Karnataka HC orders DCs to appear in court for false info on burial grounds
Bengaluru, Mar 9: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed the presence of the Deputy Commissioners of districts, who provided false information regarding provision of land for burial grounds in all villages.
The court is hearing a civil contempt petition filed by one Mohammed Iqbal, whos plea has claimed that the state government failed to act upon the 2019 order of the HC directing it to provide land for graveyards in all villages of Karnataka within six weeks.
The division bench of Justices B Veerappa and T Venkatesh Naik ordered the presence of the DCs before it on March 17.
In an earlier hearing of the petition in January, the government counsel had submitted before the court that out of the 29,616 villages in the state, 27,903 were already provided with land for burial grounds and only 319 villages were to be given land for the same. The court was also told that encroachment of burial grounds in 56 villages was being removed and 1,394 were uninhabited.
However, the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority verified these submissions and informed the court that the government has provided false information.
As per the KSLSA, a total of 2,041 villages were yet to be provided land for burial grounds. The government advocate, however, told the court that the information was provided by the DC of each districts.
The court observed that it had no option but to initiate contempt proceedings against the DCs who have provided false information.
Providing false information to the court amounted to contempt and cheating, the division bench observed.
The hearing of the petition was adjourned to March 17.
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Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case: HC grants bail to Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale
Mumbai, Jan 8: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, both arrested in 2018 in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata took note of their long incarceration, and the fact that the trial is not likely to be completed any time soon.
The accused were languishing in jail since 2018 and even the charges are yet to be framed by the special court, defence lawyers Mihir Desai and Sudeep Pasbola had argued.
The high court on Wednesday said it was not dealing with the merits of the case at this stage.
Wilson and Dhawale were directed to submit a surety of Rs one lakh each, and appear before the special NIA court for the trial hearing.
The bench noted that there are over 300 witnesses in the case, and hence it is not possible for the trial to be concluded in the near future.
The case pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima in Pune district the next day.
The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by the Maoists.
The National Investigation Agency later took over the probe. Of the 16 persons arrested in the case, many are now out on bail.
Rona Wilson was arrested in June 2018 from his home in Delhi. He was described by the probe agencies as one of the top brass of urban Maoists.
Sudhir Dhawale was one of the first to be arrested, accused of being an active member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
