Bengaluru, Feb 19: The Karnataka Police on Wednesday registered a suo motu case against members of pro-Hindu outfits for assaulting three Kashmiri engineering students, who were charged with sedition. Members of several pro-Hindu outfits had gathered outside the sessions court in Hubballi on Tuesday and assaulted the students who were produced before the magistrate.
The Vidyanagar Police have registered a case against 10 to 15 unidentified persons under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 355 (assault to dishonor a person) and 149 (unlawful assembly with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
On Tuesday morning, the Hubballi Rural Police brought in the three Kashmiri students from KLE Institute of Technology to the court but members of various pro-Hindu groups including Bajrang Dal attacked the three students. The students had been arrested after they made a selfie video in which they were alleged to have made pro-Pakistan comments.
“When the three accused persons were being brought out of the court hall, around 10 to 15 people gathered around the police. They began shouting at the three students saying they were traitors. The mob began punching the accused and some of them began hitting them with slippers,” the FIR states.
The three students were rushed outside by the police and taken out in a police vehicle. Vidyanagar police officials say that the mob stopped the police van and refused to let it move from the court premises.
“Police officers had to ward them off. They stopped police from performing their duty,” the Vidyanagar Police said.
So far, no arrests have been made and the investigators say that they are in the process of gathering videos to identify the suspects. “We have to find out which organisations they are affiliated to. We don’t know that yet. Preliminary investigation shows that members of Bajrang Dal were there. We have to see if its members were involved in assault,” the Vidyanagar Police said. (Courtesy: Thenewsminute.com)
