Dalit boys video upload: Maharashtra panel notice to Rahul, Twitter
Mumbai, June 19: The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) on tuesday issued notice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Twitter Communications Pvt. Ltd. for allegedly uploading videos of the three Dalit boys were stripped and paraded in the state's Jalgaon last week.
MSCPCR Chairperson Pravin Ghuge took immediate cognizance of a complaint received from activist Amol Jadhav, who wrote letters to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and others, on the matter on Tuesday.
State Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that they have not yet received the notice, but they would examine it in detail before commenting.
"This is an attempt to divert the issue by the present government. It must be noted that the video in question was already viral on social media networks and uploaded by the perpetrators of the crime themselves," Sawant told IANS.
Invoking relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, the MSCPCR said that the complainant (Jadhav) has demanded action under these against Gandhi for uploading the video on his Twitter handle on June 15.
The MSCPCR has given 10 days time to Gandhi and Twitter to reply to the notices on the offences - which can attract minimum six months jail term.
A day after the issue broke out in the media, last Friday (June 15) Gandhi blamed the RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party politics after two Dalit and a tribal boy were paraded nude and assaulted for swimming a well in Wakadi village in Jalgaon district.
"The sole crime of these Dalit children was they were taking a dip in a well. Humanity is struggling to save its dignity," Gandhi tweeted.
He said "if we don't raise our voices against this politics of hate and poison" of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP, "history would not forgive us".
Around 3 p.m. on June 10, the three boys were stripped, beaten and paraded nude for swimming in a village well.
Gandhi's comments on the issue, which snowballed into a major political controversy, came as a high-level team of the Maharashtra Congress led by legislator Abdul Sattar visited the village that day and expressed solidarity with the victims and their families.
Union Minister for Social Welfare Ramdas Athawale has also strongly condemned the outrage on the boys for which two persons have been arrested and and the matter is currently being probed at a high level.
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Karnataka Cabinet to meet again to discuss SC internal reservation during recruitment
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Cabinet has decided to meet again to discuss the issue of providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes for direct recruitment in the government sector, as deliberations on the matter remained incomplete.
While no specific date for the next meeting has been announced, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters it would be held "at the earliest" and reiterated the government's commitment to the issue.
The issue came up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, amid reports of rifts between SC(Right) and SC (Left) factions within the ruling Congress over providing internal reservation in the recruitment to 56,432 vacant posts.
"The government is committed to providing internal reservation. We will meet again for further discussion. The chief minister will decide when to meet at the earliest. It will be a Cabinet meeting and will be held as early as possible," Patil said.
He said, "We had a detailed discussion on this matter for some time, but it was incomplete because many ministers are yet to speak on this. The order already issued (for filling up vacancies) will not be disturbed, and about other things, we will discuss in the next meeting."
The state government decided to conduct recruitment for 56,432 vacant jobs based on the reservation order in force before December 28, 2022, (15 per cent for SCs and 3 per cent for STs), due to the stay on the enhanced quota and internal reservation, while continuing to pursue its case in court.
The previous BJP government had increased the reservation quota for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, raising the state's total reservation to 56 per cent, exceeding the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent ceiling.
While this matter is still in court, the Congress government decided to provide internal reservation by slicing up the 17 per cent reservation matrix given to 101 scheduled castes, under three groups, with a formula of six, six, and five per cent respectively.
According to sources, the SC(Left)/Madiga community, which has fought for internal reservation for decades, opposes recruitment for 56,432 jobs without providing internal reservation.
The SC (Right)/Holeya community, however, favoured recruitment without providing internal reservation.
At the meeting, the Cabinet gave administrative approval for Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation to purchase 144 'BS-VI' urban transport diesel buses at an estimated cost of Rs 62 crores.
It also granted administrative approval for the purchase of hardware and software for implementing ICJS (Inter-operable Criminal Justice System) and IT services in the state under the Police Modernisation Project at an estimated cost of Rs 227.58 crores.
The Cabinet also asked the health minister to speak with officers, doctors and other staffers appointed on a permanent, contract, temporary, or outsourced basis in the health department, who have threatened to go on strike over their various demands.
Approval was also given for amendments to certain sections of the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, and the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, regarding advertisement charges under local bodies.
