Mangalore, Feb 13: Lashing out at forces who were trying to spoil the communal harmony in the region of Ullal, members of the district unit of Student Federation of India (SFI) staged a protest in front of the deputy commissioner's office here on Thursday, demanding that the innocent persons arrested by the police in connection with the unrest in Ullal be released.
Addressing the protestors, SFI district president Nithin Kuthar said that few communal forces in the district wanted to spark clashes between the Kodi Muslims and Mogaveeras in the region of Ullal by creating unrest. The situation is tense since the past 5 days in the area and the locals are unable to leave their homes for work or to go to colleges. This has to be taken into strict consideration by district authorities, he said.
He also criticised the police who had allegedly barged into the homes of locals and arrested innocent persons in the middle of the night, while the actual miscreants were roaming freely in the streets.
He also said that the police had arrested five students from Ullal in connection with the unrest including two minors.
“If the police want to arrest the perpetrators involved in spreading false rumours to spark clashes, why was Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat not arrested when he recently made an inflammatory speech targeting the minority communities? Was any action taken against Hindu communal groups and Muslim fundamentalists when they engaged in similar unlawful activities?” he demanded.
He said that seers and pontiffs should not be allowed to visit Ullal to help maintain peace as it would worsen the tense situation. “We have lost our faith in the local ministers and MLAs. If proper action is not taken against the real perpetrators, we will protest in front of the minister's house,” he said.
Mangalore city president B K Imthiyaz said that on the pretext of handling the situation, the police had arrested several innocent citizens of Ullal. If the police had arrested those who had made inflammatory speeches earlier, the unrest in Ullal would not have occurred, he said, adding that vested interests were creating instigating the people only for political gains ahead of elections.
Leaders of the organisation Charan Raj, Santhosh Ballal, Hamza and others were present.
Comments
Add new comment