BALLARI: The police detained Congress MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan and his followers while they were on their way to the residence of Ballari MLA G Somashekara Reddy. Khan was in Ballari on Monday to stage a protest against an alleged hate speech by Reddy. They were taken to Kuditini police station and later released.
Recently, during a pro-CCA rally held in the city, Reddy had made provocative statements against the Muslim community. A police case was filed against Reddy over his remarks, after which Khan said he would stage a protest at Reddy’s residence.
Addressing a rally, Khan had charged that the BJP and RSS were targeting minorities and that issuing warnings for anti-CAA protests was undemocratic. “Keep in mind that we are Indian Muslims, we want to live like brothers in India,” he had said.
Further, he said that no action has been taken Reddy yet, giving the police a ten-day deadline to arrest him. Ballari SP C K Baba said that as police had denied permission to Khan to protest, he was detained 5 kms outside the city. “We released him and he returned to Bengaluru later, Baba added.