Mangaluru: A Karnataka police constable and his wife were subjected to assault and verbal abuse by self-proclaimed Hindu 'activists', who mistook the constable as a Muslim roaming with a Hindu woman in the late night on Thursday in Dakshina Kannada district.
On a complaint by the constable, the police have arrested Manish Poojary and Manjunath Acharya, both residents of Thumbe. The incident occurred late at night on Thursday while the couple was returning home.
According to police reports, the assailants assumed the police constable, Hanumantappa Kumar, to be a Muslim and confronted him for supposedly walking with a Hindu woman around 10 pm. Despite Kumar's earnest attempts to clarify that she was his wife, and they both belonged to the Hindu faith, the men persisted with their aggressive accusations.
Kumar explained that they were returning after dropping off his wife's sister, who lived just a few meters away from their location, but the attackers refused to believe him. Their actions escalated further as they acted inappropriately towards his wife, leaving the couple in a state of distress.
Kumar lodged a formal complaint with the Bantal town police, leading to the arrest of the two individuals. They have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including wrongful restraint, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, stalking, sexual harassment, and acts done with a common intention.