From The Newsroom: Congress targets Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath over women safety

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, Karnataka to move HC to appoint 'Claim Commissioner' to make riot culprits pay for damages; Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government and The Supreme Court dismisses plea for cancellation of JEE (Main) and NEET UG examinations.

Here are the top news of today, Monday: August 17, 2020:

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, alleging that incidents of caste violence and crimes against women are rampant in the state.

Attacking the Adityanath government over the killing of a Dalit village head in Azamgarh's Basgaon, Rahul Gandhi alleged that in Uttar Pradesh, the "jungle raj" of caste violence and rape is "peaking".

"Now another terrible incident -- Sarpanch Satyamev, being a Dalit, said 'no' due to which he was killed. Condolences to the family of Satyamev Ji," he said in a tweet.

The Uttar Pradesh police has invoked the stringent National Security Act against four persons in connection with the village head's killing, which had triggered a mob violence.

Satyamev (42), a Dalit and the head of Basgaon village in the Tarwan area of Azamgarh district, was shot dead last week.

In a Facebook post in Hindi, Priyanka Gandhi also hit out at the Uttar Pradesh government over the issue of security of women.

"Bulandshahr, Hapur, Lakhimpur Kheri and now Gorakhpur. Such repeated incidents have proven that the Uttar Pradesh government has completely failed in providing security to women," the Congress general secretary said, referring to reports of crimes against women in these areas.

A slugfest erupted between the Congress and the BJP on Sunday following a report in the Wall Street Journal claiming that Facebook ignored applying its hate speech rules to politicians of the ruling party in India.

Seizing on the report, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and RSS of spreading "fake news" using Facebook and WhatsApp to influence the electorate, triggering a sharp counter-attack from Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who reminded the opposition party of the Cambridge Analytica issue.

The Congress demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the charges mentioned in the report, saying they threaten the foundation of Indian democracy and need to be investigated. Hitting back, Prasad tweeted, "Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP and RSS.”

“You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook to weaponise data before the elections and now have the gall to question us," he said.

A week after the Pulikeshinagar riot in Bengaluru, the state government has decided to approach the High Court of Karnataka, for the appointment of a 'Claim Commissioner', in order to assess the damage caused to public and private property during the riot, and to make the culprits pay for these damages.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday. Tweeting the same, the CM said, "Our government has decided to assess the damages caused to public and private property in the violent incidents in KG Halli and DG Halli and recover costs from the culprits. We will approach the Hon'ble High Court for appointment of Claim Commissioner as the Hon'ble Supreme Court order."

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijaya Bhasker, Advocate General Prabhuling Navadagi, DGP Praveen Sood and Bangalore City Police Commissioner Kamalpant were among those who took part in the meeting. Appointment of claims commissioner has been done in the past too. In February this year, the High Court of Karnataka had directed the state government to appoint retired district judges as claims commissioners, in order to assess the damages in bandhs during the Mahadayi protests and the one that followed the arrest of Congress leader DK Shivakumar in 2019.

For legal recourse concerning the recent riot, the government has also decided to appoint a team of three special public prosecutors to represent the case During Monday's meeting, the officials briefed the CM about the action initiated until now, including invoking of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA Act). Invocation of Goonda Act will also be considered by the SIT, wherever the incidents involved in the riot attract such a provision. A special investigation team has already been formed to look into the case, the CM added in his tweet.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea for cancellation of JEE (Main) and NEET UG examinations, rescheduled for September 1 to 6 and September 13 respectively, as the National Testing Agency said all precautions for Covid-19 would be taken during the tests.

A bench presided over by Justice Arun Mishra said the education should be opened up as Covid may continue for a year and the career of students can't be put to jeopardy for long.

"Are you going to wait for another year? Do you know the loss to the country and peril to the students," the bench asked the petitioners' Alakh Alok Srivastava.

Life cannot be stopped, we have to move ahead with all safeguards, the bench further said, adding the courts were also gradually opening up for physical hearings.

Srivastava, for his part, said the court had earlier granted relief in case of CBSE, ICSE and NIOS.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said all the safeguards would be put in place during the examinations.A group of 11 students led by Sayantan Biswas asked the court to direct the authorities to conduct the competitive examinations for admission to premier IITs and medical colleges across the country after normalcy is restored in the country.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President D K Shivakumar on Monday said he would hold meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi on strengthening the party in the state.

Shivakumar, who came to national capital to meet the party top brass for the first time after became the state unit president, told reporters that he came here on the invitation of the party leaders.

He also said he would hold meeting with party leaders through video conference due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Shivakumar also said he would submit the report to party high command about the activities of the party after he took charge.

Deccan Herald's podcasts are now available on your favourite podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and many more. Do subscribe to our Podcast there! Catch our feature show, The Lead, Monday to Friday at 7 am, and our evening news catch-up show From the Newsroom every day at 6 pm.