POCSO case against Bishop quashed by Karnataka HC
Bengaluru, June 15: The Karnataka High Court has quashed the criminal proceedings against Reverend Prasanna Kumar Samuel in a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Prasanna Kumar Samuel is a Bishop of Church of South India (CSI) Karnataka Central Diocese, Bengaluru.
The case was registered against five people, including Prasanna Kumar Samuel under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and POCSO in 2015 in relation to alleged sexual assault on some girls at the premises of a school in the city.
Though the police had dropped the charges against Prasanna Kumar, during the trial, he was summoned on an application filed by the public prosecutor in December 2017. This was challenged before the HC.
Justice Hemant Chandanagoudar, while quashing the proceedings against Kumar on May 25, said, The charge sheet material does not disclose that the petitioner has committed the aforesaid offences and also the investigating officer has specifically stated before this Court on November 19, 2019 there are no material available against the petitioner.
However, the Magistrate without perusing the charge sheet material, without application of mind, has issued the summons and the same is impermissible and is an abuse of process of law."
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DMK sacks TN Minister Ponmudy from party post following remarks on Shaivism-Vaishnavism
Chennai (PTI): Senior DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister K Ponmudy was on Friday removed from a key party post in the wake of a row over his remarks on Shaivism and Vaishnavism that drew widespread criticism, including from DMK MP Kanimozhi.
DMK President and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced that Ponmudy was being "relieved from the party's deputy general secretary post."
Stalin made the announcement in a statement, but did not attribute any reasons for the action.
The move came close on the heels of the minister's apparently distasteful remarks leading to a controversy, with the opposition BJP demanding Ponmudy's sacking from the cabinet.
A video of the minister making the purported remarks in the context of a sex worker has gone viral. There was no immediate response from Ponmudy, the state Forest minister.
"Minister Ponmudy continuing in his post is shameful.... CM Stalin, will you order Ponmudy's arrest," Narayanan Thirupathy, Vice-President of the BJP's TN unit said in a social media post.
He has maligned the women of Tamil Nadu with his comments, the BJP leader alleged.
Kanimozhi also hit out at her party colleague.
She said, "The recent speech of minister Ponmudy is not acceptable." "For whatever reason he had spoken, such vulgar words are condemnable," she said in a post on X.
Thirupathy welcomed Kanimozhi criticising Ponmudy.
Ponmudy had earlier courted controversy, linking north Indians with selling pani puri.
Taking a dig at those who insist jobs will be available for those who learn Hindi, he had wondered who were selling pani puri in the city (Coimbatore) now, an obvious reference to the predominantly Hindi-speaking vendors involved in the trade.
