CM Siddaramaiah reaches out to people with mass grievance redressal programme in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday held grievance redressal programme "Janaspandana", reaching out directly to people to address their concerns and issues with promise of speedy solutions, in front of the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state legislature and secretariat here.
The Chief Minister had held a similar exercise on November 27 last year at his home office 'Krishna'.
In what is billed to be the first such mass grievance redressal programme held on the premises of Vidhana Soudha, department-wise stalls were set up at the venue to help the aggrieved citizens, who came to seek redressal of their issues.
Earlier Chief Ministers have held such events elsewhere like the home office and official residence.
Siddaramaiah instructed the officials to dispose of the applications received from the people, who came from different parts of the State, within three months, official sources said.
The Chief Minister was seen personally meeting the people with grievances, especially those with disabilities, having health issues, elderly, and women. He received applications from them, assuring them of appropriate response at the earliest, while directing officials concerned to address them on priority.
According to the Chief Minister's office, people had started pouring into Vidhana Soudha from faraway places the previous night itself.
"The application registration process began ahead of schedule at 8.30 am, and realising the arrival of people at Revenue Department Counter more than expected, organisers opened another counter for applicants for Revenue Department and made seating arrangements," it said.
Till 12 noon, there were 7,961 registrations, officials said.
Elaborate security arrangements were made by the Police, led by Bengaluru Central DCP Shekhar H Tekkannavar. A total of 936 police personnel -- eight ACPs, 23 Inspectors, 58 Sub-Inspectors, 205 Police Constables, 142 Woman Police Constables, 500 Home Guards -- were deployed, in view of the large number of people gathering at the venue.
According to an official statement, each stall has been assigned with a number and nodal officers have also been appointed to take first hand information from the citizens and direct them to the suitable departments for further clarification.
Nodal officers have been provided with a register to take note of the aggrieved citizen's name and other details, including phone numbers and referred stall number, for future references too, it said.
During the Janaspandana held in November, 4,030 applications were received from aggrieved persons, and 3,738 grievances have so far been addressed, it said.
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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.
