Crack down on communal groups, CM directs police

Bengaluru, Jul 11: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday directed the police top brass to invoke two stringent laws to curb violence in the coastal region.

Presiding over a meeting, he advised them to exile trouble-makers and habitual offenders or book them under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) or the Goonda Act. The laws provide for preventive arrests. He also asked them to crack down on Sri Rama Sene, Bajrang Dal, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Popular Front of India and the Social Democratic Party of India, saying they were responsible for the violence.

He said Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts were known for religious harmony. Following the stabbing of an RSS worker and his subsequent death, the region has been in the grip of communal tension over the past week. “People in the two districts are peace-loving. But in the last few years, communal forces have converted the coastal belt into a communal laboratory,” Siddaramaiah said.

On the basis of a report from the director general and inspector general of police, the government is considering a ban on communal organisations in the coastal belt, he said. He directed the top brass to identify and act sternly against ‘handlers’ of people indulging in violence. “I have spoken to the DG and IGP, ADGP and officers who earlier served in these two districts. We will use their feedback to control the violence. We will not let anybody claim a human life for political mileage,” he said. He said “unseen hands” become active during the election year to foment trouble.

DG & IGP R K Dutta will soon visit the two districts to monitor the situation, he announced.