In a strong message to those undertaking moral policing and attacking the couples in Bengaluru, the Karnataka police have arrested two accused persons for allegedly attacking a Hindu man for giving a lift to a Muslim female colleague who worked with him in a private company.
The Sadduguntepalya police have booked the accused persons under six IPC sections, including the charge of spreading communal disharmony, which attracts imprisonment of up to five years, police sources said.
The accused duo Suhail and Nayaz are being booked under IPC sections 153 (A) for promoting disharmony between different groups on grounds of religion and indulging in acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony.
The duo has been booked under IPC section 506 for causing criminal intimidation, Section 341 for wrongful restraint, Section 34 for criminal act done in furtherance of common intention, Section 504 for intentional insult and thereby giving provocation to intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause him/her to break public peace and Section 354 for assaulting and using criminal force on any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said his government will deal with such incidents with an iron hand while announcing the arrest of the accused persons on social media.
Act evokes sharp reactions
Former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has said such incidents should not take place and the police have taken action swiftly in the case. The case drew sharp reactions from across the state after being uploaded on social media platforms.
The accused followed a bike on which the victim, a married Muslim woman was being dropped by a Hindu colleague at her house as it was quite late in the evening. The accused then stopped the bike and thrashed the Hindu man.
The accused forced the woman to get down from the bike and snatched her mobile phone, called up her husband, and scolded him for allowing his wife to be dropped off by a person belonging to a different religion.
The woman in her complaint said the accused had continuously put a mobile torch on her and asked her to take off her burqa and walk wherever she wanted.
Video uploaded on social media
The accused had uploaded the video on social media platforms. The incident had taken place in the evening on September 18. When the video went viral, the accused had deleted the video and had absconded.
Hindu man beaten for dropping his #Muslim colleague woman on bike.
— Aboriginal of India (@IndiaAboriginal) September 19, 2021
Women gives her husband's number to assaulters.
They abuse him also for allowing his wife to travel with a non Muslim man.
Moral policing incident from #Bengaluru #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/v5Lhv2hv85
However, the police was able to track the woman and get details of the accused and lodged a complaint against them in Sadduguntepalya police station. The accused were nabbed within 12 hours on Saturday.
The accused told the police that they wanted to gain publicity from their moral policing act. They maintained many such videos are being uploaded on social media platforms and they got a very good response for such videos.
Encouraged by the massive response, they were into moral policing and it gave them publicity, police sources said. The accused told the police that they expected to get appreciation for their act this time as well and they thought it would make them popular without landing in jail.
