Shoe on other foot as K'taka BJP drops cases against 'their' men

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: If hypocrisy is the refusal to apply the same standards to yourself as you do to others, then the BJP government is guilty of the same when it comes to selectively dropping criminal cases against those with Hindutva leanings.

The saffron party had turned red when the then chief minister Siddaramaiah, during his 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, the BJP continued attacking Siddaramaiah and the Congress for the same even when their own party was in power. However, it has been learnt that the present BJP State government under both BS Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai sought to dismiss dozens of cases against hundreds of persons associated with the Sangh Parivar.

A media house found that the State government dropped cases in no less than three 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 as well.

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 a fit case for withdrawal” in documents submitted to the state cabinet on September 19, 2022.

As many as 113 members associated with groups such as Sri Rama Sene (SRR) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) af filiates Bajrang Dal (BD) and Hindu Jagaran Vedike (HJV) account for 16 of these cases and included charges such as hate speech and communal disturbances.

That leaves 18 cases against 228 persons, including farmers and other groups. On February 21, the State government resolved to drop 21 cases, many involving communal incidents but the official order hasn’t been passed.

The October order, bore fruit and the cases dismissed, it transpired had happened due to requests made by local BJP lawmakers. State Law Minister JC Maduswamy and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra have gone on record claiming many innocents had been saddled with false cases, which had been dismissed.