Karnataka probe: Central team finds many lapses

Special Secretary, Internal Security, ML Kumawat who led the team to Bangalore, Mangalore and Udupi to take stock of the situation, pointed out that there had been several avoidable lapses, reports Nandini R Iyer.

Had Karnataka acted expedititiously when the first cases of communal violence were reported, the rest may have been prevented. This was the gist of an assessment by a Home Ministry team, which visited the state for two days.

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Special Secretary, Internal Security, ML Kumawat who led the team to Bangalore, Mangalore and Udupi to take stock of the situation, pointed out that there had been several avoidable lapses. For example, when Kumawat enquired about a case of lathi-charging by policemen in which several elderly people were beaten in Mangalore district, he learnt that they were recruits. “We were told that the these were police recruits who had still not been fully trained.”

This is despite the fact that written guidelines have been issued to states over 11 years back, on how to treat “sensitive” districts — like Mangalore — and these guidelines were updated and re-issued four months back.

Residents of the area have lodged a formal complaint against the SP, Mangalore, he said.