DNA Edit: Lawless situation

The blame-game in the wake of the attack on Karnataka Lokayukta P Vishwanath Shetty deserves opprobrium. Instead of taking a dig at each other, political parties should look into the deteriorating law-and-order situation in Karnataka and ensure that sound measures are taken to prevent such incidents.

It is unthinkable that a Lokayukta could be stabbed multiple times in his office! A shocking lapse of security, rendered even more shocking because Justice Shetty had repeatedly asked the state for more security.

The security apparatus at the entrance of the Lokayukta’s office proved to be a farce because the assailant could smuggle in a knife through a metal detector frame. If a Lokayukta chief could be so vulnerable, imagine the plight of the common people in the state.

Justice Shetty is an honest man whose only “fault” was to not entertain the grievances of a local contractor over a case that has already been closed. He has had a close brush with death but the scars of the incident will haunt the state government. With so many bogus VIPs enjoying state protection for imaginary threats to life, Justice Shetty’s plight shows that the Karnataka government didn’t consider his requests important. 

The Karnataka Lokayukta, established in 1984, was supposed to investigate and report on the corruption in the state government as well as redress public grievances related state government employees. However, it was stripped of power once the Anti-Corruption Bureau was set up in 2016.

With two anti-corruption watchdogs in the state, and with the former’s clout waning, it was but natural that the state government had stopped taking interest in the Lokayukta. That doesn’t absolve Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s dispensation of the crime of indifference.