Karnataka High Court on Wednesday criticised the police’s inability to prevent violence and arson during protests by garment factory employees in Bengaluru.

The court asked what the intelligence wing was doing when there was trouble for two consecutive days, reported TNIE.

This comes after Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara claimed the police showed “remarkable restraint” even as they were being provoked by protesting garment factory employees on Tuesday.

Hearing a case about delays in police investigations, Judge Venugopala Gowda said, “The Bengaluru incidents are an eye-opener... I don’t know whether your intelligence system exists. Nobody is safe.”

“Police have learnt nothing from past incidents,” added Gowda, referring to the farmers’ protest, where farmers blocked major roads connecting to the Kempegowda International Airport in March 2016.

Thousands of garment factory workers in Bengaluru blocked traffic and set vehicles on fire on Monday and Tuesday to protest against changes in provident fund rules.

Protesters took to hooliganism, vandalised Hebbagodi police station, threw stones at vehicles passing by on the road and set at least two buses on fire. Property worth crores was damaged in the two-day protest.

Police resorted to lathicharge and shot tear gas at the workers, who were mostly women.

This is an aggregated report from The New Indian Express

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