Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik criticised the Hubballi Police for releasing the three Kashmiri students of KLE Institute of Technology facing sedition charge for shouting pro-Pakistan slogans in a video to mark the first anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack.
Addressing presspersons in Kalaburagi on Monday, Mr. Muthalik asked what was the pressure on the police to release those students. The charge against them was serious and the government should not politicise such issues, he added.
He urged the Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner to reveal the forces behind the release of the three students. Mr. Muthalik also demanded that Police Commissioner R. Dileep be suspended.
Mr. Muthalik accused the police authorities in Kalaburagi for allowing a group to organise a rally and take out protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act last month, though Section 144 had been imposed. He demanded that the police take action against the organisers of the rally.
He said that the governments in the State have neglected implementing the Jagannath Shetty report. It was possible to curtail terrorist activities in the State by implementing preventive measures recommended in the report, Mr. Muthalik added.
Referring to the Bidar sedition case against a teacher and parent for a school play in which students expressed dissent against the Prime Minister, Mr. Muthalik criticised the police for filing the sedition case. The Department of Public Instructions should have issued a notice to the school management. The State government should not target schools for communal agendas; it would poison the minds of students, he added.