B’luru: Home Guard attached to BBMP harasses Delhi woman for sitting with male friend at lake
Accused Manjunath Reddy arrested by Bengaluru Police
Bengaluru: A BBMP employee was on Tuesday arrested for impersonating a cop and harassing a Delhi woman for sitting "without permission" near the Kundanahalli Lake with her male friend here on Sunday, 29 January.
The arrested accused have been identified as Manjunath Reddy V, who works for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.
The Delhi woman, who identifies herself as Arsha Latif on Twitter had posted a thread of tweets on Monday adding that the person wearing police clothes had harassed them and had made them pay a fine for “sitting without permission” at a public place. She had also accused him of moral police.
“Traumatic experience during visit to BLR. During afternoon, on 29/1/23 my male friend & I visited Kundanahalli Lake to sit in the shade & enjoy the view. A cop started clicking our pictures and started harassing us that we did not have the 'permission' to sit there while there were clearly benches beside us to sit for the general public. He started interrogating us about our jobs, hometown, our purpose of visit and said that we will have to come to the police station with him and pay a fine on grounds of 'sitting' without permission.
“When we asked what we had done wrong, he said you are not allowed to sit here without permission & you may be smoking here. We told him we don't have any cigarettes & we're just sitting here peacefully but he kept on interrogating us as to what the two of us were up to and that we cannot be together and sit there without permission. He then insinuated that he will take us to the police station and his senior will deal with us, but it's best to "settle the matter here" because he speaks a little Hindi but his senior only speaks Kannada.
“Ultimately he asked us to pay him off Rs. 1000 to let us go. Absolutely appalled by such behaviour. Why did we have to put up with this moral policing for literally doing nothing wrong? Why did this cop think he holds a right to harass two people like this for 'sitting without permission' at a public lake & extract money simply because they aren't of the same gender? Attaching a picture of his number plate, requesting @BlrCityPolice to pls take action” (sic) the woman had written in her tweet and had also posted a picture of the number plate of the man’s vehicle.
On Tuesday afternoon, the woman posted an update regarding the same adding that the Bengaluru Police had arrested the accused and thanked the city police for prompt action.
“UPDATE: I have received an update that the identified person Manjunath Reddy V has been arrested. He works for BBMP- Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike & was impersonating the police to extort money. Thank you @BlrCityPolice for escalating the matter & taking swift action.” She posted in her tweet on Tuesday.
In the tweet thread, several Bengaluru people expressed similar concerns adding that such incidents of people impersonating cops to extort money and harass people have been on the rise bringing bad repute to the city. Several people also accused the city police officials of being involved in such activities as extorting money and harassing people in the streets.
Traumatic experience during visit to BLR. During afternoon, on 29/1/23 my male friend & I visited Kundanahalli Lake to sit in the shade & enjoy the view. A cop started clicking our pictures and started harassing us that we did not have the 'permission' to sit there (1/6) pic.twitter.com/4KKMOT0ny7
— Arsha Latif (@ArshaLatif) January 30, 2023
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K’taka HC judge whose controversial remarks triggered controversy expresses regret before open court
Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court judge, Justice V Srishananda, on Saturday expressed regret in open court after facing backlash over his controversial remarks in his recent court hearings, reported Bar and Bench.
Two purported video clips from Justice V Srishananda’s court hearing that show him making inappropriate comments went viral across social media platforms.
On Saturday, Justice Srishananda invited members of the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, and senior lawyers to his courtroom at 2:30 PM, where he read out a note expressing regret for inappropriate comments.
Quoting Advocates Association President Vivek Subba Reddy, Bar and Bench wrote, “He expressed regret for the comments and clarified that it was not his intention to offend any community or members of the Bar. He also requested the association to relay this message to all members of the Bar.”
Reddy further stated, “We also advised him to encourage young lawyers in the courtroom and refrain from making any irrelevant remarks during hearings.”
Another senior lawyer present during the session confirmed to the legal news portal that Justice Srishananda also addressed comments directed at a woman lawyer, who was seen in one of the videos being reprimanded by the judge. The judge Justice Srishananda clarified that his remarks were not intended to target her (woman lawyer) specifically, but rather pertained to the appellant she was representing. “He explained that his comment was meant to imply that the appellant seemed to know a lot about the other party,” said the lawyer.
In addition, Justice Srishananda assured those present that he would avoid making such comments in the future.
The controversy came to light on September 19, when a video clip from an August 28 Court hearing surfaced on social media, showing Justice Srishananda referring to a Muslim-majority sub-locality in Bengaluru’s Goripalya as "Pakistan." Hours later, another video from the same courtroom emerged, in which the judge was seen making a gender-insensitive remark.
Following outrage over the viral videos, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy, on September 20 took a suo motu cognizance and sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General in connection with the viral video.
