'Child rights activist P.P. Baburaj, who is among the advocates seeking to represent Nalini Balakumar in the sedition case, has been suspended by the Mysuru Advocates’ Association. Though the association’s decision was put up on its notice board in the Mysuru court complex, Mr. Baburaj, a former member of the Juvenile Justice Board, claimed he had not been informed the reason for it. Mr.
'Stoking a fresh controversy, Karnataka's ruling BJP legislator MP Renukacharya on Tuesday accused Muslims of storing lethal weapons, including swords, knives and soda bottles, in mosques across the state. "Instead of offering prayers (namaz), Muslims are storing weapons in mosques and their priests (khazis) are giving fatwas instead of sermons," Mr Renukacharya claimed at a pro-CAA rally in his home town Honnalli in Davenagere district, around 300 km from Bengaluru.
'Days after BJP MLA Arvind Limbavalli tweeted a video of shantytowns in North Bengaluru’s Kariyammana Agrahara area, claiming that the settlements belong to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, the houses were razed to the ground on Sunday and rendered thousands homeless. The electricity and water supply to the location was cut off three days ago. After the demolition of the shanties, the residents, mostly migrants from Assam, Tripura, some even from North Karnataka, were allegedly asked to vacate the land... All the residents have valid identity cards, including Aadhaar, pan and voter ID.
'Presidents and secretaries of various mosques received threatening letters in Hassan district on Saturday. The letters questioned their integrity and loyalty to the nation and defended the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act - 2019 and National Register of Citizens and lauded the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Secretaries of mosques in Hassan, Arsikere, Sakleshpur and Belur received such anonymous letters. Interestingly, the letters had the address of Bellari MLA Somashekara Reddy and Vijayanagara MLA Anand Singh.
'...Within a few minutes, Saif heard commotion downstairs and looked out of the balcony to see Ikram calling for help. Ikram and his friends had been stopped by two patrol police, who wanted to know what they were doing on the road so late and where they lived. Saif, 21, approached the policemen, wanting to know what the issue was. The cops asked them for their names and ID cards. On learning that Saif was a Muslim, one of them asked him if he was a Pakistani...'
'Mysore Bar Association on Tuesday announced that they will not represent the woman who was holding a ‘Free Kashmir’ poster during a protest in Mysore against the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Nalini Balakumar was booked for sedition days after she was photographed holding the poster during the protest on January 8. "Some members of our bar association wrote to us saying we must not represent the person who was involved in an anti-national activity. Even her lawyer has withdrawn from representing her.
'ight wing organisations will on January 13, Monday, take out a massive rally at Kanakapura in the Ramnagara district in Karnataka, in protests against the construction of a statue of Jesus Christ. Several news portals have reported that the rally is being organised by the Hindu Jagarana Vedike, an organisation whose leaders are known for making inflammatory speeches, and will see the participation of nearly 5,000 workers from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
'Students of Jyoti Nivas College in Bengaluru on Wednesday alleged that a group of men claiming to be Bharatiya Janata Party workers threatened a JNU-style attack on them if they refused to sign a poster supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act, Deccan Herald reported. The suspected BJP activists heckled the students. This was followed by heated arguments, according to videos on social media. “A team of BJP activists had put up a poster outside our college and were forcing us to sign on the poster and help them gain support for CAA,” said a student.
'After a ‘Free Kashmir’ poster at a Mumbai protest stirred controversy recently, a similar banner was seen at a demonstration at the University of Mysore (UoM), Karnataka, on Wednesday. The Mysuru police have registered a suo motu FIR in the matter and booked the organisers of the protest for sedition. The protest, against the violence at JNU, was organised by students, members of UoM Researchers Association, Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangha, Students’ Federation of India, Dalit Vidyarthi Okkuta, and All India Democratic Students Organisation in the University of Mysore campus.
'On December 19, 2019, when Mangaluru police began dispersing protesters agitating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), a video clip of a man clutching his three-year-old daughter and jostling with the police was shared widely on social media. The man was resisting the attempts of the police to drag him and his daughter towards a bus parked nearby. The child is seen screaming while her elder sister and mother are also seen in the video clip appealing to the police to let them go...