Bengaluru: A special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases in the city Wednesday found three persons guilty in connection with the Aug 2020 DJ Halli-KG Halli riots that culminated in three fatalities and over 50 persons getting injured. The accused were sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 36,000 each.The convicted are Syed Ikramuddin alias Syed Naveed, 49; Syed Asif, 51; and Mohammed Atif, 31; all residents of KG Halli. They earlier had pleaded guilty in the special court. Since their arrest in Aug 2020, the three have been in the judicial custody of Bengaluru central prison. They were produced through video conference when the special court Judge Kemparaju passed the orders. Furthermore, the court observed that their stay in prison would be treated as set-off period. Since they have spent five years in prison and their conviction is for seven years, they have to spend two more years in prison.Initially, the case was probed by Bengaluru city police and then transferred to the NIA. In the case that claimed the lives of three men, 199 suspects were named while 187 accused persons were arrested. Four accused surrendered before the police. Finally, 138 of the accused persons were charge-sheeted. During the trial, one of them died. The three convicts approached the court, seeking to plead guilty on July 8 this year. The trial for the other charge-sheeted accused persons is ongoing.What happened that nightThree persons were killed and over 50, including police, journalists, and civilians, sustained injuries during the mob violence that erupted in DJ Halli and KG Halli on the night of Aug 11, 2020. The violence initially began over a derogatory social media post uploaded by a close relative of the then Pulakeshinagar Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy. The angry mob set a portion of the MLA’s house and KG Halli police station on fire. A police team, led by the then city police commissioner Kamal Pant, opened fire to disperse the mob, resulting in three men dying of bullet injuries.Reacting to TOI, special public prosecutor P Prasanna Kumar said: “The police are entrusted with the duty of maintaining law and order as well as public order. When such custodians of law and order and public order are attacked, the confidence of public in the efficiency of the police is likely to be shaken, and thereby public order is likely to be disturbed. We, the people, feel secure when we have a robust police force. By the act of the accused in torching the KG Halli police station, the confidence of the people at large and their sense of security was shaken. The judgment has not only secured the confidence of the public at large in the police force but also vindicated the action of the central govt in declaring PFI (Popular Front of India) as an unlawful association,” he said. |
