Protest call on Muslim men’s death: K’ntaka Police books SDPI leaders

Dakshina Kannada/Karnataka: Karnataka Police booked Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) office bearers in the Dakshina Kannada district over a protest call they issued on Friday against the delays in arresting the main accused in the murder of two Muslim men. Police booked the leaders for issuing the call even after they denied permission for the protest, Maktoob Media reported.

The protest was organised over the shoddy progress in arresting the accused in the deaths of Ashraf, a 36-year-old mentally unwell Malayali Muslim man who was brutally lynched by a Hindutva mob in Mangaluru and 32-year-old Abdul Rahiman, a resident of Kolthamajalu in Bantwal taluk who was murdered while he was unloading sand near a customer’s house.

When Ashraf was lynched in April, Abdul Rahiman was killed in May.

The Hindu reported that police said that SDPI district office bearers had submitted a request to the Bantwal Town police, seeking permission to hold a protest gathering on July 4. However, police rejected their request, claiming concerns over the law and order situation there after recent communal murders.

However, the SDPI leaders decided to proceed forward with their protest and issued a protest call through WhatsApp.

Police reportedly filed a case against the leaders, charging them with offences under Section 57, read with Section 189(2) of the BNS, among others.

The party came down on Karnataka Police over its double standards in handling murder cases, citing the immediate arrests and involving NIA in the probe of the murder of Hindutva activist Suhas Shetty. It alleged that police did show no such urgency or transparency in the investigation into the killings of the two Muslim youths.