Mangaluru: In a recent incident at Panambur beach in Mangaluru, Karnataka, four individuals were arrested by the local police for allegedly questioning a woman about her conversation with a Muslim man.
The accused, identified as Prashanth Bhandary (38), Umesh P (23), Sudhir (26), and Keerthan Poojary (20), belong to Bantwal and Belthangadi taluks in Dakshina Kannada district.
The arrests followed a complaint filed by a 28-year-old woman, employed as a research associate at the Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute. According to the FIR filed on Sunday, she was en route to Malpe in Udupi district for a research project when the incident occurred. The woman, stopping in Mangaluru to congratulate a friend on a literary award, was allegedly confronted by a group of local men at Panambur beach around 4.50 pm.
"It is wrong for a Hindu woman to speak to a Muslim in Mangaluru, and we have the right to question it," the accused reportedly asserted in a threatening manner.
Subsequently, the police intervened, detaining the four individuals, who now face charges under sections of the Indian Penal Code related to unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, and intentional insult to provoke.
In response to the incident, the Mangaluru police stated that additional personnel would be deployed in tourist areas such as Panambur Beach, Tannirbhavi Beach, and Tree Park to prevent similar occurrences.
The Mangaluru police commissioner initiated an 'anti-communal wing' in Karnataka last year, specifically aimed at combating moral policing and handling cases related to communal violence. The coastal city and its environs have frequently witnessed incidents of moral policing.
This incident echoes previous cases, such as one on July 27, 2023, where two men were arrested for assaulting a police constable and verbally abusing his wife. The assailants questioned the constable, Hanumantappa Kumar, for "walking with a Hindu woman at around 10 pm," assuming he was Muslim. Another incident on July 29 involved the verbal abuse of a journalist and his female companion as they exited a restaurant.