Ravi Belagere, Anil Raj to undergo jail term as Assembly rejects their plea

News Network
November 22, 2017

Bengaluru, Nov 22: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has unanimously rejected a petition filed by editors of two Kannada tabloids seeking reconsideration of a House resolution that had sentenced them to one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 for committing breach of privilege.

The Assembly in June this year had passed a resolution accepting recommendations of the Privileges Committee of the House sentencing 'Hi Bangalore' editor Ravi Belagere and 'Yelahanka Voice' editor Anil Raj to one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 each.

The counsel of the two editors had filed a review petition before Speaker K B Koliwad questioning the ruling of the Privileges Committee.

On Tuesday, Koliwad placed the review petition before the Assembly. "The House is supreme. It was the House which took a decision against the two editors. Hence, the review petition is being placed before the House," Koliwad said.

The Assembly unanimously rejected the review petition by a voice vote. This means, the two editors will have no option but to undergo the punishment.

The editors had challenged the legality of the resolution in the High Court of Karnataka, but later withdrew the same.

In 2014, Ranebennur MLA K B Koliwad (now the Speaker) had petitioned the Privileges Committee taking offence to "defamatory articles" against him in 'Hai Bangalore'. In another instance, in 2017, Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath approached the Privileges Committee taking offence to articles appearing in a local tabloid 'Yelahanka Voice'. The committee found the articles defamatory and amounted to breach of privilege.

Earlier in the day, a majority of the members who spoke on the review petition said no mercy should be shown on the two editors. Vishwanath said "defamatory articles appeared against me even after the House passed the sentence".

G H Srinivas (Cong) suggested that a special law should be enacted to exclusive try journalists who write defamatory articles.

Ashok M Pattan (Cong) said the punishment against the two editors should be doubled for filing the review petition. "Many a journalists indulge in blackmail. No mercy should be shown against them".

S Suresh Kumar (BJP) and YSV Datta felt that "unfortunately" the articles did not amount to breach of privilege as they were outside the purview of the Assembly.

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News Network
March 9,2020

Kochi, Mar 9: A three-year old child has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said in Kochi on Monday.

The child and its parents who had reached the Cochin International Airport Limited at 6 AM on March 7 from Italy were subjected to thermal screening at the universal surveillance system established, officials said.

Detecting symptoms of coronavirus in the child, they were immediately referred to the isolation ward of the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital, they said. The samples of the child sent for examination at the NiV lab at Alappuzha have tested positive for Coronavirus, they said.

The samples of the parents have also been sent for lab test, the officials added.

Five fresh coronavirus cases, including three who evaded screening on return from Italy, were reported in Kerala, prompting the government on Sunday to sound a renewed alert and warn action against those hiding travel history to affected nations.

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News Network
April 9,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 9:  Ministers and members of Legislature in Karnataka will take a 30 per cent cut each in their salaries and allowances to fund the fight against coronavirus in the state, for a year.

An ordinance to reduce the salaries of ministers and legislators by 30 per cent for one year to meet the exigencies arising out of COVID-19 pandemic was approved by the state cabinet headed by chief minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday.

"... we have cut by 30 per cent salaries and allowances of all ministers, MLAs, MLCs, also speaker, deputy speaker, chief whip every one for one year from April 1, amounting to Rs 15.36 crore," Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister J C Madhuswamy said.

Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting, he said, "we have the consent from all the political parties for this, so we have passed the ordinance today."

The Union Cabinet on Monday had approved a 30 per cent cut in salaries of all Members of Parliament and a two-year suspension of the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
May 22,2020

Newsroom, May 22: Countless netizens including Indians have hailed the action taken by Jazan University of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against a high-ranking Indian expatriate who had posted called Indian Muslims as radicals.  

Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook flooded with appreciation after the University announced on Twitter that the professor, who had posted objectionable messsages, had been fired. The university, however, did not disclose the name of the professor. 

On its Twitter account, Jazan University wrote, “Based on what was monitored by the university about the publication of a contracted faculty member for offensive posts and tweets, his registration has already been folded. #JazanUniversity affirms that it resolutely addresses any perverted or extremist ideas that affect the constants or violate the directions of good leadership.”

After the university’s announcement, many on Twitter posted screenshots of the communal tweets claiming that the professor is Neeraj Bedi and made it clear that the dismissed professor is an Indian.

Bedi has been working as full time Professor in Faculty of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in Jazan University for years.

In his Twitter account, which does not currently exist, he was praising PM Modi and spewing poison against Islam and holding Muslims responsible for the spread of Coronavirus. It is believed that the account was deleted after the protests became severe.

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