Take action on officer for serving notice to protesters: Congress

Congress leader and former MLC Ivan D’Souza on Monday demanded the immediate suspension of a police officer who served notice to protesters against a toll gate by visiting their houses.

Addressing reporters here, D’Souza said the act was against the Supreme Court directives and a violation of human rights. He wanted the human rights commission and women’s commission to take on its own cognizance of the police action. He further said the Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel should clarify the reason behind the delay in the closure of the toll gate as was promised.

Congress would support the protest planned by the Surathkal toll gate Virodhi Samithi on October 18, he said. Meanwhile, the Dakshina Kannada MP said the police should not have gone to the houses of activists at midnight on Saturday to serve the notice. In a statement, he said neither he nor the BJP MLAs of the district asked the police to serve notice to the protesters. The protesters have the right to fight for a cause, but should avoid politicising the issue, he said.