Anti-communal wing to be constituted to check moral policing: Karnataka home minister

To check incidents of moral policing being reported in the region, an anti-communal wing will be constituted in the Mangaluru commissionerate limits shortly, said Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara.

The Mangaluru Commissioner of Police will work out setting up the wing and deploy suitable officers to the same to put a check on moral policing. "There has been an increase in incidents of moral policing in the region. If it is not checked, it will bring a bad name to the police department and the district,” Parameshwara told media persons after holding a review meeting of the Western Range, comprising police officers from DK, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagalauru and Mangaluru Commissionerate limits.

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The anti-communal wing will be constituted in Mangaluru initially and will later be set up in other districts, where it is necessary to curb such incidents. Further, the police officers including the Commissioner of Police will visit schools, colleges, and universities to create awareness among students on the need for communal harmony in society. The police officials have been asked to conduct a periodical review of the cases pertaining to moral policing. Officials will be responsible to take cases to their logical end, he said.

“Many have been raising concern over disruption of communal harmony in the district and lack of investment in the district in spite of having potential. As a chairperson of the Congress Manifesto Committee, I met heads of 20 to 25 institutions in the region, who had raised concerns over communal harmony in the region. As a KPCC President in the past, I had organised a Congress padayatra from Ullal to Udupi to highlight the communal tension created in the coastal belt. I have given instructions to the police to take action against those who disrupt communal harmony,” said the state home minister.