PUCL Karnataka Towards civil liberties and human rights for all in Karnataka

Communal clashes rock Karnataka town [September 2002]

09.28.2002 · Posted in Communal Violence, Human Rights

[Source] [From September 2002]

New Delhi: South Indian city of KR Nagar witnessed a rise in communal temperature on September 13 evening following a clash between two youths taking on a communal colour.

The tension led to communal clashes in the Karnataka state town the following morning and police resorted to lobbing of teargas shells and lathi-charge to bring the situation under control, the police said.

Ten persons were injured in the melee and one person, identified as “Ravi” was taken to K R Hospital for treatment. Incidents of stone-throwing, arson and looting were also reported in several areas of the town.

An argument between two youths belonging to Hindu and Muslim communities respectively at the Manchanahalli bus-stand in the town is said to have led to communal clashes, said the police.

In a related incident in the same area, two groups resorted to stone-throwing in Harapanahalli area during the immersion of Ganesha idol, and police had to resort to caning and lobbing of teargas shells to bring the situation under control. A tense situation prevailed in the town and prohibitory orders were clamped in the area.

A total of 15 persons including five policemen were injured in the stone throwing. The clash is said to have occurred when a Hindu nationalist outfit Yuvashakti Sangha took out a Ganesha idol procession through Banageri and members of Hindu and Muslim communities had an argument over the volume of a loudspeaker.

South India did not know communal riots, that is Hindu-Muslim clashes, until about a decade ago when the North-based Hindu nationalist organisations like the RSS, BJP and VHP introduced this virus there. Now they have floated outfits like the Hindu Munnani which are on the lookout how to vitiate the communal harmony on one pretext or the other in order to convert the resulting communal polarisation into a vote-bank for the Hindu nationalist BJP and similar outfits.

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