Karnataka Dy CM blames BJP for MLAs' resignation; former CM Siddaramaiah supports claim
Bengaluru, Jul 2: A day after two Congress MLAs tendered their resignations, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara Tuesday sought to blame the BJP for the development and said a cabinet sub-committee has been formed to look into the issue of land to JSW Steel as flagged by one of the legislators.
Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah also came out and lashed out at the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that the duo were directly involved in the resignation of the two Congress MLAs and blamed them for the current political scenario in the state.
In a setback to the 13-month-old JD(S)-Congress government, the grand old party's Vijayanagar MLA Anand Singh and rebel legislator Ramesh Jarkiholi, who has been sulking ever since he was dropped from the cabinet last year, sent their resignations to the Assembly speaker.
Singh, a former BJP member who joined the Congress ahead of the May 2018 assembly elections, resigned citing a number of issues, including the decision to sell land to JSW Steel in mineral-rich Ballari district.
The deputy chief minister told reporters, "If land to JSW Steel was an issue then he should have spoken to us. We have constituted a cabinet sub-committee. It has to submit a report to the cabinet."
He, however, clarified that he had not spoken to the two MLAs.
Singh, to a question whether he would withdraw the resignation, had Monday said he would "wait for answers" from the government to his demands.
Parameshwara, a senior Congress leader, blamed the BJP for the present political scenario in the state, alleging that it was 'pressuring' the party MLAs.
"The information we have is that Anand Singh had met some BJP leaders. It means the BJP leaders might have pressured him. Ramesh Jarkiholi has been repeatedly saying he was in touch with the BJP leaders... It is a well known fact that BJP has pressured them," he said.
BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa rejected the allegations and accused the Congress of trying to divert attention from the dissidence it faced.
Meanwhile, state Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, told reporters in Kolar, that Jarkiholi had neither met him to handover his resignation nor spoken to him.
On Singh's resignation, he said it has been received and he would take further action according to rules once he returns.
"No one has sought time from me for meeting, I have not given time to any one," Kumar said.
Jarkiholi had Monday told a local TV channel that he was in Mumbai and had sent his resignation letter through fax and he would personally give it to the Speaker Tuesday. Reports said Jarkiholi is expected to meet the Speaker Wednesday.
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SC refuses to entertain plea against new criminal laws, allows withdrawal of petition
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition which challenged the enactment of three new laws that seek to overhaul India's penal codes.
A vacation bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal allowed petitioner advocate Vishal Tiwari to withdraw the plea.
The Lok Sabha, on December 21 last year, passed three key legislations -- the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill. President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the bills on December 25.
These new laws -- the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Act -- will replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act respectively.
At the outset, the bench told Tiwari, "We are dismissing it (petition)".
The bench said these laws have not come into force so far.
As the court showed its disinclination to entertain the plea, Tiwari urged that he be allowed to withdraw the petition.
"The petition has been filed in a very casual and cavalier manner," the bench observed, adding, "If you had argued more, we would have dismissed it with cost but since you are not arguing, we are not imposing cost".
Seeking a stay on the operation of the three new laws, the PIL filed by Tiwari had claimed they were enacted without any parliamentary debate as most of the opposition members were under suspension.
The plea had sought directions from the court for the immediately constitution of an expert committee that will assess the viability of the three new criminal laws.
"The new criminal laws are far more draconian and establish a police state in reality and violate every provision of fundamental rights of the people of India. If the British laws were considered colonial and draconian, then the Indian laws stand now far more draconian as, in the British period, you could keep a person in police custody for a maximum of 15 days. Extending 15 days to 90 days and more is a shocking provision enabling police torture," the plea had claimed.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita encompasses offences, such as acts of secession, armed rebellion, subversive activities, separatist activities or endangering the sovereignty or unity of the country, in a new avatar of the sedition law.
According to the new laws, anyone purposely or knowingly, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, by visible representation, by electronic communication, by use of financial means, or otherwise, excites or attempts to excite secession or an armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers the sovereignty or unity and integrity of India or indulges in or commits any such act shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment that may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.
According to IPC section 124A, which deals with sedition, anyone involved in the crime may be punished with life imprisonment or with a three-year jail term.
Also, for the first time, the word "terrorism" has been defined in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. It was absent in the IPC.
Under the new laws, the magistrate's power to impose fines has been increased as well as the scope for declaring a proclaimed offender.
