Activists of a right wing Hindu organisation attacked a pub in Mangalore on Saturday, beating up four of the women present.
Ten alleged attackers were arrested on Sunday. “We did it in the interests of society,” Pramod Muthalik, founder leader of the Sri Rama Sena, which carried out the attack, told HT over phone from Pune.
Muthalik, formerly a member of the Bajrang Dal, broke away in 2004. He set up the Sri Rama Sena last year.
The activists barged into the lounge bar ‘Amnesia’, in the heart of the coastal city 330 km west of Bangalore, abused the owner and customers and beat up the women, even as they tried to run to safety. Men in the pub who tried to protect the women were also manhandled.
“They said by consuming alcohol, the women were violating traditional Indian norms,” said a customer.
“Many charges have been slapped against them including trespass and outraging the modesty of women,” said Umesh Seth, inspector in charge of the police station under which the pub falls.
But he denied any woman had been beaten up. “Nobody has complained of having been physically hurt,” he said.