Moral policing: Bajrang Dal workers gatecrash farewell party of college students in Mangaluru pub

Mangaluru: In yet another incident of moral policing, activists of a pro-Hindutva group in Mangaluru disrupted a farewell party organised by some college students at a pub on Monday night from about 10.30- 11 pm. The attackers numbering about 15 men, mostly in their twenties, claiming to be from the Bajrang Dal forcibly entered the Mangalore Pub `Amnesia- The Lounge,'.

The activists belonging to Bajrang Dal asked the management of the Recycle Pub in the Balmata area of Mangaluru to stop the event, alleging that the students were indulging in some "illegal activities", officials said.

It's the same pub that was attacked in 2009 and in a shocking repeat of the 2009 incident, the right-wing members forced those partying inside to leave, claiming that women were partying at the venue and this was a violation of Indian traditional values.

They objected to the girls partying there and asked the students to leave the pub, they said. The activists also abused the students.

On being asked, Sharan Pumpwell, the district head of Bajrang Dal, told NDTV that an "obscene" video involving some college students had gone viral a few days ago, and the students who were partying at the pub were from the same institute.

"Therefore, our activists went to the pub to stop their party," he said.

Shashi Kumar, Police Commissioner, Mangaluru, said that the members of some organizations had claimed that "illegal activities" were taking place at the pub.

"By the time the police reached the spot, the pub was closing and about 20 boys and 10 girls were seen leaving the pub," he said.

The matter is being investigated, he said.