Mangaluru: Cops open fire at saffronite rowdies in self-defence; arrest one

Bengaluru, Feb 14: In a major embarrassment to the police, the Karnataka High Court has termed as illegal the prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of CrPC by the City Police Commissioner in December 2019 in the light of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Bengaluru.

The orders were passed “without application of mind” and without following due procedures, the court noted. Giving reasons for upholding the arguments of the petitioners that there was no application of mind by the Police Commissioner (Bhaskar Rao) before imposing restrictions, a division bench of the High Court said he had not recorded the reasons, except reproducing the contents of letters addressed to him by the Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs). 

The state government had contended that prohibitory orders were passed based on reports submitted by the DCPs who expressed apprehension about anti-social elements creating law and order problems and damaging public property by taking advantage of the anti-CAA protests.  

The High Court bench said the Police Commissioner should have conducted inquiry as stated by the Supreme Court to check the reasons cited by the DCPs who submitted identical reports. Except for this, there were no facts laid out by the Police Commissioner, the court said.

“There is complete absence of reasons. If the order indicated that the Police Commissioner was satisfied by the apprehension of DCPs, it would have been another matter,” it said.  

“The apex court has held that it must record the reasons for imposition of restrictions and there has to be a formation of opinion by the district magistrate. Only then can  the extraordinary powers conferred on the district magistrate can be exercised. This procedure was not followed. Hence, exercise of power under Section 144 by the commissioner, as district magistrate, was not at all legal”, the bench said. 

“We hold that the order dated December 18, 2019 is illegal and cannot stand judicial scrutiny in terms of the apex court’s orders in the Ramlila Maidan case and Anuradha Bhasin case,” the HC bench said while upholding the arguments of Prof Ravivarma Kumar, who appeared for some of the petitioners.   

Partly allowing a batch of public interest petitions questioning the imposition of prohibitory orders and cancelling the permission granted for protesters in the city, the bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar observed that, unfortunately, in the present case, there was no indication of application of mind in passing prohibitory orders.

The bench said the observation was confined to this order only and it cannot be applicable in general. If there is a similar situation (necessitating imposition of restrictions), the state is not helpless, the court said.

Mangaluru, Jul 11: Under the fourth phase of Vande Bharat Mission, the government of India has announced as many as 42 repatriation flights from Saudi Arabia to various Indian destinations including four flights to Karnataka. 

On July 25 an Air India flight will fly from Dammam International Airport to Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.

On July 26 another Air India flight will take off from Dammam and land in Bengaluru and then again it will continue its journey till Mangaluru International Airport. 

On July 27, Air India will operate a flight from Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport to Bengaluru. 

On July 28, Air India will operate another flight from Jeddah to Mangaluru. It will be the last flight from Saudi to Karnataka under the fourth phase of Vande Bharat Mission.

Bengaluru, Apr 8: In a strong show of support, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa stood behind the minorities in the state and said no one should target the Muslim community over the coronavirus crisis and the Tablighi Jamaat.

He said those communalising the issue will be dealt with strictly.

BS Yediyurappa was speaking to a regional media channel when he said "Nobody should speak a word against Muslims. This is a warning. If anyone blames the entire Muslim community for some isolated incident, I'll take action against them also without a second thought. Will not allow that to happen."

Since then, many have welcomed the CM's remarks including the opposition.

Former Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao tweeted and said that other BJP leaders should follow the Karnataka CM and that it's a welcome step.

Congress president DK Shivakumar too said he agrees with the chief minister and that no one should target one community. "The CM should also act strictly against people posting communal remarks on social media and issue an order."

Earlier, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa held a meeting with minority opposition MLAs and MLCs and urged them to pass the message within the community asking those who had attended the Delhi Nizamuddin Markaz event to come and get tested for Covid-19.