Published Jan 24, 2024 | 1:29 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 24, 2024 | 1:29 PM
KPYC president Mohammed Haris Nalapad during the protest. (IYCKarnataka/ X)
Bengaluru’s High Ground Police have registered a suo-moto case against Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress (KPYC) president Mohammed Haris Nalapad and others for allegedly creating public nuisance and holding torchlight protests without necessary permission in Bengaluru City on the evening of Tuesday, 23 January.
High Ground Police Station Inspector Bharat PI has registered an FIR against Nalapad, who is the son of Congress’ Shanti Nagar MLA NA Haris, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 143, 188, 283, 285, 290, 341, and 149.
Condemning the attack on Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra convoy in Assam recently, the KPYC, under the leadership of Nalapad, had organised torchlight rally against the BJP government in front of Congress Bhavan near Race Course Road on Tuesday evening.
The Congress has alleged that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was attacked in Assam on Sunday by BJP workers.
The grand old party claimed Rahul Gandhi was heckled by a crowd chanting “Jai Shri Ram” and “Modi, Modi” slogans.
“Our ‘Mohabbat ki dukaan’ (shop of love) is open for everyone. ‘Judega Bharat, Jeetega Hindustan’,” Gandhi said in a post on X while sharing a video of the incident.
सबके लिए खुली है मोहब्बत की दुकान,
जुड़ेगा भारत, जीतेगा हिंदुस्तान।🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Bqae0HCB8f— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 21, 2024
On Tuesday, Assam Police registered a case against Gandhi and other Congress leaders for instigating a crowd to launch an attack on Guwahati police.
As a part of the protest, the members of KPYC were carrying out a torchlight rally, without taking any kind of permission from the jurisdiction police.
Despite police cautioning them to discontinue the rally, the Congress workers continued the torchlight rally and caused a public nuisance, the police said.
In a complaint, PI Bharat said: “Around 25 to 30 people, who are members of KPYC, gathered in the premises of the Congress Bhavan and with the help of cotton fabric set fire to the torchlight and staged protest against the Union government and the BJP for attacking the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in Assam.”
“The members of the KPYC raising slogans against the Union government and the BJP party, they gathered aggressively on the public road and affected the traffic movement.”
“Despite making an announcement through the microphone that it is wrong to gather illegally on a public road and obstruct the traffic, they gathered on the road and continued with the torchlight parade,” the inspector’s complaint read.
He further said: “The police personnel extinguished the fire on the torchlight and took the illegally gathered people into custody as a precautionary measure. Then the rest were scattered from the place.”
“Without taking any precautionary measures for the torchlight rally, (they) gathered illegally, affecting the traffic and tried to create unrest in the public,” the complaint said while naming Mohammed Nalpad and others as accused in the case.
Inspector Bharat B told South First: “The members of KPYC had not taken any kind of permission either for torchlight rally or protest. We had taken them, including Nalpad into preventive custody on Tuesday evening. All the sections imposed are bailable offences.”
undertook a protest for Nyay! @himantabiswasarma we are not scared of your cowardly antics! The @iyc.karnataka stands fearlessly with @rahulgandhi‘s Bharath Jodo Nyay Yatra pic.twitter.com/tIngRpcdcs
— Mohammed Haris Nalapad (@nalapad) January 23, 2024
The Congress also held a protest at the Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Tuesday and raised slogans against the Himanta Biswa Sarma government in Assam.
“Disrupting Rahul Gandhi’s march is snatching the liberty of an individual. Rahul Gandhi is doing the march to understand the problems of the nation, its people and the society. Some fringe elements in the BJP are trying to obstruct the march. So, the Congress is protesting against it,” the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.
Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah was also assaulted while central leader Jairam Ramesh’s car was targeted in Assam’s Sonitpur district during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Sunday.
The party had demanded a judicial inquiry into the attack on Borah, alleging the involvement of a BJP MLA and his supporters.
According to Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) spokesperson Bedabrata Bora, a mob stopped Borah’s car as he was driving to join the yatra’s main entourage after a brief break.
“As the mob came in front of his convoy, our president stepped out of his car to see what was happening. He was punched on the nose, which left him bleeding,” he said.
Another party worker, Hriday Das, was seriously injured and is currently hospitalised, he added.
On the night of Tuesday, AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on “security issues” faced by Rahul Gandhi during the Assam leg of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, asking him to ensure the party leader’s safety.
(With PTI inputs)
