Man gets 20-year imprisonment for rape of minor in Mangaluru
Mangaluru (Karnataka), Jul 31 (PTI): A Mangaluru court has sentenced a 30-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment in a 2023 case involving the rape of a minor girl.
The Fast Track Special Court (FTSC-2) also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict, identified as Mansoor alias Mohammad Mansoor alias Zabeer, a resident of Sajipanadu village in Bantwal taluk. He has additionally been sentenced to one year of imprisonment and fined Rs 5,000 under IPC Section 506 for criminal intimidation.
The case was registered on December 23, 2023, at the Mangaluru Women’s Police Station, after the 16-year-old survivor alleged that the accused raped and threatened her on May 30, 2023, while also recording the assault on video. Charges were framed under the relevant sections of the POCSO Act and IPC.
After evading arrest for eight months, Mansoor was apprehended on July 2, 2024. Investigations were led by inspectors Gururaj and Rajendra B., who gathered supplementary evidence and filed the charge sheet within the prescribed time.
Delivering the verdict on July 30, 2025, Judge Manu K S convicted the accused after hearing arguments from Government Prosecutor Badrinath and Special Public Prosecutor Sahanadevi Boluru.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
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.
