Bengaluru cops acted in right manner: CM on lathicharge on African protesters

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on August 2 defended Bengaluru police’s action on several Africans staging a protest outside the city’s JC Nagar Police Station. The African nationals, who were protesting over an alleged custodial death of a Congolese national, were lathi-charged by the police. Speaking about the same, Bommai said there are a large number of African nationals in the state, and many are overstaying their visa. The state government is taking stringent action towards such individuals, he added.

"The drug trafficking has been rampant, and those involved are thus being arrested. They had a violent attitude and therefore, police action was taken. When they needlessly attacked the police, our police took action in the right manner," Bommai said.

The CM, who is in Delhi, speaking to the media said, the Karnataka government has taken several measures in the last two years to curb drug trafficking in the state.

The African nationals staged a protest outside JC Nagar Police station in the city angered over the alleged custodial death of a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They later began chanting slogans of ‘Black Lives Matter' and reportedly blocked traffic with cars. Some protesters later tried to snatch lathis from the police, said eye-witnesses. This allegedly prompted the police to lathi charge the protestors which left several of them injured.

Meanwhile, the police said that the deceased detainee, Joel, had been arrested for possessing MDMA. According to the police, the 27-year-old Joel complained of chest pain while in custody. The police said they took the foreigner, who was studying in college, to a private hospital where he died of a suspected cardiac arrest. The police denied that his death was a custodial death.

The Commissioner of Bengaluru Police Kamal Pant and Deputy-Commissioner of North, Dharmendra Kumar Meena told the media that Joel had died while he was being treated. Kamal Pant also said that the CID is probing the Congolese citizen’s death.