Parmesh S Jain

After being in coma for 701 days 10 year old Rachel Prisha who sustained injuries and treated at Manipal hospital succumbed on Thursday.

Rachel was heading to her school on March 11 2020 with her father,Raju Y on scooter when a dry branch fell on her head on TC Palya Main Road.

She was rushed to Manipal hospital for treatment and since then she was slipped into coma.

The KR Puram police have filed a negligence complaint against BBMP officials,a senior officer said,promising action.

The then Mayor M Goutham Kumar visited the girl at hospital and promised to pay the medical expenses.

The issue was also disccused during the zero hour in legislative council and the members demanded pruning of the roadside trees to prevent further damaged and necessary help for the victim.

sources in the hospital said that Rachel was aged eight years when she was admitted to Manipal Hospital on 11th March 2020.

She was initially treated in nearby hospital and referred to Manipal Hospital for further care.Her condition was critical and she was managed in Pediatric ICU.

She was stabilized after multiple neurosurgical procedures and prolonged medical management in ICU.

Later she was shifted to high dependency unit where she underwent intensive neuro-rehabilitation treatment.

Even with the best of the care,her recovery was very poor and she continued to be in persistent vegetative state.

She was completely dependent on care givers for all her activities of daily living.Her stay in the hospital was complicated by multiple episodes of severe sepsis and repeated ICU admissions.

She recently developed severe chest infection and sepsis.Ms Rachel Prischa succumbed to the infection on 10.02.22 the hospital management said.

Parmesh S Jain

The Ramanagar District police of Bidadi police have cracked the double murder case of Retired IAF pilot and his wife and arrested two persons near Ketegenahalli new bypass.

The accused has been identified as,Joginder Yadav,21,and Ravindra Yadav.

Ramanagar SP, Santhosh Babu told reporters,
In a swift action,the Bidadi police arrested 21 year old man and his associates who killed a Retired airforce pilot and his wife in cold blooded manner to rob valuables .

However the accused managed to get only cash Rs.56,000 and could not carry the other valuables as the security guard came to the house to check .

Soon after the murder,the accused Joginder Kumar Yadav called up his relatives for help but they refused since it was a case of murder.

Meanwhile the police who have kept a watch on his wife and other relatives,got info that he is hiding near an isolated place near Bidadi bypass and arrested him.

During Investigation the accused confessed the crime and revealed that the accused Yadav who was working in the villa of Raghuram Rajan and Asha Rajan 3 years ago taking care of a pet dog and a cat and had accessed Rajan’s mobile phone and transferred Rs 70,000 to his friend in Bihar few days ago.

Rajan came to know about the money transfer but thinking that it was a scam, he kept quiet and did not filed a complaint.

This has given more confidence to Yadav who hatched a plan to kill the duo and rob the valuables before fleeing back to his native with his wife and child who were staying in a outhouse of the resort.

He shared his plan with his cousin Ravikumar Yadav and roped him promising equal share in the booty.

As per the plan on Monday Yadav went to work as usual and kept the terrace door opened and came back .

He later in the evening returned with Ravikumar and gained access into the house through the opened terrace door and the duo stayed in the guest room till 2 am.

The couple after dinner went to sleep.While Rajan went to sleep in the first floor of the house,his wife Asha Rajan slept in the ground floor bedroom.

At around 2 am the duo entered into the room of Rajan,armed with a hammer they found at the house.

While Ravikumar held the legs tightly,Joginder hit to Rajan head multiple times killing him on the spot.

After killing Rajan in cold blooded manner, the duo become nauseous and vomited.

In order to recover they took out bottle of whiskey and consumed.Three hours later they went to Ms.Asha;s room and killed her in similar manner and locked both the bedrooms .

After killing the duo the accused went to his outhouse changed the clothes and asked his wife to get ready to leave.

He later returned to the villa and collected everything including Rs 56,000 cash which he kept in the wardrobe.

Meanwhile when Rajan’s son from Delhi called his parents as usual and did not get any response for repeated calls,he called the security guard R.Kamal asking him to go check at the house.

When security guard Kamal came to the villa to check on Tuesday afternoon he confronted unsuspecting Joginder at the house his cousin Ravikumar Yadav had already left the house

Joginder lied to Kamal that Rajan couple had gone to Bengaluru for some work.But when the security guard conveyed the message to the son, he got suspecious and asked the security guard to go check inthe house.

When the security guard went inside the house to check and found the door key of Rajan Bedroom and found the body in a pool of blood.

Joginder escaped with only the cash and left behind all the valuables he had kept in the pocket .

A special team led by Superintendent of Police , K Santosh Babu have taken Joginder into custody for further investigations while efforts are on to track down Ravikumar who is still on the run he added.

Parmesh S jain

Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the criminal procedure code has been clamped in and around 200 meters radius of schools,PU colleges degree colleges and other educational institutions in the city for a period of two weeks with immediate effect from Feb 9 to Feb 22 , 2022.

The order was clamped in the wake of protests and agitations erupted in certain parts of the state held in connection with strict enforcement of school college uniform rules,city police commissioner,Kamal Pant, said in his order .

In some places the protest led to violence disturbing public peace and order.Since possibility of similar agitations and protest being held in Bengaluru city can not be ruled,it is very essential to initiate proper security measures to maintain law and order .

The order restrict holding protest,agitation for or against the strict implementation of school and colleges uniform rules in city,hence prohibitory orders in place to restrict any gathering,agitation or protest of any type around the educational institutions.

Bengaluru: Tension prevailed at a private school here on Saturday after parents and students protested the use of alleged derogatory language by the management on its notice board, in connection with wearing Hijab in classrooms.

People gathered outside Vidyasagar English Public School in Chandra Layout this morning as they were irked at the language used in the message posted on the notice board.

It is learnt that the teacher Shashikala, who had posted the message on the notice board has been placed under suspension.

The Hijab row is non-existent in Bengaluru as it is prevalent in other parts of the state, Shahabuddin, a parent told reporters here.

“This is a 20-year-old school, where Hindus and Muslims are studying together. At least 80 per cent of students in this school are Muslims. The quality of education here is very good here but, there is no Hijab issue here,” he said.

He alleged that a teacher had used a derogatory term referring to a section of students, which prompted the parents to protest. The agitation was held peacefully.

Shahabuddin appealed to the media not to blow the matter out of proportion as it was a local issue and Hindus and Muslims were having cordial relations.

Upon receiving information, DDPI, police and education department officials rushed to the spot to pacify the protestors.

Unnao (UP)(PTI): Two months after a 22-year-old Dalit woman went missing from here, her decomposed body was recovered from a vacant plot near an ashram constructed by a former minister in Samajwadi Party government Fateh Bahadur Singh, police said on Friday.

Rajol Singh, the main accused in the case, is the son of Fateh Bahadur. The post-mortem proceedings are underway, they said.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav said his party has got nothing to do with the accused and he is not associated with the organisation. He also questioned the delay in police action.

On the other hand, the ruling BJP assured of leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the victim’s family gets justice and the guilty are punished.

“Samajwadi Party has got nothing to do with the person who is the accused in the case. Police and administration should take strictest of action against him. The person who was associated with the Samajwadi party (the father of the accused) had died four years ago and his son is not even a member of the party,” Yadav said.

Questioning the delay in police action, Yadav asked, “What was the police waiting for? Was the police sleeping till now?”

The SP tweeted: “Again a heinous crime has been committed against a daughter of Unnao under the BJP rule. CM is responsible for the murder of Dalit daughter. The killer has nothing to do with the SP. Condolences to the bereaved family.”

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, however, charged the SP chief of protecting the SP leader’s son and assured that the victim’s family will get justice.

“Akhilesh Yadav ji, the dead body of a Dalit daughter has been found in the SP leader’s field. When the daughter’s mother was pleading in front of your car, you did not listen to her. Will you forgive every heinous crime of SP leaders, (we) will not leave any stone unturned to ensure justice and the guilty will be punished after proper investigation,” Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi.

According to Unnao’s Additional Superintendent of Police Shashi Shekhar Singh,”We interrogated the accused Rajol Singh after taking him on remand following which the SOG team recovered the woman’s body on Thursday. The body was buried in the plot near the ashram. We used local intelligence and mobile surveillance to identify the spot where the body was buried.”

He said the matter appears to be of an illicit relation gone wrong. The investigation is being done and whoever else is found involved in the incident will also be arrested soon, he added.

Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also targeted the SP and demanded that the state government must immediately take strict legal action against the culprits to ensure justice for the victim’s family.

“Recovery of the body of a Dalit woman in the SP leader’s field in Unnao district is a very sad and serious matter. The family members were already suspecting the SP leader of being involved in the abduction and murder. The state government should immediately take strict legal action against the culprits to get justice for the victim’s family,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

Right after the woman went missing on December 8, the mother alleged that her daughter had been kidnapped by former minister’s son Rajol Singh and had sought action against him.

On January 24, the victim’s mother also attempted self-immolation in front of the vehicle of Yadav in Lucknow alleging laxity by the police to find out the whereabouts of her daughter. Police had arrested Rajol Singh on the same day.

CN Ashwath Narayan

Bengaluru: Holiday announced to universities belonging to the department of Higher Education and colleges under the Department of Collegiate and Technical Education (DCTE), in the wake of the Hijab row, has been extended till February 16, the Karnataka government said on Friday.

However, examinations will be held as scheduled and it has been directed to conduct online classes, state Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, both Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra had indicated that a decision regarding reopening Pre-University and Degree (higher education) Colleges will be taken on February 14.

Noting that in view of the Hijab row, DCTE had declared the closure of institutions from February 9 to February 11, Narayan said, now as a precautionary measure it has been extended.

This closure is applicable for government, aided, unaided degree colleges, diploma, and engineering colleges, he added.

The government on Thursday had decided to resume classes for high school students up to class 10 from February 14, and for Pre-University and Degree Colleges thereafter.

The Karnataka High Court, in its interim order pending consideration of all petitions related to the Hijab row, had earlier requested the state government to reopen educational institutions and restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, Hijab and any religious flag within the classroom.

Earlier in the day, ahead of the reopening of schools, the state government had issued a series of directions to district administrations, aimed at maintaining peace and that the High Court order is not violated.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting with some Ministers, Deputy Commissioners (DCs), Superintendent of Police (SPs), Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPIs) and CEOs of Zilla Panchayats of all districts, via video conferencing, to review the ground situation.

“From Monday, high school classes up to class 10 will resume across the state, directions have been issued to see to it that no untoward incident takes place. In sensitive areas, DCs and SPs have to visit campuses and instruct the authorities and teaching staff there to see to it that no untoward incidents take place,” Jnanendra told reporters after the meeting.

DCs, SPs and DDPIs have been asked to keep constant contact with principals, teachers, management of educational institutions and parents.

“Action should be taken against the guilty, peace meetings should be held and the High Court order should be followed literally. Authorities should not budge to any pressure and even small incidents should be considered seriously,” he added.

New Delhi: An appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the direction of the Karnataka High Court that has asked students not to insist on wearing any cloth on campuses of educational institutions which can instigate people, till the matter is resolved.

The plea filed by a student has sought a stay on the direction of the high court, which is hearing the hijab issue, as well as the proceedings going on before the three judge bench.

The appeal contended that the high court has sought to curtail the fundamental right of Muslim student women by not allowing them to wear the hijab.

The high court has posted the matter for Monday and also said educational institutions can resume classes for students.

The three-judge full bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna S Dixit, which was formed on Wednesday, also said it wants the matter to be resolved at the earliest but till that time peace and tranquillity is to be maintained.

“Till the disposal of the matter, you people should not insist on wearing all these religious things,” Awasthi had said.

“We will pass an order. Let the schools-colleges start. But till the matter is resolved, no student should insist on wearing religious dress”, he had said.

On Wednesday, Justice Dixit, who was hearing the case, referred the case to Justice Awasthi’s consideration with a view that a larger bench may look into the case.

The Hijab row started in December end when a few students started coming to a government pre-university college in Udupi wearing Hijab. To protest against it, some Hindu students turned up wearing saffron scarves.

The row spread to other educational institutions in different parts of the State, and the protests took a violent turn at some place earlier this week, prompting the government on Tuesday to declare three days holiday for the institutions.

New Delhi: More than 1,000 feminists, democratic groups, collectives, academicians, lawyers and individuals from various walks of life came together to condemn the “targeting and exclusion” of hijab-wearing Muslim students on Thursday, while alleging that the head scarf is only the latest pretext to impose an “apartheid” on Muslim women.

In an open letter signed by over 1,850 people, the signatories stated that they firmly believe that the Constitution mandates schools and colleges to nurture plurality, not uniformity.

“Uniforms in such institutions are meant to minimise the differences between students of different and unequal economic classes. They are not intended to impose cultural uniformity on a plural country. This is why Sikhs are allowed to wear turbans not only in the classroom but even in police and the Army,” they said.

“This is why Hindu students wear bindi/pottu/tilak/vibhuti with school and college uniforms without comment or controversy. And likewise, Muslim women should be able to wear hijabs with their uniforms,” they added.

The letter further states that “making hijabi women sit in separate classrooms or move from colleges of their choice to Muslim-run colleges is nothing but apartheid”.

The letter was endorsed by more than 130 groups across 15 states, including All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), National Federation of Indian Women, Bebaak Collective, Saheli Women’s Resource Centre, Awaaz-e-Nizwan, National Alliance of People’s Movements, Forum Against Oppression of Women, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Dalit Women’s Collective, National Federation of Dalit Women, Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression and Feminists In Resistance.

Protests for and against the hijab have intensified in parts of Karnataka. The demonstrations turned violent in some places on Tuesday after the government in the southern state issued an order last week making uniforms prescribed by it or the management of private institutions mandatory for students in schools and pre-university colleges.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress have hit out at each other over the controversy.

Activists of the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had put up banners in Maharashtra’s Beed city on Monday in support of hijab for Muslim students.

Bengaluru: Karnataka on Wednesday reported 5,339 new cases of COVID-19 and 48 fatalities, taking the tally to 39,12,100 and toll to 39,495.

There were 16,749 discharges today, pushing the total number of recoveries to 38,11,615, a health bulletin said.

Of the new cases, 2,161 were from Bengaluru Urban that saw 6,883 people being discharged and 16 virus-related deaths.

The total number of active cases across the state is now 60,956.

While the positivity rate for the day stood at 4.14 per cent, the case fatality rate (CFR) was 0.89 per cent.

Of the 48 deaths, 16 are from Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada (5), Ballari (4), Chitradurga and Tumakuru (3), Dharwad, Kolar, Mandya, Mysuru, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada (2), followed by others.

After Bengaluru Urban, Tumakuru recorded the second highest number of cases with 342, Belagavi 327, Mysuru 293, Shivamogga 185, Ballari 173 and Mandya 158.

Bengaluru Urban district now has a total of 17,64,476 cases, Mysuru 2,27,751 and Tumakuru 1,58,565.

According to the bulletin, Bengaluru Urban tops the list among discharges with 17,23,340, followed by Mysuru 2,22,680 and Tumakuru 1,54,122.

Cumulatively, a total of 6,30,20,402 samples have been tested, of which 1,28,705 were on Wednesday alone.

Bengaluru: Senior BJP leader and Karnataka Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj K S Eshwarappa on Wednesday claimed ‘Bhagwa dhwaj’ (saffron flag), may become the national flag some time in the future.

He, however, said the tricolour is the national flag now, and it should be respected by everyone.

“Hundreds of years ago the chariots of Sri Ramachandra and Maruthi had saffron flags on them. Was the tricolour flag there in our country then? Now it (tricolour) is fixed as our national flag, what respect it has to be given, should be given by every person who takes food in this country, there is no question about it,” Eshwarappa said.

Responding to a question by reporters, whether the saffron flag can be hoisted on the red fort, he said, “not today, some day in the future.”

“Discussions are today taking place in the country on ‘Hindu vichara’ and ‘Hindutva’. People used to laugh at one point when we said Ram Mandir will be constructed in Ayodhya, aren’t we constructing it now? In the same way some time in the future, after 100 or 200 or 500 years Bhagwa dhwaj may become the national flag. I don’t know.”

Further stating that now tricolour has been constitutionally accepted as the national flag, the Minister said, it should be respected, and those who don’t respect it will be a traitor.

“…we are the people who hoist the saffron flag, not today some time in the future Hindu dharma will come to this country at that time we will hoist it on the Red fort, for now tricolour is our national flag, there is now doubt about it and we all respect it,” the former state BJP chief added.

Eshwarappa was responding to state Congress president D K Shivakumar’s claims that students hoisted saffron flag by replacing the tricolour at the Government First Grade College in Shivamogga, during an anti-hijab protest on Tuesday.

Calling Shivakumar’s claims a lie, Eshwarappa, who hails from Shivamogga, alleged it as an attempt to create a divide between Hindus and Muslims.

“D K Shivakumar is a liar, let him prove it. Yes, the saffron flag was hoisted there, but the national flag was not lowered…..saffron flag can be hoisted anywhere, but not by lowering the national flag, it has not happened and will never happen. National flag was not removed, only the flagpole was used,” he added.

Shivamogga college authorities and police officials too have clarified that the national flag was not lowered to put up a saffron flag.

“The pole was empty, the saffron flag was put up by some, it was later removed by them,” they said.