Bengaluru riots: SC seeks response from State over bail to former Mayor Sampath Raj

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On February 19, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy sought response from Karnataka government on a plea challenging the February 12 order of the Karnataka High Court granting bail to former Mayor of Bengaluru Sampath Raj and Corporator Abdul Raqueeb Zakir, in connection with the Bengaluru riots.

Senior Advocates Devadatt Kamat, R Basant and Advocate Rajesh Inamdar had appeared for the petitioner.

Bar & Bench reported that the court directed Raj and Zakir to reply within three weeks on the plea filed by Congress MLA, R Akhanda Srinivasmurthy through Advocate Amit Pai. A letter of urgency was also moved along with the petition stating that bail was granted to the principal accused in large scale communal violence orchestrated by him and his co-conspirators.

The letter stated that the clash in 2020 “resulted in damage to public property to the tune of crores, and also led to the burning down of the house of the petitioner (complainant)”. The Congress MLA Srinivasmurthy also claimed that the Mayor, who lost Assembly polls from the neighbouring CV Raman Nagar Assembly constituency, harboured ill-will due to political reasons. The accused created unrest and a law-and-order situation on the pretext of an alleged derogatory post by his nephew (Naveen).

According to Bar & Bench, the plea read, “In view of the role of Respondent – Accused in inciting a mob to attack, vandalise, commit dacoity and set fire to the house of the petitioner, and also destroy public property at a very large scale, including setting fire to 2 police stations, leading to a communal clash, it is submitted, it is in the interests of the society that bail ought not to have been granted by the Hon’ble High Court.”

The accused persons were booked for offences under the Indian Penal Code, The Karnataka Prevention of Destruction and Loss of Property Act, 1981, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. On August 11, 2020, huge groups of people engaged in rioting, setting ablaze houses of Pulakeshinagar Congress MLA Srinivasamurthy and his sister over an alleged inflammatory social media post against Islamic prophet Muhammad by his nephew.

The Bar & Bench report also suggested that the plea pointed out that Sampath Raj is accused of very serious offences, which carry punishment of life imprisonment. It also highlighted that he has failed to appear before the investigating officer when summoned, and was absconding until the High Court in November, 2020, directed the investigating officer to trace Raj and arrest him.

It was reported that around 60 police personnel were injured and three people were killed on the day of riots in August last year. After the ravaging clashes, nearly 52 FIRs had been filed and roughly 264 accused persons were arrested in connection with the same.