BJP stages demonstration near Home Minister's residence over Udupi washroom video case
Bengaluru: The BJP on Thursday staged a demonstration near Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara's residence alleging the Congress government was supporting ''terrorists'' and siding with the accused girls in the Udupi washroom video case.
Party activists also staged protests in several parts of Karnataka including the coastal district headquarters town of Udupi accusing the Congress of indulging in ''appeasement politics.'' In Bengaluru, the activists raised slogans near Parameshwara's residence alleging that he is ''preparing ground'' to withdraw police cases against the rioters of DJ Halli and KG Halli riots three years ago in which the then sitting Congress Dalit MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy's house and KG Halli police stations were torched.
Three people were killed and over 50 injured in the riots that erupted in D J Halli and K G Halli, allegedly due to a derogatory social media post by a relative of the Murthy in August 2020. Parameshwara has asked officials to examine the request by a Congress MLA to withdraw cases against ''innocent'' youths and students, who were arrested under ''false cases'' in connection with protests and riots in Bengaluru's D J Halli and K G Halli, Shivamogga and Hubballi among other places.
The Opposition BJP has sharply reacted to this and has accused the Congress government in the state of giving ''clean chit to the communal criminals of one community, and playing to the tune of Jihadists and PFI terrorists''.
Parameshwara has, in a July 19 note to Principal Secretary-Prisons, Civil Defence and Auxiliary Services (PCAS), Home Department, cited a request letter by Narasimharaja MLA and former Minister Tanveer Sait in this regard.
''It has been requested that innocent youths and students have been arrested under false cases in connection with protests and riots in Bengaluru's D J Halli and K G Halli, Shivamogga, Hubballi and other places, and to withdraw cases in accordance with rules, after review. It is instructed to take necessary action in this regard after review,'' the Home Minister's note said.
The activists who marched towards Parameshwara's residence raised slogans: ''We condemn the Congress government supporting the DJ Halli and KG Halli 'terrorists'.'' In 'Freedom Park' here, the women's wing of BJP staged a sit-in demonstration. They shouted slogans accusing the Congress government of shielding the accused girls in the washroom video case..
Three people were killed and over 50 injured in the riots that erupted in D J Halli and K G Halli, allegedly due to a derogatory social media post by a relative of the Murthy in August 2020. Parameshwara has asked officials to examine the request by a Congress MLA to withdraw cases against ''innocent'' youths and students, who were arrested under ''false cases'' in connection with protests and riots in Bengaluru's D J Halli and K G Halli, Shivamogga and Hubballi among other places.
The Opposition BJP has sharply reacted to this and has accused the Congress government in the state of giving ''clean chit to the communal criminals of one community, and playing to the tune of Jihadists and PFI terrorists''.
Parameshwara has, in a July 19 note to Principal Secretary-Prisons, Civil Defence and Auxiliary Services (PCAS), Home Department, cited a request letter by Narasimharaja MLA and former Minister Tanveer Sait in this regard.
''It has been requested that innocent youths and students have been arrested under false cases in connection with protests and riots in Bengaluru's D J Halli and K G Halli, Shivamogga, Hubballi and other places, and to withdraw cases in accordance with rules, after review. It is instructed to take necessary action in this regard after review,'' the Home Minister's note said.
The activists who marched towards Parameshwara's residence raised slogans: ''We condemn the Congress government supporting the DJ Halli and KG Halli 'terrorists'.'' In 'Freedom Park' here, the women's wing of BJP staged a sit-in demonstration. They shouted slogans accusing the Congress government of shielding the accused girls in the washroom video case.
The BJP activists also alleged that the Congress government was ''diluting'' the Udupi case. Police have filed an FIR against three girl students -- Shabnaz, Alfia and Aleema -- and the management of the paramedical college where the alleged incident of secretly filming a fellow student in a washroom took place last week. The three students have been suspended from the college. Due to the police barricades, the activists couldn't go near the minister's house. They were all detained and taken away.
In Udupi, students and the members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad too staged demonstrations against the Congress government.
During the protest, the ABVP activists, in which a majority were girls, raised slogans seeking ''justice''. They also sought to know why there was a delay in registering a case.
They demanded an independent and fair inquiry into the case.
Meanwhile, Parameshwara said he never called the Udupi incident an innocent act of children.
''You all have studied in college. Sometimes certain things used to happen between the students and we would resolve it amongst us. That shouldn't be a big issue,'' Parameshwara told reporters here.
He also said such issues should be left among students only.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
