State govt. has taken measures to stop crimes, maintain law and order, says Home Minister

Home Minister G. Parameshwara, on Friday, said that the Karnataka government had taken all measures to maintain law and order and officers had been told to intensify collecting crucial intelligence on possible incidents in advance and take appropriate steps.

In his written reply to the debate on the law and order status in the State in the Legislative Assembly, Dr. Parameshwara said officers had been told to deploy Hoysala vehicles for patrolling 24 hours and keep a watch on rowdy elements. Besides, the police had been keeping a vigil on people who try to instigate violence using the social media platforms, the Minister said.

During the debate on the issue, leaders of the BJP had alleged corruption in the posting of police officers. Reacting to it, the Minister stated that the transfer of officers was being handled by the Police Establishment Board.

Reacting to the allegation of prison inmates enjoying various facilities, Dr. Parameshwara said his department had taken measures to procure additional security instruments, CCTV cameras, and baggage scanners to be used in the prisons to stop unauthorised activities.

The department would set up a command centre at the Prison Department’s head office in Bengaluru, from where the CCTV recordings of all the prisons in the State could be watched.

Digital arrest cases

The Minister said that since 2023, as many as 1,314 digital arrest cases had been reported in the State. The victims lost over ₹312 crore, the police recovered valuables worth over ₹24.86 crore, and the money returned to the victims was ₹18.33 crore.

The police had taken action against accounts active on Facebook, Telegram and other platforms, through which the accused cheated. As many as 268 Facebook accounts, 456 Telegram accounts, 15 Instagram accounts and 61 WhatsApp accounts have been deactivated.

The public, the Minister said, could register their complaints with regard to economic offences by calling the national helpline 1930 or visiting the NCRP portal.

On crimes against women and children, he said, compared to the previous years, the number of crimes had not increased this year.

He said, the E-beat system had been introduced across the State. The department had created 30 posts of additional SPs to prevent crimes and implemented door-to-door police programme.