BANGALORE: The Karnataka Government has decided to order a judicial inquiry into the Bidar communal riots which has taken a toll of six lives, the Chief Minister, Mr. S.R, Bommai, announced here on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister who reviewed the situation along with two o! His cabinet colleagues, Mr. J.H Patel and Mr. P.G.R Sindhia told reporters that a district judge would hold the inquiry.

Mr. Bommai said peace had dawned on Bidar town after the visit of the ministers who met a number of local leader’s legislators and Sikh community leaders. Tension, however, still prevailed in the town, Mr. Bommai said.

The Chief Minister said it was not in public interest to divulge tea sons behind the riots.

“Let us wait for the inquiry,” Mr. Bommai said.

Mr. Bommai said he had assured 20 Sikhs leaders who had met him in Delhi that the government would provide full protection to the community. The government would on its own expenses send Sikh students to their native places with escort till Hyderabad.

Already 350 students have been sent to Hyderabad. The total number of Sikh Students in Bidar is around 800.

Mr. Bommai said money had already been released for paying compensation to the riot victims. He had also instructed the Gulbarga University authorities to make all arrangements and give all possible concessions to students of the Engineering College to complete their practical examinations and see to it that they did not lose their academic year. The government would fully compensate students who had lost their books, materials and instruments in the clashes.

Answering a question, Mr. Bommai clarified that the Union Minister of State for Home, Mr. Chidambaram had rung up the state Chief Secretary to find out the Bidar situation. The Centre had not sought any clarification or report from the state.

Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal, in a press release issued in Amritsar, has strongly condemned the incident in which six Sikh students were killed at the Guru Nanak Engineering College, Bidar. In a joint statement, Mr. Prakash Singh Majitha, Mr. Dalbir Singh Ranike, Mr. Joginder Singh, Mr. Inderjit Singh Basarke, Mr. GS. Sansara and Mr. Hari Singh Rareala, have said the government had failed to protect the lives of Sikhs outside the state.

AMRITSAR: Approximately 500 students of the local Khalsa College abstained from their classes, held demonstration and stopped traffic on the GT Road in front of the college for about half an hour here on Tuesday to protest against the killing of six students at Bidar in Karnataka in a violent mob attack and also crushing to death a student of Khalsa College, Jalandhar, by a Punjab Roadways bus.

Later, the student leaders submitted a memorandum to the Additional Deputy Commissioner, who reached the spot, demanding immediate action against the culprits.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 7, 1988