Kerala govt orders probe into children singing RSS song onboard newly inaugurated Vande Bharat
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala government on Sunday ordered a probe into the reported act of the Southern Railway making school students sing an RSS song onboard the newly inaugurated Vande Bharat Express from Ernakulam to Bengaluru.
General Education Minister V Sivankutty instructed the Director of Public Instructions (DPI) to conduct inquiry and submit a report in this regard. In a statement issued by the minister's office, Sivankutty said the government views the incident with utmost seriousness.
Politicisng children at government events and using them to promote the communal agenda of any particular group is a violation of constitutional principles, he said.
"The Director of Public Instructions (DPI) has been directed to immediately conduct an inquiry and submit a report," he said.
The inquiry would examine whether there were any lapse in making students participate in the official event, he said adding that appropriate further action would be taken based on the findings in the report.
The government has a responsibility to uphold the secular and national values of the country and steps will be taken to ensure that these principles are protected, Sivankutty added.
However, Union Minister Suresh Gopi on Sunday justified the students singing RSS song onboard the newly inaugurated train. It was part of the innocent celebration of children, he told reporters in Thrissur.
"They felt to sing that song at the moment and they did so. Anyway, it's not an extremist song," the union mister of state for petroleum, natural gas and tourism added.
The probe ordered by the state government and the justification of the union minister came a day after the singing of an RSS song by a group of school students onboard the newly inaugurated Vande Bharat Express had drawn sharp reactions in Kerala.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday condemned the reported act of the Southern Railway saying that it deserves to be protested.
He had said that including the song of the RSS, which allegedly constantly spreads anti-religious hatred and communal divisive politics, in the official programme of the government is a violation of constitutional principles.
Sangh Parivar using the country's largest public sector undertaking, the Railways, for spreading their alleged communal political propaganda is unacceptable, the CM had said.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, had also spoken on the same lines and said that making students sing the RSS song as part of a government programme was "illegal and undemocratic".
He alleged that the BJP was trying to implement the politics of division as seen in north India, in Kerala.
The Southern Railway had earlier reportedly withdrew the social media post following widespread criticism against it.
On later Sunday, the Southern Railway again posted on social media platform 'X' the video of the song by the students along with its English translation.
"The students of Saraswathi Vidyalaya beautifully performed their school song during the inaugural run of the Ernakulam Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express," it had said in the 'X' post.
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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.
