Sowjanya murder: Case against YouTuber MD Sameer transferred from Bengaluru to Dharwad Bench of HC
Bengaluru: The High Court has transferred the hearing of YouTuber MD Sameer’s petition challenging the case against him for having shared a video clip connected to the Sowjanya rape and murder case from the principal bench in Bengaluru to the Dharwad Bench.
The FIR against Sameer was filed at the Cowl Bazaar Police Station of Ballari in March 2025. The single-judge bench of Justice Mohammad Nawaz heard on Tuesday the petition filed by the YouTuber for a quashing of the case.
The advocate who represented the petitioner asked for the case to be shifted to the Dharwad Bench as the case was filed in Ballari. The advocate also asked the bench to extend the order to stay the FIR and provide interim protection for Sameer till the hearing was transferred to Dharwad.
The public prosecutor objected to the hearing being transferred to another bench, stating that the petitioner would have to file a fresh petition at the Dharwad Bench. The prosecutor also said that an interim solution could not be sought by the petitioner.
Justice Nawaz said that the HC had already stayed the FIR filed against the petitioner and the government had filed a petition for clearance of the interim order. He ordered that the hearing of the case be transferred to Dharwad, clarifying that it was only an issue of jurisdictional limits.
He added that several cases had been transferred similarly earlier too and that the petitioner was not required to file a fresh petition.
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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.
