Udupi: Two police constables injured in attack

The Hindu

• Kerosene bomb thrown at complex housing office of daily

Udupi: Two police constables were injured when two unidentified persons threw a kerosene bomb at the complex which houses the office of Kannada daily Kannada Prabha in the early hours of Wednesday.

However, there was no damage to the office.

According to the Udupi Town police, constables Mahesh Mandarti and Raviraj Kottara were guarding the newspaper office located on the first floor of Unity Complex near Gitanjali Theatre.

Around 1.30 a.m. on Wednesday, two unidentified persons came on a motorcycle. When the constables questioned them, the miscreants told them to run away or risk being killed. Then they threw a kerosene bomb at them and fled. Mr. Mandarti’s hands sustained severe burns in the incident. Mr. Kottara also sustained injuries. The two constables were admitted in a private hospital.

A case has been registered.

Condemned

The Udupi District Working Journalists’ Association (UDWJA) on Wednesday condemned the attacks on the offices of Kannada daily Kannada Prabha in Udupi and Mangalore, and the eveninger Jaykirana in Mangalore. The police should immediately arrest those behind the attacks and initiate legal action against them, the association said in a press release.

The district unit of Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) on Wednesday condemned the attack on the Udupi office of Kannada daily Kannada Prabha.

The district unit of Karnataka Komu Sauharda Vedike (KKSV) on Wednesday condemned the violence which erupted in the State following the publication of an article in a Kannada daily. A press release issued by the vedike here stated that writers had the freedom to write articles, and newspapers had the right to publish them. If the article had hurt the sentiments of members of any community, they should take legal recourse. Indulging in violence, attacking the offices of newspapers and taking law into their own hands were not correct, the vedike said. Legal action should be taken against those who had indulged in the violence.

‘Conspiracy’

The vedike also condemned the attack on the offices of Kannada daily Kannada Prabha and eveninger Jaykirana in Mangalore on Tuesday. These acts appeared to be a part of well-planned conspiracy. Legal action should be initiated against those who had indulged in these attacks, the release added.