Cabinet to expand on December 22
Bengaluru, Dec 6: Ending the suspense, the Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka has announced that the H D Kumaraswamy cabinet would be expanded on December 22.
The decision was taken by the coordination committee of the coalition that met here Wednesday under the chairmanship of former chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda were consulted before deciding the date, Siddaramaiah told reporters here after the over two-hour-long meeting of the committee.
Six members from the Congress and two from the JD(S) would be inducted, he said, adding that it was also decided to appoint MLAs as heads of corporations and boards on the same day.
There has been growing clamour among the MLAs, especially those from the Congress, for expansion of the cabinet at the earliest, with a few openly expressing discontent over the delay.
This will be the second expansion of Kumaraswamy's cabinet, the current strength of which is 26.
The Congress and the JD(S) came to power in May after the state assembly elections threw up a fractured verdict. After the first expansion in June, there was discontent among the Congress's ministerial aspirants.
The second cabinet expansion was expected to take place in October, but it was put off.
Siddaramaiah said then the plan was to expand the cabinet on December 9, but as the legislature session commences on December 10 in the northern district of Belagavi, the expansion was deferred.
It would be done a day after the conclusion of the session on December 21, he said.
The former chief minister, who is also the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), said the coordination committee also decided to appoint a few MLAs from both the parties as parliamentary secretaries to ministers.
Under the agreement reached during the formation of the coalition in May, the chairmanship of 20 boards and corporations will go to Congress and 10 to JD(S).
Kumaraswamy, his deputy G Parameshwara, Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal and JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali, among others, attended the coordination committee meeting.
Siddaramaiah said measures for smooth functioning of the government and speedy resolution of issues raised by MLAs concerning developmental work in their respective constituencies were also discussed at the meeting.
A few MLAs, especially those from the Congress, have reportedly conveyed their unhappiness to the party leadership about the functioning of the government and against a few JD(S) ministers, including Kumaraswamy's brother and PWD Minister H D Revanna.
Siddaramaiah dismissed reports about disgruntled Congress MLAs led by Satish Jarkiholi planning to join hands with the BJP.
None of the Congress MLAs will leave the party and such information is only media speculation, he said.
The Congress leader asserted that the coalition was solid and the BJP's dream of a successful 'Operation Lotus' will only remain a dream.
Siddaramaiah said the coalition would remain stable throughout its five-year tenure.
He also claimed that the BJP will be defeated in the ongoing assembly elections in five states.
Echoing Siddaramaiah's statement, JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali said the coalition government would complete its term.
He alleged that media reports about trouble in the Congress-JD(S) combine were sponsored by the BJP.
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Broken relationships don't automatically amount to abetment of suicide: SC
New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.
"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.
Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.
While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.
According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.
Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.
The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.
"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.
The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”
The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.
