BJP drops 385 cases, communal elements go scot-free

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: It has come to light that the BJP government in the state issued orders to drop prosecution in 385 criminal cases during its nearly four-year long tenure.

Nearly half of those dropped cases provided relief to those accused of cow vigilantism, hate speech and communal violence. According to a media report and Right To Information (RTI) reply by the State Home Department, the cases were dropped from July 2019 to April 2023 when either BS Yediyurappa or Basavaraj Bommai was chief minister.

As many as 182 of the 385 cases reportedly had a communal angle and the major beneficiaries were a BJP MP and MLA, apart from Hindu Jagarana Vedike member Jagadish Karanth among other Hindutva ideologues and vigilantes. Karanth has been accused of making hate speeches in Dakshina Kannada, Bagalkot, Bengaluru Rural and Tumakuru districts.

Other instances involve riots in Kodagu and Mysuru over Tipu Jayanti celebrations and four cases of cow vigilantism in Hindutva stronghold Chikkamagakluru district. Other dropped cases include those pertaining to farmer protests, demonstrations pertaining to linguistic identity and other issues.

The process under which a prosecution can be dropped starts with State Home Minister, in this case Araga Jnanendra, making a recommendation, following which a cabinet sub-committee clears it and the final approval is given by the State cabinet.

Notably, the vast majority of cases were registered by the state police under the Siddaramaiah-led Congress administration between 2013 and 2018. 7 government orders issued In an earlier RTI reply, a media report says that the BJP State government dropped cases in no less than seven installments.

The first order to drop as many as 21 cases dated August 31, 2020 gave relief to BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu Pratap Simha, benefiting 206 members of right wing Hindu groups, apart from 106 Muslims. The second order came in October 2022, dismissing 34 cases against 341 people over a 10-year time span from 2009 to 2019.

This time the police, prosecution department and law department objected, calling these instances “not fit cases for withdrawal” in documents submitted to the state cabinet on September 19, 2022. The State government resolved to drop another 21 cases on February 21 but issued the order at a later date.

It is noteworthy that the BJP had turned red when Siddaramaiah, during his chief ministerial tenure from 2013 to 2018, had given amnesty to 1,600 persons involved in 176 cases, a number of them associated with Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), who had been accused of violating prohibitory orders. In fact, BJP continued attacking Siddaramaiah for the same even when their own party was in power