Bengaluru and parts of Karnataka were gripped by large scale violence and arson as one person died and four were injured in police firing. Mobs set vehicles on fire and attacked businesses with Tamil names after the Supreme Court ordered that Cauvery water should be released to Tamil Nadu. Police opened fire at Rajagopal Nagar in Bengaluru, when a mob tried to torch one of their vehicles. Curfew was imposed in seven police station limits of the city. The court declined to accept Karnataka’s appeal to freeze its September 5 order on release of water, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Bengaluru, burning vehicles with Tamil Nadu registration numbers. The violence virtually paralysed the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 were imposed in Bengaluru and Mysuru, areas around four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin, and Pandavapura in Mandya district. The violence prompted many schools to declare a holiday. Metro services stopped and other public transport was curtailed. It was total confusion.
Jayanthi S. Maniam
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
