A People’s Tribunal comprising Justice (Retd.) V. Gopala Gowda, Mr. B T Venkatesh and Sugata Srinivasaraju was formed to conduct public hearings to hear from all the persons affected by the Police firing on 19th December, 2019 at Mangalore and to report on the observations made by it.
This was a civil society initiative to investigate various aspects of the violence that transpired on that day, including the build up to it. The tribunal heard witness testimonies to ascertain the following aspects of the situation:
Imposition of prohibitory orders and communication thereof
Lathi-charge and firing
Non-compliance with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Use of communal slurs etc.
The tribunal found that, “imposition of prohibitory orders under section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure were unwarranted.” Also, “While the Commissioner of Police of Mangalore, Dr. P.S. Harsha, imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC on the evening of 18th December 2019, the order was not effectively communicated to the residents of the area. After the imposition of the prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC, permission that was earlier granted was subsequently revoked/cancelled but the same was not effectively communicated.”
The report by the tribunal also states, “As a result of a complete breakdown of communication, civilians who had no connection with the protest were subjected to indiscriminate lathicharge and Police firing.” It goes on to say, “The actions of the Police personnel present on 19th December seem to contravene significant limitations on Police powers, as provided for in the Karnataka Police Manual.”
But the most damning indictment of the police’s communal tilt comes from the report where it says, “Apart from failing to issue warnings to the public before the lathicharge and Police firing commenced, victims and other eyewitness have alleged that the Police authorities present in the area used communal slurs and used deplorable language in order to provoke the protestors.”
The report concludes by saying, “From the statements it is observed that greater harm was caused to civilians and innocent persons who had nothing to do with the protests, if any. Their livelihood has been severely affected. More specifically, two lives have been lost.”
The entire report may be read here: