Mysuru, Feb 11 (IANS): Karnataka Police have detained one person in connection with a controversial social media post making communal comments against a particular community while celebrating the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in New Delhi Assembly elections which triggered tension in Mysuru city.
The accused, a resident of Kalyannagar in Mysuru, had put up a post ridiculing Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, former Chief Ministers Akhilesh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal. The accused further made provocative communal statements against a particular religious group. The post went viral on social media on Monday night.
By late on Monday night, a group belonging to the minority community gathered in front of the Udayagiri police station demanding action against the accused person.
Though, the police tried to pacify the crowd and even roped in religious leaders who requested them to calm down, the situation turned violent and the crowd started pelting stones on the police station.
They raised slogans and when the situation went out of control, the police resorted to lathi-charge and later fired tear gas to quell the mob.
Additional police forces were summoned and the senior police officers along with local political leaders appealed to the crowd and assured that action would be taken against the accused person and managed to convince the mob to withdraw the protest.
Though the police have controlled the situation, tension is still prevailing in the area.
On April 16, 2022, in Hubballi, a miscreant allegedly made derogatory comments about Islam in a WhatsApp message, leading to a mob surrounding the police station.
The police had arrested him by then and despite this, the mob demanded that he be handed over to them and tried to take the law into their own hands.
The next day, thousands of people gathered, took out a procession, climbed onto a police jeep, and hoisted the Islamic flag.
They pelted stones at the police, injuring several officers. Half of Hubballi was shut down that day.
The Karnataka government had decided to withdraw the cases in connection with the Hubballi police station riot case in which more than 150 people were booked for attacking the police in 2022.
The move had stirred a controversy and the BJP had strongly objected to it.