Karnataka: Three arrested over moral policing incident, say police

The arrests were made following a complaint filed by a student, who was attacked by the accused people for speaking to a female classmate

The Moodabidare police arrested three people in the Dakshina Kannada district on charges of moral policing on Tuesday, officials familiar with the matter said.

The incident had sparked a widespread outrage among people (HT Archives)

The arrested people have been indentfied as Vijay(24), Abhilash,(26) and Sanjay (23), all residents of Moodabidare town. The arrests were made following a complaint filed by a student, who was attacked by the accused people for speaking to a female classmate.

According to police, the survivor, identified as Mohammed Imran, is a 21-year-old student of a degree college, in Moodabidare. Imran spoke to his female classmate at around 9 PM near the Rajiv Gandhi Commercial Complex in Moodbidire on Monday, after which, theboarded a bus to her native place in Bengaluru.

After the woman departed, the accused came to know that the man who spoke to the woman is a Muslim, and the woman he spoke to is a Hindu. The accused people got into a fight with Imran for speaking to a woman from different religion. They allegedly assaulted him and also threatened to kill him.

The survivor was admitted to Mudabidare government hospital and was discharged on Tuesday.

The incident had sparked a widespread outrage among people. Various local Congress leaders reached the police station on the night of the incident to advocate for justice for the survivor. Their efforts persisted as they rallied in larger numbers on the following morning, fervently demanding the registration of a formal case against the accused and their subsequent arrest.The pressure of Congress leaders prompted police department to take swift action against the accused.

“Soon after receiving complaint, we had registered the case against the accused on Monday night itself,’’ Moodabidare police inspector Siddappa told HT. We arrested two accused on Tuesday and booked them under Indian Penal Code [IPC] sections 323 [assault] and 506 [posing threat to life]. The accused were produced before Moodabidare JMFC court on Wednesday, which has remanded them to a judicial custody of 15 days, the inspector added.