Mask violation: From Siddaramaiah to Tejasvi Surya, all fined, state tells HC

BENGALURU: The state government on Monday informed the Karnataka High Court that fine of Rs 250 each was collected from 684 violators, including Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, MPs D K Suresh and Tejasvi Surya and actor Darshan, for not wearing a mask during the RR Nagar bypoll campaigning between October 21 and November 1 and a BJP bike rally on September 30.

A list containing details of the fines collected in seven police station limits was filed before the division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty in response to directions issued by the court during the last hearing of a public interest litigation filed by the Bengaluru-based Letzkit Foundation.

The state government had submitted the details of 18 non-cognisable reports (NCRs) filed by the police, instead of booking cases against violators under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act, though the offences committed by politicians and celebrities are cognisable in nature.
The state also produced a copy of the complaint registered by the Chikkajala police on Covid-19 norm violations during a rally held on September 30. The event was organised to receive MP Tejasvi Surya after he was appointed the BJP national Yuva Morcha president.

The state government clarified that the DCP (crime) submitted a a report stating that Surya wore the mask in his jurisdiction, and that the photo showing him without the mask was at a location that fell outside his jurisdiction.The counsel for the petitioner told the court that fines were collected from the violators only after the court issued directions.During the previous hearing, the court had pulled up the city police for filing NCRs for cognisable offences instead of booking cases under relevant laws.

One NCR converted into FIR
In one case, following the court’s directions, the Mahalakshmi Layout police converted an NCR into a regular case, and registered an FIR against Malleswaram BJP president Manjunatha under Section 188 of IPC and Section 51(B) of National Disaster Management Act on November 6.