New Delhi: The Election Commission on Friday swung into action and issued notices to Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister KS Eshwarappa and Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil for alleged hate speeches in Karnataka.
On Thursday, Judicial Magistrate First Class Arjun Nallur admitted a private complaint by the President of minority cell of the district Congress, Sayad W Addu, over Eshwarappa's speech allegedly "instigating" a particular community against others and violating the code of conduct for the May 5 Assembly polls.
The complaint was registered under certain sections of the CRPC and IPC by the court, which posted the case for June 1. When contacted, Eshwarappa said, "I do not know about it. I stand by my comments."
Meanwhile, an FIR was filed against Patil by Karnataka police for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race or language for his alleged provocative speech on Belgaum issue, a bone of contention between the two states.
Patil was also booked under Representation of People Act for violation of the election code for the May 5 Assembly poll in the state, police said.
The FIR was filed for "provocative utterances" by Patil at a function organised in Bangalore on Sunday to celebrate the birthday of Kiran Thakur, leader of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) and editor of Marathi daily "Tarun Bharat", according to Belgaum Superintendent of Police Sandeep Patil.
Belgaum Police, which filed the FIR on Wednesday, is probing the case and would take legal action accordingly, the SP said.
Maharashtra claims Belgaum should be part of it, but Karnataka maintains that it is part of the state and the issue is a closed chapter. A political outfit, MES, has been raking up the Belgaum issue now and then, evoking strong reaction from Kannada protagonist bodies.
With additional information from PTI
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