Eight arrested for moral policing in Karnataka

Bangalore : Eight activists of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike were arrested in Karnataka for allegedly beating up five girls and eight boys at a weekend party on Mangalore’s outskirts, police said Sunday.

“We have arrested the eight for forcibly entering into a resort and bashing up about a dozen boys and girls,” Additional Director General of Police Bipin Gopalakrishnan told IANS from Mangalore, 350 km from here.

He said criminal case had been registered against them. The incident took place Saturday.

Police identified the accused from the footage of Kannada news channels and nabbed them after a night-long search.

“Besides the accused, the owner of the resort is being interrogated to ascertain the facts and verify claims by the accused that the college-going students were holding a rave party and indulging in obscene acts,” Inspector General of Police C.H. Pratap Reddy said.

Moral policing came to haunt Mangalore three years after a similar incident in which some girls were attacked by the activists of the outfit at a pub in the coastal city.