BELAGAVI: Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) leaders and workers held protest on Tuesday over ongoing tensions between pro-Kannada and pro-Marathi groups in Belagavi. A NWKRTC bus conductor was beaten up in Belagavi on February 22, allegedly for not speaking in Marathi.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Rohan Jagadeish said, “Praveen Shetty (leader of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike) has been taken under preventive custody to maintain law and order and in the public interest. The protest was being held in the middle of a busy road”.
On Monday, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy visited Belagavi BIMS Hospital and enquired about the health of Mahadevappa Hukkeri, the bus conductor who was assaulted following a dispute over language in Belagavi. Mahadevappa Hukkeri has been receiving treatment at Belagavi BIMS Hospital for the past three days.
The bus driver and Mahadevappa Hukkeri of the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) were allegedly assaulted by a group of Marathi-speaking youths for not being able to speak in Marathi last Friday 12.30 pm near Sulebhavi.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy said, “Not only the Karnataka Road Transport department, everyone is in support of the bus conductor. The police-registered POCSO case against the bus conductor is bogus”. So far, five accused have been arrested in connection with the assault.
A boy and girl who had boarded the semi-urban CBT-Sulebhavi bus had allegedly threatened the conductor as he was not able to speak in Marathi. They called their accomplices who then thrashed the conductor. Belagavi police said that they had received a complaint from the girl’s side as well who alleged that the conductor made indecent remarks towards her. (ANI)