EC has not done justice to Bihar voters: D K Shivakumar on votes deleted during SIR
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar Monday alleged the Election Commission has not done justice to the Bihar electorate as it has deleted a large number of poor voters and those seeking jobs outside the state from the electoral rolls.
He claimed the EC was conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls after admitting that "something wrong" was committed by "misusing its office".
Shivakumar was here to present the 1.12 crore signatures collected from across Karnataka as part of the Congress' "Vote chor, gaddi chhod" campaign.
"The Election Commission has not given justice to Bihar voters," he claimed, alleging that the votes of the poor and those migrating outside Bihar in search of jobs were deleted on a large scale during the SIR exercise.
Shivakumar, however, did not answer any queries on whether he raised the issue of the change of chief ministership in Karnataka with the party high command. "I am not here to speak on politics. I am here to save democracy, to save votes. I don't want to give any political answer," he said.
Shivakumar said he was in the national capital as the president of the Karnataka Congress and not as the deputy chief minister, as it was his responsibility to ensure that democracy is saved and the votes of the poor are not deleted.
"One man, one vote should be ensured and irregularities should be removed," he said.
"We know that the Constitution and autonomy of institutions are being misused. We are urging them to give us justice; injustice should not flow from the seat of justice. We are trying to educate the entire country."
Shivakumar asserted that "vote theft" did happen and those responsible should quit office. "I hope good days are coming," he said.
The senior Congress leader alleged that after the SIR announcement, there have been several cases of the deletion of votes. He thanked the Supreme Court for giving direction on this issue.
Shivakumar said since Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge took up a major investigation into "vote chori" at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, the party has collected 1,12,41,000 signatures from across Karnataka.
"I am very happy that the Congress formed a research team which worked very hard and found out the irregularities in the voter list. Our leaders gave a call to inform all voters and educate them on 'vote chori'" he said.
"I am happy that after Karnataka, this has reached Maharashtra, Bihar and Haryana," he noted while thanking party workers at all levels for working hard to get the signatures. "We are presenting all of them to the AICC, which will hold a massive gathering in Delhi in the coming days."
Shivakumar went on to say that "as a member of the political party which gave us freedom, our national anthem, national flag and our Constitution, it is our duty to protect this country and all of us must join hands to ensure that every vote is saved and democracy is saved."
Asked if he was happy that the SIR is being conducted by EC after the Congress' "vote chori" charges, he said, "Of course, they have come to know that they have done something wrong. They admitted that they had done something wrong. That itself is a very strong message that misuse of office has taken place."
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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.
