Mangaluru: Four anti-pollution activists of Jokatte included in rowdy-sheeter list?

Mangaluru, Sep 16: In a controversial move, the Mangaluru city police have included four anti-pollution activists from Jokatte village in their list of rowdy-sheeters. Besides, the police also served them notices under CrPC Section 113 seeking bond seeking bond of Rs 50,000 and surety from them.

The four targeted activists are B S Hussein (75), Aboobakker Bava (58), Moideen Sherief (42) and Vijayananda Rao (60). All of them are residents of Jokatte and surrounding areas and representatives of Jokatte Nagarika Horata Samiti which has been fighting against alleged pollution by MRPL's Coke and Sulphur Recovery Unit.

The four have been asked to appear before Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) M. Shantaraju on September 22 and execute a bond of good conduct. Admitting that the four activists had been included in the rowdy list, Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar said that Mr. Shantaraju will inquire into the issue. He said that the activists can place their objections before Mr Shantaraju.

The agitation

The samiti has been fighting against the sound, air and water pollution by MRPL's Coke and Sulphur Recovery Unit. As a mark of protest, the residents and members of the samiti had blocked the movement of vehicles on the MSEZ corridor road. In this connection, the Surathkal police have registered two cases while one case was registered in the Panambur police against these four activists in 2014 and 2015. The fall-out of these three cases has been the inclusion of these four in the list of rowdies.

Shocked

The elderly Mr. Hussain, who is also a member of a committee headed by the Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner to look into the pollution issue, said that it was really sad to know that the police have included him and the three activists in the list of rowdies.

“I do not know based on what yardstick that we have been included in the rowdy list,” he said Mr. Hussain, who is a retired government employee. All through their two-year-long protest they have peacefully carried out demonstrations without any damage to public and private property.

Protest planned

Meanwhile the Samiti is gearing up to hold a protest on September 19 against Mangaluru City Police for bizarre action against anti-pollution activists.

DYFI state president Muneer Katipalla, also a member of the Samiti, said that they will hold a protest rally holding black flags from Surathkal railway bridge to Surathkal police station. He said that the police action treating activists as criminals is condemnable.

"Mr Hussein is a retired government officer who worked in Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat and Mangaluru City Corporation. While Aboobakker and Moideen are elected members of Thokur - Jokatte gram panchayat, Vivekananda is a noted Yakshagana artist. However, the city police opened rowdy sheeter list against them with ulterior motives forgetting their respected backgrounds," Mr Katipalla alleged.