Lifting ban on Skype, WhatsApp calls, but will censor them: Saudi

Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday condemned the alleged sexual abuse of women involving Lok Sabha MP Prajwal Revanna, asserting that the BJP will not tolerate any insult to women.

Revanna (33) is the BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate for Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls on April 26.

Earlier in the day, the JD(S) suspended Revanna from the party with immediate effect.

“The issue regarding Revanna that has been reported in the media is very hurtful and cannot be tolerated in any way,” Shah told a press conference here.

“The BJP’s stand is very clear; we will not tolerate any insult to ‘matri aur nari shakti’ (women empowerment),” he asserted.

Some explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, were circulated in Hassan over the last few days.

The home minister said Congress has been alleging that an NDA partner’s candidate is involved in the incident, “but I just want to ask a small question - whose government is there in that state (Karnataka)?”

“The Congress is in power in Karnataka, and this matter must have come to their attention. Why has it not taken any action on it so far? We cannot take any action as law and order is a state issue,” Shah said.

The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces has said it has carried out new operations against American and British targets in retaliation for their aggression on the country.

Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Friday that Yemen’s naval forces struck a British oil tanker in the Red Sea with missiles.

Saree also said the military also shot down an American MQ-9 drone in Sa’ada province.

He added that the new operations were also a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid the Israeli genocide there. 

“The Yemeni Armed Forces salute all the people of Yemen for their faithful response to the call of the fighter leader Sayyed Abdulmalik Badr El-Din Al-Houthi, may Allah protect him, in their unprecedented large-scale interaction in support of our oppressed brothers in the Gaza Strip, affirming support for the Armed Forces in their military operations against the ‘Israeli’ enemy and against the American-British aggression supporting it in the Red and Arabian Seas and the Indian Ocean,” Saree said.

He stressed that the Yemeni armed forces will continue operations in the Red and Arabian Seas as well as the Indian Ocean until the Western-backed Israeli genocide comes to a halt.

Since the start of the brutal campaign in Gaza, the regime has killed more than 34,300 Palestinians and injured over 77,000 others. It has cut off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have been targeting Israeli vessels or those “associated” with the occupying regime in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea since October 7, 2023.

The regime ignited its bloody war machine in the besieged Palestinian territory on that October day in response to Operation Al-Aqsa Storm conducted by the resistance movement Hamas.

The maritime attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.

Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.

The pro-Palestine maritime campaign has also prompted airstrikes by the US and its allies on Yemen – in violation of the Yemeni sovereignty and international law.

In consequence, Yemen’s armed forces have declared US and British vessels as legitimate targets.

Hassan MP and Lok Sabha election candidate of the BJP-JD(S) alliance Prajwal Revanna, who is facing an inquiry over the alleged sexual abuse of several women, said the truth will prevail.

The MP, who left the country as soon as the election to his constituency ended, has also sought seven days' time to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Karnataka government to inquire into the huge cache of about 3,000 explicit videos and photos allegedly pertaining to him, which have gone viral on social media.

“As I am not in Bangalore to attend the enquiry, I have communicated to CID Bangalore through my advocate. Truth will prevail soon,” Prajwal, grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda, said in a post on X.

A case has been registered against MLA and former minister H D Revanna and his son Prajwal at Holenarasipura on a complaint lodged by their former cook and relative for allegedly sexually harassing her.

She also alleged that Prajwal made video calls to her daughter and spoke in an objectionable manner, which forced her to block him.

The MP who is seeking re-election from Hassan on a JD(S) ticket, shared a letter by his lawyer Arun G to the Deputy Superintendent of Police of the SIT, in which he has sought seven days' time to appear before the official because he is abroad.