Udupi: Peace Committee meets: IGP moots Peace Forces at Police Station Level
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi
Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Udupi, Mar 17: Inspector general of police Gopal Hosur floated the idea of forming of peace forces comprising of the local youth at the level of each police station, to maintain peace, as police personnel and law can not be expected to maintain vigil at all places and maintain peace. He was speaking at the peace committee meeting convened at the office of the district deputy commissioner(DC) here, in the backdrop of incidents of stone pelting on the policemen and the general public on the night of Sunday March 15 near Kaup.
He expressed the confidence, that the youth forces if formed, can play a stellar role to assist the concerned in collecting vital informations and control the situation based on local needs.
Several people who participated in the meeting including Consumers Forum convenor K Damodar Aital, zilla panchayat president Raju Poojary and others insisted that peace committee meetings should be held more regularly, to which the DC Hemalata who presided, gave her nod.
MLA Lalaji R Mendon blamed Karnataka Forum for Dignity for the trouble and said that some of the arrested were the members of that organization. He expressed the opinion that the incident was pre-planned and the stones were pelted without any provocation. Finding of a gunny bag full of stones inside the mosque proves that the miscreants had come prepared for the assault, he felt. He however, stressed that innocents if any, should be spared. District Congress president M A Gafoor was of the opinion that the incident occurred because of the lapse on the part of the police department to maintain vigil.
Besides the above leaders, ex-municipal president M Somashekhar Bhat, JD(S) district president Deviprasad Shetty, Altaf Ahmed, Shantaraj Aital, Jitesh Kumar of Sri Rama Sene, church priests Jeevan Prasad, Edward Karkada, E W Frank, Vijaykumar, retired tahsildar Mohammed Salim, Udupi Jamia Masjid president K S Budan Basha, Yaseen Malpe of Muslim Union, Sanjeev Serigar of CPI etc., came up with opinions and suggestions.
Additional superintendent of police Kashinath S Talakeri, injured deputy superintendent of police Vishwanat Pandit and others were present. A peace committee meeting was held on Monday evening at Kaup too.
Meanwhile, SP Pravin Madhukar Pawar, who was injured after being hit by a stone thrown by miscreants at Kaup on March 15, is recovering.
Meanwhile, the situation in Kaup returned to normalcy. In view of the situation arising out of a huge gathering at a local mosque, prohibitory orders under section 144 were extended there till the midnight on Tuesday March 17.
In a complaint filed by Polipu Jamia Masjid management relating to the incident on Sunday, it has been alleged that a crowd which entered the mosque when its doors were opened for providing shelter to a Muslim family going to Haveri from Bantwal on Sunday evening, inflicted extensive damage to the mosque property including doors, windows, glass panes, furniture etc., amounting to over three lac rupees. It also said that the policemen behaved inhumanly and arrested the priest of the mosque, students of the Madrassa and other innocents. Copies of the complaint were forwarded to the director general of police, governor, superintendent of police and Human Rights Commission.
The policemen have taken all measures to ensure peace within Kaup circle. Karkala deputy superintendent of police Santosh Kumar, circle inspector Cheluvaraj and others are overseeing the arrangements.
In the meanwhile, the number of people arrested in connection with the pelting of stones at vehicles rose to 27 and the policemen said the arrested have been charged with hurling solda bottles, stones etc., from inside the mosque in Polipu. They also clarified, they resorted to firing in the air and lathi charge after people who gathered in front of the mosque in retaliation to stone pelting, started hurling stones at the mosque and stones were also thrown at the policemen of the KSRP contingent and officers. This was done to disperse activists of organizations who had gathered there, it was stated.
Those arrested as on Monday March 16 are Hussein (52), Mohammed Anwar (28), Mohammed Farid (20), Abdul Majeed Bantwal (26), Sameer (27), Samsuddin (18), Mohsin (18), Bava Moideen (28), Mohammed Adil (18), Mohammed Nazi (24), Kalandar (18), Yousuf Saheb Beltangady (57), Mohammed Basheer (23), Azaruddin (21), Sharief (33), Mohammed Mustaq Bejai (22), Mohammed Mustafa (24), Mohammed Asif (18), Naved (18), Asif (19), Israr (19), Rafiq (23), Riyaz (24), Munir Bengre (26), Samir (23), Abdul Hameed (33) and Abdul Razak (39).
Over 10 policemen including DySP Vishwanath Pandit have been injured. All the accused were produced in the court and they were remanded to judicial custody till the 28th of this month.