The Karnataka government on Friday, June 16 issued orders stating Rs 25 lakh compensation will be paid to the families of four people killed in communal incidents in Dakshina Kannada district of the state in the last five years. This includes three Muslim families of victims of communal violence who were denied compensation during the BJP’s term in power.
The Dakshina Kannada district administration announced that the compensation will be released from the Chief Minister's relief fund for the families of Mohammed Masood of Bellare, Mohammed Fazil of Surathkal, Abdul Jaleel of Katipalla and Deepak Rao of Katipalla.
Mohammed Fazil was murdered outside a clothes store on July 28 2022 by members of the Bajrang Dal who had assembled to target Muslim men following the murder of BJP Yuva Morcha member Praveen Nettaru outside his broiler shop in Bellare two days earlier. Those accused of murdering Praveen include members of the now banned organisation Popular Front of India (PFI). The PFI members had claimed that Praveen's murder was to 'avenge' the killing of Mohammed Masood, a youth from Bellare, who was killed on July 19 after he was attacked by members of the Bajrang Dal.
In another hate crime, Abdul Jaleel of Katipalla was killed on December 24 2022 and Deepak Rao of Katipalla was killed on January 3 2018. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the time had said Deepak was an active volunteer of the Bajrang Dal and BJP.
The BJP government in Karnataka was earlier criticised for denying compensation to Muslim families of victims of communal violence.
In March 2023, TNM revisited eight communal killings in Karnataka and found that compensation was provided to families of Hindu victims including Praveen Nettaru, Deepak Rao and Harsha Jingade, a Bajrang Dal worker who was murdered in Shivamogga in February 2022. Activists in the state had said the state government's actions were in blatant disregard of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution that guarantees equality.
It was also found that Muslim perpetrators were probed for terror links and charged under the (UAPA) Act while Hindu perpetrators passed off as ordinary criminals without much investigation into their ideology or organisational links.