Karnataka HC Pulls Up Belagavi Top Cop For COVID Violations At Amit Shah's January Rally

The Karnataka High Court pulled up the Police Commissioner of Belagavi for not registering even a single FIR over the violation of COVID protocols of wearing masks and maintaining social distancing during a rally led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Belagavi on January 17.

Petition filed by human rights commission

At the rally, which was held in the run-up to the Lok Sabha by-election to the Belagavi seat and led by Shah, Covid protocols were flouted with hundreds in number.

BCCL

This came after the Belagavi Commissioner filed an affidavit on the action taken for the violation of Covid norms during the rally held on January 17 in the city. The HC was hearing a petition filed by the National Human Rights Protection and Corruption Crime Control Commission Trust, Belagavi.

HC prima facie held that there was rules violation

Earlier, on March 12, the High Court had prima facie held that there was violation of the rules regarding wearing of masks and social distancing in the rally. The Court had then directed the Police Commissioner to explain the action taken against violators.

Some more pictures from Jansewak Samavesh Rally in Belagavi, Karnataka. pic.twitter.com/fYoGsOwy7b

¡ª Amit Shah (@AmitShah) January 17, 2021

Now, the division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj observed that the police commissioner ¡°seems to be unaware of the provisions of the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020, and regulations that enable authorities to register First Information Reports for violations¡±.

File

"Perusal of the said affidavit shows complete ignorance on part of commissioner of regulations laid down under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020", the bench observed.

The court directed the Commissioner to explain why even a single First Information Report, was not registered for violation of provisions of the said Act of 2020 and regulations framed thereunder. The court also granted time to the state government and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to file compliance report to the orders passed earlier by the next date.

ANI

The bench also observed that the commissioner behaved casually, depended on photographs, and only recovered Rs 20,900 as a fine. The court said "Reading the affidavit as a whole, we find that the Commissioner approached the matter very casually. Large gathering in Belagavi where rules regarding wearing of masks and social distancing were thrown to the wind. But the commissioner seems to be satisfied with the recovery of the fine amount."

The court asked the police officer to file a fresh affidavit by June 3.