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Karnataka: 5 arrested for moral policing in Udupi
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said that the government will not allow anybody to take law into their hands and moral policing will be sternly dealt with
Police arrested five persons on Wednesday on charges of moral policing at Karkala in Udupi district, officials said.
Police said a team of six medicos of a private medical college in Mangaluru had been to Sringeri on July 29 in a car. While returning in their vehicle to the city, five persons followed their vehicle in another car and stopped them at Kuntalpady in Dakshina Kannada, bordering Udupi, officials said.
The five accused youths allegedly abused three Hindu medicos for accompanying three Muslim men. They also tried to assault the men in the car following which a woman medico called 112 and sought help.
Karkala deputy SP Aravind Kalagujje and Karkala Circle Inspector T. D. Nagaraj rushed to the spot and arrested the five youths while they were abusing the medicos. The arrested have been identified as Santhosh Nandalike, (29,) Karthik Poojary,( 23), Sunil Moolya, (28), Sandeep Poojary, (30), and Sujith Safaliga (28).
‘’Following the information to the control room we rushed to the spot and arrested all the accused on the spot,’’ circle inspector T D Nagaraj told HT. He said the accused were booked under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (assault to women with intent to outrage modesty of women) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace). They were produced before the JMFC court in Karkala which granted them bail. He said the accused are associated with a local Hindu organisation and the police are further verifying their background.
In another incident an auto driver was assaulted for dropping a young woman to Ujire from the Dharmasthala bus stand. The student is resident of Bengaluru, studying in Ujire Private College. College ended last week and on Tuesday night, she called an auto driver she knew from Ujire to go to Bengaluru.
He came and dropped her from Ujire to Dharmasthala bus stand at around 9 pm and on his way back he was questioned, threatened, and assaulted by a group of unknown youths. The auto driver, Abdul Hameed, a resident of Attaje, Ujire village, has been admitted to Belthangadi taluk government hospital and is undergoing treatment. Dharmasthala sub-inspector Anil Kumar and his team are checking CCTV cameras around Dharmasthala to find the accused and registered a case.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said at Mangaluru International Airport that the government will not allow anybody to take law into their hands and moral policing will be sternly dealt with.
Dakshina Kannada In-charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao also said that communal forces were responsible for moral policing, and they were attempting to tarnish the image of coastal districts while also putting the Congress governmentn poor light. “We will continue to take tough action against these groups,”he said, adding that the government would deport the accused if they indulge in such acts frequently.
