Karnataka trust vote: near empty treasury benches, speaker displeased
Bengaluru: Karnataka Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on Tuesday expressed displeasure over near empty treasury benches as the House took up the debate on Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's motion of confidence for the fourth day running.
The treasury benches were occupied only by a couple of legislators when the House, which is expected to complete the trust vote process by Tuesday, met in the morning after a prolonged drama that last almost till midnight on Monday.
"Should this be the fate of the speaker or the assembly," Kumar asked minister Priyank Kharge. "You will lose credibility, leave alone strength," he told him.
The absence of legislators from the coalition gave the BJP enough ammunition.
BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa said the government had exposed itself and asked where the ruling coalition MLAs were.
"In spite of not having the numbers, you are continuing shamelessly. You should be ashamed," he told the treasury benches.
His colleague, senior BJP leader Jagadish Shettar, added that Kumaraswamy was said to be in his chamber clearing the files at the last minute instead of being in the House.
"People are disgusted. You are a black mark on the assembly. You have taken the House lightly," he said.
K S Eshwarappa, also of the BJP, said the "MLAs are as good as their chief minister", and added that he suspected "this is nothing but delaying tactics."
His colleague Basavaraj Bommai dubbed it a "zero government".
The speaker made it clear Monday night before adjourning the House that voting on the confidence motion would be completed by 6 pm on Tuesday and would not be deferred under any circumstances.
The ruling JD(S)-Congress coalition members had forced the speaker to adjourn the House, despite repeated reminders by him that they had given a commitment to complete the trust vote process on Monday itself.
As the House debated the motion amid noisy scenes, the Congress made its intentions clear right from the beginning, saying that voting should be deferred as the apex court was hearing the pleas by two Independent MLAs on the issue of the trust vote.
The Supreme Court is hearing Tuesday a fresh plea of two Independent Karnataka MLAs, seeking holding of the floor test "forthwith" in the state Assembly on the trust motion.
The MLAs who withdrew support to the ruling coalition had sought a direction to the Kumaraswamy government to conduct the floor test on or before 5 pm on Monday.
The ruling coalition defied the two deadlines set by Governor Vajubhai Vala -- to complete the process by 1.30 pm on Friday and later by the end of the day.
The proceedings were adjourned till Monday after the speaker extracted a commitment from the government that the process would be completed by Monday itself.
While 16 MLAs -- 13 from the Congress and three from JD(S) -- have resigned, independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh have withdrawn their support to the coalition government, pushing the government to the precipice.
One Congress member, Ramalinga Reddy, retracted from his decision to resign, saying he would support the government. The ruling combine's strength is 117-- Congress 78, JD(S) 37, BSP 1 and nominated 1, besides the speaker.
With the support of two independents, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 225-member House, including the nominated MLA and speaker.
If the resignations of the 15 MLAs (12 from Congress and three from JD-S) are accepted or if they stay away, the ruling coalition's tally will plummet to 101, reducing the government to a minority.
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Kerala court sentences man to life imprisonment for doc's murder in hospital
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Kollam (PTI): A teacher convicted in the sensational murder of Dr Vandana Das inside a hospital here was sentenced to life term on Saturday, and the prosecution said it will move an appeal seeking death penalty for the accused. The victim's family also batted for "maximum punishment".
Dr Das was brutally killed inside a taluk hospital in May 2023 by G Sandeep.
Kollam Additional District and Sessions judge P N Vinod sentenced Sandeep to a total of 30 years for various offences under the then Indian Penal Code (IPC) and said that after he serves that period, his life imprisonment for Das' murder will commence.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.35 lakh on the convict.
Though the prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused during the arguments on sentence, the court was of the view that the case does not fall under the rarest-of-rare category to warrant the maximum punishment.
It was also of the view that there was a chance of the convict getting reformed as he told the court that the rest of his life would be one of repentance, the order on sentence said.
"At the same time, I agree with the stand of the prosecution to the effect that the sentence should commensurate with the gravity of the crime and the sentence should not only be reformative, but should also have a deterrent effect."
"In my view, the said objective can be achieved by directing that the term sentences that will be imposed will run consecutively and life sentence that has to be imposed will commence only after the expiration of terms sentences," the judge said.
After the verdict, special public prosecutor (SPP) Prathap G Padickal told reporters outside the court that he will recommend to the prosecution to file an appeal seeking enhancement of the life imprisonment to death penalty.
The victim's father said that the verdict has come as a relief for the family, but that he cannot authoritatively say whether his late daughter has got justice. He indicated his dissatisfaction with the punishment, saying that steps will be taken to seek its enhancement after discussions with the public prosecutor.
Dr Das' mother said that the family can only wish for the maximum punishment and it was up to the court to decide what sentence should be given. She said that the family will go in appeal, but declined to comment on whether her daughter got justice.
She tearfully said that she wants the convict to suffer the same pain that her daughter underwent "as he stabbed her 27 times".
The court on March 17 had convicted Sandeep for various offences under the IPC, including murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful restraint.
It had also held him guilty under the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of violence and damage to property) Act 2012.
Sandeep was brought to the taluk hospital by the police for medical treatment during the small hours of May 10, 2023 and he went on a sudden attacking spree using a pair of surgical scissors kept in the room where his leg injury was being dressed.
A school teacher by profession, he had initially attacked the police officers and another person who had accompanied him to the hospital and then turned on the young Dr Das, who could not escape to safety.
She was stabbed several times and later succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she was rushed following the attack.
Dr Das was a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents.
She was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital and was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
Sandeep had called the emergency number 112, claiming that his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing close by his home, surrounded by local residents and his relatives, and had a wound on his leg following an alleged quarrel.
He was then taken to the hospital for dressing the wound.
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