be of great help.

"I am sure you have heard of Arogya Setu. Twelve crore health-conscious people have downloaded it. This has been very helpful in the fight against coronavirus," he said.

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News Network
April 17,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 17: Forty-four new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the State till now, said Karnataka's Health Department on Friday.

"44 new COVID-19 cases reported in the State from 5 pm Thursday to 5 pm on Friday. The total number of positive cases in the State is 359 including 13 deaths and 88 discharges," said the Health Department.

Meanwhile, a meeting was convened to review the situation on the rising cases of coronavirus in the State. According to Karnataka Chief Minister's Office (CMO), the meeting was attended by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Home Minister Basavaraja Bommai, Health Minister B Sriramulu, and Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan.

The CMO said: "Earlier we used to do 500 tests per day. Now we are doing 2,000 tests. The suggestion was made to take care of the people who are in the ICU to prevent death. It was suggested and planned to work out a protocol for the treatment of COVID-19 patients all over the state."

The meeting also stressed the need for plasma treatment. Experts opined that people having influenza-like symptoms like fever, cold, breathlessness, etc., need to get tested for COVID 19.

The CMO said: "Officers were directed to conduct tests of the people with influenza-like symptoms in the districts where nil cases have been reported. ICMR has issued circular to set up two labs in each district and one lab in each medical college. In this direction, efforts are being made to set up 10 more labs in the State by the end of April."

"It was also decided to be prepared for treating an increased number of patients after relaxing in lockdown. It was also decided to issue guidelines to companies that would start working after relaxing lockdown. It was also decided to appeal to people to download Arogya Setu App. We will meet on April 21 again to decide further course of action," added the CMO.

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News Network
June 16,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 16: Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday said he would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi for more relaxations, as he made it clear that Covid-19 lockdown measures were not required in the state anymore.

"The lockdown is not required for Karnataka, we will request for more relaxations," Yediyurappa said in response to a question about video conferencing with the Prime Minister.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I will request him (PM) to make way for- people to lead a normal life and for the improvement in the economic situation."

Several services such as metro, theatres, gyms, swimming pools, bars among others continue to remain restricted under unlock 1.0 that is currently in place.

Modi is scheduled to hold a video conference with chief ministers of various states on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yediyurappa is scheduled to take part in the video conferencing on Wednesday.

The chief minister, who took part in the special pooja organised at Shankar Math here to pray for the control of Covid-19, said, the government was making all efforts to control the spread.

"We are taking strong measures and all of us should fight this together," he said, as he highlighted that the government has released the financial assistance amount that was announced for farmers, and was ensuring that it reaches them.

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