‘Immoral police’ strike in Mangalore

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The port city’s ugly side came to the fore once again with several young people, manhandled and assaulted by about 50 workers of Hindu Jagran Vedike on Saturday at a so-called ‘rave party’, in a suburban resort, mirroring a similar assault by Sri Rama Sene on young women coming out of a pub, four years ago.

Sources said about 50 members of the Vedike, an RSS outfit, raided the resort situated at Padil at around 7 pm, and assaulted four women and two men at a birthday party. A young woman was slapped when she tried to question the members of the outfit.

Others who pleaded “Please leave us, we did not do anything”, were dragged and forced to show their faces to the camera. Jagran leader Subhash admitted his outfit was involved in the raid. DYFI state vice president and DK president Muneer Katipalla demanded members of saffron outfits be arrested under Goonda Act.

Moral cops party poopers
As moral policing returned to Mangalore with guests at an alleged rave party being assaulted by members of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike, Mangalore city mayor Gulzar Banu condemned the manhandling of the girls during the raid by the outfit.

“I am saddened by this incident in which girls were manhandled. Such moral policing can only bring a bad name to Mangalore city. The activists should have brought the party to the notice of the authorities instead of taking t hings into their own hands,” she said. While about 50 workers of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike barged into the party at around 7pm and allegedly manhandled and assaulted the guests, the police had to resort to a lathicharge to control the mob outside. While one of the girls chased and attacked tried to stand up to the members of the outfit, she was slapped and another had her face thrust into the camera when she tried to escape, according to sources.

One of the boys tried to explain that he was celebrating his birthday, but he too was slapped, sources said. Later the four boys and two girls attending the party were handed over to the police who rushed to the spot. While acknowledging the raid, Jagarana Vedike leader, Subhash, denied the outfit had assaulted any of the guests at the party. “Similar parties have been held at this resort for several days and although the local people have complained about them to the local authorities, nothing was done. Today our workers went to the resort and brought the party being held there to the notice of the police. But we did not assault anybody,” he claimed.

A resident of Padil confirmed that similar parties had been held at the resort recently. “Today people near the resort noticed that boys and girls in their early twenties were misbehaving at a party there. The news spread and some people went inside to take them to task. We don’t want such illegal activities and parties in our village,” he said.

Meanwhile, condemning the incident, DYFI state vice president and DK president, Muneer Katipalla demanded the arrest of the members of the saffron outfit under the Goonda Act. “This is proof that incidents of moral policing still exist in the region. Instead of controlling such moral policing, the authorities and the police are only supporting them,” he charged.