The All India Lawers’ Association for Justice has sent a notice to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai demanding an apology and withdrawal of his recent statement where he justified moral policing.

In its 10-page notice, the association listed out the growing instances of communal violence in Karnataka, to point out how the CM’s remarks, in effect, puts his seal of approval on social and cultural differentiation in the name of religion and how he implicitly endorses the actions of those who take the law into their hands to enforce and police such differentiation.

Bommai, speaking to news persons at Mangaluru on October 13 had said, “We all have to bear responsibility in society. People have some strong emotions and when there are certain actions, there will be reactions. The government’s job is not just to protect law and order but also to ensure there is harmony in society. For this, everybody has to cooperate. Even our youth have to make sure that the emotions of people in the society are not offended. This is a social issue and we need morality. When there is no morality in the society, there will be reactions accordingly.”

“By stating that every ‘action’ has a ‘reaction’, you imply that these violent reactions in the nature of so-called ‘moral policing’ are legitimate reactions, that citizens who wish to assert their rights must accordingly give up their fundamental rights in order to accommodate these ‘reactions’,” said the advocates’ association.