Karnataka HC dismisses petition seeking Bharat Ratna for Shivakumara Swamiji
Bengaluru, Apr 1: The High Court of Karnataka on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation which sought a direction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confer Bharat Ratna on the late Shivakumara Swamiji of the Siddaganga Math in Tumakuru district.
The division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice S R Krishna Kumar dismissed the petition by one Rehan Khan, holding that such a direction can be issued only when the petitioner enjoys such a right. But in this case, no such right is enjoyed by the petitioner to seek such a direction.
The HC said it is the Union government which has the powers to confer Bharat Ratna and other national civilian awards. No individual enjoys any such power to grant the honours and therefore does not have the right to seek such a direction.
The petitioner's advocate Mohammed Tahir had argued that the Union government had established the Bharat Ratna in 1954 to recognise exceptional contribution in the fields of arts, science and public service.
Considering the contribution of Shivakumara Swamiji in the field of education, the petitioner had written to the Prime Minister on October 12, 2021 to recommend the Swamiji's name to the President of India to confer the highest civilian award.
The court was asked to direct the PM to consider the letter.
The Chief Justice asked the petitioner's counsel whether he was aware of the petition which sought the Bharat Ratna for industrialist Ratan Tata. (The Delhi High Court had dismissed the said petition).
Since individuals do not have the power to make such recommendations, the court cannot issue any such direction, the court said.
On a lighter note, the court said the petitioner could have met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was reported to be in Bengaluru, and submitted the request to him and he could have spoken to the Prime Minister.
The petition coincidentally was dismissed on the day when the 115th birth anniversary of Sri Shivakumara Swamiji was celebrated.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
