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
May 28,2020

Bengaluru, May 28: As many as 115 new coronavirus cases were reported in Karnataka on Thursday taking the infection count to 2,533, Karnataka Minister S Suresh said.

The total coronavirus cases include 834 discharges, 1,650 active cases, 47 deaths so far due to the disease and two deaths due non-COVID causes, Suresh Kumar, who is minister for primary and secondary education, said during the daily COVID-19 briefing.

According to him, 29 cases were reported in Udupi on Thursday, followed by 24 in Dakshina Kannada district, 13 in Hassan, 12 in Bidar, nine in Bengaluru Urban, seven in Yadagiri, six in Chitradurga, five in Kalaburagi, four in Haveri, three in Chikkamagaluru, two in Vijayapura and one in Raichur.

The minister said among the new cases, 95 are inter-state passengers and two international passengers.

According to the health department, 84 infected people have returned from Maharashtra and eight from Tamil Nadu.

Among those discharged today, 13 are in Davangere, 12 in Dakshina Kannada, nine each in Yadagiri and Vijayapura, five in Gadag, three in Belagavi, one each in Mysuru and Bagalkote.

Two are severe acute respiratory infection cases.

There were, however, no coronavirus related deaths in the state today, the minister said.

Kumar said the government has issued another circular making changes in the quarantine rules.

"A person who has completed seven days of institutional quarantine and is asymptomatic can be permitted for home quarantine without a COVID test, subject to undergoing medical check-up," the minister said.

According to the circular, all elderly people of above 60 years of age and those with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, heart ailment and renal diseases, are required to be clinically evaluated diligently prior to shifting them to home quarantine.

Such people will be under mandatory home quarantine for seven days, the circular read.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Mangaluru, Jun 3: A banner that read "Veer Savarkar Flyover Pumpwell" surfaced on the sidewall of the Pumpwell flyover in Mangaluru on Tuesday night.

It is suspected that activists of Bajrang Dal put up the controversial banner. Though it was removed later, it sparked debates on social media and photos of it went viral.

The development comes amid the controversy over the naming of a flyover at Yelahanka in Bengaluru after Savarkar.

A Hindutva ideologue, Savarkar has tendered apology to British imperialists and pledged to support them following his arrest during India’s freedom movement.

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News Network
July 1,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 1: The Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert and forecasted heavy rains for three coastal districts and 12 more in the south interior Karnataka region, an official said on Tuesday afternoon.

"Thunderstorm with lightning is likely to occur at isolated places over south interior Karnataka from Tuesday to Wednesday," said a Met official.

For Bengaluru city, the Met department has forecast a generally cloudy sky with light rain for the next three days.

Coastal Karnataka -- Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts have been issued a yellow alert for the next two days with thundershowers and gusty winds.

Winds blowing at speed of 40-50 km per hour are expected on the coast and the Met department warned fishermen against venturing into the sea.

Meanwhile, heavy showers on Sunday night in Vijayapura district gave rise to flash floods in the Doni river and Sogali stream.

An overflowing Doni river submerged the Talikote - Hadaginal bridge, a remnant from the colonial era, and also submerged some agricultural lands. Only recently, these agricultural lands were sown with toor dal plants.

Similarly, many SSLC students also struggled to cross the bridge to reach their examination centres on Monday.

Many houses were also flooded due to the rainfall at Nalatwad and Talikote taluk. Muddebihal, Basavana Bagewadi and Sindagi taluks also witnessed heavy rainfall.

A 40-year-old farmer from Dharwad district was washed away in the Tuppari Halla stream, which is prone to flood during the monsoon season.

Likewise, a truck carrying cotton also got washed away in a stream in Yadgir district.

"There is an offshore trough and a circulation, because of which rain will continue in the coastal area. Only Malnad has not got sufficient rain this year. Probably after two days, Malnad may get some rains," Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) Director Srinivas Reddy said. Otherwise, entire state got normal rainfall, said Reddy, though it is not active over Malnad.

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