Belagavi (PTI): Congress MLA Bharamgouda (Raju) Kage has written to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding separate statehood for 15 districts of North Karnataka, alleging that the region has faced injustice, discrimination and neglect in every sector.
Renewing the decades-old demand of the people of North Karnataka, Kage said he supported the signature campaign started by the North Karnataka Struggle Committee for a separate state.
“I would like to express my strong demand for the creation of a new state comprising 15 districts of North Karnataka — namely Bidar, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Yadgir, Bagalkote, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Koppal, Raichur, Uttara Kannada, Haveri, Vijayanagara, Ballari, and Davanagere — for administrative convenience and holistic development,” Kage wrote in the letter to Murmu, PM Modi and Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot.
The Congress MLA’s office shared the letter dated November 4 with PTI on Wednesday.
According to Kage, since the unification of Karnataka, this region has continuously faced injustice, discrimination, and neglect in every sector.
“The formation of a separate state will give birth to another proud Kannada-speaking state, which will be a matter of great pride for us. North Karnataka is a region rich in all kinds of resources and has made a significant contribution to the preservation of the Kannada language and the unification of Karnataka.”
Extending support to the signature campaign of the representatives of the North Karnataka Struggle Committee, Kage said over one crore people have already given written consent and signed in favour of the demand.
“People from all sections of this region are demanding a separate state for their overall and inclusive development. Therefore, I humbly request you to kindly consider our appeal and recommend to the Central Government the formation of a separate North Karnataka state,” the MLA said.
He also noted that a memorandum was submitted to the President on January 3 and the PMO on January 5 this year.
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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.
