Image Source: IANS
Kalaburagi: Twenty-three people, including former state minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil and other Congress leaders, were booked for violating the lockdown guidelines by conducting a meeting at a convention hall in Sulpeth on May 13.
As per a report by ANI, an FIR against the 23 persons was registered under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Thursday, May 14.
Calling the FIR “politically motivated”, the former minister said that the officer who registered the case was “forced by an MLA or some other people”.
“As elected representatives, we’re going in the constituencies and listening to the people as they’re apprehensive about the return of migrants. We had not conducted any meeting. We followed the social distancing norms wherever we went,” Patil told ANI.
“When I went, people came to discuss a local problem and I was speaking to a concerned official. Meanwhile, some officer filed a complaint that we were violating the lockdown or something,” he added.
The Congress leader and his followers allegedly conducted a meeting at a convention hall in Sulpeth town on May 13, after which, sectoral magistrate Muneer Ahmed lodged a complaint for violating the lockdown norms.