A night of partying turned awry for two women at the Koramangala Social pub after they were allegedly assaulted by two men after an argument that began in the lift of the popular bar and restaurant late on Saturday night.
An argument between Sitara Shah (28), a researcher and Rushali Pawar (29), a freelance writer, with two unidentified men turned violent in the corridor that leads to the entrance of the restaurant at 12:30 am on Sunday.
An FIR has been filed at the Koramangala police station and police are trying to identify the men who fled the spot after the alleged assault." It appears that a fight has broken out in the entrance to the restaurant and two women have sustained injuries because of it. We had asked the restaurant to hand over the CCTV footage and we are in the process of identifying the suspects," a police official at Koramangala Police Station.
According to Rushali, the incident occurred after an argument flared up between two groups of people. "We got into the lift. There were already five people in it when two more people entered the lift. The hostess at Social informed these two men to leave and they refused to budge. My friend once again asked them to leave the lift. They were angered by that and that was when the fight broke out," she told TNM.
She added that she was pushed by one of the men and her friend Sitara was slapped across the face. "My friends Karan and Siddanth came running and tried to stop them but they were also assaulted. I was also pushed. I felt a jerk and moved to the side and my phone flew away from my hand," she said recalling the ordeal. She further added that there was no security personnel around and that the duo immediately fled the spot.
Rushali and Sitara turned up at the Koramangala police station to file a complaint, however, the duo claims that they were held up by a delay in handing over the CCTV footage by the management at the restaurant. The duo also took to social media to highlight the ordeal.
Police officials at Koramangala police station told TNM that the complaint was taken up on Monday after police officials asked the restaurant to hand over CCTV footage related to the incident. "We asked the restaurant manager to hand over the CCTV footage and we have registered an FIR and trying to identify the suspects," said Manjunath, a police official at Koramangala Police Station.
The police have filed a case under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) under the IPC.
Ashley, a manager at Koramangala Social, told TNM that the restaurant is cooperating with the police and that the footage was handed over after the police reached out to them. "Everybody is working on the same page. The incident did not happen on the premises. But there has been a fight in the corridor. We have handed over the footage to the police," he said. He further confirmed that no security personnel was present at the scene of the incident.