6-fold rise in number of people in Karnataka involved in violence: Data

The number of people involved in various cases of violence in Karnataka has seen a six-fold increase since 2018.

According to Home department data, 10,346 persons were involved in violent cases in 2022. In 2018, this number was 1,666.

The number saw a marginal jump to 1,716 in 2019. In 2020, there were 7,874 persons and in 2021, it was 2,843 persons. In 2022 alone, the number jumped to 10,346.

The number of cases of violence booked across the state has largely remained below 290 in the last five years. The lowest number of cases 161 was registered in 2019 and the highest number of cases - 291 cases were booked in 2020.

According to Home department data, the state witnessed several cases of violence such as the hijab protest, Sameerwadi Sugar Mill protest, election-related violence involving BJP workers on the day of counting, pro- and anti-conversion, violence between RSS workers and Muslims, Bajrang Dal worker Nagesh murder, Savarkar flex issue and Harsha murder case in Shivamogga.

The data also reveals that Mysuru district consistently reported 120 to 180 cases of the average 250 violence cases registered in the state.

The data available with the DH shows for the last five years, Mysuru has seen the involvement of an average of 700-1,000 persons annually in such cases.

In 2022, 10,346 persons were involved in 236 cases of violence across the state. As many as 6,000 persons from Dakshina Kannada district were involved in four cases related to violence but not a single person arrested till now.

Among the prominent cities, Mangaluru registered 69 cases of violence in 2018 and 20 in 2019 but after this, the city has not registered a single case of violence. Similarly, except in 2022, Hubballi-Dharwad city did not register a single case of violence in 2018, 2109, 2020 and 2021. However, Belagavi city has been registering an average of 2-3 cases of violence annually for the last five years involving 50-100 persons.