Councillor of Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation Chetan Hirekerur, who was arrested and banished from the district under Goonda Act during the run-up to the Assembly elections, has accused local senior BJP leaders of misusing the police machinery to harass him.
Addressing presspersons in Hubballi along with Gurunath Ullikashi and others from the federation of various Dalit organisations and associations of Hubballi Dharwad on Monday, Mr. Hirekerur said that he did not have any case against him that required his arrest under the Goonda Act.
However, senior leaders of the previous BJP government misused the police machinery to arrest him, he said.
Mr. Hirekerur said that the main reason for his arrest under the Goonda Act was not any criminal act but the fact that he participated in a procession when the former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who had rebelled against the BJP to contest as Congress candidate, filed his nomination papers.
He said that his arrest was a clear example of how police officials danced to the tunes of those who were part of the BJP government in the State.
Mr. Hirekerur also sought to know whether it was a crime to improve one’s conduct. “If you put a person who has committed an offence behind bars to improve his conduct, then he may improve it. But what if you put a man behind bars for political vendetta?” he asked.
Mr. Ullikashi said that while 13 cases have been registered against Mr. Hirekerur from 2010, there is nothing in these cases that required his arrest under Goonda Act. The reason for his arrest under the Goonda Act in 2013 and during this Assembly elections has more to do with the misuse of power by the BJP leaders, he added.
Mr. Ullikashi urged the new government to order a high-level inquiry into the misuse of the police machinery to settle political scores and take action against those involved.
