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Police: Four held for moral policing in Dakshina Kannada
According to officials, the accused assaulted a 22-year-old Muslim boy for speaking to a girl from the Hindu community
The Belthangady police in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district arrested four persons on charges of moral policing on Tuesday, officials said.
According to officials, the youths assaulted a 22-year-old Muslim boy for speaking with a girl from the Hindu community while travelling in a bus. Police identified the victim as Mohammed Zaheer, a native of Ujire.
“The bus was on its way from Mangaluru to Dharmasathala when the incident occurred. The victim boarded the bus and sat beside the girl whom he knew from before. While travelling, when the victim spoke with the girl, the youths who saw them informed other guys at Ujire,” one of the officials said on Wednesday.
“When the bus reached Ujire, a group of four youths dragged him out of the bus and assaulted him for speaking with the girl. After the assault, Zaheer was admitted to Belthangady government hospital and is currently undergoing treatment,” the official added.
Based on the victim’s complaint, the police arrested four persons.
“This is a case of moral policing; the youth was assaulted just because he spoke with a girl known to him on a bus. We have arrested four persons, and stringent action would be taken against them,” Dakshina Kannada superintendent of police (SP) Dr Amathe Vikram said.
He said the arrested were identified as Nitesh, Sachin, Dinesh and Avinash - all natives of Belthangady taluk.
The police have registered a case against the accused under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), and 506 (threatening with life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“We will not allow anyone to take the law into their hands,” the SP added.
Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) workers visited the hospital and urged the police to take stringent action against the accused.
