Interfaith couple harassed on Panambur beach in moral policing incident

MANGALURU: In yet another case of moral policing, a Muslim man and a young Hindu woman were allegedly harassed by activists of Ram Sena Karnataka on the Panambur beach here.

The woman, who hails from Kadur in Chikkamagalur district, is working in Bengaluru. She was on the beach with Abdul Rehman of Panemangalore when they were accosted by the activists. It is alleged that they also tried to assault Rehman.

The two reportedly got acquainted with each other on Facebook and Rehman allegedly invited her to Mangaluru. However, in videos doing the rounds, the woman claims she had come to Mangaluru on her own and had asked Rehman to accompany her to the beach. She can also be heard saying that she was on her way to Malpe to visit a woman friend.

In the videos, the activists are seen questioning and asking the woman why she was in Rehman’s company. They then approach a police constable after which the Panambur police sub-inspector arrived on the scene.

Following the incident, four of the activists, identified as Prashant Bhandari, Keerthan Poojari, Umesh and Sudhir were taken into custody. A case has been registered at the Panambur police station. The Ram Sena Karnataka is headed by Prasad Attawar.