Organisations flay journalism student's arrest
Protesters demand release of Vittal
Karnataka Sate Adivasi Hakkugala Samanvaya Samiti staged a protest in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office on Thursday opposing the arrest of Mangalore University Journalism Student Vittal Malekudiya.
The Anti Naxal Forces arrested Vittal on March 3, when he went to visit his father in Belthangady who was earlier taken to custody and was reportedly tortured by the Anti Naxal Force personnel (ANF).
The protesters alleging the arrest of Vittal Malekudiya was a well planned and intentional move, questioned as to why the police could not arrest Vittal immediately on finding literature propogating Maoist ideologies from his room.
“Vittal was arrested only to divert the attention of citizens and media from much larger issue of the BJP scams, which has constantly been making headlines. Just possessing books and paper cuttings does not make Vittal a Maoist. His arrest has proved that there is no place for democracy and personal independence,” said DK District Unit of CPI(M) Secretary B Madhava who questioned as to how Vittal can return to his College carrying such a disgrace which has been brought to him him by the Police.
“Life and future of a student has been destroyed,” Madhava said.
Dakshina Kannada District Beedi Workers’ Association President B M Bhat said that the police suspect Vittal’s link with Naxals on the basis of paper cuttings, which is a joke. “There is a need to question who are the real anti-nationalists. One is least bothered about the Ministers who watched porn in Vidhan Sabha or the land scams by BJP,” he said.
The protestors demanded immediate release of Vittal and also denounced the atrocities committed on Vittal’s father Lingappa Malekudiya by the police.
