BENGALURU: Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara has said that there are 46,149 rowdy sheeters in Karnataka, while 27,294 persons were dropped from the rowdy sheet since 2018.
Replying to a question by MLC Aravind Kumar Arali in the Council on Thursday, the minister said rowdy sheets are opened against those who indulge in teasing women and college students, harass people by use of force, threatening and abusing with filthy language, extortion by threatening, indecent behaviour, chain snatching, assaulting and other crimes.
He said that the rowdy sheet will be closed against a person if he is aged above 65 and is inactive, dies, becomes physically handicapped or mentally unsound, or is found to be not involved in any criminal activity for 10 years (excluding cases that are under investigation or trial) and shows good conduct.
To a question, Parameshwara replied that rowdy sheets are not categorised by caste and the number of rowdy sheets keeps changing as there will be additions and deletions. “Opening a rowdy sheet is merely a means to document activities of rowdy elements which enables the police to keep a tab on them.
It helps the police maintain surveillance on them and take preventive action whenever the situation demands, say, prior to religious festivals, bandhs, elections and the like,” said former DG & IGP ST Ramesh. He opined that the number of rowdy sheets is proportionate considering the State’s population and the number of police stations.
Number of rowdy sheets closed
2018 3,489
2019 2,195
2020 1,718
2021 8,062
2022 3,314
2023 8,516