The Karnataka government has informed the High Court that it has given a clean chit to the state police over the police firing that led to the deaths of two people in Mangaluru during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019. The counsel appearing for the state government made the statement before a divisional bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi on Friday, October 22,.
The Karnataka High Court was hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by late freedom fighter HS Doreswamy and others demanding an independent probe by a sitting or retired judge in the case. Dhyan Chinnappa, the Additional Advocate General appearing for the state government, submitted to the court that the investigation by the magistrate has been completed and the report submitted to the bench. He further stated that the government has accepted the report.
Besides, he also told the bench that chargesheets have been filed against those who were responsible for the violence and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is also investigating the complaints regarding the case.
Professor Ravivarma Kumar, appearing for the petitioners, raised objections over the clean chit.
The government’s inquiry report comes despite the fact that videos showed police firing at protesters from a distance and police personnel discussing why "no one had fallen dead". Following the deaths, the Mangaluru police released a series of crowd-sourced videos showing incidents of stone-pelting and arson to justify the firing of bullets. A mobile internet shutdown was also put in place in Mangaluru for two days.
Two protesters, Jaleel (49) and Nausheen (23) were killed during the anti-CAA rally in police firing on December 19, 2019.