Mangaluru: “Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and state home minister Basavaraj Bommai should be held responsible for the police firing which led to the death of two innocent people,” said former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah.

The Congress leader was addressing a press conference held at the Circuit House in the city on December 23.

Siddaramaiah was in the city to meet with the kin of the persons who had died in the police firing. He gave each family a cheque for Rs 5 lakh on his own behalf and a cheque for Rs 2.5 lakh on behalf of the District Congress Committee as the solatium. 

Addressing the media, he said that there was no need for the imposition of prohibitory orders in Mangaluru as the protesters were peaceful. “The police imposed prohibitory orders and resorted to shooting at the protesters in order to suppress the democratic rights of the people. This led to the death of two innocent people,” he lamented.

Pointing out to the differences between how the Bengaluru police and Mangaluru police handled the protesters, Siddaramaih asked if the Bengaluru police were able to manage the public and allow them to hold protests, why were the Mangaluru police not able to do so?

“There weren’t 7000 protesters and over that, the protesters were not violent, as is claimed by the police. Only around 100 people had gathered to protest against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019. The police could have managed the situation without imposing the prohibitory orders. They did not even inform the people before imposing a curfew. Therefore, instead of asking the CID to probe the incident, the government should allow a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge in order to unearth the truth,” he said.

The former chief minister also demanded that the police inspector who was instigating the other cops to open fire on the protesters be dismissed. “That police inspector should be suspended immediately,” he demanded.

After the press meet, he visited the private hospital where some of the injured are receiving treatment as in-patients and enquired about their health.

Former ministers M B Patil, Ramanath Rai, Abhyachandra Jain, Vinay Kumar Sorake, MLA U T Khader Zameer Ahmed, MLCs Ivan D’Souza, Hareesh Kumar, former MLAs Shakunthayala Shetty, J R Lobo, Mohiuddin Bava, former mayor Kavitha Sanil and others were present.