Bengaluru: The high court has directed the state govt to set up a commission of inquiry (CoI) on the alleged police lathicharge on Panchamasali protesters in Belagavi on Dec 10 last year. The order follows a petition filed by Jagadguru Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami and three others, seeking an investigation into the incident.
Justice M Nagaprasanna, in his order passed Friday, instructed that the commission of inquiry be headed by a retired judge from the Karnataka HC. The commission is required to submit its report within three months. The govt has been directed to present its opinion on the findings before the court in due course.
The petitioners, who belong to the Panchamasali community, claimed that they held a peaceful protest near Suvarna Soudha, where several MLAs were present. They said that despite being around 1.5km away from the location, police launched a lathicharge without a prior warning, which they described as an atrocity.
In response, the govt advocate argued that the protesters were the aggressors, and the lathicharge was necessary to maintain law and order. However, Justice Nagaprasanna noted that there was no indication that the protesters were armed, and the sudden invocation of Section 144 of the CrPC, followed by the lathicharge, warranted an inquiry.
The judge ruled that an independent commission, not a state agency, should investigate the allegations due to the involvement of police officers in the incident.