Taking its cue from untoward incidents in parts of the district every year on December 6, the day the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was demolished, the district administration has decided to take stringent action against those vitiating communal harmony on the 20th anniversary of the incident on Thursday.
At a district-level peace committee meeting, chaired by Collector P.S. Mohammed Sagir, Superintendent of Police S. Surendran warned of stern action against those indulging in violence with the aim of fomenting communal trouble.
It has been decided to install closed-circuit television cameras in sensitive and vulnerable localities where untoward incidents have been witnessed on the day in previous years. The police have urged local people, traders, and religious and political organisations to pass on information about elements likely to cause trouble.
As Kasaragod is one of the few places in the country where a spree of untoward incidents is witnessed on the day, it is the duty of society to erase this blot, the meeting said. The police will make all-out efforts to recover the losses from those responsible for creating strife, it said.
The region witnesses an “undeclared hartal” on the day, with vehicles keeping off the road in many places and traders and commercial establishments downing shutter apprehending trouble. A special meeting of representatives of organisations concerned, including traders and bus operators, had been convened to seek their support to ensure that the day passed off peacefully this year.
The authorities had decided to issue non-bailable warrants to anyone found disrupting peace on Wednesday or Thursday, Mr. Surendran said at the meeting. He said the police would not entertain any plea from religious or political outfits for releasing such persons.
It had also been decided to regulate the movement of two-wheelers on Wednesday evening and the following day in the Kasaragod taluk limits to check the movement of anti-social elements.
The meeting was attended by N.A. Nellikunnu, P.B. Abdul Razak, K. Kunhiraman, and E. Chandrasekharan, all MLAs; municipal chairman T.E. Abdulla; senior officials of various departments; and representatives of various political parties.
