A first information report was registered against the pro-Hindutva activists who defied court orders and unveiled a Shiva statue in Begur lake on August 11. The statue was unveiled hours after Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials informed the Karnataka High Court that the statue was covered earlier in the day. The FIR was registered at the Begur police station on August 16 based on a complaint made to the Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant.
The complaint was filed by Leo Saldanha, who is the coordinator of the Environment Support Group (ESG) and the petitioner in the High Court case over the construction of artificial islands and the installation of a Shiva statue inside Begur lake. The FIR named Punith Kerehalli and Santosh Karatal among other pro-Hindutva activists who arrived at the Begur lake on August 11 and publicised their act of unveiling the Shiva statue inside the lake which was wrapped under tarpaulin cover.
The pro-Hindutva activists were charged under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 298 (uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person.), 505(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code. The High Court was informed about the FIR registered in Begur police station on Wednesday and it directed the Bengaluru (Southeast) DCP to submit an investigation report by September 2.
The High Court bench led by Chief Justice Abhay Oka reiterated last week that the case in court was not religious but a legal one examining whether the BBMP had powers to construct an artificial island in the middle of a lake.
The High Court had issued the stay order in August 2019 stopping the BBMP from constructing the statue in the middle of the Begur Lake in the city since it did not have authority to reduce the area of the lake and make islands in it.
But since August 1, pro-Hindutva activists had shared posters communalising the environmental issue being deliberated in the High Court. They claimed that the stay order by the High Court was brought after objections raised by Christian missionaries. The pro-Hindutva group has targeted Leo Saldanha over it however Leo and the Environment Support Group have been fighting several cases to protect the city's environment, particularly its lakes from encroachment since 1996.