Now, Hindu Parishad alleges discrimination

Bengaluru: The Hindu Vidijina Parishad (HVP) has opposed  the Special Investigation Team (SIT)’s decision to invoke the  Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA) against the alleged killers of journalist/activist, Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead outside her home a year ago in the city.

 HVP national president, Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, who spoke to reporters here on Tuesday, accused the Karnataka government and the police of being soft in their approach  to those accused of murdering RSS workers in the state and hard on the 12 suspects arrested for Ms Lankesh’s murder.

 “There is clear prejudice in the treatment of the 12, who have been booked under KCOCA, just because they are Hindu activists. On the other hand, those arrested for the murder of Hindu activists are being treated differently,” he said, adding that although  eight Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers had been killed in the state by members of the  Popular Front of India (PFI) and one of the accused, Abid Pasha, was involved in several murders, they were not booked under KCOCA.

 High Court lawyer and member of the HVP,  NP Amrutesh claimed that all the charges against the 12 accused were false and the SIT had tortured them to extract their statements.