Gang assaults interfaith couple in Karntaka hotel; 2 arrested
text_fields
Haveri: In yet another harrowing incident of moral policing, an interfaith couple was attacked inside their hotel room in Karnataka by a gang of six men. Police informed that two of the attackers were arrested, PTI reported.
The incident allegedly happened on January 8 at the Hanagal Taluk of Haveri district.
The 26-year-old married woman who belongs to a minority community checked into the hotel room with a KSRTC driver aged 40, with whom she has been in a relationship for the past three years, police said.
The assaulters entered the hotel room and allegedly thrashed and verbally abused the women. They filmed the entire episode on phones and released it on social media platforms.
Police said that the woman's husband alleged that she was gang-raped by the assaulters, but the assailants did not add it in a written complaint.
In one of the purported videos uploaded on social media, six men could be seen knocking on the door of a room. When a man opens the door, the assailants can be seen barging in and heading towards the woman. The gang verbally abused the couple, assaulted them and filmed the woman while she tried to cover her face with a burqa.
The gang, who arrived on three motorcycles, drove the couple to an isolated place which was about a kilometre away from the hotel. Upon reaching there, they started thrashing the couple. They also abused the woman and hit her with sticks, he said.
Thereafter, the gang gave her Rs 500 and told her to go to her native place. She later went to Sirsi, where her husband lives. She has a seven-year-old girl child, the police officer said and added that the gang fled from the place.
The police got to know about the matter only a day after the incident, and taking cognisance of the issue, they traced the couple. Based on a complaint from the victim, a case was registered on Wednesday, and two men who were involved in the incident were arrested.
The accused members are not affiliated with any organisation, police said, adding the two arrested so far do not have any criminal background, but that needs to be verified.