1. Karnataka Man Makes 3-km Dash to Avert Train Disaster
On Saturday, 27 October, 53-year-old Krishna Poojary was on his usual morning walk along a rail track in Udupi district. Sick for the past three months, doctors had advised Poojary to take regular walks, but this day, his walk was to save many other lives too. While walking near the track, Poojary observed a crack.
Soon after, when a train went by, he saw that the crack had widened. Despite his health issues, Poojary made a run for it. He ran for about 3 km to reach the Udupi railway station in Indrali, and informed officials about the crack. The official asked Poojary, who works at a fast food joint, to wait and help officials identify the location so that they could act promptly. A team of engineers rushed to the spot.
(Source: Bangalore Mirror)
2. #MeToo: Anger, Tears and Call for Courage at Bangalore LitFest
The last proverbial nail on the coffin that ensured the resignation of the veteran journalist MJ Akbar was an article written by a woman journalist, Tushita Patel, while on a flight. She was enraged by Akbar’s statement that #MeToo was a fashion statement.
“I was not thinking of telling my story. But on his return to India, MJ Akbar said this (#MeToo) was just fashion. I was enraged. I felt that if I don’t say anything now, I would be complicit with his crime,” said Patel, who is one of the journalists who had accused MJ Akbar of sexual harassment.
Tushita Patel along with actor-director Vinta Nanda, former journalist Sandhya Menon and former nun, Sister Jesme, formed the panel for the Bangalore Literature Festival’s session on the #MeToo campaign.
(Source: The Quint)
3. Shashi Tharoor Lands in Row Over Quote on PM
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor landed in a controversy on Sunday, 28 October, after he referred to the quote of an unnamed RSS functionary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a nearly six-year-old magazine article.
“This personality cult has not sat very well with many in the RSS establishment. There is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source in which they express their frustration with their inability to curb Mr Modi,” Tharoor said while speaking about his latest book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and his India , at the Bangalore Literature Festival.
“The man [unnamed RSS source] says Mr Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling . You cannot remove him with your hand and you cannot hit with a chappal either.”
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Probe into Charges Made by Sruthi Hariharan Begins
The Cubbon Park police are going through the clippings of Kannada movie Vismaya to gather evidence and corroborate allegations of sexual harassment made by actor Sruthi Hariharan against Arjun Sarja.
The police, who registered the FIR on Saturday, 27 October, conducted spot investigations at all the places Hariharan had mentioned in her complaint of Sarja allegedly making sexual overtures during the shooting three years ago. The police are also seeking unedited video footage of the movie that will be included as part of the evidence.
They plan to submit a preliminary report before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court and seek time to summon Hariharan to make her statement. Sarja has denied the allegations against him.
(Source: The Hindu)
5. ‘Clean Garbage in Bengaluru by 31 Oct’: Karnataka HC to BBMP
“Mr Commissioner, the garbage in Bengaluru must be cleaned up by 31 October and how you do it is your problem,” said Karnataka Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, while hearing a case related to storm water drain clean-up.
Justice Maheshwari took Bengaluru’s civic body – the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike – to task and ordered the BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad to put an end to garbage dumped on the city’s roads.
“We will hold you responsible if the city is not clean by 31 October, when we are taking up the PIL petitions related to garbage menace. You can’t pinpoint the fault on others,” Justice Maheshwari added.
The Chief Justice also reprimanded the BBMP’s engineers and ordered the commissioner to hold training sessions for them.
(Source: The News Minute)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)