Mangaluru: Dalit leaders demanded strict action against Dayananda Pilikoor, who allegedly insulted Dr B R Ambedkar in the pretext of blaming some politicians during the recently held Gram Panchayat meeting.

The issue was raised during the SC/ST meeting held at the office of the Commissioner of Police, on Sunday, July 28.

Dalit leader Sudhakar complained that though a case has been registered at Ullal police against Dayanand Pilikoor for his words against Ambedkar, no action has been taken so far.

“If police do not take action against those who insult Ambedkar, then everyone would dare to do the same mistake,” he said.

Sudhakar also informed that though a community hall has been sanctioned to K.C Road and Rs 10 lakh was released for the same purpose, the construction work has been stalled for unknown reasons. Measures should be taken immediately to complete the work, he stressed.

Responding to it, Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil instructed police to immediately respond to the grievances of the dalit community. “Unless and until there is a valid reason, police should not take much time to respond to the grievances of the dalit,”  he said.

DCPs Hanumantharaya and Lakshmi Ganesh were present.