Four activists from Bajrang Dal of Mangalore, Karnataka, have been arrested in connection with an incident of alleged ‘moral surveillance’ a day after they allegedly attacked a young man and woman, of different religious backgrounds, on a city bus local police said on Saturday.
An attempted murder case was recorded in the woman’s complaint, as one of them caused a knife wound to her friend, police said. The incident occurred on Thursday night. The arrests were made on Friday.
KR Sunil, a member of Bajrang Dal in the Mangalore region, has stated that the group’s activists only questioned the couple and did not attack them.
According to the police report filed by Ashwini S, five or six people stopped the bus near the Pumpwell area, under the jurisdiction of the Kankanady Town Police Station, around 9:30 p.m. and entered to attack her and her friend, Aswid Anwar. Mohammed. The FIR claims that they dragged the couple, both aged 23, kicking and abusing them while claiming they were in an interfaith relationship. They allegedly said that they would not spare Aswid.
The assailants beat Aswid with sticks and cut him with a knife, according to Ashwini’s complaint.
Confirming the arrests, a senior officer involved in the investigation said: “Two of them have criminal records. They are affiliated with the Bajrang Dal. “
One of the four arrested is 27-year-old Dhanush Bhandary, who police say was acquitted in a murder case in 2019; has been free on bail since May 2020 in an assassination attempt; and was allegedly involved in a similar, less serious case of “moral surveillance” in Kankanady two months ago. A second defendant, Jayaprashanth, 27, also has a criminal record and was allegedly involved in another recent moral police incident reported in Kankanady, they said.
The riot and illegal assembly sections of the IPC were invoked against the two in the above cases and they obtained bail, the officer added. The others arrested are Anil Kumar, 38, and Balachandra, 28. In Thursday’s incident, the police invoked sections 307 (attempted murder) and 153 A (promoting enmity between communities) of the IPC, among others.
One officer said: “The two are friends from their student days and one of the defendants, who lives in their area, knew them… (Thursday night) they followed them and stopped the bus. We are investigating whether others participated in the transmission of information about the duo to the defendant. “
The Karnataka coastal district in Dakshina Kannada, and its headquarters in Mangalore, has witnessed many incidents of moral vigilance, with activists targeting primarily people in interfaith relationships.
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