Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jul 25: The high court (HC) here came down heavily on the personnel of Yeshwanthpur police station here for their failure in arresting an RTI activist who had branded the customary Naamam on the forehead of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala as sex symbol.
During a recent debate telecast on April 24 this year by a news channel, RTI activist, T Narasimhamurthy, had derided Hinduism and Hindu gods by using derogatory language, besides terming the Naamam as sex symbol. Objecting to this comment, a person named Suresh had complained to Yeshwanthpur station, seeking arrest of Narasimhamurthy for insulting religion and its gods.
The police had received the complaint and lodged first information report, but had not done anything else thereafter. Suresh then filed writ petition in the HC pointing out the dereliction of duty on the part of the police. A bench presided over by Justice Aravind Kumar heard the petition in which Suresh had sought the arrest of the accused, on Tuesday July 24. Advocate for the petitioner brought to the notice of the bench about the inertia of the police to act on this complaint. Then HC bench wanted to know why the person who made insulting comment about a religion was not arrested, and whether the police would have shown the same attitude if the comment was about some other religion. Pointing out that the accused has been freely roaming around and not absconding, the bench wanted to know reasons for the total inaction on the part of the police.
The bench noted some development taking place on the issue of religion in district like Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Kodagu and warned that suspension of Yeshwanthpur station police inspector would be ordered if the accused is not arrested by Tuesday evening, before adjourning the hearing to 4.30 pm on Tuesday. When the hearing resumed, the government advocate said that the accused had been arrested at 2.30 pm. The HC, which recorded the statement, disposed off the application as the accused has been arrested as sought by the complainant.
It is learnt that after getting frustrated about the failure of Yeshwanthpur police to arrest Narasimhamurthy even several days after he made the complaint, Suresh had written to city police commissioner, secretary in the home department and the governor on the issue. As they too did not act for 45 days, he approached the HC. After HC took the police to task, they arrested Narasimhamuthy the same day and presented him in the 24th additional chief metropolitan magistrate's court. Advocate for Narasimhamuthy immediately filed relevant papers and secured his release on bail.