Bengaluru, Apr 19: The Congress in Karnataka on Friday launched a sarcasm-laced campaign alleging that the Modi government’s gift to Karnataka was ‘Chombu’ – Kannada for a round water pot.

The term ‘Chombu’ in Kannada, which is known as ‘Lota’ in Hindi, symbolises deception and emptiness.

The full-page jacket advertisement with the picture of a steel-made round water pot in Kannada reads "Modi Sarkar’s gift to Karnataka – Chombu!”

Congress alleged the people of Karnataka got 'Chombu' in lieu of the promises of depositing Rs 15 lakh into everyone’s account, doubling farmers’ income, tax devolution, and drought and flood relief to the state.

“The contribution of 27 BJP and JD(S) MPs to the state is ‘Chombu’. Let’s give ‘Chombu’ to the BJP in this election,” the Congress said, in an appeal to the voters of the state.

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Reacting to it, the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka assembly R Ashoka alleged the Congress, which is unable to give even a ‘Chombu’ of water to the people of Bengaluru this summer, is misleading people with its advertisement.

BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said the Congress government drained the full bowl of Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu and gave an empty ‘Chombu’ to the Kannadigas.

Farmers got a ‘Chombu’ after their crops dried up due to drought and the downtrodden communities got ‘Chombu’ when the funds earmarked for the welfare of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes was diverted, Vijayendra said in a post on X.

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New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.

The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.

"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.

Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.

While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.

According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.

Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.

The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.

"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.

The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”

The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.