Hindu man, Muslim woman hounded by moral police in Belgavi

Hyderabad: An unidentified mob thrashed a Hindu boy who was going to a park in Belgavi along with his female Muslim friend. It is worth noting that this particular town in Karnataka has been witnessing a series of anti-Muslim crimes.

As reported by The Hindu, on the morning of October 17, Rahul Raju Gurav of Chinchali village and Shakeera Banu of Sankeshwar village were at Belagavi bus station waiting for an auto-rickshaw to take them to a nearby park.

The friends boarded an auto-rickshaw and asked the driver to take them to the park. When the auto driver noticed that the girl was wearing burkha and the boy was wearing vermilion on his forehead, he took the duo to a vacant plot in Aman Nagar instead of the park.

Meanwhile, the driver made calls to his friends and asked them to come to the vacant plot. Along with his friends, the driver beat up the boy and warned him not to go around with a Muslim girl. The mob pushed the girl and asked her to “find a friend from her own community”. This incident is reported mere days after a Muslim man was beheaded by Ram Sena over an alleged love affair with a Hindu girl in Belgavi itself.

Later the boy and girl went to Mala Maruti police station and lodged a complaint. In the complaint, the victims said the attackers snatched their mobile phones and Rs 20,000 which was with them. This incident is reported a day after a Hindutva brigade danced with swords during Ayudha pooja in Belgavi.