Bengaluru Civil Society Organisations release fact-finding report on DJ Halli, KG Halli violence
Bengaluru: A report on the violence that ensued on the night of August 11th, 2020 titled ‘Communalising Violence in DJ Halli’ was released today in the presence of (Retd.) Justice Nagamohan Das, Indudhara Honnapura (Senior Journalist & Editor, Samvada), Lakshmi Murthy (Independent Journalist), Abdussalam Puttige (Chief Editor, Vartha Bharathi Kannada Daily) and several members of the Bangalore Fact-Finding team, who all shared their views.
“This report brings out several truths. This report is not the end, on its authority, we must inquire into the truth and find out who is behind the violence, and who all failed to act. There are people who profit from the riot as well. We must find out those who are responsible. We must further tolerance,” said (Retd.) Justice H.N. Nagmohan Das.
Adding to this, Indudhara Honnapura said, “There was an opportunity to stop this, but the Government and the Police failed to do so. Everyone, including the police, knew this is a sensitive area. There are many good officers, but I do not understand why they did not send sufficient police force to control the incident. Why didn’t the Government provide information to the police?”
Sharing her views and the way forward for the report, Independent Journalist Lakshmi Murthy said that it opens up a lot of questions for what we must do as a citizenry, for the media and social media as well. She felt that the report covers the inadequacies that were left out from the media narrative, and is a documentation of history unfolding before us. She said, “Five years from now we will think of how this happened under our noses.”
Abdussalam Puttige shared that “Several truths have come out through the report. The police responsibilities, their inaction, and their role in failing to contain the violence has been detailed. People will not know the truth about the incident through this report”. He also highlighted how people are losing faith in the system, and that before a complete investigation, certain organizations are being made the scapegoat for the incident.
In response to questions of the media regarding the delay in releasing the report, fact-finding team member Swathi Seshadri shared that the team was delayed due to the prohibitory orders and Section 144 imposed in the area and thereafter to cover the voices of all stakeholders as well as ensuring thorough investigation took time. “Getting appointments from officials and talking to people from all spectrums was time-consuming,” she added.
Another question was in regard to the appointment of the claims commissioner who would recover damages from innocent persons who were arrested, who are daily-wage earners. To this, (Retd.) Justice Nagmohan Das responded that as far as recovering damages is concerned, it is an evolving law in India. In respect of those falsely arrested, he mentioned that the courts have passed judgments asking governments to pay compensation for police atrocities, subsequent to this, officers involved in the atrocity are made to undergo disciplinary proceedings. Thereafter, the amount is recovered from the erring officers. “There are court precedents and it is a developing law in the country to compensate innocent persons,” he said.
The report will be submitted to the Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka, and others.
Some recommendations of the Fact-Finding Committee which was shared are as follows: -
- The scope of the investigation against Naveen’s Facebook post must be widened, including an inquiry into the failure of the police to take immediate action against Naveen.
- An immediate socio-economic survey must be conducted in the two concerned police station limits to assess the loss of livelihoods, nutrition, health, and shelter post the lock-down, and measures must be taken to ensure that livelihood needs, shelter needs, and nutritional needs are addressed.
- Form Peace Committees comprise all communities to restore peace in the areas.
- The charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) invoked against the accused must be immediately withdrawn.
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Petrol, diesel prices hiked by Rs 3/litre after elections as crude costs bite
New Delhi (PTI): Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by Rs 3 per litre each on Friday, the first rate increase in more than four years, amid mounting losses of fuel retailers due to surging global crude prices.
The increase comes 16 days after assembly elections concluded in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Fuel prices had remained unchanged through the polling period despite a sharp rise in international oil prices triggered by the West Asia conflict.
Petrol price was hiked to Rs 97.77 per litre from Rs 94.77 in the national capital. Diesel now costs Rs 90.67 as against Rs 87.67 per litre previously, industry sources said.
Prices have remained on freeze since April 2022 but for a one-off reduction by Rs 2 a litre each on petrol and diesel in March 2024, just before Lok Sabha elections. Rates were last hiked in April 2022.
Petrol in Mumbai now costs Rs 106.68 a litre and diesel comes for Rs 93.14 per litre. In Kolkata, petrol now costs Rs 108.74 per litre and diesel Rs 95.13, while in Chennai, prices increased to Rs 103.67 for petrol and Rs 95.25 for diesel.
Rates vary across states due to differences in value-added tax.
Although fuel prices are officially deregulated, revisions are often influenced by political considerations.
Energy prices globally shot up after the US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28, and the subsequent retaliation by Tehran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz - the sea lane through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas transits. Crude oil, the input raw material for making petrol and diesel, surged above USD 120 per barrel during the peak of the West Asia conflict, as opposed to the USD 70-72 range before the conflict.
More recently, prices have eased but remained elevated around the USD 104-110 per barrel range. This triggered massive losses for state-owned fuel retailers, but retail rates remained unchanged as five critical states went to polls.
The oil companies were losing Rs 14 per litre on petrol, Rs 42 a litre on diesel and Rs 674 a litre on cooking gas LPG before Friday's decision.
Earlier this week, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the three fuel retailers were losing about Rs 1,000 crore per day, and the cumulative losses in a quarter were enough to wipe away all the profit they made in a full year. He had put the losses at about Rs 1 lakh crore.
To cushion consumers from rising global prices, the government, on March 27, reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per litre each.
Private fuel retailers had already increased pump prices. Nayara Energy, the country's largest private fuel retailer, in March raised petrol prices by Rs 5 per litre and diesel by Rs 3, while Shell increased petrol prices by Rs 7.41 and diesel by Rs 25 per litre from April 1. In Bengaluru, Shell sells petrol at Rs 119.85 per litre and diesel at Rs 123.52.
Domestic cooking gas LPG prices were raised in March by Rs 60 per cylinder, but they are still way lower than the actual cost.
Industry sources said the price hike appears calibrated - enough to partially ease margin pressure on oil companies without creating major inflationary shock.
The increase, however, will have some impact on inflation, they said.
India's retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to 3.48 per cent in April 2026 from 3.40 per cent in March, while wholesale price inflation (WPI) surged to 8.3 per cent, a 42-month high, driven by a sharp rise in fuel and energy prices amid elevated global crude oil rates.
Petrol and diesel do not have a standalone category in the CPI basket, but are captured under the broader 'transport and communication' component and 'fuel and power' category. Petrol and diesel themselves carry relatively smaller but still significant weights through transport-related items, and economists say fuel price hikes have a wider indirect impact because they raise freight, logistics and input costs across sectors.
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) had abandoned the daily price revision in April 2022 to insulate domestic consumers from a steep price increase that was warranted because of international oil prices shooting through the roof post Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
They incurred heavy losses in the first half of the 2022-23 fiscal year, which they recouped when rates fell in subsequent months.
But the war in West Asia has again sent international oil prices soaring by over 50 per cent.
The basket of crude oil that India imports averaged USD 69 per barrel in February before the war in West Asia broke out. It averaged USD 113-114 per barrel in subsequent months.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently urged citizens to reduce fuel consumption and use public transport and work-from-home options more frequently to help curb foreign exchange outflows on oil imports.
