Communal tension in Bangalore

Communal tension grips parts of Bangalore after two places of worship were found desecrated on Friday.

The tension began building up early on Friday after the desecration was noticed in places of worship at J C Nagar and Hebbal. However, police deployed a large force in the communally sensitive localities of the City to prevent the situation from going out of hand.

The desecration of the places of worship coincided with the assumption of office by Shankar Bidri as the new Commissioner of Bangalore City Police.

Bidri not only visited the troubled localities and appealed for calm, but also held a peace meeting. Earlier in the day, agitated groups of youth blocked various roads in J C Nagar to protest the desecration of the places of worship.

During the peace meeting held after the Friday prayers, a decision was taken by the police to allow the locals to arrange their own security for the places of worship to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

Speaking to reporters later, Bidri said the police will spare no efforts to identify the miscreants responsible for desecration of the place of worship. He said sufficient security personnel had been deployed in the sensitive areas and the situation was under control.
Only on Thursday, the BJP Government in Karnataka effected a major reshuffle of the senior police officers in the state and appointed Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) as the Bangalore City Police Commissioner in place of N Achut Rao, who was transferred as Additional Director General of Police (Internal Security), a newly created posted. The officers took charge of the new posts on Friday.