Preserve CCTV footage of Mangaluru violence: Karnataka High Court.

Source:-newindianexpress.com

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the Mangaluru police to preserve CCTV footage related to violence during an anti-CAA protest in Mangaluru on December 19, 2019.

A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar issued interim directions while hearing the PIL filed by freedom fighter HS Doreswamy and former Mangaluru mayor K Ashraf.

Expressing apprehension over the possibility that the police could destroy digital evidence to protect themselves from criminal prosecution, the petitioners urged the court to provide interim relief by issuing directions to the Mangaluru Police Commissioner to preserve footage recorded between 10 am December 19, 2019 to 1 am on December 20, 2019 from all CCTV cameras installed by the police, city administration and private shops in the area where the violence occurred.

The video footage clearly shows the illegal and atrocious manner in which police acted against unarmed peaceful protestors, innocent bystanders and attacked the mosque, the PIL said.

Police resorted to throwing stones and other objects, revealing a partisan approach. The police abetted and provided protection to the people who ransacked shops and threw stones at shops and people in the area, the petitioners alleged.  

“The police had actively hunted down various people and tortured them on the street isolating individuals from the crowd. Thereafter, thrashing them with lathis and other means, which indicates the extent of excessive force used by the police even before they started the gunfire which was inflicted upon people, it has led to the death of two persons and gravely injured several others who were neither armed nor provoked the police, which had warranted such an action”, the petitioners said.

The petitioners have also urged the court to issue directions to Mangaluru police commissioner to register FIRs in all complaints received from injured people and family members of the deceased under appropriate provisions of the law.

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