BENGALURU: A complainant and his son consumed pesticide outside a police station on Sunday evening, alleging that two separate police stations had failed to register their complaint in a land dispute, though they visited the police stations repeatedly.
Huchappa and son Nagaraju, residents of Nonavinakere village in Tiptur taluk, consumed poison in front of Tiptur Rural Police Station on Sunday evening after police repeatedly made them wait in the police station and failed to address their grievance over many days. Both collapsed on the spot and were rushed first to a local hospital, then referred to Hassan for further treatment.
The dispute originated over a right-of-way disagreement concerning agricultural land, which had already led to one clash in the village. Seeking redress, Huchappa and Nagaraju first approached Nonavinakere police station to file a complaint, but allege they were turned away.
They then went to Tiptur Rural police station, where they again failed to get their complaint accepted. According to them, it was not the original land dispute but failure of both stations to act on their complaint that led to the incident. They were frustrated after being sent back and forth between the two stations without resolution, they said.
The incident triggered anger among residents, who say the failure to register complaints by ordinary villagers, particularly in property and land disputes, is the norm, especially when the other party is seen to have greater influence. They have demanded justice for the family. Both men are reportedly undergoing treatment.
This is a repetitive pattern, with a recent complaint of filmmaker Anthony Henri in Doddaballapur Rural being attacked by a mob of goons associated with his landlord, who cut off power and water lines illegally while police officers watched helplessly.
Sources say police pay for their postings and are under the control of MLAs, and refuse to register cases when it is inconvenient to the powers-that-be. Former Supreme Court judge and Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said, “There is the option of filing a private complaint before courts which people can take. They need to take legal recourse, not take law into their own hands. Courts could also pull up police where they fail to take action.’’
