State govt, police failed to check extremism: Lobo

The abject failure of the police department and the Karnataka government to contain extremist activities resulted in incidents like the cooker bomb explosion in Mangaluru, Congress leader and former MLA J R Lobo alleged on Tuesday.

Addressing reporters here, Lobo said if the police had been on alert after terror-related incidents reported earlier, things like the blast would never have occurred.

He said it is condemnable to put an entire community under the shadow of suspicion for the crime committed by a single criminal element from the community.

Lobo said the BJP is trying to create confusion in the society when elections are nearing. “Who is responsible for the creation of the present mindset wherein a teacher of a prestigious institution termed a student a terrorist,” Lobo asked.

Lobo also referred to a recent incident when a boy was attacked for the sole reason that he was travelling in a bus with a girl from another community who was his classmate.

He said the Goonda Act should be invoked against those who disturb peace in society.