St. Aloysius College to hold seminar on advances in chemical sciences

January 21, 2012

Mangalore, January 21: The Department of Chemistry of St. Aloysius College (Autonomous) will be organizing a two day national seminar on 'Recent Advances in Chemical Sciences' on January 23 and 24 at Eric Mathias Auditorium on the College premises, here.

Announcing this at a press meet here on Saturday Rev. Fr. Swebert D'Silva SJ, the principal of St. Aloysius College (Autonomous) said “This is an attempt to bridge the knowledge gap by exposing the staff, Research Scholars and Post Graduate students of Chemistry to a fund of knowledge, directed by experts in the field.”

He said, Dr. BS Sherigara, former vice-chancellor, Kuvempu University, would inaugurate the programme and deliver the key note address on “Chemistry-Science of Life”.

He said, “The two days seminar is divided into seven sessions facilitated by eminent scientists and expert teachers from various institutes. These include Dr. S Kabilan, Professor in Organic Chemistry, Annamalai University, Dr. Michael Rajamathi, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, St. Joseph's College (Autonomous) Bangalore, Dr. INN Namboothiri, Professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT Bombay, Dr. SG Prapulla, Scientist, Fermentation Technology and Bio engineering CFTRI, Mysore, Dr. Nityananda Shetty, Professor, NITK Suratkal.

“The resource person will guide the participants in modern areas of Chemistry like 'Designing Organic Synthesis', Metal Mediated Coupling Reactions', 'Multinuclear and Multidimensional NMR', '2D Nanomaterials: Graphene and its Inorganic Cousins', 'Fuel Cells', 'Modern Theories of Coordination Complexes'.

“The valedictory programme will be held at 3:45pm on January 24 at Eric Mathias Auditorium. Dr. Cletus D'Souza, Professor and Chairman, Department of studies in Biochemistry, University of Mysore will be the Chief Guest, Rev Dr. Leo D'Souza SJ, Director, Laboratory of applied Biology, St. Aloysius College (Autonomous) will preside over the function”, he said.

Dr. Ivan Pinto, HOD of Chemistry, Dr. Richard Gonsalves, HOD PG Analytical Chemistry and Dr. Ronald Nazareth, Organizing Secretary were present in the press meet.

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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.

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