HUBBALLI: The violence in the Old Hubballi area in 2022 is in the news again with the Congress government withdrawing all cases related to the incident. While the government move has been strongly criticised by opposition parties, ministers and Congress leaders are defending the government action.
It was on the evening of April 16, 2022 that the situation in Old Hubballi turned tense when a youngster’s social media status with derogatory remarks against Muslims went viral. People from the community in the area, which is dominated by Muslims, were angry and went to the Old Hubballi police station and filed a complaint, seeking the arrest of the youngster.
The police acted swiftly and arrested the youth. But the angry crowd that had gathered outside the police station demanded that he be handed over to them. Even as police officers were talking to community leaders, some miscreants from the group threw stones at the policemen, their vehicles and the station. When the mob went out of control, the police resorted to a lathi-charge and also fired rubber bullets to rein in the mob.
As the mob started attacking the general public and nearby temples, the police lobbed tear gas shells and also opened 13 rounds of fire, which brought the situation under control. As many as 12 police personnel, including an inspector, were injured on that night of violence. The police later went through video recordings of the incident and arrested over 150 people over the next few days.
In addition to invoking charges of arson and interrupting public servants in their duty, some were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which are widely known as terror charges. Though the incident was not severe enough to invoke such a stringent charge, the then government defended it by drawing similarities with the violent incidents reported at DG Halli and KG Halli in Bengaluru.
Until BJP was in power, the accused were languishing in jails and their attempt to get bail was foiled. After Congress came to power in 2023, hopes of the accused increased as the Siddaramaiah government made it clear that it could withdraw cases against them. The Supreme Court granted bail to 35 accused in December, while 111 others received bail from the Karnataka High Court in February this year. Finally, the government decided to withdraw cases.