In yet another instance of moral policing in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district, five men were arrested for stopping and questioning a group of students who had visited the Karinja temple in Bantwal on the evening of Thursday, August 26. Dakshina Kannada SP Hrishikesh Sonawane said that the five are activists from pro-Hindutva organisations, and were arrested for obstructing the students and questioning them for a long time because they were an interfaith group. Police officials said that some of the accused men were from the Hindu Jagrana Vedike (HJV).
The six students who were stopped, study in a paramedical college in the district and the incident occurred when they visited the Karinja temple pond on Thursday. They were spotted taking photos at the temple. But on their way back, when they were climbing down the steps from the temple, they were stopped and questioned by five unknown men who began asking questions about the group.
"They were detained for some time and that was unlawful. They had spotted that one person in the group was wearing a burqa and it is possible they received information from locals. They stopped the group and questioned them for a long time. We have booked a case against the men," SP Hrishikesh Sonawane said. "We will not allow anyone to disturb a group without reason like this. Better sense should prevail and no one should be stopped unless someone is engaging in an offence," the SP added.
The accused were charged under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code. The Karinjeshwara temple is located in Kavalamuduru village in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada district.
TNM had earlier reported how instances of moral policing in Dakshina Kannada district are on the rise this year. A series of incidents occurred between February and April 2021, in which young interfaith friends and couples were targeted for being together in public. Though there have been many such incidents in Dakshina Kannada this year, Thursday's incident is a rare occasion of a first information report (FIR) being registered against the accused vigilantes.
Data recorded by People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) shows that there have been 62 communal incidents in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada district this year, including 17 instances of moral policing by Hindutva vigilantes.
Last week, a pro-Hindutva group stopped a bus over suspicions that a man and woman passenger belonging to different religions were travelling together in Dakshina Kannada’s Puttur. The man and woman were dragged to the police and were only sent on their way after it emerged that there was no connection between them.