Protest in a democratic way; don’t indulge in violence: Top cop tells PFI

Mangaluru, Apr 4: Strongly justifying the action against agitators belonging to Popular Front of India, Mangaluru City Police Commissioner M Chandra Sekhar has said that the PFI protesters not only pelted stones on government buildings but also attacked a few police personnel.

Several of PFI activists suffered injuries when the police resorted to batten charge to disperse the protesters in front of the city police commissioner’s office in the city on Tuesday morning. Dozens of protesters were taken into custody from the spot. The protest was organised against the alleged police atrocity against Ahmed Qureshi, a resident of Katipalla, who was arrested in connection with a murder attempt case.

Speaking to coastaldigest.com Mr Chandra Sekhar, said that the PFI leaders, who led the agitation, did not even obtain permission for such a protest. “It was an illegal protest aimed at disrupting law and order,” he said.

Stating that the police are always open for democratic ways of protests, he said that violence in the name of protest will not be tolerated. “If you want to protest against police, you can protest peacefully after obtaining prior permission from the authorities concerned. If you try to disrupt law and order and indulge in stone pelting, then you will face the action,” he warned.

He said that those who tried to disrupt the law and order and attacked policemen would be booked under relevant provisions of the penal code as well as the police act.

Explaining why the police decided to cane the protesters, he said that the agitators tried to lay siege to the commissioner’s office and also began to block the traffic. “When the police repeatedly requested them vacate the place, they continued to protest illegally. Moreover, some of them started pelting stones on the policemen and nearby government offices. This led the police to use “minimal” force,” he said.

Mr Chandra Sekhar said that the police had warned PFI leaders against staging protests without permission in the past too. “This is not the first case. In August 2016 also PFI activists had staged a similar protest in front of his office without permission demanding the release of another accused.

Refusing the allegation of PFI that Qureshi was subjected to physical torture in the custody, the Commissioner provided proof of the statement given by the accused on March 28 before the magistrate.

“Qureshi had stated that the injury he sustained was due to a road accident that occurred on March 25. Moreover the magistrate remanded the accused in the judicial custody. When he was admitted to hospital, he was in the judicial custody, not in police custody,” he said.

The copies of the statement given by Ahmed Qureshi before the magistrate (March 28) and in Wenlock Hosptial (Mar 27) are here: