Bengaluru: The Karnataka Police has started a banishment procedure against 36 identified habitual offenders from Dakshina Kannada district for their involvement in repeated anti-social activities under the district police’s jurisdiction, The Indian Express reported.
The police intend to prohibit the said number of criminals from entering a specific area or locality for a designated period after two murderers led to communal tensions in the district. The said criminals belong to various police station limits, including Bantwal, Vittal, Puttur town and rural, Kabada, Sullia, Uppinangady, Punjalkatte and Belthangangady.
Those included in the list ranged from 22 to 54 years, and they were charged with assault, intimidation, extortion and gang-related activities.
The list includes both Muslims and Hindus, but the opposition BJP in the state claimed that Hindu leaders are being unfairly targeted via the police move. Also, the Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, Shobha Karandlaje, has written a letter to Justice N K Sudhindra Rao, the chairman of the Police Complaints Authority, TIE reports.
Shobha claimed in the letter that the ruling Congress government in the state has been targeting individuals associated with Hindu organisations, and the police action infringed the fundamental rights of people.
Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police Dakshina Kannada informed that the police are taking strict action to ensure peace in the region and that externment is a preventive measure to break the nexus of habitual offenders who pose a recurring threat to society. The senior official also added that police are in the process of serving notices, and hearings will be held in accordance with the legal procedure before the orders are finalised.