A Muslim student in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district was beaten up for talking to and befriending a Hindu classmate, the police have said. Mohammed Saneef, a 19-year-old who is a first-year student at a college in Sullia district, had become friends with a classmate of his — a Hindu woman. However, a group of second and third year students at their college threatened Saneef to not to talk to the Hindu student.
The issue escalated, and on Tuesday, August 30, a group of about seven-eight students called Saneef to the college grounds on some pretext at 10.30 am. When he reached there, the accused took out belts and sticks and asked him why he was talking to the woman. They then began to beat him on his back and pushed him to the ground and kicked him. They warned him against talking to the woman again, and threatened violence if he continued to speak to her, police said in a release. Images of Saneef’s bruised back with visible dark lines were circulated widely on social media, sparking anger.
Later on Tuesday, after a check-up at a nearby hospital, Saneef approached the police and filed a complaint. Based on this, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) which named eight people. “All the accused have been arrested. An investigation is underway,” Dakshina Kannada SP Rishikesh Sonawane told TNM, adding that the accused do not belong to any organisation as such. Meanwhile, police sources have told TNM that it was a “love-related case” and that the accused students threatened Saneef to not to talk to the Hindu student.
Sullia police have registered a case against the eight accused under Sections 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 149 (offences against public tranquillity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A year ago in November, another incident of moral policing was reported from the district, in Mukka outside Mangaluru. A 20-year-old Muslim student, Mohammed Yasin, was dropping off a female friend at Surathkal from their college in Mukka late at night, as there was no other transport available at the time. As they were traveling on his bike, two men began to follow them and began to create a ruckus at the destination. They asked for Yasin’s ID and asked who he was, and proceeded to beat him up. The woman was also pushed and abused, police said. Six persons were arrested in connection to the incident.