Bengaluru, 14 May 

The Karnataka government is now planning to constitute anti-communal force in districts beyond the previously announced Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, Home Minister G Parameshwara said. The personnel will be from the police department and ANF.

He told the media on Wednesday that the government wants to end polarisation in the State.

"I had asked the Director General of Police to send a proposal. We will examine it and approve at the government level," he added.

He also said that incidents of moral policing, which are communal in nature, will also be entrusted to the anti-communal force. "If it (moral policing) is just a social problem, regular police will look into it. If it is communal in nature or ends up in communal issues, then we will definitely entrust it to anti-communal force," he added.

Earlier this month, the Home Minister announced that the anti-communal force, on the lines of the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF), will be established to address and mitigate communal disturbances in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

It was formed to investigate past communal riots and following the murder of Suhas Shetty in Mangaluru on 1 May. Shetty, a Bajrang Dal member, was the main accused in the 2022 mob lynching of Mohammed Fazil in Surathkal.

He has also said that the personnel from the ANF, which is being tapered down following the decline in the Maoist activity in the State, along with other police personnel, would be part of the anti-communal force.