Alleged Police Excesses in Udupi: Billava Yuva Vedike threatens state-wide stir

Udupi: The Billava Yuva Vedike has warned of intensifying its agitation across Karnataka over what it termed police excesses and delay in taking action on a complaint of assault against police personnel in Udupi district.

Addressing the media on Wednesday, district president of the organisation Praveen M. Poojary alleged that the Brahmavara police acted selectively in handling the complaint filed by Akshatha Poojary, who has accused police personnel of assaulting her during the execution of a court warrant. He said community elders had decided to escalate the protest statewide if justice was not delivered and that a delegation would soon meet Home Minister G. Parameshwara seeking his intervention. The incident dates back to December 9, when police visited a house in Uppoor village to execute a warrant against Ashiq, an accused in a 2014 road accident case. A court had directed Ashiq to deposit Rs 20 lakh along with interest, and police action followed after he allegedly failed to comply. During the operation, police claimed that Akshatha Poojary, a relative of the accused, and another woman obstructed them. Akshatha, however, later alleged that she was assaulted by police personnel.

Poojary alleged that despite recording Akshatha’s statement, the police did not immediately register a case and did so only after protests by several organisations. He further claimed that no effective investigation had begun and that the three police personnel named in the complaint had not been suspended. He also criticised the police for registering a suo motu case against those who protested outside the Brahmavara police station.

Linking the issue to another recent police action, Poojary alleged that a case booked under the Immigration and Foreigners Act following a raid on a resort in Hanehalli was connected to the same episode. He claimed that the resort, owned by Udupi district BJP Yuva Morcha president Prathwiraj Shetty Billadi, was targeted after he participated in the protest, and that those described as illegal foreign nationals were in fact staff members from Nepal.