Over a dozen Muslim clergymen met Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday and demanded that the state government appoint an independent judicial inquiry commission to probe into the DJ Halli violence that took place last month.
The clergymen, led by Ameer-E-Shariat Karnataka, Moulana Sageer Ahmed, submitted a memorandum to the CM and strongly appealed that the state government should also act resiliently on those who tried to spread communal hate by posting indecent messages on social media sites.
Speaking to IANS, Maulana Maqsood Imran Rashadi, Imam, Jama Masjid, appealed to the state government to take steps to release innocent Muslim accused, who have been booked in this case.
"The police have picked more than 300 people till date for their alleged role in the DJ Hall violence, but in reality, there are many innocents too who have been picked up. At least they must be let off is our primary demand," he explained.
The memorandum stated that the main idea of seeking an independent judicial commission is to know the real truth as to who instigated P Naveen, nephew of Congress MLA Srinivasamurthy, to put up such posts on social media.
According to the memorandum, the community strongly suspects this entire episode is orchestrated by someone who is hiding behind Naveen, who wanted to disturb the communal peace in the state.
Opposing imposition of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the memorandum read, "Invocation of such draconian law would ruin the entire life of innocents, hence the state should not invoke this act in a hurried manner.”
The note also added that the state government should take stringent action against all those spreading religious hate using social media platforms.
It may be recalled that the violence began after religious sentiments were offended following an objectionable post on Facebook, by P Naveen.
Earlier, he had hailed the Bhumi Pujan in Ayodhya as a victory for Hindus. He is the nephew of Congress MLA from Pulakeshinagar, Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy. Murthy, a Dalit leader, had defected from the JD(S) to Congress before the last poll and won it too, to the chagrin of the Congress bigwigs who had been eying the seat.
In this incident, the legislator's house was torched by rioters and in a bid to quell the rioters, the police opened fire in which three people lost their lives. The police have arrested more than 300 persons so far in this connection.