Jagadish Karanth arrest: Saffron activists unfazed

Mangaluru: The recent arrest of Hindu Jagarana Vedike state convener, Jagadish Karanth, is being hailed by some as a warning  to those delivering provocative speeches, but activists  here are not impressed and see it is as merely an eyewash as a number of others have got away scot free despite trying to foment communal trouble in the region.

“The arrest of Jagadish Karanath is like a drama as who will follow the case to its logical conclusion?” asks Karnataka Komu Sauhardha Vedike district president, Suresh Bhat Bakrabail, who has been fighting communal forces in the region for  several years.  “Four years ago on September 15, 2013, Pranavananda Swami held a press conference declaring that he would organise a Khadga Deeksha and distribute swords to Hindu youth. We filed a complaint on September 23 and an FIR was registered the next day. It is four years now and no chargesheet has been filed,” the  activist regrets.

He also ruefully points out that the police did not file a case against Sadhvi Saraswati for her inflammatory speech during the Hindu Samajotsav at the Nehru Maidan on March 1,  and it was left to the Vedike and PUCL to jointly file a complaint on March 5.

 “Though an FIR was registered based on our complaint, in this case too no chargesheet has been filed yet. And the police  say they are still waiting sanction from the state government for filing a chargesheet in these cases!” he adds.

Warning that such delay could only embolden those delivering such speeches,  Mr Bhat emphasises that the government needs to allow the police to file chargesheets  in these case and make sure that those involved  are punished.