BENGALURU: Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday came under fire from all quarters for directing police to track down the killers of Mandya JD(S) leader Honnalagere Prakash and shoot them mercilessly. While the opposition BJP termed it an “irresponsible statement” that sends a wrong message to police officers, twitterati slammed him for “making a mockery of law”, and a former police officer said that those who follow such orders will face action. The Congress, however, defended the CM.
Upset over the JD(S) leader’s murder on Monday, the CM told officials to track down his killers and shoot them mercilessly. He was caught on camera giving directions to a police officer at a helipad on the Sainik School campus in Vijayapura. Realizing his folly, the CM later swung into damage control mode, and took to social media to clarify that it was an emotional outburst and not an order.
“It was an irresponsible statement by the CM and he must apologize for it,” former CM and BJP state unit president B S Yeddyurappa said. Stating that those responsible for the JD(S) leader’s murder must be punished, the BJP leader said that Kumaraswamy’s statement will have an adverse impact on people as policemen will be emboldened by such orders.
Former Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) B K Shivaram said such directions cannot be taken as orders and being a chief minister, Kumaraswamy should not have given such directions to police officers. “If someone follows such orders, they can be booked for murder and the person giving such directions can be booked for abetment,” Shivaram said.
Senior BJP leader Jagadish Shettar, too, said it was not right on the part of the CM to give such orders to police officers.JD(S) coalition partner Congress defended the CM. “The CM has already made it clear that it was an emotional reaction and not an order for the police to find and kill someone. Since the BJP has no other issue, they are trying to project it as a big issue,” said Congress leader and MLC Rizwan Arshad. “The BJP has no moral authority to talk about issues like this when their own party president was known as an encounter specialist when he was Home Minister of Gujarat,” he added.