Click to play videoBangalore: Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) working for minority welfare in Karnataka have raised their voices against what they call are high handedness of the Corps of Detectives (CoD) of Bangalore Police.
The NGOs claim that in light of the recent arrests of suspected terrorists in the state, the police have targeted many innocent Muslim youths.
They claim that some officers of the CoD had gone to Masura, a school for minorities in Hassan, and interrogated not just the principal and teachers but also the students of the school.
The NGOs say that school students are being terrorised by CoD officials in the guise of terror investigations.
According to reports, the CoD had intercepted a telephone conversation between the principal of school and Yahya Kammakutty.
The police officials then interrogated the principal inside the premises and the NGOs allege that the CoD even interrogated students. They claim that students from class five, six and seven were called in the principal’s office and questioned.
“We are here to register our protest and strong resentment on the fact that some police officers are going about the campaign against terror which resembles terror itself. Muslim youths are being picked up randomly and innocent youths are being interrogated and the incident that happened on Friday was just on the basis of telephone numbers intercepted. Even 12-year-old students were subjected to interrogation. This we feel is taking the latter a bit too far and the officers are not being very professional in conducting investigations. It could have been done in a discreet manner,” a member of Bangalore Islamic Foundation Trust says.
On February 21, the CoD had arrested Yahya Kammakutty belonging to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Police claimed that Yahya had links with terrorist organisations.
Yahya was arrested from Guruappanapalya on Bannerghatta Road in the city.
The 32-year-old Yahya, a native of a village near Kozhikode in Kerala, had worked with General Electric (GE) Software and is said to be an electrical engineer.
Police claimed that he had been living in Bangalore for the last eight years. He was, however, unemployed for the past few months.
(With inputs from Swetha Balasubramaniam)
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