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Bengaluru, Feb 22: Karnataka legislative assembly speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has issued a notification banning entry of journalists in the Legislators House.

"Electronic media and print media cannot enter the Legislators House any time," the notification issued by the Speaker's office read.

The notification which was issued on February 18 said, "The legislators come to Legislators House from their constituencies during the assembly session. It is their private time when they stay there. When journalists come to Legislators House to meet them, it's an invasion of their privacy."

"Arrangements will be made for journalists to speak to MLAs outside the gate. No journalist or camera person will be allowed inside the gate," the notification added.

The Legislators House is located near the Vidhan Soudha, the state legislative assembly.

Bengaluru, Mar 22: People here stayed at their homes due to Janata Curfew on Sunday amid the coronavirus scare.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Thursday urged people to stay at their homes as a precautionary measure against the spread of coronavirus.

"In such difficult times, all Indians are supporting the cause. We accept and obey the Prime Minister's orders wholeheartedly as it is about how we protect ourselves and keep our children safe from this disease," said Shashikant Varma, a resident of Bengaluru.

"We hope the situation gets better at earliest and everyone gets rid of the virus," Varma added.
"All the shops have been closed.Everyone is at their homes to avoid getting infected from this deadly virus," said Harish Niwasi, another resident.

"Today is PMs Janata Curfew and so we all are at home. I appeal to all that by staying at home we can save each other from the deadly virus. We thank the PM for guiding us at such difficult times," said Tulsi Ram Varma.

The Janata curfew which began at 7 am today will come to an end at 9 pm.

Till now, the total number of positive coronavirus cases in Karnataka is 15 out of which one person has been cured and one death has taken place in the state, according to the Health Ministry.

The Karanataka Health Department on Saturday confirmed five new coronavirus cases in the state, taking the total count to 20.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), till now there are 341 positive cases of coronavirus in the country.

Bengaluru, Apr 28: A local court in Karnataka on Tuesday granted bail to a CRPF commando who was arrested by state police officials for alleged assault on them during COVID-19 lockdown duty, a charge contested strongly by the paramilitary.

The jawan has been taken to the jungle warfare training school of the paramilitary force in Belagavi district, a senior official said.

Constable Sachin Savant of the 207th CoBRA battalion was granted regular bail by a court located in Chikodi taluka of the district, he said.

A team of CRPF and CoBRA officials were present in the court during the proceeding during which the state police did not oppose the bail, the official said.

The commando was arrested by police on April 23 from Examba village (Belagavi district) when he was washing his bike outside his house without wearing a mask, as required under the coronavirus prevention protocol.

An altercation and physical fight took place between the two sides, following which the trooper was taken to the local police station and arrested.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had on Monday taken up the case with the Karnataka director general of police (DGP), calling the incident "unpleasant".

The CRPF letter said commando Savant was "manhandled, ill-treated, paraded to the police station barefooted, kept in chains and handcuffs" by police personnel and sought the intervention of state Director General of Police Praveen Sood.

The paramilitary had said that from the scrutiny of a viral video on social media of the incident "it is apparent that the conduct of the police personnel was not citizen-centric".

A police report had said the CoBRA commando "started the altercation" with the beat constable and another policeman accompanying him, and "assaulted" them.

As per the official Twitter handle of the Karnataka DGP's on Monday evening, "IGP (inspector-general of police) Belagavi has been asked to enquire into the incident involving the CRPF constable and action will be taken against guilty after receipt of the report".

The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the CRPF specialises in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare.