Sexual offenders to be brought under Goonda (Amendment) Bill

The Bill, with six new offences, passed amid uproar in Assembly

July 28, 2014 10:55 pm | Updated 10:55 pm IST - Bangalore

Bangalore : Karnataka : 28/07/2014 . JD S legislators showing the posters of the lakes alleging it is encroached by land mafia during the Legislative assembly session  in Bangalore on 28th, July , 2014 . Photo : K . Bhagya Prakash

Bangalore : Karnataka : 28/07/2014 . JD S legislators showing the posters of the lakes alleging it is encroached by land mafia during the Legislative assembly session in Bangalore on 28th, July , 2014 . Photo : K . Bhagya Prakash

The Legislative Assembly on Monday passed, amid pandemonium, the Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug-offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Slum-Grabbers and Video or Audio Pirates (Amendment) Bill, 2014, without a discussion.

Moving the Bill, Home Minister K.J. George requested the House to pass the Bill that will now include “acid attackers, bootleggers, depredator of environment, digital offenders, drug offenders, gamblers, goondas, immoral traffic offenders, land-grabbers, money launderers, sexual predators and video or audio pirates” under it.

The Bill includes, under ‘depredators of environment’, offences in sand mining or quarrying. The government had promised, during the debate on escalation in sexual offences in Karnataka, that sexual predators would be brought under the Act, which has been done in this amendment.

Deputy Speaker N.H. Shivashankar Reddy, who was in the chair, declared that the Bill had been passed even as the Bharatiya Janata Party members shouted slogans in the well of the House. They were demanding a CBI probe into the de-notification of land in Arkavathi Layout.

Meanwhile, the Janata Dal (Secular), led by its leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, also demanded constitution of a House panel to probe into the encroachment of 350 tanks in and around Bangalore by land sharks. All JD(S) members displayed pictures of the tanks that were encroached upon.

The Assembly also passed the Karnataka Souharda Cooperative (Amendment) Bill, 2014, moved by Minister for Cooperation H.S. Mahadeva Prasad.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar said the two Bills were not part of Monday’s agenda. He also alleged that the entire proceedings was “illegal” as the House was not in order and whatever the Ministers and the Chair said, could neither be heard nor recorded due to the melee.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.