The Karnataka excessive courtroom has directed the state authorities to represent a fee of inquiry, headed by a retired HC choose, to probe into allegations of police excessive handedness throughout a lathi-charge towards members of the Panchamasali sect of the Lingayat group throughout an agitation for reservations outdoors Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi in December 2024.
The April 4 order of the single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna got here on a petition filed by Basava Jayamruthyunjaya Swamy, a pontiff of the Panchamasali sect, who has been main the quota agitation of the Panchamasali sect of Lingayats for over 4 years.
“Mandamus issued to the respondents/State to represent a Fee of Inquiry by way of the Fee of Inquiry Act, 1952 on the subject material and the appointed Fee of Inquiry ought to be a single member or a multi member (fee) headed by a retired Decide of this Courtroom,” the order mentioned.
The HC ordered the Inquiry Fee to submit its report inside three months.
Whereas stating that the protest by the Panchamasali sect was basically peaceable in nature, the HC mentioned {that a} probe is required to seek out out what went fallacious to necessitate a lathi-charge. “The protest has gone fallacious and going fallacious necessitates an inquiry, as Part 144 of the CrPC is invoked in spur of second and lathi-charge has additionally taken place on the spur of the second,” the HC noticed in its order.
The HC order mentioned that there have been “severely disputed questions of truth” rising from video recordings of the incident which wanted to be probed. “Whereas the protestors have been lathi-charged, the explanation for lathi-charge is lacking in each the pen drives. Due to this fact, the explanation for the incident is required to be thrashed out if the responsible must be dropped at e book,” the HC acknowledged.
“The discovered Advocate Basic makes a feign try in submitting that the protestors have been drunk and in such inebriated state, the aggression has occurred, which has resulted within the incident of the day. It’s stunning {that a} assertion of this sort is made, because the protestors on the outset of the protest had inside its fold MLAs, the pontiff and all others,” the HC mentioned.
Story continues beneath this advert
The Panchamasali sect of the dominant Lingayat group in Karnataka have been looking for reservations beneath the OBC 2A class within the state which offers 15% reservations (as a substitute of the 3B class beneath which they get 5% reservations) in authorities jobs and academic institutes.
In March 2023, then BJP authorities in Karnataka rejigged the quota system and created a brand new 2D class for Lingayats, together with Panchamasalis, with 7% quota.
The federal government backtracked on the transfer when the brand new reservation — particularly cancellation of the 4% quota for Muslims in OBC class in Karnataka — was challenged within the prime courtroom.
After the Congress got here to energy in Might 2023, the Panchamasali sect demanded implementation of the reservation notified by the earlier BJP authorities. The federal government mentioned it was not doable on account of the state offering an enterprise to the Supreme Courtroom that it will keep on with the outdated system.
Story continues beneath this advert
The Panchamasali sect launched a protest on December 10, 2024, in the course of the Meeting session at Belagavi, with clearance from the HC although there have been prohibitory orders in place. Throughout the protest, the police lathicharged when some protestors reportedly tried to march to the Suvarna Soudha to fulfill CM Siddaramaiah.
© The Indian Categorical Pvt Ltd