Police action on Mahadayi agitators not justified: report

Belagavi Regional Commissioner N Jayaram has said that the police action against farmers during the agitation for Mahadayi waters at Navalgund and Yamnur in Dharwad district and at Naragund in Gadag district was not justified.

Jayaram has made these observations in his nine-page report submitted to the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission chairperson Meera Saxena last month.

He said, he had visited the villages and collected information from the people. Footage aired by media too had been examined.

According to information given by the injured women, police chased and beat up innocents. This was injustice meted out to them, Jayaram said.

Jayaram - also deputy commissioner of Belagavi - mentioned that the men who were arrested at Navalgund were made to alight from the vehicle 100 metres from the police station and forced to walk, while policemen standing on both sides caned them.