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Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Eyewitnesses, police, doctors recount violence in east Bengaluru
Three persons were reported dead and several others were injured in the violence that broke out in east Bengaluru on Tuesday night.
DJ Halli Police Station, Bengaluru
"I knew something went horribly wrong when I saw the fire outside the police station," Asif, an eyewitness of the violence that broke out in east Bengaluru said, recalling the events of the night. By the end of the night, his relative Yasin Pasha was among three persons who died in the violence due to gunshot wounds. "We reached the hospital early in the morning and we were told Yasin was brought dead there," says Asif. Three persons were reported dead and several others were injured in the violence that broke out in east Bengaluru on Tuesday night. DJ Halli police station in Bengaluru A mob attacked the Devarajeevanahalli Police Station and the Kadugondanahalli Police Station. Trouble started when police officials were discussing a complaint by Muzammil, an activist of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). He had asked the police to register an FIR against Naveen P, a relative of Congress MLA Akhand Srinivas Murthy, for a derogatory post he made about Prophet Mohammed. But the burgeoning crowd were agitated that the police did not immediately arrest Naveen and soon violence erupted at the DJ Halli police station. Eyewitnesses said that Muzammil arrived at the station at 8 pm along with a lawyer, asking the police to register an FIR against Naveen for the derogatory comments on Facebook. An hour later, a police team which had set out to Naveen’s house returned but the large crowd outside the police station realised Naveen was not in the police van, according to this report. The mob of members from the Muslim community barged into the police station. "The mob dismantled the gates of the police station and set fire to vehicles outside. They vandalised the station and set fire to the basement where vehicles of the staff members were kept," a police official at DJ Halli police station said. With SD Sharanappa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) and two other senior police officials still inside the DJ Halli police station, the mob violence escalated. A police vehicle was overturned and another was set on fire. Several other vehicles outside the police station too were torched by the mob, demanding that police take action and arrest Naveen. Police accounts said that there were more than 1,500 rioters outside the station at this point. Around the same time as the mob violence at the DJ Halli Police Station, Pulikeshi Nagar Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy’s bungalow in Kaval Byrasandra and his relative Naveen’s house too was attacked by over 200 rioters who were armed with sticks, stones, petrol and kerosene. The legislator’s residence and his under construction house in the adjoining site were damaged and set on fire. Soon, the mob also managed to locate Naveen and his family and attacked the house, much in the same manner as they attacked Srinivas Murthy’s house. As there was no security at Naveen’s residence, the rioters managed to also break into the house and run amok while members of Naveen’s family had to quickly take shelter in their neighbour’s house. Violence then broke out at the KG Halli police station, which is 3 km away from the DJ Halli police station. Muslim religious leaders and politicians reached the area to dissuade the mob from indulging in more violence. Swaraj Abhiyan and Congress leaders Zameer Ahmed Khan and Rizwan Arshad also arrived at the site after police officials asked them to speak to the mob. Police used tear gas shells and opened fire at the mob around 11 pm. "The crowd had reduced after the police resorted to lathi charge but it was still a large crowd. One police inspector was sent into each lane with a weapon. It was after the firing that the crowd dispersed," a police official said. After the crowd dispersed, the police cleared the streets in Kaval Byrasandra and DJ Halli and the situation was brought under control at 1 am in the night. Heavy damage was reported in both locations. The mob torched two buses and two jeeps among several other vehicles outside DJ Halli police station. The vehicles of 50-60 civilians were also damaged or set on fire by the mob while the vehicles which were in the basement of the DJ Halli police station were damaged due to a fire. Two victims, Javeed Khan (19) and Yasin Pasha (22), were brought dead to Bowring Hospital in Bengaluru around midnight. A source in the hospital confirmed that they had gunshot wounds on their thighs. The third victim of the violence is Sheikh Sadiq (24) Four more civilians - Feroz, Saddam, Arfath Pasha and Chand Pasha - were brought to Bowring Hospital with gunshot wounds, but they were not fatal. Another person named Sridhar and Vailayudin, the driver of Bheemashankar Guled, DCP (Northeast) were also injured during the mob violence. Along with the civilians, five police personnel were injured and brought to the same hospital. They were bleeding from stone pelting. Even an ACP was injured and received treatment at the hospital. In all, around 60 police officials were injured in the violence on Tuesday. The burial of two of the victims - Javeed and Yasin - was held on Wednesday evening and a bus was arranged to transport family members from DJ Halli to the burial site. Asif, a relative of one of the victims Yasin was on this bus. He says that Yasin was headed to his brother's home in Shampur at the time the violence erupted. When he was shot, he asked those nearby to call for his brother with whom he worked in a mutton shop in Hebbal. By the time he was rushed to Bowring Hospital, he was declared dead. "Both of them (Yasin and Javeed) were shot high on the thigh on the femoral artery. They had injuries, bled a lot and died," a doctor told TNM. TNM tried posing questions regarding the identity of the deceased or even the cause of death to the Home Minister, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru and also the Deputy Commissioner of police, but they were evaded. Curiously, the FIR copy has not been available either to journalists or to the public, with only some of the Sections of the Indian Penal Code mentioned in the FIR narrated by police officers. As many as 146 people were arrested in connection with the violence including Naveen P, who was accused of making the derogatory post. The arrested persons also include Muzammil Pasha, the SDPI leader who turned up at the police station asking for action to be taken on Naveen. Police officials registered a case of arson, rioting, prevention of public servants from performing duty, damage to public property and unlawful assembly against the rioters and a magisterial enquiry will now be conducted into the incident.
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Bengaluru mob violence: Group of Muslim youth formed human chain to protect a temple
Volunteers of Swaraj India at the DJ Halli Police Station had also formed a human chain in an attempt to stop the mob.
At around 10 pm on Tuesday, Nadeem A and his friends were just finishing dinner at an eatery in Rahmat Nagar in Bengaluru when news of tensions on the ground at the DJ Halli police station reached them through various WhatsApp groups. Not knowing the severity of the situation, the group of eight young men decided to visit the spot on their two-wheelers shortly after dinner. The violence, which was brought under control after use of police force, has claimed three lives. When they reached the Kaval Byrsandra bus stop, a large crowd had already gathered outside Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy’s house over a communally-charged derogatory social media post that his nephew Naveen had put up. Nadeem recounted, “When we reached, just 100 metres from the bus stop, we saw two cars which were gutted already and there was a crowd moving towards the MLA’s house. We found the temple which was around 300 metres away on the other side of the MLA’s house. A group of men — around seven to eight — had gathered around the temple. We thought they were trying to damage it, but we realised that they were forming a human chain. So we decided to join them, and soon there were others who joined us.” He added, “Initially, it was the local Muslim youth who formed the human chain so that we could protect the temple and prevent any further escalation of communal unrest. We ensured that nobody came near the temple. We stayed there until 12:30 am in the night when the police dispersed us.” Saqib, another person who was part of the human chain said that the persons who started the chain did not have any political affiliation. He pointed out, “Yesterday there were two types of people, one who wanted violence and one who wanted peace. There is no need to bring religion into this. The political party which is involved in creating yesterday’s incidents is known for these things and we as a community can’t be blamed for it.” Muslim youths form human chain to protect temple from any harm during violence in Bengaluru RT it no media will show you this@sambitswaraj @amitmalviya @KapilMishra_IND #Muslims #Bengaluru #Violence pic.twitter.com/3XXKE1zRCQ — VK18_ABD17 (@VK18_ABD17) August 12, 2020 Nadeem and fellow members of the human chain were not alone. Volunteers of Swaraj India at the DJ Halli Police Station had formed a human chain in an attempt to stop a violent group of people from the Muslim community from entering the police station after an episode of violence. Zia Nomani, Youth President of Swaraj India, along with his colleague R Kaleem Ullah rushed to the spot at around 10 pm after getting frantic calls from volunteers about the incident. A video of him trying to pacify the crowd using the public address system of a police car along with MLAs Zameer Ahmed Khan and Rizwan Arshad has gone viral. This is Swaraj India colleague Zia Nomani with Kalimullah in Bangalore last night who risked their lives to stop arson and violence. When they couldn't be heard by the crowd, Zia used mic in the police van to address and appeal for peace. Proud of our Bangalore team. pic.twitter.com/8jPYdLd1X3 — Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) August 12, 2020 “At that point, I was not even aware of what the issue was. When I reached the spot, the situation was already beyond tense. On the way, I had called the Police Commissioner asking him to issue video statements to the effect Naveen will be arrested and the law will take its own course. When I reached there, already two vans were burning and even the basement of the police station was lit on fire. The crowd of 1,200 people was mad and the police were only at the most 60 in number,” Zia recounted. “The police at that time were scared as the crowd was adamant on setting the whole police station on fire. At this point, after discussing with the police, I thought if I could engage with the crowd — that would dilute the flaring tempers and buy the police time to arrange reinforcements,” he added. But with no microphone available, he decided to risk taking a police car with a public announcement (PA) system and push crowds away from the police station. By then, Congress MLAs had also reached and joined him to address the crowd together. However, their efforts to pacify the mob were futile. “We told the crowd that this was not the way of the Prophet and we assured them that legal action had already begun. But they demanded that they wanted the accused’s head. We still tried to reason with them and some in the crowd left, but the miscreants were getting violent. They started calling us ‘dalals’ and started pelting stones. At that time, the police felt the situation was getting out of hand and we returned after an hour,” said Zia. There were religious leaders as well, like PM Muzammil of Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind and imam of Goripalya Masjid, who reached the spot and urged the crowd not to take the law into their own hands.
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Bengaluru violence: Those who damaged public property will pay for it, says Home Minister
According to the police, over 250 vehicles were destroyed, two police buildings were damaged and MLA Srinivas Murthy's home was set on fire.
PTI
Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said that those who resorted to vandalising public property in the violence that erupted on Tuesday night in Bengaluru, would be made to pay for the damages. The process of recovering losses due to property damage would begin immediately, he said. "In any state in the country, when there is a rioting case, the worth of public property damaged must be recovered from the persons who have committed the crime. We will take action immediately in this regard. We are identifying the persons and we will see that losses are recovered from them," Basavaraj Bommai said. Picture courtesy: Arun Dev The state's Home Minister also issued a warning against disrupting law and order in the state. "I want to warn the people that they cannot take law into their hands and some people think they are the law. We will expose the conspiracy in the course of the investigation," he said. A huge mob had gathered outside the DJ Halli Police Station on Tuesday protesting against a "derogatory comment" that was uploaded by the nephew of Pulakeshi Nagar MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy against Prophet Muhammad. The mob consisting of hundreds from the Muslim community, gathered around the police station and began pelting stones, and vandalising vehicles in the vicinity. Police and civilian vehicles were set on fire. Around 500 people also gathered outside the KG Halli Police Station and also vandalised the building and vehicles. MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy's under construction home, adjacent or his current residence, was also set ablaze by the mob. The police opened fire at round midnight to disperse the crowds. Three people died in the violence including Javeed Khan (19), Yasin Pasha (22) and Sheikh Sadiq (24), all of whom were residents of DJ Halli. As many as 60 police personnel and 12 others among the mob were injured. Speaking to TNM, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said that the extent of property damage is still being determined. The basement of the new DJ Halli Police Station was set on fire. Stones were pelted at the building, leading to severe damage to the interiors on both floors of the building, he said. Picture courtesy: Arun Dev In addition, two buses, two jeeps and six motorcycles belonging to the police were set ablaze. "The mob also set on fire 200 seized vehicles that were parked near the DJ Halli Police station. KG Halli police station was also vandalised. This is only the damage to property within the police control. Besides this, the MLA's house was set on fire. Around 50 to 60 vehicles belonging to civilians were destroyed or set on fire," Commissioner Kamal Pant said.
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Five bonded labourers rescued from Bengaluru borewell unit, owner booked
The five men rescued from Shankar Nagar are Adivasis from Madhya Pradesh, belonging to the Gond tribe, authorities said.
The rescue team with the labourers at the borewell unit's office
“Even if I am close to death, I will not come back here,” 23-year-old Rakesh*, who has two children aged three and four, said. “I will work in my fields or find some work in my village,” he added. Rakesh was among five bonded labourers who were rescued from a borewell digging unit in Sahakar Nagar, a residential suburb in Bengaluru based on a tip-off. According to authorities, the five men; aged between 18 to 27, are Adivasis belonging to the Gond tribe in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district. The case came to light when Jan Sahas, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working on issues of human trafficking and bonded labour in Madhya Pradesh received information about the plight of these workers through their helpline number. The District Magistrate of Betul was alerted about the situation, who in turn contacted the Bengaluru Urban District Deputy Commissioner. Then, a group of police personnel along with Tahsildar Raghu Murthy and the International Justice Mission (IJM), an NGO, rescued the five workers. Speaking about the incident in a video, the Tahsildar said that a man identified as Kempanna had brought the Adivasis from Madhya Pradesh on the promise of a job. He added that the men were not paid for their labor and would only be provided with the scarcest of rations, and no proper accommodation. According to authorities, four of the workers had been working at the borewell unit since November 2019 while one worker had joined them in June 2020. The first batch of four workers, all friends, got to know about the work in Bengaluru when the borewell unit owner’s visiting card was passed on to them in their village. They called the owner to enquire about the job, for which he had promised them Rs 10,000 as a monthly salary. They decided to travel to Bengaluru and were picked up at the railway station by the owner. The last worker was told about the job by a friend and he was also promised the same salary and reached Bengaluru in June, investigation officials said. The Tahsildar said that the workers were only given Rs 200 to 1,000 each, occasionally, only if they were in dire need of something. They were forced to live in a truck in bad conditions. They were given rations like rice, dal and vegetables by the owner periodically and a stove for cooking. The government official also said that the workers were not even allowed to go back to their village as the owner kept insisting that they had to stay with him until he found a replacement for them. A case was registered against the owner of the borewell company under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 at the Kodigehalli Police Station on August 10. The District Administration then began the process of issuing release certificates to the five men and sending them back home. “My family has three acres of land where we grow corn, soybean, and rice. I came here because I was in need of some money to buy a motor for my own borewell in my land and to save some money for my children’s education but we were cheated here. I hope I get the wages for the months that I worked here,” Rakesh said.
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When Kodagu merged with Mysore: A short political history of the region
An erstwhile independent state, Coorg was merged with Mysore after the States Reorganisation Act was passed in 1956.
Talacauvery temple hill, Kodagu | Author: Aneezone/ Wikimedia Commons/ CCBYSA3.0
It was S Nijalingappa’s death anniversary on August 8 and I was reading about the unified Mysore state’s first Assembly elections in order to get some insights about the first and one of the longest serving Chief Ministers of our state. One article led to another and I found myself in the middle of several articles about Coorg’s merger with Mysore. It was such an interesting revelation that I kept hopping from one article to another and got deeper into the rabbit hole. Since most of us outside of Kodagu are informed just in passing in our textbooks about how Coorg was an independent state before the unification, I thought this was a story worth telling. After more than a century of direct British rule since its annexation from its last ruler Chikka Veera Rajendra (in 1834), Coorg became an independent (Type C) state within India along with other small, hilly, erstwhile princely states like Himachal Pradesh. Coorg had a strong Congress party presence and participated enthusiastically in the freedom struggle, with even stalwarts like Gandhi visiting the state on a few occasions to mobilise the immensely patriotic people from the land of coffee, commanders and Kaveri. But the Congress leadership within Coorg was heavily divided over whether to remain an independent state or to join the larger neighbouring state of Mysore. While one faction led by the Gandhian CM Poonacha was more pragmatic in seeing the impracticality of a tiny state like Coorg being allowed to remain independent in a country as large as India and being open to the idea of merging with Mysore since Kannada was already the language broadly used in education and administration within Coorg, the other faction led by another Gandhian Pandiyanda Belliappa was , staunchly against the merger. The loyalty of both factions and leaders, however, lay with the Congress. When the legislative assembly elections were announced in late 1951, to be held along with the first ever election to independent India’s parliament, the Pandiyanda Belliappa faction moved away from the Mysore-sympathetic Congress and formed the Thakkadi Party (weighing machine), contesting as independents on the plank of Coorg’s continuation as an independent state. In what was a Brexit style election to decide the future of Coorg state, the Congress emerged victorious, winning 15 seats in the 24-member Coorg Assembly, while the Thakkadi Party won the remaining 9 seats. Questions were raised about the fairness of the elections as allegations surfaced that voters were sent from the neighbouring towns in Mysore to vote for the Congress, in effect for Coorg’s merger with Mysore. Poonacha, however, took oath as Coorg’s first and only elected Chief Minister and ruled till 1956 with a two-member Cabinet. In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act was passed in the Parliament by the Nehru government, allowing Coorg’s merger with Mysore. Several efforts were made by key dignitaries from Coorg to secure an independent state status, including the decorated Field Marshal KM Cariappa, who was then serving as India’s High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand. He wrote a letter to President Rajendra Prasad, making a case for Coorg to remain an independent state. But it proved too little, too late as the Nehru-led Congress government remained committed to the Act and reined in dissent within the party units across states. When the bill was taken up to be voted by Coorg’s Assembly as it required ratification by state assemblies before becoming a legislation, 22 out of 24 legislators, including Pandiyanda Belliappa, voted for Coorg’s merger with Mysore. The first and only elected legislative assembly and government of Coorg was thus dissolved, paving the way for its integration with the unified Mysore state. Poonacha went on to serve both the Mysore and central governments in various capacities as cabinet minister holding various important portfolios, and also served as the Governor of Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. He was also Coorg’s representative in the Constituent Assembly. Coorg also sent two members to independent India’s first elected Parliament. After its merger with Mysore, however, Coorg was clubbed with Mangalore earlier and Mysore later into a single parliamentary constituency. It sends two legislators to the 224-member state assembly of Karnataka. Many people in Coorg are still divided and emotional over the issue of Coorg’s merger with Mysore. The Codava National Council, under the leadership of NU Nachappa, fought for the restoration of statehood for Coorg for several decades. But it has now toned down its demand to that of an autonomous development board exclusively for Coorg within Karnataka, with many other perks similar to those offered to other sparsely populated hilly regions and tribes in the Himalayas and the North East. Kodagu, the official name of the district, is one of the most developed districts of Karnataka across most parameters of development. With an HDI of 0.817, it is only behind Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in terms of human development. As it reels under another bout of floods this monsoon, let us keep the beautiful Coorg in our prayers and cherish its less known history. Rakshith S Ponnathpur is a financial and economic policy researcher with a keen interest in Karnataka history and politics.
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'Political rivalry led to Tuesday’s violence': Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai to TNM
The Karnataka Home Minister, in an exclusive interview to TNM, said that the police have regained control of the area and that those behind the incident are being identified.
As a precarious calm prevails after Tuesday’s violence in North East Bengaluru, many questions still remain unanswered about how a mob of hundreds, managed to mobilise within hours and hold the area to ransom. TNM posed several of these questions to Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai and here's what he had to say. “After yesterday's incident we have taken firm action. Golibar (firing) was done, three people are dead and a few others injured. 110 people have been arrested and now the situation is under control and there is peace in the area now. Both KG Halli and DJ Halli police stations have been reinforced. Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) also present there.” said Bommai. Elaborating on the additional security being intensified in sensitive places, the Karnataka Home Minister said, “As a precautionary measure, we are strengthening forces across the state. We have requisitioned the central home ministry for additional forces and they are sending three companies of Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) from Hyderabad and three from Chennai. We will deploy them in critical and sensitive places.” When TNM questioned about the identity of the three people who lost their lives and the cause of their deaths, the home minister said he will gather more details on the same once he reaches Bangalore from Mangalore and then update. However, it has been learnt that two people who died are youngsters from the area- Wajid Khan and Yasin Pasha. The News Minute · Karnataka HM Bommai tells TNM that reinforcements have been called in after Bengaluru violence Many, including the opposition party in the state have alleged that there was an intelligence failure on part of the government where they were ambushed by the mob who had allegedly come prepared to perpetrate violence. Denying the allegation, Bommai said, “The area is thickly populated with a very high density population. Within minutes, thousands of people can be gathered. This is not the first time something of this nature has taken place in that area.” The police are trying to determine if people from outside the locality were brought in particularly to create havoc. Meanwhile, the home minister believes that a majority of those involved in the riots were from the same vicinity. “Most of them are from that area; they are locals. There are many notorious criminals in that particular area.” Speaking about the motive, Bommai said the government suspected local political rivalry to be behind this incident. “There are many political factions also in that area so it culminated in what happened. There are political differences there which lead to this kind of an organised crime.”
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