Bengaluru: Assault on journalist, 5 cops booked

BENGALURU: An FIR has been registered against the Hulimavu police station inspector and four other police personnel on charges of assaulting a television journalist, who was covering the protests by garment factory workers on Tuesday.

Sharan Gurikar, a reporter with a regional news channel, was allegedly beaten up by Inspector Vijay Kumar and four other policemen on Hosur Road. The policemen allegedly hurled filthy abuses at the reporter and cameraman before smashing the camera and assaulting the reporter. Though the reporter pleaded that he was not a protester, the police beat him up with lathis. He was treated at a private hospital. The same day, he filed a complaint in the Mico Layout police station against the five policemen.

Journalists’ associations held demonstrations across the state condemning the brutality of policemen and also submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister and Home Minister, seeking an impartial probe into the incident.

The Mico Layout police registered an FIR against the accused policemen on Friday.

Reports submitted to govt. The city and Rural police have submitted a report to the government on the riots by garment factory workers on Monday and Tuesday.
City Police Commissioner N.S. Megharikh told Deccan Chronicle that the report was submitted to DG&IGP Om Prakash.

“We have explained everything in the report. A detailed explanation has been given on what led to the protests, how it turned violent, number of public and policemen injured, number of vehicles damaged, number of cases registered, number of people arrested etc. The investigations are on,” said Mr Megharikh IGP (Central Range) Arun Chakravarthy said that the Bengaluru Rural district police also submitted a report to the DG & IGP. However, no inquiry has been ordered as there were no deaths in the violence. “Inquiry will be ordered only in cases where there is loss of life due to riots. In this incident, it is not necessary to order an inquiry by a judicial body or any other agency,” a senior police official said.

Manjunath undergoes surgery

Nineteen-year-old Bharathi who was a victim of the protest and was admitted at KC General Hospital on Tuesday night will be discharged after a week, said doctors. "She is recovering, but is still in the ICU. But there are no complications. We will discharge her after she recovers fully," said Dr Manjunath, Medical Superintendent, K.C. General Hospital. Meanwhile, Shrinivasa who is also admitted at KC General Hospital will be discharged on Monday. But 47-year-old Manjunath, whose condition was not stable, was underwent thoracotomy on Friday afternoon. “He was shifted to the operation theater after his condition stabilised," said Dr Sharan Patil of Sparsh Hospital.