Karnataka: Belagavi man arrested for ‘abusing’ Panchayat officer for not speaking Marathi | Bengaluru
A man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly harassing the Panchayat Development Officer of Kinaye Gram Panchayat in Belagavi district over a language dispute, police said.
According to news agency PTI, the accused, identified as Tippanna Subhash Dokre, reportedly visited the Gram Panchayat office on Tuesday regarding a property-related matter.
During his visit, he allegedly insisted that Panchayat Development Officer Nagendra Pattar provide official documents in Marathi instead of Kannada.
According to police, the situation escalated into a heated argument, with Dokre verbally abusing the officer. A video of the altercation surfaced online and quickly went viral, prompting officials from Belagavi Rural Police Station to take him into custody, the report added.
Belagavi DCP (Law & Order) Rohan Jagadeesh confirmed the arrest, stating, “The video circulating on social media led to swift action. The accused has been secured, and an investigation is ongoing. Public misconduct against government officials will not be tolerated, and strict action will be taken.”
Dokre has been booked for obstructing a public servant from carrying out his duties, police said.
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Bus conductor assault
This comes after, a state-run bus conductor was allegedly assaulted by a group of Marathi-speaking youth for not conversing in the language, while on duty. The incident occurred last week, when the bus was plying from Belagavi city to Balekundri. Following this, inter-state bus services between Maharashtra and Karnataka were suspended, in a way escalating the decades-old border and language dispute between the two states.
The border issue dates back to 1957 when states were reorganised on linguistic lines. Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, as it has a sizable Marathi-speaking population, and over 800 Marathi-speaking border villages that are currently a part of Karnataka. Karnataka maintained that the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Re-organisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report is final.
(With agency inputs)
