Siddaramaiah mocks BJP over Sowjanya issue
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday ridiculed the BJP's assurance to the mother of Sowjanya, a rape-murder victim, that it will bear the expenses if the family moved the Supreme Court over the matter.
Replying to a query on BJP’s promise, Siddaramaiah sought to know, under whose control was the CBI.
"During whose tenure the judgment came. What is the meaning in bearing the expenses now in the Supreme Court after acquitting the accused," he asked.
He said Sowjanya’s mother has to decide whether it is a fit case for appeal or not.
Mocking the BJP's campaign, which alleged that the SIT probe was aimed at defaming Dharmasthala and the temple management, Siddaramaiah said, It was "Politics Chalo" and not "Dharmasthala Chalo."
On September 1, the BJP state president B Y Vijayendra met Sowjanya's mother as part of his party’s "Dharmasthala Chalo" campaign and assured her that he and the party would stand with her to take up the matter in the Supreme Court.
Sowjanya was kidnapped, raped and murdered in the temple town of Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district in 2012. The CBI investigated the case. The accused in the case was later acquitted for want of evidence.
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Illegal sand mining has created environmental crisis in National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said rampant illegal riverbed sand mining has created an "environmental crisis" and wreaked "havoc" in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, causing a grave risk to the gharial (long-snouted crocodile) preservation project.
Slamming the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for their utter failure in dealing with the issue, the apex court directed them to install high-resolution Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras along all routes frequently used for illegal sand mining in the area.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed that live feed of such surveillance cameras shall be placed under the direct control, supervision and operational oversight of the superintendent of police or the senior superintendent of police of the concerned district and the divisional forest officer.
It said these officers shall ensure continuous and effective monitoring of the CCTV feeds by designating appropriate officers.
"It can't be gainsaid that the issues involved are of great concern in as much as the rampant illegal mining activities in the river bed have created an environmental crisis and havoc in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary causing a grave risk to the very project of gharial preservation of which the state governments themselves were proponents and were under an obligation to foster and promote," Justice Mehta said while pronouncing the order.
The bench directed the authorities in these three states to initiate prompt and necessary action under law if any instance of illegal mining or allied activities comes to light.
It said the authorities shall ensure seizure of vehicles or machinery found involved in illegal sand mining and also initiate prosecution of persons involved in it.
The bench, which passed several other directions, posted the matter for hearing on May 11.
The top court passed the order in a suo motu case titled 'In Re: Illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and threat to endangered aquatic wildlife'.
The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400-sq km tri-state protected area.
Besides the endangered gharial, it is home to the red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin.
Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.
On March 13, the top court took suo motu cognisance of news reports about rampant illegal sand mining on the banks of the Chambal river.
