Police detained Mangaluru City South MP D Vedavyas Kamath, Mangaluru City North MP Dr Y Bharath Shetty, VHP leader Sharan Pumpwell, organizers Sandeep Garodi, Bharath Kumar and others today who had demonstrated in front of St Gerosa’s English Upper Primary School in Mangaluru, Karnataka, last week when a teacher of the school was accused of hurting Hindu sentiments and condemning Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002.
The said school pleads ‘not guilty‘.
Another protest took place near Mini Vidhan Soudha today. The police held the protesters as they tried to march towards the Mangaluru police station. They alleged that fake documents were attributed to them to justify the detention of Hindu leaders.
The police, in preparation, erected barriers to block the movement of demonstrators. Angry Hindu activists tried to push back the barricades, chanting “Jai Sriram”. This resulted in clashes between police and protesters, which led to the arrest of many protesters in police vans and jeeps while others were sent home.
VHP’s pranta sahakaryadarshi Sharan Pumpwell condemned the district administration’s action of detaining activists, who were staging the demonstration to demand action against those who had insulted Lord Rama inside the school. The VHP demanded that cases against activists who shouted ‘Jai Sriram’ be withdrawn. He warned that the protest would be intensified if a case was not registered against the school teacher.
