Installation of CCTV camera at Madrasa building irks local residents

Mangaluru, May 1: A tense situation prevailed in Subhash Nagar village near Thokkottu on the outskirts of Mangaluru city when local residents began to protest against the installation of a CCTV camera atop a madrasa building.

Around four CCTV cameras were installed atop Anjuman Mablagul Falah madrasa building in Subash Nagar residential area on Thursday evening.

A few local residents began to accuse that among the four, two CCTV cameras were installed in a way that they covered residences situated behind the madrasa building. They staged a protest against the CCTV cameras claiming that they would invade the privacy of the residents and demanded their immediate removal. As a result, a tense situation prevailed for some time.

Soon after, assistant police sub-inspector Kalyani Shetty, Ullal station inspector Savitru Teja and Ullal SI Bharathi arrived at the scene and tried to calm the protestors stating that they could not take immediate action in the absence of an Imam from the madrasa.

The protesters argued with the police saying that madrasa management is capturing the movements of local women residents through CCTV camera. When the police examined the video footage of all the CCTV cameras installed at the building, the allegations of local residents were proved to be false.

However, the locals remained adamant and urged the removal of the two CCTV cameras in spite of assurances that the residents' privacy would not be affected. They dispersed only after assurances from the authorities that the cameras would be removed from the madrasa within a couple of days.

Karnataka State Reserve Police and Ullal police personnel provided security on the occasion.

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