Curb Instagram influencers, fake therapists: Karnataka HC to govt
Bengaluru, Oct 9: The Karnataka High Court has advised the government to come up with some regulatory measures to check the growth of pseudo-therapists and 'Instagram influencers'. The court cautioned that many people were falling prey to such therapists online.
While rejecting a petition of one such 'influencer' who sought to quash a criminal case against her, the High Court had said in a September 2 judgement: Therapists of this kind are many on the social media. In reality, they are not bound by ethics or not regulated by norms. Cases of this nature have begun to emerge in large proportion wherein people wanting to get therapy fall prey to pseudo-therapists."
The court said, "In public domain, there is a huge number of such therapists. On the social media, therapists pose as if they are in the field of therapy. It is also in public domain that they are pseudo-therapists who are "Instagram influencers." Justice M Nagaprasanna was hearing a criminal petition by Sanjana Fernandes aka Raveera, a 28-year-old resident of Bengaluru. A complaint was filed against her by Shankar Ganesh PJ.
The case is now pending before a Magistrate Court in which she has been accused of offences of cheating under the Indian Penal Code and various sections of the Information Technology Act. According to the prosecution, Raveera, an IT professional, came in contact with the accused on a dating app. After realising that Shankar Ganesh was under stress, she directed him to her Instagram page 'Positive For A 360 Life". She claimed to be a wellness therapist. After attending her online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic, the complainant transferred around Rs 3.15 lakh to her. Ganesh wanted to meet the therapist personally and started sending her messages. He was eventually blocked by her.
He later found out that she had 15 profiles on Instagram and other social media platforms. So he filed a complaint of cheating against her. Raveera, in her petition before the High Court, contended that Ganesh was sending her lewd messages and dirty requests and when she resisted, a false complaint was filed against her.
The court noted that the claims made by the accused about the therapy were unfounded. "It is her own generated web page, without any qualification. Therefore, it is a case wherein the petitioner without any substance or qualification lured customers into the web of wellness therapy through the web page." About her claims, the court noted that the "chats will reveal that the petitioner had initially represented herself as a wellness therapist and that her team will take care of the complainant.
Therefore, without having any team or any qualification whatsoever, it was the web page that was created to lure the complainant and the like. It is, therefore, the offence of cheating comes clearly made out against the petitioner."
The court said she had filed a case against Ganesh for the lewd messages which was also pending.
Dismissing her petition, the High Court, in its judgement on September 2, said, "I do not find any warrant to interfere with the case on hand as the petitioner has not demonstrated by production of such unimpeachable evidence of sterling character for this court to interfere or interject the proceedings."
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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
