Students booked on sedition charges over "Free Kashmir" placard at protest in Mysuru
Mysuru, Jan 9: A sedition case has been registered against a group of students in connection with alleged display of a Free Kashmir placard during a protest in a campus of the Mysuru university against the attack on JNU students, police said on Thursday.
The case has been registered against Maridevaiah and others under Indian Penal Code sections 124-A (sedition) and 34 (acts done by several persons).
Mysuru Police Commissioner K T Balakrishna said the case had been registered suo motu (on their own) based on video and photographs showing one of the protestors 'holding' the placard which read Free Kashmir at the demonstration staged by some 100 students on Wednesday.
"Investigations are on to find out those who were involved in it," he said.
The students were protesting against the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi on Sunday.
The protest was held by a Dalit students forum, Mysuru Researchers Association, Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangh, Students Federation of India and other left-Leaning student bodies under the leadership of Maridevaiah at the Manasa Gangotri campus of the university in Mysuru, police said.
The FIR said the organisers had not obtained permission for the protest. The case had been registered against Maridevaiah, who was leading it, and others.
Registrar of the university R Shivappa said the administration has issued notices to the organisations concerned seeking an explanation.
"We have also complained to the police against the organisations. They (protesters) had not taken permission from the university," he said.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
