CM Siddaramaiah hints at free bus passes for journalists in rural areas
Davanagere: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that the demand for free bus passes for journalists in rural areas will be seriously considered in the upcoming budget and an appropriate decision will be taken.
Speaking at the 38th state journalists conference orgsnised by the Karnataka Working Journalists' Union, Siddaramaiah said his government is always with the journalists to assist them.
''There's a demand for free passes for reporters working in rural areas to travel on government buses. We will consider this demand in the upcoming budget and take appropriate action that favours it,'' he said.
He said that the government has increased the family pension for journalists from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000. Also, newspaper hawkers were honoured with the Rajyotsava Award, he added. The chief minister appealed to the journalists not to lose objectivity, truth and commitment while reporting, and try to become the voice of the voiceless.
ALSO READ: Kuruba community seer alleges temple was cleaned after his visit
He also asked the scribes not to give credence to superstitions.
Siddaramaiah recalled that when a crow sat on his car sometime in 2016, the news anchors debated in their studios how this bad omen of an inauspicious bird sitting on his car would impact his political career.
''Some said I would not complete my term (due to crow) while some other channels predicted that I would go soon after tabling the budget. However, I completed an uninterrupted five-year term. I was the only chief minister after Devaraj Urs who completed the full term,'' the chief minister noted.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
UP: 19-year-old allegedly gang-raped by 23 people over six days, six arrested
Varanasi (UP), Apr 7 (PTI): A 19-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by 23 people over six days, with the accused drugging her and taking her to several hotels as they passed her on for abuse, police said here on Monday. Six of the accused have been arrested.
Additional Commissioner of Police, Cantonment, Vidush Saxena said the woman had gone out with some youths on March 29. Her family filed a missing report on April 4 when she did not return home.
When the police rescued her, she did not mention about the rape, he said.
However, the survivor's family on April 6 lodged a complaint alleging that she had been gang-raped.
The woman told the police that between March 29 and April 4, the accused allegedly took her to many hotels and hookah bars and gang-raped raped her, the officer said.
The police said 11 unnamed persons have also been booked. Out of 12 named accused, six were arrested on Sunday, and efforts are on to nab the rest of the accused.
The woman's mother in her complaint said that her daughter had gone to her friend's house on March 29. "On the way back home, she met a boy named Raj Vishwakarma, who took her to his cafe in Lanka, where Raj and his other friend did 'bad acts' with her.
"The next day my daughter met a boy named Sameer, who was on a bike with one of his friends. Sameer took her on the bike to a highway and did a 'bad act' with her on the bike itself and left the girl at Nadesar," she alleged.
"The next day, on March 31, a boy named Ayush along with his five other friends named Sohail, Danish, Anmol, Sajid and Zahir took her to Continental Cafe in Sigra and made her drink intoxicants and raped her one by one. On April 1, a boy named Sajid along with his friend took her to a hotel, where two-three other people were present.
"There, a man raped her and them threw her out. As she was leaving the place, she met a boy named Imran on the way, who also raped her in a hotel after making her drink intoxicants. Later, when the girl screamed, he left her outside the hotel," the mother alleged in her complaint to the police.
On April 2, a boy named Raj Khan took her to the roof of his house in Hukulganj where he tried to rape her after drugging her. When the woman screamed, the youths took her to Assi Ghat in an intoxicated state and left her there, her mother alleged.
On April 3, a person identified as Danish took her to his friend's room and there Sohail, Shoaib and some other boy drugged her daughter and raped her. Later, they left her near Chowkghat. The next day on April 4, her daughter came home and told them about her ordeal, the complainant said.
The named accused have been identified as Raj Vishwakarma, Sameer, Ayush, Sohail, Danish, Anmol, Sajid, Zahir, Imran, Jaib, Aman and Raj Khan.
A case has been registered under sections 70(1) (gang rape), 74 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 123 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 127(2) (wrongful confinement) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the police said.
