Violence recently took place in Bangalore due to a post on Prophet Mohammed. A crowd attacked a police station, set both private and public vehicles on fire and burned down a house of a local lawmaker, whose nephew was responsible for posting such post on Facebook.
5 people have reportedly been named in the FIRs filed as those 5 people led to a mob of around 200-300 people in the riots. Slogans such as “kill the cops and finish them” made the rounds and people were handed with stones, petrol bombs, and also with rods to hit the policemen. More than 60 people died during the riots, in which 3 were policemen and more than 60 policemen were injured.
Over 150 people are arrested, and the police are still in search of the remaining who absconded. The FIR states that those who are accused tried to destroy the KG Halli and DJ Halli police stations on the night of August 11. The report further mentioned that the riots began after a small meeting of local Muslim people, which proves that it was clearly a pre-planned attack that aimed to create a lot of destruction. The agenda was to discuss the derogatory Facebook post by Naveen, nephew of MLA of Karnataka. The members of the meeting tried to form a mob and attacked the public and private properties and attacked the policemen and MLA’s house.
The videos of Policemen crying and requesting the higher authorities, asking permission for opening fire at the mobs that were approaching towards the policemen with an intension to kill them, went viral all over WhatsApp in Bangalore. Also, a senior police official directed the subordinate to take all the reasonable actions to save the lives and also save the properties. The actual statement which was recorded is “Do it. Nobody is in a situation to protect you. You protect yourself first and then try to save the properties”
A day after radical Islamic organization Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) led a violent Muslim mob to unleash riots on the streets of Bangalore; the Islamist organization had pushed the blame on the Bangalore police. The Muslim mob was seen raising Islamic slogans like ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’ and ‘Nara-e-Taqbeer’ outside the police station.
A Senior Police Official from Bangalore police confirmed that Naveen, who was accused of posting the joke over Prophet Mohammed, is now being arrested. The Chief Minister of the state has directed the police officials to take strict actions against the people who are creating a nuisance and destroying public and private properties to maintain peace, and in reply, Section 144 of IPC was imposed in the city. Section 144 as per The Indian Penal Code prohibits the gathering of five or more persons, holding of public meetings, and carrying of firearms and can be invoked for up to two months. It also gives the magistracy the power to issue order absolute at once in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger.
