As many as 90 workers and office-bearers of Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) were taken into preventive custody across Karnataka.
“In a special eight-hour operation carried out across the State from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m., as many as 90 people who could disturb public order have been detained,” Alok Kumar, Additional Director General of Police, (Law and Order), said. Preventive detentions were made under Sections 107 and 110 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), based on information that the person is likely to commit a breach of peace or disturb public tranquility.
Recent NIA raids
These detentions follow the recent crackdown on PFI and SDPI across the country by the National Investigation Agency and various State police forces including Karnataka. On Tuesday too, several State police forces cracked down on the members of the two organisations and made several arrests and preventive detentions. The State police raided several premises across eight districts of the State including Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Shivamogga, Belagavi and Yadgir.
Mr. Kumar said Tuesday’s action was based on specific by NIA and field level inputs by the local police. A senior official said there were intelligence inputs from Central agencies that workers of the two organisations were planning mega protests across the country, where they have a strong hold against NIA and police action later this week. “Intelligence inputs suggest that these protests could turn violent and create law and order problems. So preventive detentions of the second line of leadership of these organisations have been made to prevent a flare up on the streets,” the official said.
To judicial custody
Detainees were produced before the respective local tahsildars and asked to furnish two bonds and an undertaking to desist from participating in any form of violent protest. They were remanded into judicial custody for a week.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai sought to downplay the raids and said it was only preventive measures taken by the police through the tahsildars. Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said police have to take certain preventive measures based on inputs. The same has been done by the police of Karnataka and in other States.
UAPA too?
Meanwhile, the Bengaluru police who registered an FIR for “waging war against the State” in K.G. Halli Police Station against 19 individuals, workers and office-bearers of PFI, under which case recent raids along with NIA were conducted, are considering Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2008. “If UAPA, 2008, is invoked, it will create grounds for the case to be handed over to the NIA for further investigation,” a senior officer said.
