SUPREME COURT ORDERS 33% QUOTA FOR WOMEN IN SC BAR ASSOCIATION The court said the order must be implemented from the 2024 election to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) set to be held on May 16 May 19 WHEN RESULTS OF THE SUPREME COURT BAR ASSOCIATION ELECTION WILL BE OUT HUBBALLI FRIDAY MAY 03, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 14 CITY EDITION LOOKOUT NOTICE AGAINST ‘ABSCONDER’ PRAJWAL His father Revanna seeks anticipatory bail as rape charges invoked EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru/Kalaburagi MORE trouble seems to be brewing for Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna and his MLA father HD Revanna in the alleged sex videos case as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) issued a lookout notice against Prajwal while a Hassan court allowed SIT to invoke rape charges against Revanna, who has moved a special court seeking anticipatory bail. F u r t h e r, a n o t h e r woman has filed a complaint of sexual harassment against Prajwal. As Prajwal failed to appear before the investigation officer despite being served a notice, the SIT issued a lookout notice against him on Thursday term, ing him an ‘absconder’. As per the lookout notice, law enforcement agencies have been requested to arrest him wherever he is sighted. The notice has been issued to all immigration points at airports, sea ports and also border checkposts. Prajwal, who is said to be in Europe, on Wednesday sought a week’s time to appear before the SIT through his advocate. It is said Prajwal has booked a return ticket to Bengaluru from Munich on May 15 and will be landing in the city in the wee hours of May 16. However, the MP is said to have flown to Dubai from Munich on Wednesday . Continuing the probe, the SIT on Thursday recorded the statement of one of the victims before a magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC. The SIT has managed to identify some of the victims. But the investigators are not getting much cooperation from them. It is said that some victims have threatened to commit suicide if they are forced to give statements. Besides, the investigation agency has also issued a notice to Naveen Gowda from Belur in Hassan district, who is accused of distributing pen drives containing videos and photographs of the MP with the victims. Poornachandra Tejaswi MG, a supporter of Prajwal, has filed a complaint against Gowda, who is said to be a close aide of a minister, in the Hassan CEN police station for circulating the videos on April 23. P4 MODI SOUGHT VOTES FOR ‘MASS RAPIST’, SAYS RAHUL Shivamogga: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise to every woman of the country for seeking votes for NDA candidate Prajwal Revanna, whom he referred to as a “mass rapist”. Rahul said, “It is not a sex scandal, but mass rape. On the stage, Modi supported the mass rapist. Modi told Karnataka that if the people vote for the mass rapist, it will help him.” | P4 ‘Prajwal flew to Germany on diplomatic passport’ Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi SUSPENDED Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna, who is in the eye of a storm over his alleged sexual harassment of women, travelled to Germany on a diplomatic passport without political clearance, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday “No political clearance . was either sought from or issued by MEA in respect to his travel to Germany… Obviously no visa , note was issued either,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday Diplomatic pass. port holders can travel to over 100 countries, including Germany without visa. “The ministry has , not issued visa note for Revanna for travel to any other country the MEA spokesperson said, add,” ing that parliamentarians are entitled to have diplomatic passports. Prajwal is the sitting MP from Hassan, from where he is seeking re-election. Diplomatic passports are issued to diplomats, government officials and individuals who are authorised to undertake official travel on behalf of the government. Under international law, diplomatic passport holders enjoy certain privileges and immunities, including immunity from arrest in the host country . On Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s demand for revocation of Revanna’s diplomatic passport, the MEA spokesperson said it can be taken only on the directions of a court. “As regards the possible revocation of the passport of any individual, I would refer you to the relevant provisions of the Passport Act 1967. A direction should come from a court for revocation of passport. We are not in receipt of any directions from any court in this regard,” he said. Prajwal, 33, is the grandson of former PM and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda. He was suspended from the party after the controversy broke out. Nomination deadline for Amethi, Rae Bareli ends today P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi WITH barely hours left for filing of nomination papers for the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats, the Congress is continuing to keep the suspense on whether Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka will contest from the prestigious seats. BJP drops Brij Bhushan, fields his son Karan in Kaiserganj N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow THE BJP on Thursday dropped Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who faces criminal charges of sexually harassing women wrestlers during his stint as the president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), and instead fielded his younger son Karan Bhushan Singh from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj Lok Sabha constituency . The saffron party also named Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli, a Gandhi family bastion that elected Congress leader Sonia Gandhi five consecutive times. Dinesh Pratap Singh, currently serving as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet, was the BJP’s candidate from the Rae Bareli parliamentary seat in 2019 as well. Even though he lost to Sonia Gandhi last time, he managed to bring her victory margin down to 1.67 lakh votes from 3.52 lakh in 2014. He was earlier with the Congress and he joined the BJP in 2018. Brij Bhushan, the sitting MP in Kaiserganj, was forced to resign as WFI president over the sexual harassment scandal after the wrestlers launched a protest. By denying ticket to Brij Bhushan, the BJP has sought to send out a message of distancing itself from tainted leaders. With Brij Bhushan, the total number of MPs benched by the BJP in UP in the ensuing election has touched 15. Though there was no official word, sources said that Rahul is likely to enter the fray from Amethi. That decision was taken after much deliberations within the party leadership. However, the call on Priyanka contesting from Rae Bareli is yet to be taken, said sources. On Wednesday Congress , leader Jairam Ramesh said the decision would be announced by Thursday evening. Yet, there was no official announcement till going to the press. Sources said the local leadership is gearing up for the filing of nomination papers by Rahul from Amethi since Thursday. “We received a message from the high command in the evening to make preparations for Friday’s nomination,” said a leader. According to sources, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has conveyed to the Gandhis that not contesting from UP would not augur well for the party . Apart from six office bearers, the SCBA has six senior executive members and nine executive members. As per the court order, at least two senior executive members and three executive members should be women. The order was passed by a bench comprising justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan while hearing a case involving SCBA against its former Secretary B D Kaushik | P9 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■
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