Latest news with #KarnatakaHighCourt
New Indian Express
15 hours ago
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Karnataka HC quashes doping ban on ‘pork-eating' hoopster Rai
BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has quashed the four-year suspension of former national basketball player Shashank J Rai by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP). The ADDP had banned Rai (32), the 6.5-foot-tall hoopster from Mangalore, on October 11, 2022, for testing positive for 19-NA (a metabolite of Nandrolone). Rai's appeal was rejected by the Anti-Doping Appeal Panel on April 16, 2024. Rai had challenged the ban saying the presence of 19-NA in his sample was not a result of willful ingestion of a performance-enhancing substance, but rather an inadvertent consequence of consuming pork, a staple in the cuisine of his native, coastal Karnataka. Justice M Nagaprasanna's order said the penalty imposed by the anti-doping agency was in ignorance of Rai's assertion. 'The court finds the impugned orders vitiated by non-consideration of vital material, absence of reasoned adjudication and a palpable breach of the principle of fairness,' the court observed. On February 5, 2022, while participating in a preparatory camp in Bengaluru, intended for India's elite basketball contingent, the petitioner's urine sample was collected by the National Anti-Doping Agency and the same was opened and resealed in Delhi. The charges from the petitioner for conducting the Sample-B test were also collected by the Agency. Then the sample was sent to a laboratory in Rome.
Mint
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Mint
Karnataka HC says police can't unnecessarily collect call detail records, it ‘violates right to privacy'
The Karnataka High Court recently ruled that a person's call detail records (CDRs) are private. It said police can't "unnecessarily" collect such information when there is no ongoing official investigation that requires it. According to Bar and Bench, the judge said that if police are allowed to obtain CDRs that are not part of a lawful investigation, it would lead to a police state. Justice Suraj Govindaraj made the observation while refusing to quash a criminal case filed against Sub-Inspector of Byatarayanapura Police Station Vidya VM. It was alleged that she had illegally collected the CDRs of a woman. The Karnataka High Court held that call detail records of an individual are personal and private details and that unnecessarily collecting such details would violate the right to privacy. "If police are allowed to obtain CDRs that are not part of a lawful investigation, it would lead to a police state," the judge was quoted by Bar and Bench as saying during the hearing. "The power to obtain the CDR of any individual should only be exercised during a lawful investigation by the investigating officer," the court said before dismissing the police officer's plea. As per the report, Vidya VM and some other co-accused persons, face a criminal case under Sections 354(D) (stalking), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture, act intended to insult modesty) of the Indian Penal Code, apart from Sections 66(D) (cheating by personation using computer resource) and 66(E) (privacy violation) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Vidya VM was reportedly accused of illegally obtaining the call detail records of a woman. The woman claimed that police officials illegally accessed her CDRs and shared them with others against whom she had filed another criminal case. The woman alleged that these CDRs were misused by the co-accused, who were troubling her. The woman had then filed a private complaint against Vidya and others. In December 2024, a trial court summoned Vidya and others accused in the case. Vidya eventually approached the high court to quash the case against her. Vidya's counsel, Advocate Satyanarayan Chalke, argued that the police officer had sought the CDRs in the discharge of her official duties. However, the court declined to grant any relief, observing that unnecessarily acquiring the CDRs of a person would violate the right to privacy, as laid down in the Supreme Court's ruling in the Puttaswamy case.
New Indian Express
17 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Karnataka HC enhances relief for accident victim from Rs 81 lakh to Rs 2.27 crore
BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has enhanced the compensation awarded to the family of Santhosh Kumar Singh, a former Technical Lead at HCL Technologies Limited, who died in a road accident in 2019, from Rs 81.89 lakh to Rs 2.27 crore. A division bench comprising Justice K S Mudagal and Justice K V Aravind passed the order while partly allowing an appeal filed by Santhosh's wife, Priti Singh. Challenging the Motor Vehicle Accident Tribunal's order dated November 2, 2023, which had awarded Rs 81.89 lakh as compensation, the claimants sought Rs 3 crore under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The court noted that there is no reason for the Motor Vehicle Accident Tribunal to assume that the deceased's probationary period would not have been completed and that the same salary paid would not have remained stable or appreciated. The court noted that Singh was already earning Rs 1.37 lakh per month during his probation, and such a salary reflected his skills and expertise, which should not have been disregarded. A prosecution witness had also testified that Singh was a permanent employee, the court noted. Santhosh Singh (35) died in an accident on January 29, 2019, on HCL Road in Phase-I of Electronics City, when a speeding water tanker coming from the east rammed into his two-wheeler. He sustained grievous injuries and succumbed on the way to the hospital.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Indian Express
Karnataka raises legal age to buy tobacco products to 21, bans hookah bars
The Karnataka government on Friday officially notified a sweeping amendment to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003, with stricter measures aimed at curbing tobacco use across the state. The COTPA (Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2024, received presidential assent on May 23 and was published in the state gazette on May 30. Among the key changes, the legal age to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products in Karnataka has been raised from 18 to 21 years. Additionally, the sale of tobacco products within 100 metres of any educational institution has been prohibited, and the sale of loose cigarettes or single sticks is no longer allowed. In a significant move to discourage alternative tobacco consumption, the amendment also bans hookah bars across the state. The new Section 4A introduced under the Act prohibits the operation of hookah bars in any premises, including restaurants, pubs, or cafes. Violators operating hookah bars will face imprisonment of one to three years, along with fines ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh, under the newly added Section 21A. The definition of 'use' of tobacco in public places has also been expanded to include both smoking and spitting, with a continued allowance for designated smoking areas in hotels with over 30 rooms, restaurants with seating for more than 30 people, and airports. Also, penalties for violating tobacco use rules in public places have been increased. Fines under sections 21, 24, and 28 of the Act have been raised from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000. The Karnataka government has stated that the amendment is part of a broader effort to strengthen public health safeguards, particularly for younger populations and in sensitive areas like schools and colleges. In fact, despite a government order banning hookah bars in 2024, many hookah cafes were still illegally operating in suburban areas of Bengaluru. The Central Crime Branch has since identified and raided 20 such establishments, seizing hookah pots and flavours worth over Rs 12 lakh. The Karnataka High Court's April 2024 ruling also dismissed challenges from restaurant owners, affirming the ban's legality under Article 47 of the Constitution, which mandates states to protect public health. The court noted that hookah bars, even those offering 'herbal hookah', violate regulations due to the presence of harmful substances like nicotine and molasses.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
HC issues directions to Karnataka for maintenance of water sources
BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court issued a series of directions to the state government on periodic scientific maintenance of water storage plants, underground and overhead tanks, pipelines and borewells, and Reverse Osmosis Plants (RO), to ensure the treatment of drinking water as per the standard scientific norms and formula across the state to supply contamination-free drinking water. It directed the state to maintain records of scheduled maintenance activities as there are no such records and to submit them to the court whenever called for. Directing the state government to prepare a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), based on its directions, and to issue directions to DCs to oversee and ensure maintenance of drinking water sources, a division bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice KV Aravind directed that the maintenance of RO plants should be witnessed and acknowledged by elected representative of the panchayat or local body and by the headmaster or headmistress of a nearby government school. The court passed the order on May 28 while disposing of a PIL by Tumakuru-based advocate Ramesh Naik L, seeking directions to the state government to take steps to supply contamination-free drinking water in various districts, including Tumakuru, where water contains excessive levels of fluoride.
