Ramanagar: In an incident reported from the Morarji Desai Residential School in H Gollahalli near Bidadi, Ramanagar taluk, a 12-year-old boy lost his life, while another sustained severe injuries when the walls of a water tank in the hostel area collapsed.

The young victim, identified as Kaushik Gowda, a Class 6 student, was among three boys who had ventured to the water tank adjacent to the hostel building on Thursday morning to freshen up. In an unexpected turn of events, the five-foot-high wall surrounding the water tank collapsed, trapping the boys beneath the debris.

Efforts were made to rescue Kaushik from the rubble, and he was rushed to Dayananda Sagar Hospital, he succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. Meanwhile, another boy, who also suffered injuries during the incident, is currently receiving medical attention at the same hospital, according to local police.

The precise circumstances leading to the collapse of the water tank wall are currently under investigation, and authorities are working diligently to ascertain the cause of this tragic mishap.

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Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.

Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.

He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.

Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.

He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.

Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.

He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.