Belagavi: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly rejected a motion seeking reconsideration of the Speaker’s sentence to two tabloid journalists to one year in jail for breach of privilege over their alleged defamatory articles against legislators.

Ravi Belagere, editor of Hi Bangalore, and Anil Raju, Yelahanka Voice, was rejected by a voice vote and the duo have been arrested with a fine of Rs 10,000 for breach of privilege.

The breach of privilege charge was over an article published in Hi Bangalore in September 2014 about Koliwad’s alleged bid to get a ministerial berth in the Congress government in Karnataka.

A request by Congress MLA B M Nagaraj to order punitive action against Belagere for not appearing before the privileges committee despite multiple notices was upheld by Koliwad as the Speaker on June 21.

The charge against Anil Raj was brought by BJP MLA S R Vishwanath, who accused the journalist of consistently publishing defamatory articles, and continuing to do so despite appearing before the privileges committee and tendering an apology.

(Agencies)

Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017: In video, girl hurries home during azaan, father says those people can come; she says don’t worry, it won’t happen

The Gujarat chief electoral officer has ordered a probe by the police into the emergence of a video clip whose content is alleged to be aimed at spreading hatred against Muslims “to polarise votes” in the poll-bound state.

“We have taken cognisance of the matter after learning about it from the media. The matter has been taken very seriously at all levels. The police have been asked to investigate. The cyber crime department will investigate the matter,” Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) B B Swain said today.

He said the district election officers (DEOs) have been asked to be careful about the poll code violation on social media platforms and address the matter immediately.

“We have asked all DEOs to be very careful. Apart from looking into the expenditure part, the teams have also been asked to look into MCC (Model Code of Conduct) violation and initiate due action,” the CEO told PTI.

The 1.15 minute-long clip, which begins in Gujarati, shows a girl hurrying back to home through a deserted locality with ‘azaan’ (a Muslim call to prayer) playing in the background. The clip ends with a line that reads, “Our vote, our safety.”

Nobody has claimed responsibility for making and circulating the video clip, which has been doing rounds on social media.

An advocate had written to the CEO, the cyber crime cell of the Ahmedabad Police and the Election Commission with a request to ban the video clip and take action against those responsible for its creation and circulation.

In his letter, advocate Govind Parmar of Human Rights Law Network had written that the video attempts to spread hatred by whipping up fear towards the Muslim community with an attempt to polarise votes.

He also sought action against the persons behind the video clip under section 153(A) – promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion – of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

(PTI)

Bareilly: As the controversy over Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film “Padmavati” continued to simmer, a fringe group today targeted actress Deepika Padukone, announcing a reward of Rs 1 crore for anyone “burning her alive”.

Members of the Akhil Bhartiya Kshatriya Mahasabha (ABKM) burnt over a hundred effigies of Padukone, who plays legendary Rajput queen Padmavati in the movie, and Bhansali at Damodar Swarup park here and shouted slogans against them.

They also took out a march to the collectorate office and submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate demanding a ban on the release of the movie.

ABKM’s youth wing leader Bhuvneshwar Singh said, “Deepika should know how it feels like to be burnt alive. The actress will never know the sacrifice of the queen. Any person burning her alive will be given Rs 1 crore. We demand that office- bearers of the organisation be shown the movie before it is released.”

Asked about Bhuvneshwar Singh’s threatening remarks, Superintendent of Police Rohit Singh Sahjawan said a report had been sought in this regard.
“We have sought a report from the policemen on duty. Thereafter, action will be taken,” he said.

“Padmavati” has been facing protests over the alleged “distortion of historical facts” in the film. Earlier this year, Bhansali was roughed up by members of the fringe group Rajput Karni Sena in Jaipur. Its elaborate sets were also vandalised during shooting schedules in Jaipur and Kolhapur.

Padukone and Bhansali have also received threats. Their security has been beefed up by the Mumbai police.

Meanwhile, the film fraternity has come out in support of Bhansali and the team, with many leading artistes calling it an attack on creative freedom.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, who was in coma since 2008, today passed away at a hospital here. He was 72.

“He had been critically ill since the past one month and succumbed to the illness at 12.10 pm. His family members including wife Deepa Dasmunsi and their son were at his bedside at that time,” Apollo hospital authorities said. The former Union minister had suffered a stroke in 2008 and was hospitalised since then.

Dasmunsi was heading the All India Football Federation (AIFF) when he was taken ill.

(Agencies)

Just recently Raju Kariya’s, a PRO par excellence, name was enrolled in the “World Book Of Records” (England) which is a most prestigious honor for him.

Incidentally speaking the most deserving credit, as an extremely well – known Pro, for holding the highest number of Film Muhurats and the highest number of Films Released, obviously goes to PRO Raju Kariya.

Very few people in Bollywood are aware of the real facts that Raju Kariya is the one and only PRO of Bollywood who was responsible for holding not one, two or three but as many as fifteen films and that too in one single day. And that Golden Day happened to be on 31st Dec, 1981. Indeed God – The Almighty had bestowed him with a lovely New Years Gift at that time.

In the last forty years in his filmic journey as the most famous PRO, Raju Kariya has held not less than 980 film’s muhurat ceremonies and not only this, not less than 650 films of PRO Raju Kariya have been released. That in itself is a World Record for him. Starting his filmic career with small budget films Raju Kariya has indeed created his own individual identity as the most bankable PRO and thereby conquered all the milestones of success in his chequered & illustrious career as a PRO.

On the one hand Raju Kariya has handled the PR of producer Kanti Shah’s small budget films. While on the other hand Raju Kariya has also handled the PR and promoted the films of #1 producer Vasu Bhagnani’s films like Hero No. 1, Biwi No. 1, Bade Miyaan Chote Miyaan and also Gulzar Sahab’s film Hu Tu Tu and above all many, many other successful films like Chandani. Not only these when the other stars of their time launched their own Production Houses it was the one and only PRO Raju Kariya who started working with the likes of Aditya Pancholi, Deepak Tijori, Govinda, Ajay Devgan and above all Salman Khan.

That apart Raju Kariya has also worked with yesteryears erstwhile & most talented star – actors like the Late Raj Kapoor, his son Randhir Kapoor and his daughter Karishma Kapoor besides Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, the Late Rajendra Kumar, the Late Firoz Khan, Rakesh Roshan, the Late Nutan, Sharmila Tagore, Asha Parekh and many, many more.

And for all his sincerity and dedication PRO Raju Kariya has already bagged the most prestigious Prasident’s Award as the “Best PRO Of The Bollywood” and above all PRO Raju Kariya has also been honored with “PRO Of The Millennium” and above all a most deserving “Life Time Achievement” award.

And now he has been well – deservingly honored with the inclusion and enrollment of his name as the “Best PRO Of The Millennium (Bollywood)” by the World Book Of Records (England) established by none other than Virendra Sharma and Dr. Diwakar Sukul of INDO – BRITISH CULTURUL FORUM.

In conclusion PRO Raju Kariya, even till this date is the most popular, the most successful and the ever busy PRO of the Film Industry. Even till this date PRO Raju Kariya considers every film he gets as a PRO, as his first ever film and works with utmost sincerity and utmost dedication.

by Faizan Rizwan

The 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) began on Monday in Goa’s Panaji, where around 200 films from over 80 countries will be screened.

This nine-day extravaganza’s inauguration will be done by superstar Shah Rukh Khan, in presence of and Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Smriti Irani, even as the row over the dropping of two films ‘Nude’ and ‘S. Durga’ from the screening schedule continues.

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan will be honoured with ‘Personality of The Year’ award at the festival.

Canada is the focus country this year and will be presenting a package of its eight best recent films. Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan will be honoured with a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’.

‘Beyond the clouds’, which was entirely made in India, by legendary Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi will be opening the fest, while the Indo-Argentine film ‘Thinking of Him’ by Pablo Cesar will wind-up the event.

Around 26 feature films and 16 non-feature films, belonging to different languages, regions and cultures, will be screened in the Indian Panorama Section of the festival.

Vinod Kapri directed Hindi film ‘Pihu’ will be the opening movie in the feature film category, while ‘Pushkar Puran’ by Kamal Swaroop will open the non-feature film category of the Indian Panorama.

IFFI will also screen two movies, ‘Hindi Medium’ and ‘Secret Superstar’ for the visually impaired persons with special audio described technology.

Seven award-winning films from BRICS countries will also be screened at the festival.

To ensure greater participation of the local audience, the IFFI will have a Bioscope Village where non-delegates can watch the movies.