Siddaramaiah demands judicial probe into M’luru police firing

PTI, Dec 20, 2019, 4:51 PM IST

Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday demanded a high-level probe by a sitting High Court judge into the police firing in which two persons died during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Mangaluru.

Terming the killing as “inhuman”, Siddaramaiah alleged that the Mangaluru incident indicates that police themselves incited violence.

The former Chief Minister also claimed it was a conspiracy to scuttle the freedom of people by creating an atmosphere of fear.

It’s very clear that BJP government was trying to reap political benefits by causing communal clashes, he alleged, while pointing out that “scuttling the freedom of people is what Hitler did in Germany and Mussolini in Italy.”

“I strongly condemn this killing of two innocents by firing. Government has to take its responsibility.

There should be high-level probe by a sitting High Court judge,” Siddaramaiah said.

“..Those responsible for the killing of the two innocent people must be punished. By doing that, we need to protect the Constitution,” he said.

Terming government’s decision to impose CrPc section 144 (an order that bans assembly of more than four people) as “needless” as there was no such atmosphere in the state, Siddaramiah said “…it was done with malicious intent to scuttle freedom of speech and expression.

It is unconstitutional, undemocratic. This is reminiscent of Hitler’s rule. It’s like an undeclared emergency.”

Claiming that in Mangaluru, people were just shouting slogans and they had no weapons, Siddaramaiah said police should have allowed them to protest peacefully. “…..but it looks like the police themselves incited violence,” he said.

Stating that “golibar” (firing) could not have happened without government’s notice, the former Chief Minister said on the one hand, Chief Minister Yediyurappa says he has directed police not to use force, “still two people were killed by them.”

“… Either Yediyurappa is lying or police have not listened to him. That’s why I’ve said in the past that he’s the weakest CM,” he added.

Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah was behind “all this”, Siddaramaiah alleged that the economy has collapsed and industries are closing.

“These are real issues concerning the people. But to divert the issue, they’ve brought this CAA.