Taking a cue from Yogi, Karnataka plans to make rioters pay

Bengaluru, Dec 27: Now Karnataka too has decided to make the rioters pay. Taking a cue from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, Karnataka too has decided to recover the damages from those who destroyed public property during the violence during the protests against the new citizenship law.

Karnataka minister, R Ashoka said that the government would soon decide on a legislation to seize the properties of those involved in damaging public property. We will also bring a similar rule here, Ashoka also said.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has identified properties of at least 370 rioters in various parts of the state. These properties will be seized in accordance with the law and a notice to the owners of the properties has already been sent out.

Over 300 notices have been sent out and the highest is at Moradabad, where the number stands at 200. In Lucknow, 110 notices have been sent out, while at Gorakhpur it is 34 and at Firozabad it is 29.

Further several district administrations in the state have begun the process to attach properties in order to recover the damages. The UP government has served the notices based on the CCTV footages of the accused persons. They have been asked to explain why the properties cannot be attached to recover the damages caused during the violence that erupted due to the protests against the newly amended citizenship law.

These persons have been given 30 days time to explain, failing which the process to attach the properties would begin. Meanwhile in Rampur, where the damage has been pegged at Rs 25 lakh, 28 persons have been issued notices.

In addition to this the police have filed 213 FIRs, while 925 persons have been arrested. 5,558 persons have been detained and several others booked for posting objectionable material on the social media.

The notices have been served after Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath instructed the administration to take action against those who had vandalised property during the protests. The administration also cited a 2010 High Court order which had directed the state government to compensate for the loss to public caused during the violent agitations from those indulging in acts of violence.