Mangaluru, May 01, 2015: A protest was stayed by residents of Subhashnagar near Ullal on April 30 evening demanding removal of CCTV cameras installed at the Anjuman Mallagul Falah Madarasa on the grounds that the cameras instead of capturing activities in the Madarasa wee pointed towards nearby residential areas. The protestors even alleged that the cameras were pointed in such a way that they captured happenings around toilets of the houses thus interfering with the privacy of the residents, particularly women.
The situation turned worse when the protestors were adamant that the cameras be removed immediately. The police who rushed to the spot though initially assured of action at the earliest stating cameras could not be removed immediately as the Madarasa authorities were absent at that time, the locals failed to budge. The police then assured that the position of CCTV cameras have been changed and asked some of the women protestors to get in and check for themselves. Finally on realising that the protestors were unrelenting the police ensured that the power connections to the CCTV cameras were snapped so that they can no longer capture images.
It has been gathered that two of the four CCTV cameras in the Madarasa building pointed towards the houses. There are many houses of both Hindus and Muslims in the area.
ASP Kalyani Shetty, Pavitra Teja, Ullal inspector, Bharati, sub-inspector who had rushed to the spot held talks with the protestors and assured to hold talks with the Madarasa authorities on May 1, Friday morning and ask them to remove the cameras. Security has been stepped up in the area. Apart from Ullal police personnel, even KSRP personnel have been deployed to avert any untoward incidents.
The Madarasa and also a mosque functioning here have been in the eye of a storm since beginning after locals had protested against the opening of a Madarasa in a residential area. In February this year, there arose tension after a group had allegedly assaulted a few women who had protested against use of loudspeakers in the mosque. Matters turned worse when the assailants were later attacked by some other people.