Police yielded to pressure from Congress government in closing down ‘namaz’ case, say MLAs

Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty on Friday accused the Mangaluru police of acting under pressure of the State government to close without investigation the case against a group of youth who offered ‘namaz’ on the public road at Kankanady on May 24.

Talking to reporters, Dr. Shetty said the hurried way in which the city police closed the sou motu case filed by Mangaluru East Police Inspector Somashekar by filing ‘B’ report and sending the inspector on compulsory leave is an appeasement of the highest order. The suo motu case was registered on May 28. “The case was closed (on May 30) after filing ‘B’ report, without any preliminary investigation,” Dr. Shetty said.

The MLA said events on the public road, including Yakshagana, are held after taking permission of police and district authorities. A group of youth did not take permission and offered namaz by sitting on Balikasharama Road in Kankanady on May 24. A suo motu case was rightly filed for violating norms.

With hurried action to close the case, the city police have now given scope for others to hold similar events on the public road without taking necessary permission.

Dr. Shetty said the city police has wrongly booked a case against VHP South Karnataka region Joint Secretary Sharan Pumpwell, who had questioned the act of offering namaz on the road.

Biased action

Terming the action of the city police as biased, Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath said in a statement that the police have acted on the diktat of Congress leaders and closed the case despite the Masjid Committee admitting wrongful action of the youth and thus ending the controversy. The Congress leaders are trying keep the police in their hands. They are trying to create law and order problems and hold right wing leaders responsible for those problems, he said.

State BJP General Secretary and Karkala MLA V. Sunil Kumar said closure of namaz case in Mangaluru comes a few days after the State government gave a clean chit to persons who attacked Channagiri police station. Though there has been increase in criminal acts and instances of unlawful activities in the State in the last a few days, the government is finding fault with those who point out such wrongful actions, Mr. Kumar said.