Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress over the Sandeshkhali incident and said the State government has been putting their efforts into protecting the accused of the people of Bengal.

In a scathing attack, PM Modi said that TMC leaders have committed atrocities on the women of the state. TMC has full confidence in their leader but not in the women of West Bengal, he added. The Mamata government has got a shock from the High Court as well as the Supreme Court, PM Modi said.

In a scathing attack, PM Modi further said that the women of this land have been tortured under TMC’s rule. Asserting that, he said whatever happened in Sandeshkhali will put anyone to shame but the Chief Minister does not care about the issues of common people. Furthermore, the West Bengal government can never protect women. Whereas the BJP government has decided to award life imprisonment for heinous crimes like rape, he emphasised.

For easy registration of women’s complaints, the Centre has arranged for a Women’s Helpline, but the TMC is not letting it operate in West Bengal, he blamed. He further attacked saying, TMC can never work for the welfare of women.

Hitting out at the INDIA alliance, PM Modi said that after seeing the NDA forming its government in the Centre, the INDIA alliance has begun to shake now. He also accused the Opposition of accusing him and asking about Modi’s family. PM Modi pointing out at Opposition, said that they have been targeting him because he has spoken against ‘Parivarvad’ (dynasty).

PM Modi also said that the Opposition has claimed that the reason PM Modi talks about ‘Parivarvad’ is because he has no family. These people want to know about my family. I want these ‘Parivarvadis’ to witness our gathering and understand that all the people present here are my family, he further said.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday vowed to ensure adequate water supply to Bengaluru at any cost. He acknowledged the water crisis in Bengaluru and said that his home’s own borewell has dried up due to lack of rainfall.

The water crisis in Bengaluru has reached an alarming situation as borewells across the city have run dry. Residential societies are prompting residents to be cautious with their daily water usage. Private water tankers are charging exorbitant rates with some even demanding upto Rs 3000 for delivering water.

Speaking to the media, Shivkumar said some of the water tankers are supplying water for Rs 600, while others are charging upto Rs 3000. In order to standardize the pricing the Karnataka government has asked all water tankers to register with the authorities. Shivkumar said the prices will be fixed based on the distance travelled by the tankers.

The Deputy Chief Minister slammed the Modi government for stalling the Mekedatu reservoir project, which he believes will play an important role in decreasing Bengaluru’s water crisis. Shivkumar said the Karnataka government has given instructions to officials to utilise water sources which are in the 15 km vicinity of urban areas.

Plans are being made to get water to Bengaluru from nearby towns such as Ramanagara, Hosakote, Channapatna, and Magadi using water tankers. Bengaluru is facing a serious water crisis. There has not been enough rain in the region which has caused the water level in the Cauvery river to drop.

This shortage has not only impacted irrigation but has also created a drinking water crisis in some areas of the capital city of Karnataka. A housing society in Bengaluru’s Whitefield area has decided to impose a fine of Rs 5000 over the misuse of drinking water and has deployed a security guard to monitor the situation.

In a strange incident, a trans person was arrested for allegedly setting the car of her ex-boyfriend on fire over marriage refusal in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur. The irked trans person took the step out of anger after her ex-boyfriend had refused to marry the transgender despite a purported relationship between them.    

The initial reports suggest that the trans person got her gender changed thinking her boyfriend would marry her. However, her marriage proposal was refused by him, which triggered her to take this step.

According to reports, the ex-boyfriend, identified as Annop Shukla, whose car was set alight on March 4. Shukla and the accused transgender had befriended each other on Instagram, and they were in a long-distance relationship.

The accused, a resident of Indore, reached Kanpur, her ex-boyfriend Shukla’s residence with the other two poured petrol on it and set the car alight. The incident, which was caught on CCTV camera, led to the arrest of the accused who were attempting to escape with their accomplices.

The police have apprehended two other individuals, Rohan Yadav and Deep Tanwani, who came with the accused and are believed to have set fire to the car. Further investigation into the matter is underway, as per the reports.

In another incident from Kerala, last year in February, a special court in Thiruvananthapuram, sentenced a transgender person to seven years in prison for sexually assaulting a minor boy in early 2016.

Special Judge, Aaj Sudarshan, Thiruvananthapuram Fast Track Special Court, ruled 34-year-old transwoman Sachu Samson, alias Shefina, guilty in the case of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy. Samson, a resident of Anathalavattom near Chirayinkeezhu, was handed seven years of rigorous imprisonment and also slapped with a fine of Rs 25,000.

The judge ordered that failure to pay the fine would result in imprisonment for an additional year. The transgender was found guilty of the offences under Section 377 (unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3(d) (penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.