BJP withdrew 182 cases of communal nature, says Ramalinga Reddy

NT Correspondent Bengaluru: Minister for Transport and Muzrai Ramalinga Reddy said that the previous BJP State government had withdrawn 385 criminal cases during its tenure, 182 of which were related to crimes of a communal nature and hate speech. Reddy shared a list of the cases withdrawn by the BJP along with clippings of newspaper reports. The minister was retorting to the saffron party’s opposition to the withdrawal of a rioting case in which a mob from a minority community had pelted stones on the Old Hubballi police station on April 16, 2022 in which at least 12 cops were injured. The mob had gathered outside the station in response to a youth posting a WhatsApp status insulting a religious figure from the minority community. The accused was arrested but the mob was demanding that he be handed over to them. Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy even wrote to President Draupadi Murmu and Union Ministers demanding that they convince the ruling Congress to reverse the withdrawal. Reddy responded that the State government had withdrawn 43 cases, of which one pertained to the Hubballi rioting incident. Others had to do with protesting farmers, students and the like, he said.

Still others pertained to dropping of charges against BJP leaders like MP Renukacharya. "The BJP had withdrawn 385 cases. Of these, 182 cases were related to communal hate, moral policing, attacks on pubs (in Dakshina Kannada district) and the like. As a result, cases against more than 2,000 accused have been erased. In 2022 alone, 62 cases were withdrawn. CT Ravi, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Pratap Simha, Halappa Achar, Sumalatha Ambareesh and JC Madhuswamy have benefitted from these dropped cases,” Reddy said.