Greece confers PM Modi with Grand Cross of the Order of Honour
Athens, Aug 25: Prime minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of Honour by Greek President Katerina N Sakellaropoulou on Friday, becoming the first foreign Head of Government to receive the honour.
The honour is bestowed by the Greek president to prime ministers and eminent personalities who, by reason of their distinguished position, have contributed to enhancing the stature of Greece.
Prime Minister Modi was conferred with the Grand Cross of the Order of Honour by President Sakellaropoulou, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a press release.
"He is the first foreign Head of Government to receive this honour," it said.
The award ceremony took place at the Presidential Mansion in Athens.
Modi, on behalf of the people of India, thanked Sakellaropoulou and the Government and people of Greece for this special honour, the release said.
Tweeting a photograph of the event, Modi said, "This shows the respect the people of Greece have towards India."
The MEA in a tweet said it is "a special honour reflecting the strength of the India-Greece partnership".
The citation, according to pmindia.gov.in website, says, "In the person of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an honour is bestowed upon the friendly people of India."
"On the occasion of this visit, the Greek State Honours the Prime Minister of India, a statesman who has tirelessly promoted the global reach of his country and who works systematically for India's economic progress and prosperity, bringing about bold reforms. A statesman who has brought environmental protection and climate change among the top priorities of international activity," it states.
The Order of Honour was established in 1975. The head of goddess Athena is depicted on the front side of the Star with the inscription "ONLY THE RIGHTEOUS SHOULD BE HONOURED".
Modi, who is in Athens at the invitation of Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, arrived in the Greek capital from South Africa where he attended the 15th BRICS Summit.
This is the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Greece in the last 40 years. The last high-level visit to Greece took place in September 1983 when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi travelled to the country.
Prime Minister Modi has been honoured by countries across the world. Recently, during his visit to Paris in July, Modi was conferred with the highest honour of France, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, by French President Emmanuel Macron.
In June, Modi was conferred with the Order of the Nile', Egypt's highest honour, by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, during his visit to the Arab nation.
During his US visit in 2020, Modi was conferred with the Legion of Merit award by then president Donald Trump.
In 2019, the prime minister was conferred with the King Hamad Order of the Renaissance by Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa. It is the top honour in the Gulf country.
Modi was also honoured with Russia's highest civilian award, Order of St Andrew Award, in 2019. In the same year, he also received the Order of Zayed Award, the highest civilian honour of the UAE.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
