Two held for assault & moralpolicing on students in K’taka

Mangaluru: Karnataka police arrested two persons on Saturday in connection with a moral policing case in which six students, including four girl students, pursing bachelor’s course in hospital administration, were followed and heckled.

The miscreants also assaulted a boy belonging to the minority community and one of the girls. They had also asked the girl whether she had seen the film ‘The Kerala Story’.

The arrested persons have been identified as Deekshith a.k.a Deekshith Alape a.k.a Deekshi (32), and Loyd Pinto (32), both residents of Mangaluru.

Mangaluru Police, in an official statement, said that they have seized a scooter and mobile phones from the accused persons.

The incident took place on Friday, when the students who were hanging around at a beach in Mangaluru city were heckled, followed and abused.

The victim, 20-year-old Mohammad Hafiz, and four girl students had lodged a complaint with the Urwa police station in Mangaluru on Friday evening.

The police said that six students studying in a private college had gone to the Panambur beach in Mangaluru. The miscreants were watching the movements of the students and had also filmed videos of the boys and girls together.

Later, the boys returned on their bikes while the girl students boarded a bus. Among the four girls, one of them had got down at the Chilimbi bus stop and was walking towards her PG accomodation.

However, the miscreants had followed her and threatened her. They even asked her if she had not learnt anything from the movie ‘The Kerala Story’.

They also assaulted her, the police said, besides assaulting Hafiz while he was returning on his bike near the Bejai area in Mangaluru.