The Udupi police have booked VIshwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders Sharan Pumpwell and Dinesh Mendon for making hate speeches at a rally called over the Udupi restroom incident. In his speech, Sharan Pumpwell, a prominent Hindutva leader from Mangaluru, asked women to take up arms in their hands if they were intimidated. He was speaking at a protest organised by the VHP at the parking area near the Rajangana auditorium of Sri Krishna Mutt in Udupi on Thursday, August 3.
Sharan Pumpwell reportedly also asked women to take up arms instead of brooms. "Women use brooms while doing housework but in our place, if women are intimidated like this, instead of the broom, the women can hold arms, talwar or sword. We will not sit still if anyone comes to trouble our women," Sharan Pumpwell said.
The duo have been booked under sections 505 (1) (B and C) (intent to incite), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
TNM had earlier reported three Muslim women were booked by the Udupi police for recording their classmate in the washroom of a paramedical college in the district. The incident flared up communal tensions with Hindutva supporters claiming that nude videos of hundreds of Hindu women were being circulated to Muslim men as part of a larger Jihadi conspiracy.
The FIR in the case stated three women - Alfiya, Aleema and Shabnaaz - intended to record one of their Hindu friends in the restroom and inadvertently recorded another Hindu student. The FIR said that the three women who recorded the video apologised to the student and deleted the video immediately.
The Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi parishad (ABVP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held rallies over the incident calling for a detailed investigation.
Karnataka BJP leaders on Friday met Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and asked for Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigation in the case. BJP MLC Kota Srinivas Poojari while talking to reporters after meeting Governor said that it is unfortunate that a Dy SP ranked officer is investigating the matter. “That is why we have pressed for SIT investigation,” he said.
He said that even the Union Home Minister has spoken about the case however the Chief Minister is not taking the case seriously.