Dakshin Kannada, the coastal district of Karnataka which is infamous for moral policing, had yet again reported one such incident.
The goons have the same pattern of action where they prevent the meeting of boys and girls of different faiths.
The incident happened in Puttur taluk of Dakshin Kannada where the right wing hooligans harassed a young man and woman who were travelling in an auto. The man belonged to Puttur taluk while the woman comes from Venur taluk. They were stopped midway by these rowdy elements and forcibly taken to police station.
According to the reports, the rightwing elements stopped the vehicle and used derogatory remarks against the boy and the girl. They also thrashed them. Later they took them to Puttur police station against the wishes of the boy and the girl.
The short video is now viral on social media. In the video, the girl is bravely resisting the hooligans and can be heard saying “ I will go with anybody of my choice, who are you to prevent,” The hooligans can be seen yelling at her.
According to the initial reports, the boy was going with the girl in his auto. When the auto had reached Gundya-Subramanya road, the people informed the members of rightwing about boy and girl of two different communities moving together in an auto.
In the past also, several such incidents of moral policing have been reported. The number of such cases has increased during the tenure of Present CM, Basavaraj Bommai.
What is unfortunate is that Bommai has defended such acts of moral policing act soon after he had taken chief minister position. When asked in a press meet about a moral policing incident in Udupi, he responded- every action will have a reaction.
After his open support, the number of incidents of moral policing suddenly shot up mainly in the coastal region. An incident got reported where rightwing men barged into a hotel and thrashed couple. A boy was beaten up in Mangalore when he was going to drop his girlfriend. A boy and girl of different faiths were harassed in the bus in Puttur. The men stopped and troubled boys and girls of different faith for travelling in the same car. A girl of Hindu community was threatened for having meal with her Muslim colleague in a hotel. These are a few incidents that have been reported after Bommai took charge as CM of Karnataka.
1. Increasing communal hatred in Dakshin Kannada district
Recently various organizations have released reports on the increasing number of cases of moral policing in Dakshin Kannada district. The data was compiled by organisations including, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice(AILAJ), All India People’s Forum(AIPF) and gaurilankeshnews.com team.
The report makes a critical analysis of incidents of moral policing taken place in Dakshin Kannada district between January 2021 and September 2021.
The report also identifies six different patterns of such incidents. Implementing social separatism, controlling close relations, imposing economic boycott, attacking in the name of cow, controlling religious freedom and fomenting communal hatred through speeches were six patterns identified by the report.
The report also mentions the role of the police in controlling the spreading of communal hatred. Besides this, the report highlights mistakes committed by the police. The report lists the incidents where police have filed cases against victims rather than the culprits in majority of the cases of inter-religious relationship.
The police instead of filing the case against the accused, summoned the couple to police stations and harassed them in order to try to project the victims as culprits.
The police have tried to separate inter-religious relationship which is the primary agenda of rightwing elements in coastal Karnataka.
The article was first published in our affiliate kannada website naanugauri.com.
