Karnataka Home Minister instructs officials to examine request to withdraw cases, BJP reacts sharply
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has asked officials to examine the request of a Congress MLA to withdraw cases against "innocent" youths and students, who were arrested under "false cases" in connection with protests and riots in the city's D J Halli and K G Halli, Shivamogga and Hubballi among other places.
The opposition BJP has sharply reacted to this and has accused the Congress government in the state of giving "clean chit to the communal criminals of one community and playing to the tune of Jihadists and PFI terrorists".
Parameshwara has, in a July 19 note to Principal Secretary-Prisons, Civil Defence and Auxiliary Services (PCAS), Home Department, cited a request letter by Narasimharaja MLA and former Minister Tanveer Sait in this regard.
"It has been requested that innocent youths and students have been arrested under false cases in connection with protests and riots in Bengaluru's D J Halli and K G Halli, Shivamogga, Hubballi and other places, and to withdraw cases in accordance with rules, after review. It is instructed to take necessary action in this regard after review," the Home Minister's note said.
Hitting out at the government and the Home Minister, Karnataka BJP in a tweet said, "It seems that @DrParameshwara is functioning hanging a board that they (government) will give a clean chit to the communal criminals of 'one' community! Is there anything more shameful than this? This letter proves that this government is playing to the tune of Jihadists and PFI terrorists. BJP will continue to fight against all kinds of anti-Hindu policies of #JihadiSarkara ."
Noting that DJ Halli and KG Halli riots were one of the worst in which the rioters set the police station on fire, Senior BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal tweeted, "Siddaramaiah 1.0 government had withdrawn cases against PFI goons, who were responsible for riots and murders of Hindu activists in the state. Now, Home Minister Parameshwara has directed the Home Secretary to take measures to withdraw cases against rioters."
Three people were killed and over 50 injured in the violence that erupted in D J Halli and K G Halli, allegedly due to a derogatory social media post by a relative of the then Pulakeshinagar Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy in August 2020.
The MLA's house and the KG Halli police station were torched in the riots.
Some communal incidents had resulted in violent protests in Shivamogga, Hubballi and few other places in the state during the previous BJP rule.
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President Murmu rejects mercy plea of man convicted for rape, murder of 2-year-old in Maharashtra
New Delhi (PTI): President Droupadi Murmu has rejected the mercy petition of a man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a two-year-old girl in Maharashtra in 2012, officials said on Sunday.
This is the third mercy plea rejected by the President after assuming office on July 25, 2022.
The Supreme Court on October 3, 2019, affirmed the death sentence awarded to Ravi Ashok Ghumare, saying he had no control over his "carnal desires" and surpassed all natural, social and legal limits just to satiate his sexual hunger.
In its verdict, a three-judge bench comprising Justice Surya Kant (now chief justice of India), by a majority verdict of 2:1, said the man had "ruthlessly finished" a life which was yet to bloom and his act of committing unnatural offence with the two-year-old exhibits "a dirty and perverted mind, showcasing a horrifying tale of brutality".
Ghumare's mercy plea was rejected by the President on November 6, 2025, according to the status of the mercy petition disclosed by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
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"Having said that, it may be seen that the victim was barely a two-year-old baby whom the appellant (Ravi) kidnapped and apparently kept on assaulting for over four to five hours till she breathed her last.
"The appellant, who had no control over his carnal desires, surpassed all natural, social and legal limits just to satiate his sexual hunger. He ruthlessly finished a life which was yet to bloom," Justice Surya Kant had said, while writing the verdict for himself and (now retired) Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman.
The appellant, instead of showing fatherly love, affection and protection to the child against the evils of society, made her the victim of lust, the majority verdict said.
"It’s a case where trust has been betrayed, and social values are impaired. The unnatural sex with a two-year-old toddler exhibits a dirty and perverted mind, showcasing a horrifying tale of brutality," the verdict said.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on March 6, 2012, in Indiranagar locality of Maharashtra's Jalna city. Ghumare had lured the victim with a chocolate.
The trial court had convicted him and awarded the death penalty on September 16, 2015. His death sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court in January 2016.
