B’luru riot: Govt to ask HC to appoint claims commissioners to assess damages to property

Image Courtesy:timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The Karnataka government is set to approach the High Court in its bid to recover damages caused during the recent Bengaluru riots incident. The government will ask the high court to appoint a ‘Claims Commissioner’ who will assess damages caused to private and public property caused during the August 11 episode of violence.

The Deccan Herald reported that in February this year, the High Court of Karnataka had directed the state government to appoint retired district judges as claims commissioners, in order to assess the damages in bandhs during the Mahadayi protests and the one that followed the arrest of Congress leader DK Shivakumar in 2019.

The violence on August 11 was allegedly caused by a provocative social media post about Prophet Mohammad’s family by a man identified as Naveen, nephew of a local MLA. The riots broke out in DG Halli and KG Halli areas in the eastern part of Bengaluru whereby the mob also vandalised a police station and the MLA’s residence. Karnataka police have rounded-up 145 people for violence, stone-throwing and assault on police personnel.

The Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa spoke about this decision to approach the high court in a tweet:

Our Govt has decided to assess the damages caused to public & private property in the violent incidents in KG Halli & DG Halli & recover the costs from the culprits. We will approach Hon’ble High Court for appointment of Claim Commissioner as per Hon’ble Supreme Court order (1/3)
— B.S. Yediyurappa (@BSYBJP) August 17, 2020

The CM further said that stringent action is being taken against those involved in the violence and stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) have been invoked. Further, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will investigate the matter and will invoke the Goonda Act (Karnataka’s version of UP’S Gangster Act) if the need arises during investigation.

A Special Investigation Team has already been formed to conduct a detailed investigation in the matter and a team of three special prosecutors will be appointed for speedy trial of the cases. SIT will consider invoking Goonda Act if warranted. (3/3)
— B.S. Yediyurappa (@BSYBJP) August 17, 2020

The Chief Minister’s Office confirmed this decision and stated that it was taken during a meeting attended by Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar, Director General of Police Praveen Sood, Advocate General Prabhuling Navadagi, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajanish Goel, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant and other senior police officials.

On August 12, Karnataka Minister CT Ravi had said that they would follow the Uttar Pradesh model of recovering damages from people responsible for it. Albeit, UP had taken the ordinance route, Karnataka is yet to do that.

Karnataka’s Home Minister Bommai briefed the press after the meeting and said that the police were investigating whether the rioters had any association with any extremist or terrorist organizations.

Hindustan Times reported that the police have detained till date nearly 370 people for the Bengaluru riots. Apart from examining CCTV footage from several places, the police are also examining call records. Till now, DJ Halli police have registered 49 FIRs against the numerous accused while KG Halli police have registered 19 FIRs.