In Shikaripura, discussions on Yeddyurappa's 'fading glory'

Bengaluru, Feb 22: Thanks to joint efforts by the Protector of Emigrants in Bengaluru and Indian Embassy in Qatar, a 26-year-old woman from Karnataka who had been kept in confinement in Qatar has been rescued and brought back to India.

Anupama (name changed) from Holenarasipura in Hassan district arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday night. She was allegedly locked up in a house for 14 days, restrained from using a mobile and wasn't fed. There were three other women with her. On the midnight of February 12, they broke the window panes and fled before contacting local police.

Anupama, a diploma graduate in computer science, was jobless and her friend working in Kuwait suggested she try for a job abroad. She contacted an agency based in Chikkamagaluru which offered her a nanny's job in Qatar. After document verification, the agency demanded she pay Rs 2 lakh but she said she didn't have that kind of money.

The agency sent Anupama on a visitor visa but told her if questioned by immigration officials, she must claim she was visiting her sister. They also gave her a return ticket.

As Anupama was travelling abroad for the first time, she said she was ignorant about several things.

On January 12, Anupama left Bengaluru. But as she reached Qatar, all her documents, including passport, were confiscated by the agency. Her return ticket was cancelled and she was sent to a house to work as babysitter-cum-cook for Rs 30,000. She lived with four other maids in the same house, where they were made to work for 16-18 hours a day.

"I used to wake up around 5.30am every day and had to prepare breakfast for the employers by 6.30am. My work would end around 11pm every day. We never even got time to eat," Anupama told media on Friday. Four days into work, Anupama's nose started bleeding. However, the employers cared little and insisted she continue to work. After 18 days, she requested her employers that she be relieved.

The agency sent her to a house where three women were already present and locked her up with them. "They used to give us a glass of raw rice, an onion, tomato and potato to cook for ourselves. While we got rice every day, we had to use the vegetables for three days. We were not supposed to use mobiles or go out. Two people were monitoring us," she recalled.

Anupama and the others decided to approach police but for that they needed to escape. Around 1.30am on February 12, the four women managed to break window panes and jumped out. They ran for more than a kilometre and managed to approach police, who summoned the agency and got the women to speak to their families.

Anupama called her brother-in-law, who approached the Protector of Emigrants office in Koramangala, Bengaluru. Shubham Singh, PoE in Bengaluru, said they took up the issue with the Indian Embassy in Qatar, which immediately got in touch with Qatar police. Anupama said, "We were kept in prison for a couple of days and were sent to the deportation centre later."

Meanwhile, the Indian embassy got the agency to return the women's documents. However, the agents did not pay their salaries. Two of the women were sent to Hyderabad and the third to Kerala. On Friday, Anupama met Singh at his office, where her statement was recorded. "We have started the process of initiating action against the agency in India," he said.

Bengaluru, Jun 5: An FIR has been filed against former journalist and human rights activist Aakar Anil Patel in Bengaluru here over his comments on social media under charges pertaining to provocation with intent to cause riots.

The FIR was registered under Section 117 (abetting commission of an offence by the public or by more than ten persons), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), and 505-1-B (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the JC Nagar police station.

According to the FIR filed on June 2, Patel had tweeted that protests like the ones in the US over George Floyd's death are needed in India by the marginalised communities.

Patel, former chief of Amnesty International India, had on May 31 posted from his Twitter account, which is not verified.

On May 25, Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, following which protests against police brutality and racism erupted in various cities in the United States. The protests were later replaced by incidents of violence across the country.

India also has witnessed several cases of mob lynchings and custodial deaths in recent years. In most cases victims belong to down trodden communities such as Muslims and Dalits.

Responding to the development, Amnesty International India has said that FIR against Patel is another example of how the right to dissent is being "increasingly" criminalised.

"The Bengaluru police must stop abusing its authority and put an end to the intimidation and harassment of Aakar Patel for exercising his constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression. People of this country have the right to agree or disagree with those in power, and to express these opinions in peaceful protests - without fear or unlawful interference," Amnesty International India Executive Director Avinash Kumar said.

He said that peacefully protesting against the government is not a crime and added that not agreeing with the policies of those in power does not make you a traitor.

Bengaluru, Apr 16: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr Ashwath Narayan today said that if former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, being a law-abiding citizen, does not follow guidelines then action will be taken against him.

The Deputy CM made this comment when he was asked about Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil's marriage, which has been fixed on April 17 at a farmhouse near Bidadi in Ramnagar.

Narayan said: "Any violation of the guidelines will not be tolerated. We will ask the concerned authority to film the entire event and document it."

He said that so far Kumaraswamy has made public statements that guidelines will be followed.

"HD Kumaraswamy is a people's representative. He has been in public life for a long time. He should abide by the guidelines," Narayan said.

"Since he has been in a responsible position for a long time and he was the Chief Minister, guidelines must be followed in his son's marriage as per the rules amid COVID-19 scare.

After the marriage, there must not be any excuses. He cannot say that people came without an invitation," the Deputy Chief Minister added.

Kumaraswamy clarified that only his family members will attend the marriage and that there will be around 60 to 70 people.

"All guidelines will be followed as per the central government directives," he said.