Udupi: Man gets 10-year jail term for sexually harassing minor
Udupi, May 13: A fast track special court (FTSC) for POCSO cases coming under Udupi district additional and sessions court has sentenced a man to 10 years imprisonment for sexually harassing a six-year old girl.
The verdict was delivered by Judge Ermalu Kalpana.
The court imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convicted person, identified as Santhosh K (35).
Of the fine amount, Rs 15,000 was directed to be handed over to the victim and the remaining Rs 5,000 to the government.
The court also ordered the payment of Rs One lakh by the legal services authority as compensation to the victim.
Santhosh was the owner of the house where the minor and her parents lived as tenants.
The incident occurred in February 2019 in Karkala police station limits.
Karkala police, who investigated the case, had submitted the charge sheet to the court.
In all, ten witnesses were questioned in the court.
The special public prosecutor of Udupi POCSO court Y T Raghavendra appeared for the prosecution.
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Anbumani asks PM Modi to ban sale of cigarettes for those born after 2009
Chennai (PTI): PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take legislative measures to prohibit smoking and the sale of cigarettes to individuals born on or after January 1, 2009, thereby creating a smoke-free generation.
Anbumani, former Union minister for health and family welfare, said, "Once implemented, it (ban on cigarettes) will ensure that future generations are legally prevented from ever accessing tobacco products", he said in a letter to Modi.
"I write to you with a deep sense of urgency and responsibility, drawing your kind attention to a critical public health issue that continues to endanger the lives of millions of Indians, particularly among the younger generation who are affected by cigarette smoking", he claimed.
Stating that India unfortunately bears a disproportionately high burden of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality, he said, adding that, according to global health estimates, nearly 267 million Indians, approximately one in five citizens, use tobacco.
"Each year, tobacco consumption directly accounts for over 1.35 million deaths, while exposure to second-hand smoke contributes to a total of approximately 2.3 million deaths annually", he said, adding, "these figures are alarming and reflect a public health crisis of immense magnitude".
He pointed out that Scientific evidence unequivocally establishes tobacco use as a leading cause of cancer and numerous non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular ailments, chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD, and multiple forms of malignancies. "In India alone, tobacco is responsible for nearly 40–50 per cent of all cancer cases, with over 4.7 lakh deaths annually attributed to tobacco-induced cancers", he added.
"In this context, I strongly urge the Union government to consider enacting a transformative law similar to that of the United Kingdom, that permanently prohibits the sale and consumption of tobacco products for individuals born on or after a specified year (such as 2009). Such a generational ban would mark a decisive step towards eliminating tobacco use in India over time", he said.
