City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao has ordered a probe into the notice issued by the Sampigehalli police to Manyata tech park on March 5 seeking details of employees from Jammu and Kashmir. He said on Thursday that the notice would immediately be withdrawn.
The notice included a proforma to fill in details such as name of employee, mobile number, residential address in the city, permanent address in J&K, and duration of employment. These details were sought purportedly to “maintain law and order”.
Mr. Rao told The Hindu that there has been no instruction to e-police stations to issue such a notice and that he was not aware of it. “At any cost, we will not profile any section of society. The notice will be immediately withdrawn. I have asked the DCP to probe the matter and submit a report soon,” he said.
The notice came under severe criticism from human rights activists and people from J&K. “While abrogating Article 370, the government said it was to integrate J&K into the country. But ever since, Kashmiris — students, employees and traders — have been discriminated against in myriad ways. The notice issued by the Bengaluru police is only the latest form of discrimination. Such moves create anxiety and fear in Kashmiris outside, but also in their relatives in J&K. The government should instead take measures to quell such fears,” said Nasir Khuehami, spokesperson of the J&K Students’ Association.
“The police cannot issue notices seeking details of persons like this without any evidence of wrongdoing [by them]. This amounts to profiling,” said Vinay Sreenivasa, activist and advocate. “The Marathahalli police station had issued a notice to the slum in Kariyammana Agrahara that was later illegally evicted by the police. The Commissioner claimed he was not in the know. How can police inspectors issue arbitrary notices without the knowledge of superior officers?”