A case has been registered, but no arrests have been made so far
Syed Ali Mujtaba
MANGALURU — Moral policing has not yet stopped in Karnataka despite a change in the state government from the extreme right to the middle of the center.
A group of youngsters comprising two Muslims and a Hindu boy along with two Hindu girls was on a sightseeing tour from Mangaluru to Madikeri in Karnataka’s Kodagu district.
After visiting Abbey Falls, they parked their car in Madikeri and hired a jeep to travel to Mandalpatti Peak.
When the youngsters returned to the spot where they had parked the car, they were allegedly surrounded by about 30 Hindutva fanatics, who questioned the inter-religious nature of the group.
The three boys were allegedly beaten up and their two female friends were verbally abused by the mob.
The attackers allegedly questioned the presence of two Muslims —Mohammed Shamseer (24), Saman Sajeed (23) in the group. The mob allegedly beat up all three youths. The girls were verbally abused for their “bad character.”
The mob punctured the tires of the car in which the victims traveled from Mangaluru to Madikeri. They also took pictures of the group and circulated them on social media.
Prima facie this pertains to the case of moral policing involving suspected right-wing activists. This region of Karnataka is notorious for Hindu fanatics who prowl at such instances of interfaith friendship.
On the basis of a complaint filed by Nanda Krishnan (26), a case has been registered at the Madikeri rural police with charges of wrongful restraint, intentional insult, unlawful assembly with arms, rioting, criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt. The Madikeri rural police have yet to make any arrests in this case.
The Congress government in Karnataka has hinted that it will not tolerate such kind of moral policing in the state. Congress’s Chittapur MLA, Priyank Kharge, said the Congress will ban the RSS if it tries to disrupt peace in the state. In reply to this, Karnataka BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel warned the Congress if it tries to ban Bajrang Dal or the RSS, it will “burn the entire state into ashes.”
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist. He can be contacted at syedalimujutaba2007@gmail.com
File photo used for illustration.