Mangalore gears up for 17th National Youth Festival

November 27, 2011

Mangalore, November 27: Nearly 5,000 youths, officials and VIPs from across India will descend on this coastal city to participate in the 17th National Youth Festival that gets underway here from January 12, 2012. The state government in collaboration with Union Government is hosting this five-day festival, to which the organisers have extended an invitation to the President of India Prathibha Devisingh Patil to inaugurate. The last festival was held in Udaipur.

A high powered team of officials from Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports from central and state governments headed by Thanglemlian, deputy secretary, Union ministry of youth affairs and sports visited venues of the festival to oversee progress in hosting the event. Karnataka is hosting this national youth festival that started in 1995 for the first time, Thanglemlian told reporters here on Saturday. "We are satisfied with preparations at the venues," he said.

The President would give away the national youth awards to 25 individuals and one youth organisation. Each state has been directed to send 10 nominations for individual awards and five for youth organisation awards and this will be scrutinised by central selection committee headed by secretary of the department, he said, adding the best national youth organisation award would carry a purse of Rs 2-lakh and individuals awards Rs 40,000.

Highlight of the festival would be the inaugural function that would be held at Mangala Stadium here on January 12 where participants from 28 states and seven Union Territories would take part in a march past in their traditional attire. Competitions in classical dance, classical instrumental solo, classical music as well as folk dance, folk song and one act play and elocution would be held from January 13 to 15 and the valedictory on January 16.

Individual members in any group event would get Rs 5,000, second prize of Rs 3,000 and third prize of Rs 2,000 and winners of individual competition would get Rs 10,000, Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. Mega cultural programmes have been planned for January 13, 14 and 15. Plans have been drawn up to host adventure activities including hot air ballooning at Panambur beach and at Nehru Maidan.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

HC refuses to quash probe against Mangaluru WhatsApp admin over offensive posts

News Network

February 1,2026

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash an investigation against a WhatsApp group administrator accused of allowing the circulation of obscene and offensive images depicting Hindutva politicians and idols in 2021.

Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that, prima facie, the ingredients of the offence under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code were made out. “The offence under Section 295A of the IPC is met to every word of its ingredient, albeit prima facie,” the judge said.

The petitioner, Sirajuddin, a resident of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, had challenged the FIR registered against him at the CEN (Cyber, Economics and Narcotics) police station, Mangaluru, for offences under Section 295A of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Section 295A relates to punishment for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens.

According to the complaint filed by K Jayaraj Salian, also a resident of Belthangady taluk, he received a WhatsApp group link from an unknown source and was added to the group after accessing it. The group reportedly had six administrators and around 250 participants, where obscene and offensive images depicting Hindu deities and certain political figures were allegedly circulated repeatedly.

Sirajuddin was arrested in connection with the case and later released on bail on February 16, 2021. He argued before the court that he was being selectively targeted, while other administrators—including the creator of the group—were neither arrested nor investigated. He also contended that the Magistrate could not have taken cognisance of the offence under Section 295A without prior sanction under Section 196(1) of the CrPC.

Rejecting the argument, Justice Nagaprasanna held that prior sanction is required only at the stage of taking cognisance, and not at the stage of registration of the crime or during investigation.

The judge noted that the State had produced the entire investigation material before the court. “A perusal of the material reveals depictions of Hindu deities in an extraordinarily obscene, demeaning and profane manner. The content is such that its reproduction in a judicial order would itself be inappropriate,” the court said, adding that the material, on its face, had the tendency to outrage religious feelings and disturb communal harmony.

Observing that the case was still at the investigation stage, the court said it could not interdict the probe at this juncture. However, it expressed concern that the investigating officer appeared to have not proceeded uniformly against all administrators. The court clarified that if the investigation revealed the active involvement of any member in permitting the circulation of such content, they must also be proceeded against.

“At this investigative stage, any further observation by this Court would be unnecessary,” the order concluded.

Comments