The All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice (AILAJ) has written to the Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) demanding that the police take immediate legal action and arrest the members of the Sri Rama Sene, a Hindutva group, for organising a weapons training camp in December.
The Sri Rama Sene had conducted a weapons training camp in Todalbagi village in Bagalkot district between December 25 and 29. Bagalkot SP Y Amarnathh Reddy had told TNM that an investigation had been ordered and that action would be taken if any illegality was found. No FIR had been registered at the time.
In the letter dated Tuesday, January 7, AILAJ said, “In the past, such camps have been reported to have been held in several places in the state by certain right-wing organizations, which have played a major role in disrupting communal harmony while participating in moral policing, mob lynchings and other forms of intimidation and violence against minorities, Dalits and progressive thinkers, including the murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh, the murder of MM Kalburgi, the murder of Arbaz Mulla in Belagavi, etc.”
The association said that the Bagalkot SP’s lack of action was “unacceptable” and that the police should have registered a complaint suo motu.
AILAJ said that the police should have invoked Sections 25 (punishment for certain offences) and 27 (punishment for using arms) and section 61 (criminal conspiracy) and 189 (unlawful assembly) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2024, against the organisers. Under the Arms Act, arms are defined as any article designed or adapted as a weapon for offence or defence and include firearms, sharp-edged and other deadly weapons.
The association also called for preventive measures against such camps to avoid escalating communal tensions in the state.
SP Amarnath Reddy could not be reached despite multiple attempts.
