MANGALURU: In a move that has drawn criticism from various quarters, the Mangaluru police have named the two persons who were killed in the police firing on protesters, as accused in the First Information Report (FIR) filed in the case. The deceased Jaleel and Nousheen have been named as accused number 3 and 8, respectively.
The FIR, filed at Mangaluru North police station on December 19, has named 29 people who have been charged under various sections of IPC including 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duties), 143 (unlawful assembly) and others.
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The FIR says that all the 29 accused, along with 1,500-2,000 youths, staged protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on Thursday last, defying prohibitory orders. They were armed with stones, clubs, glass bottles and other weapons. They even tried to torch the Mangaluru North police station and conspired to kill the policemen, it said.
As per the FIR, the accused ignored warnings issued on megaphones to disperse and continued to throw stones at the police station, causing injuries to police officials and staff. In order to curb the riot and ward off threat to human lives and damage to properties, the police opened fire in the air in which two persons were injured and later died in a hospital. Five others also sustained injuries in the incident, it added.
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Former Chief Minister and JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy on Sunday slammed the government and the Mangaluru police for naming the deceased in FIR.
Retired police officer and Congress leader G A Bawa, addressing a press conference here, termed the FIR as a bundle of lies. He said if the police claim that they had to open fire when the protesters tried to torch the police station was true, then the two deaths should have occurred near the police station. “But one was found dead about 300 yards away while the other 700 yards away. It seems like the police are cooking up a story,” he alleged.