Udupi: Prabhakar Kalyani gets Karnataka Nataka Academy award
Udupi, Dec 14: Theatre actor and amateur theatre artiste P Prabhakar Kalyani of Perdur village has got the Karnataka Nataka Academy award for 2018.
He has acted in more than 40 plays including Kannada and Tulu and got the best actor, best director, best playwright prizes. He has established his own theatre group and working as its president since 28 years. He has served as the Udupi district convener of Karnataka Nataka Academy, and Mangaluru Tulu Theatre Artistes Federation former vice president. In 2008, he got Udupi District Rajyotsava award, and was felicitated during 81st All India Kannada Sahitya Sammelan.
He has given programmes on theatre in Belagu programme in Chandana of Doordarshan. Currently, he is working as assistant officer in Vijaya Bank in Donderangadi in Karkala taluk.
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Ashram Teacher, hailed as hero last year, booked for sexual abuse of minor boys
Ujjain: In September last year, a teacher at an Ujjain ashram “came to the aid” of a minor rape victim who was going door to door seeking help. The same teacher has now been arrested along with a caretaker for allegedly sexually abusing at least three minor boys at their ashram.
Three FIRs under relevant provisions of the IPC as well as under multiple sections of the POCSO Act have been registered by the police against the 21-year-old teacher, Rahul Sharma, and ashram caretaker Ajay Thakur. The police further informed that both have been sent to judicial custody, adding that there are many more victims who haven’t filed a complaint yet.
Ujjain SP Pradeep Sharma told The Indian Express: “So far three children have come forward and made the allegations. We have arrested two persons in this case.”
In September 2023, CCTV footage emerged of the minor girl, bleeding and partially clothed, after she was raped by an autorickshaw driver. The footage showed no one coming to her aid even as she walked around the area for an hour, with one resident even shooing her away.
Sharma had said he helped the girl after he spotted her outside the ashram. At the time, he had told The Indian Express: “This is a holy town, people here are supposed to be helpful, but no one helped her… there was no humanity.”
The police have ruled out any connection with the Ujjain rape case for now. “We sent through 200 CCTV videos and his role has so far been ruled out,” said a senior police officer. According to police, children from poor families were sent to be trained as pandits in this ashram, affiliated to the state Sanskrit board.
Around 10 days ago, a minor boy who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Thakur complained to his mother when he returned home. “The parents of the child came to the ashram. Then the ashram worker Thakur was sacked. Later, many more parents visited the ashram and levelled allegations,” said a senior officer.
The ashram authorities contacted police after several parents made allegations against Sharma and had a confrontation with the ashram official. An ashram official, Gajanand, said: “We called the police to help us but they arrested our staff. The allegations are false.”
However, the officer said: “When we arrived, we found that the ashram officials were the suspects. There are many more victims in this case and we tried to convince them to file a case. Policemen dressed in civil clothes also tried speaking to the children, but they refused as they were scared,” the officer said.
