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Police: 3 arrested for assaulting Muslim man for travelling with Hindu woman
On Friday, ADGP (law and order) Alok Kumar had tweeted that appropriate action was being taken against the accused.
Three days after a 20-year-old man was allegedly assaulted while travelling in a bus with a woman in Mangaluru, three people have been arrested in connection with the case, said police on Sunday.
Mangaluru city police on Saturday arrested Mangaluru-based Muthu (18), Prakash (21) and Rakesh (23) for allegedly assaulting Seyad Raseem Ummar near Nanthoor circle in Mangaluru on Thursday. The police said Ummar and a woman were travelling in a bus from Karkala when the accused stopped the bus, dragged Ummar out and allegedly thrashed him.
Ummar is a third year BE (information science) student at NITTE Institute of Technology, Karkala.
In the FIR registered at the Kadri police station, complaint Ummar had alleged that “the accused entered into the and abused him verbally. The accused had also asked for my ID card, after which they thrashed me”.
“They also threatened him from telling anyone about the incident,” the FIR stated.
On Friday, ADGP (law and order) Alok Kumar had tweeted that appropriate action was being taken against the accused.
The accused have links with right-wing groups Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), said police. Meanwhile, VHP leader from Mangaluru, Sharan Pumpwell, said cases of ‘love jihad’ are on the rise in the region.
“The Bajrang Dal is doing good work in coastal Karnataka. As a result, many youths come to work with us. Incidents of love jihad are on the rise. These youths must have seen such an incident and taken necessary action. After they got arrested, we have provided them with the required legal help,” Pumpwell said.
“We are also organising protest in seven to eight places in Mangaluru on Monday. The government should implement the anti-conversion law in the state effectively,” he added.
‘Love jihad’ is a term used by right-wing activists to describe marital relationships between Muslim men and Hindu women, though the courts and the Union government do not officially recognise the term.
