A rowdy-sheeter and three other people of Arehalli in Belur taluk allegedly verbally assaulted two policemen on Thursday and threatened them of transfer with the help of “high contacts.” A case has been booked against them.
This comes days after a sub-inspector of Arehalli faced disciplinary action after he arrested a Hindutva activist who had posted objectionable content on Facebook.
Bharatha, 32, the rowdy-sheeter, and Rathnakara, Prakasha and Soma, all residents of Arehalli, are facing the charges of assaulting public servants, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, and wrongful restraint, besides committing a negligent act likely to spread infection.
The accused picked an argument with constables Jagadish E.Y. and Shivakumar H.S. while they were on the rounds in Arehalli town instructing people in front of shops to maintain social distancing. The constables warned a shopkeeper of action if he failed to ensure social distancing in front of his shop. This triggered an argument with the accused. They allegedly scolded the police in foul language. Later, Bharatha joined the argument and claimed that he could get the policemen transferred by contacting senior officials immediately “as was done in the case of PSI Balu”, the man who had arrested the Hindutva activist.
Following this, senior police officers, including Additional Superintendent of Polie B.N. Nandini, visited the spot. Jagadish, a police constable, has filed a complaint. Superintendent of Police R. Srinivasa Gowda on Friday said that a case has been booked against the four and that they would be arrested soon.
When it was pointed out that disciplinary action against the PSI of Arehalli would demoralise police personnel, the SP said that the situation warranted such an administrative decision. “The PSI has not been transferred, but he is on official duty in the SP’s office. We wanted officers to handle applications seeking travel passes during the lockdown,” he said.
The SP has ordered a probe against PSI Balu and Belur CPI S. Siddarameshwara for releasing a photo of the Hindutva activist to the media. Tourism Minister C.T. Ravi had objected to the arrest of the activist and appealed to the Home Minister on Twitter to take action against the police officers.
