Cong demands fact-finding team to probe Mangaluru teacher's dismissal over 'anti-Hindu' remarks
Mangaluru: Congress leaders on Tuesday asked the Karnataka Education department to set up a fact-finding team to probe the expulsion of a teacher from a private school here for her alleged anti-Hindu remarks made inside the classroom.
Addressing reporters after visiting the St Gerosa English school, former state minister B Ramanath Rai and Vinay Kumar Sorake said an impartial probe should be conducted into the incident that threatens to affect communal harmony.
Rai said the provocative statements of BJP leaders who use children for the protest should be investigated to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
ALSO READ: Mangaluru: Gerosa School teacher suspended over alleged derogatory remarks on Hindu Gods
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson Farzana, who was part of the Congress delegation that visited the school, said the incident has led to a situation where the police are required to provide protection to the school.
She also condemned the statements of local BJP MLAs who allegedly instigated the students to raise ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans. Congress leaders J R Lobo, Mamatha Gatti, Shashidhar Hegde, Shahul Hameed and Shalet Pinto were part of the delegation.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
