Two Hindu Women Assaulted For Traveling In Muslim Man's Car

In a shocking moral policing incident, two Hindu women were allegedly abused by six to eight persons for traveling in a Muslim man’s car.

The police in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, India on Saturday, Oct.9, arrested two persons for allegedly abusing the two women. The arrested are identified as 36-year-old Samhithraj and 34-year-old Sandeep Poojary.

According to the police, the victims, Geetha and her friend Manjula, both Hindu women from Karkala in the Udupi district, were on a two-wheeler en route to a Hanuman temple in Moodbidri on Saturday.

On the way, they met their friend Soudha, a Muslim woman, and her husband Ashraf. Since the couple was traveling on the same route they offered to drop the women at the temple. The victims parked their vehicle and boarded the car, said the police.

According to the investigators, six to eight persons on motorcycles blocked the car at an intersection and dragged both women out of the vehicle.

The victims were verbally and physically abused by the perpetrators, police said. The suspects also abused and thrashed Ashraf for taking the Hindu women in his car, said the police.

Following the alleged assault, the victims went to a nearby police station and filed a complaint against the suspects.

Based on their complaint, the Moodibidri police began an investigation and in no time, identified and arrested two men involved in the assault.

“We have arrested two persons and efforts are being made to nab the other accused in the case,” Mangaluru city police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said, the Indian Express reported.

A case under sections 354 (assault or using criminal force against a woman), 153 (a) (to punish persons who indulge in wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion), 504 ( Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) against the two accused.

In another similar but unrelated incident, two Muslim men in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka were arrested for assaulting a Hindu boy for dropping a Muslim girl on his two-wheeler.

The incident took place on Saturday, Oct.9, when the girl requested a boy from her village to drop her at her workplace as she was running late.

Two men identified as Suhail and Shoaib noticed this, confronted the boy, and assaulted him, police said. The suspects fled the scene but were later arrested and charged.