Karnataka High Court directs Yediyurappa government to reconsider move to scrap Tipu Jayanti
Bengaluru, Nov 6: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to reconsider its decision to cancel the birth anniversary celebrations of Tipu Sultan, the controversial 18th century ruler of the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom, but declined to stay the order.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S R Krishna Kumar, issued the order while hearing a PIL challenging the government's decision to cancel the November 10 Tipu Jayanti celebrations as a state event.
It directed the government to reconsider its decision in two months.
"It should not look like the decision was taken arbitrarily," the bench observed, adding that it felt that the state took the decision without considering the reasons mentioned in the previous decisions to celebrate Tipu Jayanti.
The state government told the court that it had not banned private celebrations.
Noting this, the court directed the government to provide protection to such celebrations and ensure peace.
Soon after coming to power in Karnataka, the BJP government had in July scrapped the celebration of Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary.
The party had been opposing the annual event since it was started by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in 2015.
Recently, a BJP MLA from Kodagu had demanded removal of a lesson on Tipu Sultan from school textbooks, following which the government formed a committee to look into it and submit a report.
BJP and right-wing organisations have been strongly opposing Tipu Sultan, calling the erstwhile Mysore king a "religious bigot".
Tipu Sultan was considered an implacable enemy of the British East India Company.
He was killed in May 1799 while defending his fort at Srirangapatna against the British forces.
Tipu Sultan, however, is a controversial figure in Kodagu district as the Kodavas (Coorgis), a martial race, believe thousands of their men and women were seized and held captive during his occupation and subjected to torture, death and forcible conversion to Islam.
He was also accused of execution of Mandyam Iyengars in the temple town of Melukote in Mandya district on the day of Diwali as they supported the then Maharaja of Mysuru.
However, the scale of such suppression is disputed by several historians, who see Tipu Sultan as a secular and modern ruler who took on the might of the British.
A few Kannada outfits also call Tipu Sultan "anti-Kannada", alleging that he had promoted Persian at the cost of the local language.
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4 held for sexually assaulting woman, girl on moving bus after social media alert in UP's Agra
Agra (UP) (PTI): Four people were arrested, after a prompt response by police following a social media alert, for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and a girl inside a moving bus here, officials said on Tuesday.
According to an official police statement, at 12:27 am on April 27, information was received on the social media platform X about an incident of sexual assault on a bus travelling from Kanpur to Ahmedabad, which was approaching Namner crossing in Agra.
Acting under the direction of Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar, the Agra Police social media team immediately alerted the Rakabganj police station within minutes and coordinated with the victims to confirm the incident and obtain the exact location, it stated.
Police teams launched intensive checking at Namner crossing and intercepted the bus as it reached the spot. The four accused involved in the incident were apprehended on the spot, and legal action was initiated against them, the statement said.
The police said the swift response and coordination between the social media team and field units ensured timely action, bringing relief to the victims and other passengers, who expressed gratitude towards the police, it added.
