Karnataka Home Minister instructs officials to examine request to withdraw cases, BJP reacts sharply

PTI, Jul 26, 2023, 10:43 AM IST

Home Minister G Parameshwara has asked officials to examine the request of a Congress MLA to withdraw cases against ”innocent” youths and students, who were arrested under ”false cases” in connection with protests and riots in the city’s D J Halli and K G Halli, Shivamogga and Hubballi among other places.

The opposition BJP has sharply reacted to this and has accused the Congress government in the state of giving ”clean chit to the communal criminals of one community and playing to the tune of Jihadists and PFI terrorists”.

Parameshwara has, in a July 19 note to Principal Secretary-Prisons, Civil Defence and Auxiliary Services (PCAS), Home Department, cited a request letter by Narasimharaja MLA and former Minister Tanveer Sait in this regard.

”It has been requested that innocent youths and students have been arrested under false cases in connection with protests and riots in Bengaluru’s D J Halli and K G Halli, Shivamogga, Hubballi and other places, and to withdraw cases in accordance with rules, after review. It is instructed to take necessary action in this regard after review,” the Home Minister’s note said.

Hitting out at the government and the Home Minister, Karnataka BJP in a tweet said, ”It seems that @DrParameshwara is functioning hanging a board that they (government) will give a clean chit to the communal criminals of ‘one’ community! Is there anything more shameful than this? This letter proves that this government is playing to the tune of Jihadists and PFI terrorists. BJP will continue to fight against all kinds of anti-Hindu policies of #JihadiSarkara .” Noting that DJ Halli and KG Halli riots were one of the worst in which the rioters set the police station on fire, Senior BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal tweeted, ”Siddaramaiah 1.0 government had withdrawn cases against PFI goons, who were responsible for riots and murders of Hindu activists in the state. Now, Home Minister Parameshwara has directed the Home Secretary to take measures to withdraw cases against rioters.” Three people were killed and over 50 injured in the violence that erupted in D J Halli and K G Halli, allegedly due to a derogatory social media post by a relative of the then Pulakeshinagar Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy in August 2020. The MLA’s house and the KG Halli police station were torched in the riots.

Some communal incidents had resulted in violent protests in Shivamogga, Hubballi and few other places in the state during the previous BJP rule.