Mandya, May 8: Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik on Sunday said the playing of Hanuman Chalisa or Suprabhata or Omkara or devotional songs will commence at over 1,000 temples in Karnataka at 5 AM from May 9, as he accused the state government of having failed to take action against loudspeakers installed at mosques.

He asked Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra to show the "guts", shown by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath there, by taking action against unauthorised loudspeakers from religious places and setting the volume of others within permissible limits.

"Across Karnataka we have contacted more than 1,000 temples. Temple priests, Dharmadarshis and management committees have agreed to play (Hanuman Chalisa, Suprabhata, Omkara or devotional songs) at 5 AM from tomorrow. There is a good response," Muthalik said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, there is anger against the government for not taking action against those violating Court orders regarding the use of loud speakers.

Alleging some Muslims of being adamant on the issue, he further said, "we will begin our protest against it from tomorrow."

Sri Rama Sene had earlier warned that it will counter morning Azaan with Hanuman Chalisa or Suprabhat or Omkara and devotional songs from 5 AM on May 9, if the government does not take action against loudspeakers installed at mosques.

Accusing the government of trying to scuttle Sri Rama Sene's protest by threatening temple committees using the police, Muthalik warned the administration, stating that their "dadagiri" will not have any impact.

"Show your dadagiri against Muslim's mics or loudspeakers and not against us. Keep in mind that you (BJP) are in power because of Hindu votes...we will do it peacefully and won't create any disturbance," he said, adding that, temple management committee will do it with the support of Sri Rama Sene workers.

He repeatedly pointed at the action taken by the Uttar Pradesh government against the use of loudspeakers there at religious places.

Nearly 54,000 unauthorised loudspeakers were removed from religious places and the volume of over 60,000 was set to permissible limits across Uttar Pradesh, as part of state-wide drive undertaken by the government there.

Noting that as the first phase of Sri Rama Sene's drive Hanuman Chalisa or Suprabhata or devotional songs will be played at temples at the morning 5 AM, Muthalik said, "remaining four times Azaan that Muslims perform, for that we will take up, at later stages."

"Why we are doing early morning first because they cannot use mics or speakers between 10 pm to 6 am according to Court, but they use it at 5 AM. So we too will violate and thereby warn the government...our fight is not against Azaan in mosques or offering prayers, but against using loudspeakers," he said.

Responding to a question, he said, in case the police try to stop Sri Rama Sene workers, it may lead to confrontation, "our Karyakartas will oppose it," he added.

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Bengaluru, Jan 14: The Karnataka High Court has quashed the criminal proceedings against Kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi in a drug case, saying the prosecution could not substantiate the charges with material evidence.

The bench of Justice Hemant Chandanagoudar also quashed the proceedings against the co-accused Prashant Ranka.

It said, "However, to substantiate the charges against the petitioners, the prosecution has not produced any material evidence to prove that the petitioners organized parties or sold drugs, apart from the voluntary statements of the co-accused and chargesheet witnesses."

"Therefore, the continuation of the criminal proceedings against the petitioners will be an abuse of the legal process of law,” Justice Chandanagoudar observed.

Ragini was among the many celebrities from the Kannada film industry arrested in September 2020.

A case was registered against her at the Cottonpet police station based on a statement by a co-accused B K Ravishankar on September 4, 2020.

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