Karnataka cabinet approves bill to criminalise engagements of minors
Bengaluru, Jul 24 (PTI): In a significant move to curb child marriage, the Karnataka cabinet on Thursday approved the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2025, which seeks to make even engagements involving minors a punishable offence.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the Cabinet has cleared the proposal and the Bill will be introduced in the upcoming session of the legislature.
The cabinet took note of the fact that nearly 700 child marriages were reported across the state during 2023–24.
The decision follows a resolution passed at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, where Deputy Commissioners of the districts and Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of Zilla Panchayats were directed to take stricter measures to prevent child marriages.
This Bill sends a strong message that not only child marriage, but even betrothing a minor is unacceptable and will attract legal consequences, the Minister said.
"We have brought radical changes socially. People who were escaping the legal action cannot get away. We are doing whatever best could be done to check child marriages,” Patil said.
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Bangladesh court sentences Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in corruption cases
Dhaka (PTI): A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in two separate corruption cases related to alleged irregularities in allocations of land in a government housing project.
Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 Judge Rabiul Alam handed down the verdicts, sentencing Hasina to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment — five years in each case, state-run BSS news agency reported.
The court sentenced 78-year-old Hasina, her nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and her nieces, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq, and others in the cases over alleged irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol.
The judgment was pronounced at around 12.30 pm.
Tulip Siddiq was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment — two years in each case — while Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in both cases.
Rajuk member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, the only accused to surrender before the court, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in each case, totalling two years.
The court also fined all convicted persons Tk1 lakh each and ordered them to serve an additional six months in prison in default of payment.
Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests. She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court.
The cases were filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged abuse of power in the allocation of two 10-katha plots.
According to the prosecution, the accused manipulated the allocation process and violated existing rules and regulations of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).
